The Terrifying Baobhan Sith

Four young men had just finished a day’s hunting around the Cairngorms, when they spotted an isolated hut in the distance. Tying the horses up nearby they looked inside to find it empty, but with a large pile of firewood and comfortable looking chairs all set out. While one of the friends got a blazing fire going in the hearth, the others rested their weary legs and started to brag about the day’s success.

The youngest exclaimed that the only thing that could make the night any better would be the company of four beautiful women. Everybody rolled their eyes at the daft boy, but at that moment, there was a delicate tapping at the door.

The men couldn’t believe their eyes as four of the most incredible women they had ever seen stood outside and asked if they could come into the warmth. The men practically fell over themselves as they made space for their guests.

Before long, the women were singing and the hunters were on their feet dancing. All seemed completely enchanted by the mysterious visitors, except the oldest and wisest of the four friends. He had a wife back home and no matter how beautiful the stranger, he wouldn’t betray her love for anything. He was making his excuses when he saw a flash of red out of the corner of his eye.

Slowly turning his head, one of the women had used her sharp nails to slit the youngest boy’s throat and was drinking his blood as he slumped to the floor. The other two were staring deeply into their companions’ eyes, who barely noticed as they succumbed to the same fate. The surviving hunter was horrified, having heard stories just like this of terrifying, shapeshifting beauties known as the Baobhan Sith.

He knew their only weaknesses were daylight and iron but his weapons were on the other side of the room and it was hours until dawn. With his temptress still trying to seduce him, he quickly turned and fled out of the door into the night. Seeing the horses tethered nearby, he remembered that they all had fresh, iron horseshoes on! The hunter sprinted as fast as he could towards the animals and dived in amongst them for protection.

All four Baobhan Sith came out of the bothy and began to circle the horses. Fortunately, they were so afraid of the iron that they wouldn’t dare get any closer. They tried to flatter the hunter into coming back inside, promising him everything his heart desired but he wouldn’t move. Then they tried to enrage him into charging out by describing how delicious his friends had been but that just made him shrink back even further.

Lastly, in desperation they screamed at the hunter to fear them and stop delaying the inevitable. He looked to the east and saw the faint glow that told him the safety of dawn was coming. As he turned back to the bothy, the deadly creatures had already disappeared.

It wasn’t until the sun was high in the sky that the man was finally brave enough to step out from the horses and back inside the building. He wept over the bodies of his friends but vowed to spread the story of what had happened in those lonely mountains, to make sure that nobody would suffer the same fate again.