Creepy Urban Legends: El Naddaha, the Egyptian Siren

 

We've all heard of sirens In some legend or another, luring men to their doom. There are tales of beautiful women with melodic voices sitting atop a rock by the shores and beckoning men to the point that many have crashed their ships after getting into a trance-like state.

Maybe these seamen really did sirens or perhaps what they saw was a mirage in the vastness of the sea after spending so many days on board.

After so many tales based around oceans and seas, why shouldn't there be an urban legend based on the world's longest river?

In the 1950s a tale was passed around of an evil mermaid or a siren called El Naddaha.

El Naddaha was described as a strikingly, tall, beautiful woman with long dark hair, a svelte figure and fair skin. She appeared to men in a semi-transparent dress and is said to be almost translucent herself making everyone believe that she was perhaps a Djinn.

Just like the other sirens, El Naddaha called to men who were walking about the shores of the Nile. Her voice is described as being sweet and melodic enough to entice men.

If they choose to follow the voice, the men encounter El Naddaha and the minute they make eye contact with her, they lose their willpower to resist the temptation to follow the siren into the depths of the river.

If the man is in a group and hears the siren, his friends can try to save him from drowning himself but the minute they succeed in saving their friend, they are cursed by El Naddaha to live a life of misery. In some cases, she marks them as her next victim.

There have been stories of the siren sometimes beckoning men at their homes. But this time her voice isn't melodic, but rather sad which arouses the curiosity of men to step out of their homes and straight into her trap.

The worst is when El Naddaha falls in love. Then she doesn't allow the man to drown, rather she takes him to her home, deep in the river, where she exposes him to her world and her love. But a few months later, El Naddaha kills the man for fear he may leave her or worse, reveal her secret home to the world.

There is no escaping El Naddaha is there?

Well, some say that the only way to escape is to avoid looking into her eyes. The minute any man looks into El Naddaha's eyes, he is bound to end up dead.