Creepy Urban Legends: The Boo Hag

 If you’re having trouble sleeping, if you manage to sleep and have nightmares, and if you wake up in the morning and feel exhausted, chances are that you have been visited by the Boo Hag. 

“Don’t let the Boo Hag ride ya.” 

That’s what you’ll often hear from people in South Carolina who will attach this expression with the common “good night”. Saying this after good night is supposed to ward off the mythical creature known as Boo Hag. 

So what kind of creature is the Boo Hag? 

A Boo Hag is akin to a vampire except instead of feeding on the victim’s blood, they feed on their energy by sitting on their chest at night. More often than not, the victim is lulled into a nightmare-filled sleep. However, if the victim wakes up, they will experience sleep paralysis or in the case, if they make even the slightest movement, the Boo Hag tears off their skin and wears them like clothes. 

A terrible thought, isn’t it? 

Derived from the Gullah culture, it is believed that a person has a soul and a spirit. While the soul ascends to heaven or descends to hell, the spirit does something else entirely. 

A good spirit stays back with their loved ones, always protecting them. A bad one turns into a Boo Hag who wants to do nothing but feed on the energy of victims and then fly out into the night to create chaos. 

But they do return before sunrise. That is when they must return into their skin. 

Yes, a Boo Hag is red in color and has blue veins all over, and looks like…well, a hag, but that is because it removes its own skin and hides it so that it can frighten its victims. 

Should the Boo Hag be unable to return to its skin by sunrise, it is immediately destroyed. 

While that is one way to defeat the Boo Hag it is better to avoid them altogether. 

Boo Hags, like most demons, hates salt. So using salt near windows and doors in one way. In the event the Boo Hag still manages to enter the house through a crack in the wall or a hole, then there is a way to distract the Boo Hag. 

Turns out the Boo Hag has a touch of OCD. Place a straw brush, a hair comb, or a sieve or colander, and the monstrous creature makes sure to count every single straw or hole in a colander. The Boo Hag just cannot help it. It takes so much time to count all the straw and the holes in a sieve, that the creature simply gives up trying to suck the energy out of her victims because guess what? It’s morning now and the creature took a long time to count. 

In the event, the Boo Hag still manages to enter the house, look for its skin that it hides, usually in a dark corner or under a staircase. Simply add salt and pepper to the skin and the Boo Hag will be unable to wear its own skin. And then of course, by sunrise, if it doesn’t enter, it is destroyed. 

But do not make the Boo Hag mad under any circumstances. Should the Boo Hag get angry, it will tear off the skin of the victim, wear it and escape. 

So make sure you have a comb or brush nearby when you sleep. This will ensure that you don’t get attacked by the Boo Hag. 

You do not want the Boo Hag to ride you, do you?