We all heard the stories from the village, from our grandparents or our neighbors about the evil spirits, the zombies that rise from the grave and haunt the darkened streets, those horror stories from around the camp fire that scare us half to death and make us afraid to sleep with the lights off. But just how much do we really know about these stories? Who or what are these moroi?

People often mistaken the notion of moroi with strigoi, but there are slight differences between them. At the Serbians, the term strigoi corresponds to the notion of a vampire, while the moroi would be unholy spirits that come in the middle of the nights, setting themselves on a person’s chest, pressing on it.

Many think that the moroi are actually the souls of children who weren’t baptized before they’re untimely death. They say that after 7 years since their burial, they rise from their graves at night, walking the earth, yelling “baptism”, hoping that someone would hear them, and would say the baptism formula, thus saving them and giving them the peace they so longed for. But if no one is able to hear them, they begin to “wander the earth to the misfortune of people, flying trough the air or walking on the ground” (Sbiera).

In all the country’s regions there are variations of the myth of the moroi, why do they appear, what damage they can cause, and how you can defend yourself from them or get rid of them. Thus, in Bucovina, if anyone hears shouts of “Christian! Christian!” or “Cross! Cross!”, that person must rip something from his clothing, preferably white, and throw it by saying: “If you’re a boy, be your name John, and if you’re a girl, Maria!”. In Oltenia, it is thought that if during a person’s lifetime, he or she was mean, or has treated people badly, then he/she becomes a moroi after death. To prevent this from happening, before being taken to the graveyard, the dead must be thrusted with a needle in the belly button or with nails.

To know if a grave is hosting a moroi, they say you can test it with the help of a stallion, preferably black. If he refuses to jump over or to cross the grave, then the dead inside has transformed into a moroi, and the necessary measures must be taken to get rid of it before it causes damage to the village or hurts the villagers. However, if the stallion has to problem crossing over the grave, then it means that everything is alright, and the soul can rest in peace.

The belief in moroi and strigoi is spread throughout the villagers and especially among the elders, who are ready with all the incantations, charms, spells, remedies and prayers to help protect themselves and most of all their loved ones from the malice of the spirits that haunt the Romanian grounds.