The Bannik, the Spirit of the Bathhouse
In old Russia, every bathhouse had a spirit living behind the stove. Wash in the wrong order, or at the wrong time, and he might scald you, or worse.
What was reported
In Russian and Slavic folklore, the bannik is the spirit who lives in the banya, the steam bathhouse found beside village homes. He's usually imagined as a small, wizened old man with long hair and nails, hiding under the bench or behind the stove.
People left him soap, water and a little fir branch after bathing, and avoided bathing too late at night, which was his time. If he was angered, he could pour boiling water on bathers or suffocate them with steam. Young women sometimes asked him to tell their future, by putting their backs to the bathhouse door.
Explanations offered
The bathhouse was a place of births, healing and rituals in Slavic villages, but also of real dangers like burns and fumes from the stove. The bannik gave those dangers a face. He's related to other household spirits, like the domovoy.
- When
- Told for centuries
- Where
- Rural Russia
- Witnesses
- Slavic folklore
- Status
- Folklore
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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