Did You Know…About the Skoffín?

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death gaze, demon harriers, did you know, hybrid creature, Icelandic lore, Icelandic myth, silver bullets, Skoffin, skuggabaldur

Sometimes fathered by a fox and mothered by a cat and occasionally born from an old hen’s small egg, the skoffín were often killed at birth. The creature is not quite a cat nor a fox, not quite wild nor tame, kind of human but also animal, and extremely dangerous. They are cunning and cruel, often referred to as the “demon harriers.”

Skoffín are partly bald with impressive teeth and claws. They change color with the seasons like an Artic fox, and its exact appearance varies. Born with their eyes open, they disappear quickly after birth and don’t return for up to three years, when they feast on nearby animals. Most are killed at birth because they’re not easy to kill once they reach maturity.

Keeping them under control in the wild is impossible. They are deadly to approach. Meeting their gaze would instantly kill both man and animal. Worse, some stories say that you were dead if they saw you, whether you saw them or not. The skoffín are intrinsically abhorrent and spiteful, and they wet their appetite for destruction by killing.

They are capable of moving in the day and night and are clever enough to hide on church roofs. It once killed people one by one as they left. The priest was smart enough to tie a mirror onto a long stick to kill the beast with its own gaze.

The skoffín is closely related to the skuggabaldur, which are fathered by a tom cat and mothered by a vixen. It is a bit more dangerous and can outsmart a human if it wanted. Should you encounter a skoffín in rural Iceland, try averting its gaze as long as possible and run, and showing a skoffín its reflection is the only way to guarantee its death. You might also try firing silver bullets at it, and carving a cross on them helps.

 

 

Sources:

https://blogs.transparent.com/icelandic/2012/10/18/dont-let-them-see-you/

https://grapevine.is/mag/articles/2008/09/03/more-monsters-and-mythical-beings-skoffin/

https://icelanddefrosted.com/2013/04/13/mythical-icelandic-creatures-skoffin/

https://www.mythicalcreaturescatalogue.com/single-post/2016/06/05/Skoff%C3%ADn-Iceland