File No. 424 of 446
Gjenganger
Also called: genganger, gengångare, attergangar, gjenferd, genfærd
The gjenganger is the walking dead of Norwegian, Danish and Swedish folk belief and the direct heir of the saga draugr. Early accounts make it a solid, violent corpse that torments its own family; later ones turn it into a carrier of sickness whose pinch leaves a mark that spreads to the heart. Burial customs across Scandinavia were designed to keep it in the grave. Its slow change from corpse to ghost tracks the wider European retreat of belief in the bodily dead.12
Origin
Scandinavian
Norway, Denmark, SwedenWhat causes it
A bad death or burial
A violent or unfinished death leaves the person unable to rest.How you become one
Murder victims, murderers, suicides and people who left something undone were expected to return.
Intelligence
Some intelligence
Weak spots
- the sign of the cross painted or carved on the house
- Christian prayers and crucifixes
- carrying the coffin three times round the church before burial
field notes
What the sources say
Sources
Every fact on this page comes from these sources, written in our own words. Spotted a mistake? Tell us at hello@zombiewiki.app.
Draugr
Asvith
Haugbúi
Hjaðningavíg
Kárr the Old
Sea draug
Ghoul
Pocong
Ro-langs
Toyol
Xiangxi walking corpses
Condenado