Troll cat

Lore & Background

Troll cats were reportedly created by witches from materials such as human hair, nails, and wood shavings. They would suck milk from cows and spit it into the witches' milk pails, and also enter homes to lick up cream. The ball-shaped troll cat resembled a ball of yarn, while another kind looked like an ordinary cat; harming the cat-shaped one would cause the same harm to the witch. Shooting a troll cat was thought to make milk spray from its wound. The troll cat had to be buried with the witch, or the witch would leave her grave to retrieve it.

Reader's Guide

The troll cat holds significance in Scandinavian folklore as an explanation for unexplained milk loss and as a symbol of witchcraft. Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, a scholar of Norwegian folklore, retold a story where Gypsies exploited farmers' beliefs by stealing milk and blaming troll cats, making it believable by digging up a buried bladder filled with red water inside a cat-skin. Norwegian novelist Johan Bojer recalled an incident from 1914 where his illness was blamed on a troll cat sicced on him by a local woman. The belief in troll cats may have arisen from observations of matter regurgitated by cattle, slime mold, or spittle bug foam, and has also been linked to the Norwegian Forest Cat. A related creature, the tilberi, plays a similar role in Icelandic folklore.

Did You Know?

• Troll cats could be created from human hair, nails, and wood shavings.
• Shooting a troll cat was believed to cause milk to spray from its wound.
• The slime mold Fuligo septica and spittle bug foam were seen as troll cat droppings.