195036-VAESEN - SKELFLYTTER (Eng)

Skelflytter
A ghastly monster from the Scandinavian folklore to haunt

your game of Vaesen by Morten Greis
SKELFLYTTER – Fence Ghast
"Strange things are abound. Once, when I was a young man and served as a farmhand at one the larger farms near Esrum, I
heard one evening as I was one my way home from a party a frightening sound. It sounded like someone in a dire need. His
moaning was so terrifying I felt a cold sweat all our and I ran as fast as I could. For I dared not meet the skelflytter."
The skelflytter – whose name means ’fence post mover’ Exemples of Conflicts
and who might be called Fence Ghast in English is a
• At Kammelåse in Norway haunts not just one
tragic figure. They are cursed to haunt fields and lands,
but two skelflyttere or deildegaster, as two
where he or she while alive stole lands by moving fence greedy farmers tried to steal land from each
posts between their and their neighbor’s land. In the other. They caught each other red-handed
middle of the night their terrifying moaning can heart, and with axes they cleaved each other’s head.
and it fills most people with a great fright, so only the The two fence ghasts haunts simultaneously
very few as seen one. Some skelfyttere (or fence ghasts) and yells at each other, so no-one can
understand, what they say.
can be heart calling out: “Where should I put it? Where
• In Denmark near Tjele is a night plower
should I place the fence post?”.
(natpløjer – as those fence ghasts are known,
The Skelflytter is a ghost, that attempts to undo who mainly focuses on ploughing) haunting
their misdeed and it does so by forcing the living to do near a well-traveled road, and it often
its work. The fence ghasts are commonly invisible to happens that he with his chains and plow
regular people, unless they wish to be seen, where they captures travelers by night and force them to
will then appear as horrendous versions of their work until dawn. The locals have on several
occasions appealed to the local lord on
former selves.
Hougaard asking for the ghost to be banished,
Some fence ghasts plough the land, they have
but the landowner hates the deceased with all
stolen. At night they take the farms plow and they of his heart and wants to force him to remain
plough the land by their own force, and if they meet the a ghost thus refusing to restore the old
living, they will force them to do pull the plough for boundary.
them – often by possessing them. In some cases, the • On Gotland haunts a skelflytter, who every
fence ghast is a deceased surveyor, who swindled with new year’s eve ploughs up the main street
near Romakloster, as his land theft only is
the measurements during ‘udskiftningen’ – a period in
applicable from new year’s night until dawn
Danish history where farms where ‘shiftet’ from their due to the curious landownership – none the
place in villages with communal lands to the less, the locals would like to not have their
countryside reorganizing the farmland; it took place main street ploughed up every new year’s
from ca. mid 1700s to late 1800s with the main changes eve.
happening from 1770-1810 – so that the farners would
not get their due land from the village or the local lord. Secret
Skelflyttere or fence ghasts can be tied to their A fence ghast can be made harmless by planting a
grave by hammering a pole, perferably hawthorn and hawthorn on their grave. As long as the hawthorns
preferably blessed, into the grave, and as long as it grows, the fence ghast is bound to its grave.
lasts, the ghost is trapped inside the grave. Once the
wood rots away, the revenant is free to return.
In Denmark and Sweden, they are known as Characteristics
skelflyttere. In Norway they are called deildegaster.
• Might – Body Control –
• Magic 8 Manipulation 4 Fear 2
Ritual
The only way to finally defeat a skelflytter is to undo Magical Powers
their misdeed and return the fence posts, the border • Enchant
stones or markers back to their right positions. • Curse
• Cannot be harmed in combat
Skelflyttere can temporarily be stopped by hammering • Terrifying Moaning (Fear 1)
• Possession (victim is possessed until dawn and
a pole into their grave. Hawthorn works best, and it is
forced to work themselves to death)
better, if it is blessed. • Weakness: Bound to grave by hawthorn
This product was created under license.
Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying and
its logo, are trademarks of Fria Ligan AB.
This work contains material that is

copyright Fria Ligan AB and/or other
authors. Such material is used with
permission under the Community Content
Agreement for Free League Workshop.
All other original material in this work is

copyright 2020 by Morten Greis and
published under the Community Content
Agreement for Free League Workshop.

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Skelflytter

A ghastly monster from the Scandinavian folklore to haunt

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