A glass of water waits by the place of the last breath, covered with a clean towel. A bowl of flour sits beside it, and candles hide in the rafters. If the dead are thirsty, they will know where to drink.
In Bosnia, Slavonia, and the Drina country, people once prepared for company that could not knock. The first evening after burial, the soul returns to its old house, so the story goes. Families sweep and incense the rooms, set sweets on plates, then leave the window table ready: fresh water beneath a folded cloth, flour in a small dish, candles tucked into the beams. Some watch the water line in the morning. If the glass is lower, that is proof the visitor came and drank.
The living do not only host, they perform. On certain nights, especially Fridays, and on set days around Ramadan, homes are polished, lamps burn until dawn, and plates fill with baklava, gurabija, muhalebija, sutlija, halva, and honeyed pita. Charity is given in the name of the dead, and tempers are kept in check. If the house is joyful, the ancestors go back to the grave singing. If sorrow rules the room, they leave in tears.
What kind of ghost are we talking about
Folk speech makes fine distinctions. Harmless apparitions are utvora or sablast, imagined shapes that chill the spine and little else. The more feared visitors are true returners, the dead who come back with business. Some demand atonement for wrongs, some seek revenge on killers, some try to finish penance for their own sins, and a few are said to hunger for blood. Nightmares matter here. A single dream of a neighbor as a vampire was enough, in places like Kikinda, to justify a hawthorn stake for the corpse.
Household rules for a troublesome night
If you want to keep a restless spirit from crossing your threshold, change the stage set. Cover the mirrors near the body, since glimpsing the dead in glass can invite monthly visitations. Do not bury a person with the shoes they wore as they lay dying, or they will come home three times. Upend the board on which the body rested as soon as the funeral procession leaves, or the soul will return each night to rattle it. Do not sob at the back of the procession and keep turning around, or you will beckon the departed to follow you home.
Dogs and cats are credited with second sight. Keep a dog indoors, and his furious barking at the window can frighten a ghost away. Whistling at night is frowned upon, since it is said to call a dead companion who will ask to be carried to the grave. Taking grave goods is a very bad idea. Steal a coffin nail, and the soul attached to that nail will harry you until it is put back.
The man who made a living banishing ghosts
In Pleternica, people tell of Imro Koprivčević, an elder who gave up mending shoes because ghost work paid better. Families claimed that when the knocks and flying stones began, priests and masses sometimes could not help, but the banisher might. He told of an old woman in Suljkovci who came back the second day after burial, while the sun still shone, pelting rooms with stones and sending hot roof tiles through locked doors. He told of a binder who returned on the third night, overturning kitchens with thunder that left the crockery intact by morning. He told of a sexton near Samobor who had long stolen oil from the eternal lamp. After death, the man crawled through a church window at midnight to drink the oil dry, night after night, until a watchman rang the bell by accident and released him from his punishment.
Justice for the murdered
A wrongly killed person, people say, punishes not only the killer but the place. In one Slavonian tale, Savo is struck dead by Andrija. After the funeral, Savo prowls at night, throttles from the window ledge, and shrieks outside houses. Livestock panic. A miller is beaten senseless by invisible hands. The village empties in a wave of deaths, and only when Andrija leaves in ruin does the haunting settle.
Love that knocks from the grave
Yearning can summon, but usually not without craft. In a Drina-country story, a young woman’s dead betrothed returns at night on horseback and invites her to the wedding. He sings on the ride through the hills, the moon bright on the path. At the grave he tells her to step inside first. She stalls, hands him the end of a skein of thread, and keeps him unwinding until dawn. At first light he must go, and she lives.
Another loved story sends an angel to rouse a brother named Jovo so he can visit his sister for a single week. He refuses food and wine, grows uneasy at Sunday’s approach, and runs ahead at the cemetery gate. The earth closes over him. His sister reaches home and finds the family plots newly opened in a row. Joy can break a heart as quickly as grief, and a visit can be a mercy that hurts.
Sins that shine in the dark
Some punishments fit the fault. People who shift boundary stones are said to wander with candles along the wrong line until someone sets the markers right. Beekeepers who hide consecrated bread in the hives on All Saints’ Day, hoping for stronger swarms, are imagined to roam after death headless, carrying a flame.
A last look at the window table
Taken together, these scenes read like a manual for living with the dead. The customs cross confessions, with Muslim and Christian households sharing calendar nights, foods, and rules of conduct, even as the church sometimes tried to reroute the fear into prayers and masses. What endures is the intimacy. The dead are not abstract. They stand at the lintel, tip the glass, and watch how you speak to your wife. Keep the house bright, set out something sweet, and do not slam the door.
Frequently asked questions
Why do families leave a covered glass of water for the dead?
Hospitality for a visiting soul. The first evening after burial is treated as a homecoming. The towel keeps the vessel pure. Some households check the water line at dawn.
How are harmless apparitions different from true returners?
Harmless visions, called utvora or sablast, unsettle without acting. True returners have intent. They may demand justice, seek penance, or punish a household that wronged them.
What were common protective measures inside the house?
Cover mirrors near the deceased, remove shoes worn in the deathbed, upend the bier board after the procession leaves, keep a dog indoors, avoid whistling at night, and never steal from a grave.
Do these tales connect to vampire lore?
Yes, at the edges. A dream or rumor could label someone a vampire, which could trigger hawthorn staking. Most returners behave as poltergeists or moral enforcers rather than blood drinkers.
Are these practices Christian or Muslim?
Both traditions appear. Many customs are shared across neighbors. Some narratives lean on church rites like memorial masses, others follow Ramadan calendars and mosque candle offerings.
Who banished ghosts in these stories?
Specialists existed. One famed figure in Pleternica made a livelihood by binding or dismissing troublesome spirits when prayer and masses were said to fail.
