I was walking through the forest, coming home from a late night out working. I had just a torch to light my path, but it was just enough that I caught a glimpse of something white and unusual above me. I looked up and there it was, a man's head, staring at me with open, soulless eyes, no body to be found. I ran, I ran for my life and for everything I hold dear, and I told the whole town about it the next day in warning. Some people went to search for it, but it was never found.
A tale is told of the floating head - or as other may call it, the Boverin. Coming by night, lurking in doorways, the Boverin is said to wait and watch for anyone to step outside past dark. If it sees someone walk through a doorway after dark, it will follow them, silent as a whisper. It will not do anything, only watch, unless the person steps out of three doorways in total that night, in which case it will approach the person and ask them why they are so restless. An apology and bow is said to pacify it, but any other answer will anger it, and it's said the person will never be found again. What the floating head does, no one knows.
From this tale, it is said to be bad luck to exit the house three times in a night. In addition, parents will often use the story of the Boverin to frighten children into staying indoors after dark. Parents will often point to eerie or unusual outside noises as its cry, further reinforcing their attempt at keeping their children safe.
Descriptions of the floating head vary widely, often only consistent in the head with no body floating around. It is sometimes said to have stringy black hair, sometimes ghostly white. Pointy teeth, empty eye sockets, or glowing red/black eyes are common characteristics as well, and the face itself may appear to have wrinkled skin or the skin stretched too tight. Some people have claimed to see blood dripping from a severed neck.
Some people speculate the myth may have started when someone spotted what appeared to be a man's disembodied head stuck in a tree, possibly the remnants of a large predator's meal.
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