Mullo

Descriptions of the Mullo vary by telling, but it is generally imagined as retaining the appearance of the deceased, sometimes described as unnaturally pale or missing a finger or other body part, a detail folklorists have connected to funerary practices meant to prevent the dead from rising.

In Romani folklore, the Mullo is the restless dead returning to enforce unfinished obligations, a revenant whose grievances over improper burial or unavenged wrongs pull it back among the living.

The Mullo is most often reported visiting at night and returning to the grave or resting place by dawn.

In some tellings the Mullo is invisible or only sensed as a presence, while in others it can appear solid enough to be mistaken for the living person, even returning to a former spouse or continuing domestic and, in some tellings, sexual relations with a surviving partner.

Romani funerary custom includes specific protective measures against a Mullo's return, such as correctly washing and dressing the corpse, leaving grave goods and food offerings, avoiding speaking the deceased's name carelessly, and in some tellings driving a stake through the corpse or breaking its legs before burial to prevent it from walking.

In some tellings it drains vitality from the living, causing wasting sickness in those it visits repeatedly, which links the Mullo to broader European revenant and vampire traditions.