Douens
A little kids nightmare is one way you can describe a Douen but adults, especially parents, fear this entity as well since this particular creature are known to take your children away.
Douens are the spirits of children who died before they were baptized or christened, lost and doomed to exist as undead creatures who roam the forests. They are described mainly as naked children, sometimes wearing a banana leaf or pieces of cloth on their lower half, about three feet in height. They are said to have featureless faces with a tiny mouth which is hidden under a huge straw hat which makes it hard for you to tell that it is not an ordinary child until you get too close. The most identifiable feature of a Douen is their feet that are turn backwards.
Based on popular beliefs, Douens are malicious creatures who lure children deep into the forests away from their homes by calling their names. Therefore, it is said that you must not call children's names loudly in wide open spaces because of fear that a Douen will steal the name and call the child. When the children are lost, they leave them to wander, however there have been stories where the child who was lured by Douens was taken cared by them. They are also said to be assistants to Papa Bois, who they lead to injured or trapped animals and mimic animal sounds to throw hunters off track. Surviving off cultivated gardens, they are reputed to have a fondness for water crabs and in some instances come near people's houses crying and whimpering as well as knocking on doors and asking the residents of the house to be their parents.
There have been many adaptations of this folklore character and its story, for example in the midnight robber stories they are described as deformed toddlers covered in boils. I have also come across this entity being used in the Syfy series Haven, season 4 Lost and Found.
To release a Douen from its current state, sprinkling them with holy water and reciting the baptismal prayer is said to do the trick. Considering I have no idea how to even begin the prayer, I'm just going to stick with running in the opposite direction.
