Mare
The Mare (Danish: Maren) is the Danish nightmare spirit, a female being who sits on sleepers' chests and presses the breath from them, causing the terror known as mareridt. She can appear as a cat, owl, horse or straw, braids marelokker into manes and hair, and is warded off with steel, reversed shoes, a marekors carved over the door, or scattered flax seeds she must first count.