Nile Water Spirits (Nilotic Folk Belief)
Egyptian folk belief holds that spirits and jinn inhabit the Nile and its canals. The best-attested is El Naddaha ('the Caller'), a female, naiad-like spirit who appears near the river at night and calls men by name, hypnotizing and luring them to the water; the tradition was popular in 20th-century rural Egypt. Charms and caution protect fishermen and travellers from such spirits.