From the “Comte Mal” on his fiery horse to demons and witches, Mallorca has no shortage of homegrown horrors for this spooky season. As we prepare for Halloween and All Saints’ Day, we ask: what, traditionally, scared the Mallorcan population as they huddled around the stove on a pitch-black winter’s night?

First up is the Comte Mal, the accursed, wicked count. He’s a tortured fiend, engulfed in flames atop a smoldering steed, condemned to wander the hills and valleys of Mallorca after a dissolute life of sin and seducing nuns. Then there are mermaids—sultry sirens of the deep — whose charms you’ll fall for at your peril. There’s the dimoni, the horned beast, plus covens of witches and a bewildering array of little people who dwell in streams, woods, and caves and who, should you be lucky enough to capture one, will work for you until released.

But one terrifying being belongs not to the other world but to a watery realm where danger lurks. Meet, if you dare, the Dones d’Aigo, or ladies of the waters. Water is a precious resource on the island of Mallorca, carefully managed through networks of channels and sluices that guide their cargo to deep, dark cisterns beneath houses and courtyards.

And there, in this dank underworld, dwell nymph-like creatures. Renowned for their uncanny, otherworldly beauty, these creatures can be found by springs, ponds, grottos, and cisterns, often emerging to sing their siren songs as they gaze at their reflection in the water. It’s said that a man who sees one will immediately fall in love, compelled to follow her into the eerie depths, renouncing this world.

But not all rely on their physical charms. One of Mallorca’s more famous nymphs is called na Maria Enganxa, who resides in deep wells and cisterns. If any mortal is so foolish as to peer in, she’ll quickly emerge with a cruel hook to drag him down to her aqueous domain.

Others are more inclined to seek out human company on land. Stories are told of wastrel bachelors staggering home to their meager abodes — only to find everything spick and span. Likely, a water nymph has been at work. If you stay up and wait in hiding, you may see her emerge from a nearby well to tackle earthly chores. There are tales of happy endings—even marriage — but if the husband ever mentions the true nature of his wife, she will rush back to her well, never to be seen again.

On the road from Santa Maria to Sencelles, just before Ses Alqueries on the right, there’s a cistern that, legend has it, is home to one such dona d’aigo. If one approaches carefully, it’s said that an eerie drip-drip-drip sound can be heard: the nymph within.

So as you wander the streets and fields of Mallorca this Halloween, keep your ears open for the soft sounds of water, and be cautious when passing wells and cisterns. You never know when you might encounter one of these beautiful but dangerous spirits. After all, on an island as rich in history and legend as Mallorca, the lines between myth and reality often blur, especially when the moon is high and the wind carries with it the whispers of the dones d’aigo.