As every European country has its own set of traditions related to the way life evolves after death, the Romanians also have their own folkloric superstitions about ghosts and undead entities.

According to Romanian traditions, there are several kinds of ghosts, dependant on the way a person died. The first kind is represented by the ”building sacrifices”. This is a common superstition to many South-Eastern European populations, according to which no construction can be finished until a sacrifice is performed. Among other variants, this superstition generated the beautiful legend of the master mason Manole, who had to sacrifice his own wife, in order for the Monastery of Arges to be completed.
A related ceremonial is that consisting in taking or stealing a man’s shade and burying it at a building’s foundation. The master mason measures the shade, preferably belonging to persons bearing names like Oprea (derived from a Romanian word meaning “to stop”) or Stan, Stanca, Stana (derived from a Romanian word meaning “to stay”) with a reed and then he walls it. The consequences were fatal to that whose shade has been stolen – he or she died at maximum 40 days after the ceremonial. The masons’ bad reputation was enforced by some cases of illnesses and deaths of people accusing they were victims of the “stealing the shade” practice. Today, the humans were replaced by animals as sacrifices for the successful completion of a building.
In some areas, the oldest in the family used to step on the threshold of the new house first, because it was said that the first person to enter in a newly constructed building would die within a year and he or she would become a ghost, a guardian spirit of the house.
The friendly ghosts are said to get out every night, just after the roosters announce the midnight, in order to patrol their houses. When the night is over they return to the place they or their shade has been buried. Usually, the ghosts do not reveal themselves and do not disturb those living in the house, but they appear in front of the strangers who mean harm and scare them away; they also fight other evil spirits who try to destroy the house.
There are places where even the friendly ghosts enter the house and make noise so the owners give them food offerings, consisting in bread, boiled corn and salt.
A different kind of ghosts is represented by those who were victims of violent deaths: drowning, thunderstruck, murder and hanging, especially. These ghosts are generally aggressive with everyone, because they have been condemned to roam through unwanted spaces (inns, isolated roads or mills). There are also vengeful ghosts who came from people who suffered injustices, sinned and were not forgiven during lifetime, were victims of evil charms or they were people who were buried inappropriately.
The wandering ghosts have the same social needs as the living. They gather to have council and throw parties in places people usually avoid, in order not to be disturbed: graveyards, mills, ruins or deserted houses. If these meeting places are destroyed or moved, the ghosts scatter and seek revenge. These ghosts can be seen, but they cannot be touched; they resemble living humans, but they wear white, red or black garments. Mostly, the ghosts just give people a scare, but sometimes they can make them trip, get dizzy or they can even kill a living. That is why, when passing by a haunted place and seeing a ghost, one should cross himself, not look at it and not speak to it.
The holiday of Saint Andrew, celebrated on the 30th of November is a moment related to the Romanian ghost superstitions. During the night before the holiday, it is said that “strigoii” (ghosts with vampire features) came out, attack the animals, steal the men’s virility and play with the beasts (especially wolves, as this superstition related to Saint Andrew dates from pagan times, when this animal was the most important in the Dacian bestiary). The people try to prevent the nefarious actions of the “strigoi” by making great use of the garlic’s protective properties.