Ancient One/Näkk

In Estonian folklore, the Ancient One is a legendary creature said to inhabit the waters near the Baltic Sea. According to local tradition, a body of water in the Viitna region—known as the Black Lake—possessed an eerie quality: fishermen could stock it abundantly, yet their nets would yield nothing but waterlogged, decaying wood.

Year after year, the villagers watched their expected harvests vanish without explanation. Finally, the frustrated fishermen resolved to dredge the lake's depths to solve the mystery. The entire community gathered along the shore to witness what might surface.

When one boat's net snagged something substantial, the fishermen pulled up an extraordinary creature—a grotesque hybrid with features of both fish and some fur-covered beast. As they struggled to haul their catch toward land, the water began to churn. Waves swelled around the boat, growing increasingly violent until they towered above the vessel itself, threatening to capsize it entirely.

Gripped by terror as their boat teetered on the edge of disaster, the fishermen cut the net loose. The moment the creature and its netting sank back into the depths, the lake's surface turned mirror-smooth, as if the storm had never existed.

Since that day, no one dares to fish in the Black Lake.