The Plague Maiden (Polish: Morowa dziewica a.k.a. The Maid of Pestilence), is the name given to an apparition from a Lithuanian-Polish folktale. She was said to appear before a plague befell a town.[1] She is often described as waving a red handkerchief through victim's doors, either because it is dyed that way or because it is soaked with blood.[1][2] Some folktales say that she wears white and has a fiery wreath across her temples.[2] A popular ballad told the tale of a man who killed the plague maiden using a sword inscribed with the names of Jesus and the Virgin Mary and stole her handkerchief.[1][3] At the end of the ballad, though the man and his family die, their town is never again touched by plague.[1] The red handkerchief was supposedly kept at the town church, but the location is never named.[4]
