Plague Hag Pesta Swept Villages

In Northern European folklore, the Black Death was personified as Pesta, an old, bent woman dressed in a black hood and carrying a rake and broom. Norwegians believed that when she used the rake, some people would survive by slipping between its teeth. When Pesta used the broom, however, she swept away the entire population of the area, and Norwegian artist Theodor Kittelsen later depicted this plague-hag in his work.

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