Traditional folk beliefs on epilepsy in Norway and Sweden.

In Norway and Sweden, epilepsy has for many centuries been considered a strange and mysterious disease. The explanations of its causes have been many and imaginative. One being that epilepsy was caused by the hidden people inhabiting the woods and the mountains. To avoid the disease, these hidden people should not be annoyed. One commonly used treatment principle was to try to place the disease back to the ground, or passing the diseased through a hole or an opening in the nature. Fresh blood from criminals was also considered to have strong antiepileptic properties. In the Scandinavian countries, some of these folk beliefs have been very tenacious.