Kikimora

Kikimora (Russian: кики́мора; IPA: [kʲɪˈkʲimərə]) is a legendary creature, a female house spirit in Slavic (especially Eastern) mythology. Her role in the house is usually juxtaposed with that of the domovoy, whereas one of them is considered a "bad" spirit, and the other, a "good" one. When the kikimora inhabits a house, she lives behind the stove or in the cellar, and usually produces noises similar to those made by the mice in order to obtain food. Kikimory (in plural) were the first traditional explanation for sleep paralysis in Russian folklore.

The word kikimora may have derived from Udmurt (Finn-Ugric) word kikka-murt, meaning scarecrow (literally bag-made person), although other etymological hypotheses also exist. The OED links mora with the mare of nightmare; moreover, inconclusive linguistic evidence suggests that the French word cauchemar might have also derived from the same root.

In Polish folklore, mora are the souls of living people that leave the body during the night, and are seen as wisps of straw or hair or as moths. Accordingly, Polish mora, Czech můra denote both a kind of elf or spirit as well as a "sphinx moth" or "night butterfly". Other Slavic languages with cognates that have the double meaning of moth are: Kashubian mòra, and Slovak mora.

...
Wikipedia