Motif DA·M·0003
Theft from the dead
Stealing something from the dead provokes their return: a cautionary motif found in European legends and isolated by Bava in «La goccia d’acqua».
Folklore
Folktale classifications include numerous tale types in which the dead return to reclaim an object or body part that has been taken● DocumentedCorroborated by multiple reliable and independent sources.. The function is normative: the dead retain ownership of their belongings.
Cinema
In I tre volti della paura, a nurse slips a ring from the finger of a dead medium. The disproportion between offence and punishment is typical of cautionary legends¶ Editorial interpretationAn editorial reading, identified explicitly as interpretation..
Connections
4 direct connections · 31 further links. Dashed lines indicate weak or unproven links.
- Film
- Creature · ritual
- Motif
- Source
- Person
- Weak link
Creatures (2)
Films (1)
Black Sabbath
I tre volti della paura · Les Trois Visages de la peur
Beliefs & rituals (1)
Protections against the dead
Motifs (2)
The sound that announces the supernatural
The sound that announces the supernatural
- Vampires of Eastern Europe collection · via Revenant
- Vampire creature · via Revenant
- Historia rerum Anglicarum (William of Newburgh) source · via Revenant
- Vurdalak creature · via Revenant
- Mario Bava person · via Black Sabbath
- Boris Karloff person · via Black Sabbath
- American International Pictures person · via Black Sabbath
- La famiglia del Vurdalak source · via Black Sabbath
- A. K. Tolstoy person · via Black Sabbath
- Anton Chekhov person · via Black Sabbath
- Guy de Maupassant person · via Black Sabbath
- The family vampire motif · via Black Sabbath
- The vampire child motif · via Black Sabbath
- The threatening telephone motif · via Black Sabbath
- The threshold and invitation belief or ritual · via Black Sabbath
- Italian Gothic collection · via Black Sabbath
- Dubbing glossary · via Black Sabbath
- Censorship glossary · via Black Sabbath
- Alternate cut glossary · via Black Sabbath
- Literary adaptation glossary · via Black Sabbath
- I tre volti della paura vs Black Sabbath version · via Black Sabbath
- The Vurdalak, from folklore to cinema bloodline · via Black Sabbath
- Eastern Europe place · via Black Sabbath
- Rome place · via Black Sabbath
- Black Sunday film · via Black Sabbath
- Night of the Devils film · via Black Sabbath
- Black Sabbath (band) person · via Black Sabbath
- The Chekhov credit: a source that cannot be found journal · via Black Sabbath
- Why Dread Atlas begins with I tre volti della paura journal · via Black Sabbath
- Strigoi creature · via Protections against the dead
- Visum et Repertum source · via Protections against the dead
Revision history
- First draft.— Editorial team
How to cite this page
Redazione Dread Atlas, «Theft from the dead», Dread Atlas, Entry DA·M·0003, updated 19 September 2026. https://macabralia.com/en/motifs/furto-ai-morti/