[expand]
Not all sacred wells were benevolent. Some were hungry, dangerous, death-dealing.
The Drowning Wells:
Certain wells were known for claiming lives. People who approached them carelessly would slip, fall, and drown—even in shallow water. These were not accidents but the well claiming payment.
The wells that demanded drowning were often connected to ancient sacrificial practices. Before Christianity, some wells received human sacrifices—criminals, war prisoners, volunteers. The well accepted the blood, the death, the life-force. And centuries later, even without deliberate sacrifice, the wells remembered. They remained hungry.
The Cursing Wells:
Some wells could be used for cursing enemies. The process was inversion of the blessing ritual. The curser would approach the well, name their enemy, and drop an object representing that person (a nail, a piece of their clothing, something with their name inscribed). The well would carry the curse to the Otherworld, where it would be enacted.
This was dangerous magic. Cursing someone unjustly brought the curse back on the curser threefold. But a legitimate curse—revenge for murder, response to betrayal, justice for unpunished crime—the well would honor.
The Forbidden Wells:
A few wells were simply forbidden—off-limits to everyone, guarded by taboos so strong that even approaching was death. These wells led directly to the Otherworld’s darkest regions. To drink from them brought madness. To peer into their depths showed visions that shattered sanity.
Folk memory preserved stories of people who violated the taboo. They went mad, tore out their eyes, drowned themselves in the forbidden well. The well demanded absolute respect, and when that respect failed, the well took what it required.
[/expand]