In September 2019, a video was posted to the Serbia Today YouTube channel showing a mysterious woman dancing in the streets under a full moon. They described her dancing as "similar to the movements of Serbian folklore," and viewers couldn’t help but feel a supernatural aura around her.

As time went on, other people began sharing videos of the mysterious woman to TikTok, but with a sinister twist: If seen, she would chase the person down with a knife. The legend of the dancing Serbian woman began to grow, and people had theories. “If you make noise she will chase you until you die,” one person commented on a TikTok. “It’s an urban legend.”

While some videos of the dancing woman are obviously staged by pranksters, what remains is still enough to scare anyone who comes across her. “I’m definitely not sleeping facing the wall anymore,” one person commented. “I feel like this is the Serbian version of Ghostface,” someone else theorized, “where pretty much anyone can take on the mantle.”

@aatec13 be careful guys #serbia #dancingladyserbia #horror #zvezdara ♬ Creepy and simple horror background music(1070744) - howlingindicator

@nika.elez Odgovori @Messi goat PART 2!!!!! Scared the sh!t out of us!! #serbiandancinglady #part2 #update #beograd #zvezdara #niš #scary #horror ♬ Spooky, quiet, scary atmosphere piano songs - Skittlegirl Sound

While the dancing Serbian woman is undoubtedly a creepy visual, it is hard to believe that she is anything other than a collection of real women and pranksters. When the creepy clowns of 2016 took over Twitter, nobody believed that they were anything other than real people.

@experloee only in serbia dawg ☠️ #serbia #serbiandancinglady #myth #proof #news #recentnews #geopolitics #story #fyp #foryou #creepy #horrorstory #dance #emote ♬ Creepy horror ambient(1022762) - howlingindicator

Last year’s giant sightings in Mexico prove that people will often turn towards the supernatural to explain anything that doesn’t look right, even when there are more logical answers. Still, I’d rather not run into a dancing woman the next time I’m alone at night in Serbia.