Local drownings are said to be the work of the vodyanoy (or rusalkas).

When angered, the vodyanoy breaks dams, washes down water mills, and drowns people and animals.

Other creatures in the books derived from Slavic folklore include Bannik, Leshy and a Vodyanoy.

A Vodyanoy (also wodnik, vodník, vodnik, vodenjak) is a male water spirit akin to the Germanic Neck.

Examples of such spirits are Domovoi, Rusalka, Vila, Kikimora, Poludnitsa, and Vodyanoy.

It is highly similar to the Dutch folklore figure Haantje Pik, the Slavic water spirit Vodyanoy, and the German water spirit Hastrman.

The company's core optical technology was invented by Dr. Vitaly Vodyanoy, Physiology Professor and Director of the Biosensor Laboratory at Auburn University.

Russian mythology holds that the pike is one of several forms assumed by evil water spirits called vodyanoy, and a ravenous mythical pike is traditionally blamed for decimating the fish population in the Sheksna River.

It was based on a story from The Glory of Carniola, about a dance at Old Square in Ljubljana in July 1574, when Urška Šefer was enchanted by a vodyanoy and tugged to the Ljubljanica.