Zwartmakers

Zwartmaker were a secret gang of thugs from 2 centuries ago. Just outside of Breda in the province of Noord Brabant laid the heather of Teteringen. Within this area used to be a haunted arrid piece of sandy soil where nothing would grow. Civilians spoke of gallow fields that used to be there some 200 years ago. It was back then when Breda played a big role in supporting Belgium in their uprising against Austria. A many weaponized patriots crossed the south border and circumstances were just right for a society of bandits to take rise and terrorize the area. They called themselves the zwartmakers.

Secret Society
Zwartmakers (translation: black-makers) were a secret society that struck fear in the hearts of people from the region. Their name was derived from the practice of blackening their own faces so as to become unrecognizable. They would even go as far as to mutilate the faces of their comrades if they happened to die on one of their missions. Word is that an anonymous civilian happened to find out the identity of a zwartmaker and told a judge in Breda. The suspect was captured to be tortured for more information and put on trial. As such, more members were tortured for information until they were all wiped out, including a farmer from Etten whom the authorities suspected to be the ringleader. Nobody knew for sure whether he was the actual head of the gang, but the zwartmakers did cease their activity.

The Haunting
The hanged zwartmakers have seemingly found peace in the afterlife. Ghostly figures had however appeared during stormy nights. They were reminiscent of the pompous judges who had prosecuted the many possibly innocent people all those years ago. Flashing their white teeth in a miserable grin and exposing their swollen tongues and chapped lips, their exclamations of lament were lost in the wind, only audible to dogs in the nearby area who'd howl at the realization that death was on the prowl. In the sandy drought where the gallows once stood is where they appeared from purgatory. With a little bit of luck, the direction of the wind would drag the lost souls to a nearby swamp where they could quench their thirst. This resulted in a vapor that looked very much like a forest fire.