Beldams

Beldams are old women or female creatures, particularly an ugly, or scary, one, believed to be evil and who enjoys casual child abuse. They are also considered a form of witch that specialize in causing resentment and white lies to give people false impressions like in prophecies or in people's minds. It must be noted that "Beldam" sounds similat to the French "Belle Dame" (Beautiful Lady) which they obviously are not.

The word has also been used to describe several antagonists in fiction, most famous of which is arguably the Other Mother from the book Coraline and its subsequent feature film.