Ankou

In Breton tradition, the Ankou is the servitor of Death — the last person to die in a given parish at year's end becomes the Ankou for the following year, collecting the dead in his creaking cart (the Karrig an Ankou) until his year of service is up. He carries a scythe turned backward, with which he harvests the living. The sound of the cart's squeaking axle heard at night was one of the most feared omens in Breton culture.

A tall, gaunt figure in a dark hat and cloak, driving a cart pulled by one or two thin horses. Sometimes depicted as a skeleton, sometimes as an extremely thin, pale man. He holds a scythe with the blade facing backward. His head turns fully around on his neck.

Collected the souls of the dying and the newly dead. His cart's squeak heard outside a house meant a death was imminent there. He could not be resisted or bargained with. His scythe could cut the thread of life.