Doht is one of the most frequently mentioned beings in Assamese folklore. According to popular belief, it inhabits marshes, overgrown ponds, slow-moving rivers, and other damp places teeming with mosquitoes and concealed by dense vegetation. Thickets of tall bamboo along the water’s edge often serve as its dwelling. It is said that if you notice a sudden movement or trembling in bamboo branches, it means the doht living there is trying to frighten you away.

In appearance, dohts are pitch-black, extremely tall and emaciated humanoids, reaching five to six meters (16-20 feet) in height. Their seemingly withered bodies are covered with a sticky, oily, slippery substance, making them nearly impossible to grasp or knock down. Particularly striking are their unnaturally elongated fingers and toes, tipped with equally long, spike-like claws. Their heads are crowned with a mass of long, tangled, unkempt hair. Males are usually depicted as naked, while females may sometimes be dressed in tattered rags.

Dohts are fond of fish and sometimes steal it from fishing nets or even sneak up behind a person to quietly pull the catch from their bag. They also feed on mollusks and the cocoons of Assamese silkworms, which they consider a delicacy.

Dohts typically live in family groups, though it is also said that males may abduct human women and consort with them. The offspring of such unions are believed to bear distinctive physical abnormalities, such as disproportionately long and weak limbs, strange markings in the form of spots or stripes on the skin of the arms, or curly or reddish hair.

A dôt visited a Brahmin girl in the form of her lover and eloped with her. In course of time she became the mother of two children by the dôt. A little before the birth of the third child the woman asked him to procure her a fish from a certain distant place as she desired to eat one. The dôt set out to get the fish, and meantime the woman with her sons, seizing this opportunity of her spirit-husband’s absence, hastened to her parents’ home. The dôt returned with a fish, but found no one in his house. He traced the woman to her parent’s house, the fish still in his hand. He got on the roof, made an opening and dropped the fish through saying: — “Take it, inconstancy thy nature”. Then he retraced his steps homewards. The limbs of this woman’s sons were sluggish and bore long streaks all over like those of a spirit (1636: p.28-29, #10).

Nevertheless, all dohts are to varying degrees hostile toward humans. Known for their cunning and deceit, they lure people into remote places, leading them astray through various tricks, often assuming the form of a familiar person. A doht may persuade its victim to go to the water — for example, to check a fishing trap — before suddenly attacking. It usually does not kill outright, preferring instead to brutally beat its victim, choke them, or force their head into the mud. Only in rare cases does such an encounter end in death. Folklore also notes that a doht tends to refrain from violence in the presence of its wife, but when alone and away from its family, it becomes especially dangerous and merciless.

The supernatural nature of the doht is evident in its ability to change shape and assume human form; in this guise, it may even visit markets, whether to make purchases or to abduct women. Its ability to grow in size can terrify a victim into shock, after which the doht may possess them. Its strength is immense, and its slippery body makes it nearly invulnerable to physical resistance. Despite all this, dohts have several weaknesses. Like many other spirits, they fear mustard seeds, fire, and iron. To ward them off, fishermen wear steel fishing hooks strung on a cord around their necks.

The dôt fears a fish-hook. Once as a dôt was trying to eat a fish out of a bag carried by a man on his back he got entangled in the fishing line and the hook pierced his belly. The dôt being thus enslaved obtained release by abject entreaties (1636: p.29, #11).

Above all, the doht’s fear of mustard seeds is considered especially strong, which explains their use in various exorcistic rituals. Moreover, dohts are unable to harm a righteous person.

A particularly important element in beliefs about dohts (as well as baaks) is the peculiar source of their supernatural power — a small round bag they carry under their arm. Made of a magical black mesh-like material, it resembles an ordinary pouch used for storing betel. If a person manages to seize this bag and hide it, especially among mustard seeds, the doht loses its powers and becomes a submissive servant, forced to carry out any task ordered by its master. However, it will constantly attempt to recover its talisman, and once it succeeds, it immediately regains its former strength and escapes (1533; 1606; 1636: p.2-4):

Two brothers were out in a boat fishing in a river. The younger brother held the net at the bow, while the elder sat at the helm. A dôt came, killed the elder brother, himself assumed his shape and steered the boat as before, the younger brother having no knowledge whatever of the ghostly interference. Many fishes were caught by the younger brother and deposited in the boat, but these the dôt kept on eating secretly all the while. The younger brother noticed the low level of the fish, and realised that something had happened to his brother. But he very prudently went on as if nothing had happened. The dôt was outwitted. He took the man for a simpleton, and putting confidence in him handed over his spectral bag to him for custody. Taking the bag in his hand the younger brother said to the dôt, “You are at my mercy, you miserable wretch!”

The man thought within himself that it would not be wise to give out the melancholy news of his brother’s death, especially when he could manage to make the spirit pass for his brother. So he and the spirit went home together and lived peaceably as brothers, none else having the slightest inkling of what had taken place. The younger brother kept the spectral bag in a mustard barn. Time passed, and the spirit kept on trying all sorts of means to obtain the bag if possible. At last it so happened that the younger brother attended a mel at a distance. The dôt also started for the mel, but hurried back to the home and said to his victim’s mother: — “The bag! The bag! The bag in the mustard barn. Plenty of coins in the mel. Well, where’s the place for them?”

The simple mother took him at his word and gave him the bag. The dôt took the bag, became himself again, and proceeded to the woods. The younger brother returned from the mel. His mother said, “Where is your brother? I gave him the bag that was in the mustard barn.” Her son sighed a deep sigh and said, “Know, poor mother, your eldest son died the moment you gave up the bag.” So saying he recounted the sad incident of his brother’s death from start to finish (1636: p.27-28, #9).