Historians linked Southern Slavic superstitions and particular religious practices to the Illyrians, who had tribes living in the Bay of Kotor during the 3rd century BCE. Several lores warn that unusual botanicals cast various misfortunes upon families as they turn "life upside-down."

The angel's trumpet's pendulous blooms become fragrant at night. The old lore is, perhaps, a lesson of danger. Each part of the flower, including the smell, is toxic. The plant contains a low-potency tropane alkaloid that induces hallucinations and euphoria, but exposure can lead to muscle weakness, convulsions, paralysis, memory loss, and death.