Pontianak: Malaysian Vampiric Ghost

The Pontianak is a vampiric ghost of Malaysia; it is believed to be a woman's spirit who died while pregnant. It is different from another Malaysian Vampire, Polong, which is more like a familiar of a person practicing witchcraft. The Pontianak was said to be related to another vampire creature that died from giving birth.  There is also a city in Indonesia named after this creature.  Pontianak was believed to haunt the first sultan who used to settle in that place.

 

What is a Pontianak?

 

Pontianak is a pale woman with long hair and usually wearing white.  They typically look beautiful since they seduce young men.  Some experts believed that this Malaysian Vampiric Ghost is only created by random housewives hoping that it will stop their husbands from having sexual encounters with different women.

 

It is believed that a Pontianak is present if you hear a cry of a child.  If the cry is loud, then the Pontianak is still far, and if it is soft, the creature is near.  Some people base it on the dog's howl, while others detect its presence by the fragrant scent followed by an awful stench.

 

How Does a Pontianak Attack?

 

The Pontianak will eat your internal organs by drilling your stomach using its sharp fingernails.  If it wants to enact vengeance on someone, the Pontianak will rip off the sex organs using its bare hands.  You also have to close your eyes once the Malaysian Vampiric Ghost is near since it will suck its eyes out of your socket if you keep it open.  Malays would not leave any of their clothes outside; they believe that the Pontianak would locate its prey by sniffing the dried clothes left outside.

 

How to Kill a Pontianak?

 

The locals believed that this Malaysian Vampiric Ghost dwells on banana trees during the daytime.  To kill a Pontianak, you must insert a nail on the hole of her neck that will make her a beautiful woman again.  However, remember that it will return to being a blood-sucking creature once you remove the nail.

 

Upyr: Vampire of Russia

Upyr is one of the most famous vampire species in Russia, particularly in the region of Ukraine.  They are vampires that like to target first the children and then their parents.  They said that they kill their victims by draining their blood.  However,  it is believed that this creature has been gifted with sharp teeth as tough as steel, which enables them to chew on everything.   They said this feature is beneficial during the Russian winter when their hands are trapped on the ice.

 

How to Kill an Upyr

 

Like most the type of vampires in Russia, the upyr is not vulnerable to sunlight.  They can walk during the daylight and search for their prey.  Nonetheless, they usually attack during nighttime.

 

To kill an Upyr, a thread must be tied on one of its buttons. It gives you’re the chance to track it down when it returns to its graveyard.  When you manage to discover the greave of the suspected upyr, you must sprinkle them with holy water and drive a stake through its chest.  However, you should never forget to stab the heart of the Upyr only once.  They believe that staking the Upyr twice would bring it back to life. It will be stronger and more dangerous than ever once it returns to life.  If a hunter accidentally stakes their chest twice, it is believed that the hunter would vanish instantly.

 

Other Tales about Upyr

 

In other regions in Russia, an upyr is said to devour the heart of the victims.  They can be killed by decapitating their heads and burning their remains to ashes. Ukraine and Czechoslovakia also have a variation of vampire similar to Upyr but with a different spelling.  They call them Upir.  These Upir are a lot alike with the Russian vampire but have the behavior of devouring a large amount of fish.  The reason for this kind of behavior was vaguely explained.

A Beggar Named Swiatek

Mary Kate McCoy/WPR

Swiatek is a self-confessed cannibal who likes to victimize children. His behavior can be compared to that of a berserkir, a trait attributed to lycanthropy. He lived his whole life in Polomyja; villagers were usually farmers or woodcutters, a not-so-fortunate town. He has a family; he provides for their day-to-day needs by asking for some alms from the villagers. From time to time, he will sell ornaments and beads. However, the villagers are not fond of the fact that Swiatek only relies on the villagers for his family to survive.

 

The Crimes of Swiatek

 

It was 1840 when random kids started to disappear mysteriously. One day, Swiatek was invited by a family to have a meal. This particular family has many children. He gave one of the girls a ring and told her that there were a dozen rings and could only be found using a magical incantation. The girl, together with the other kids, rushed outside in search of the rings. Moments after, the man left the house, and the girl was never again found. Soon after, the incident was followed by the disappearance of a young boy. He was supposed to be playing with his friends; a servant also went missing after she was requested to fulfill an errand, and a boy who went to the fountain to fetch some water.

 

Attack of Wolves?

 

The people blamed the attack of the wolves on these incidents. The town's folks started to mount a hunt against the suspected creature. During May in the year 1849, some ducks of the innkeeper went missing. He immediately suspected Swiatek. When he was outside the beggar's house, he smelled the aroma of a roasted meat and was confident that it was his missing duck. He opened the door and landed on a fight against him. As they had a brawl, one of the closets accidentally opened, and a girl's head came rolling down.

 

The Arrest

 

The whole family was arrested, and the police started to search for evidence inside the house of Swiatek. They managed to find limbs and some remains of a girl. It looks like the family was slowly consuming her part. Her legs have some roasted portion, while his liver and heart were perfectly preserved.

 

 

During the interrogation process, Swiatek acted like an insane man and started to eat the dirt in the ground hoping that it would choke him to death. They were able to pacify him, and he began to confess about killing and consuming six people. However, there are 14 children's belonging found in his house, his children (a daughter and a son) also confessed that their father killed more than six people.

 

Swiatek's insatiable appetite for human flesh started when a hut near them was incinerated, and he found a roasted corpse inside. He began to devour the whole remains, and he seemed to like it. From there on, his killing instinct and hunger for human flesh started to develop, eventually increasing his weight. Swiatek was unable to reach the trial since he hanged himself in his prison cell.

The Darkling: Beware of Your Evil Thoughts

The evil thoughts of the person that manifested is called a Darkling. This creature will possess a person causing them to act like a zombified demon. It has consistently been named as such since the 1800s. They usually target innocent victims by making them perform things that they don't usually do.   There are also accounts about darklings' possession that hurt their families or commits murder.

 

What is a Darkling

 

Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau said that Darklings are evil thoughts of good people that they do not act. The evil thoughts manifested and became a Darkling. There were beliefs that the Darkling penetrate an individual through its mouth. After the creature managed to enter his mouth, the person would start to become a zombified demon. He would no longer be in control of his own body. Marie Laveau has histories of fighting with this creature. She used a magical powder made from monkey, red brick, and other secret ingredients that are proven effective in warding off the darkling.

 

How to Defend Against Darkling

 

Small children, especially those between the ages of 3-9, are known to see the darkling. For unknown reasons, the Darkling appears to be vulnerable to lights. Experts on voodoo claimed that a darkling would immediately hide in the presence of a light. They are known to hide in child's toys and closets, making them vulnerable to their attack.

 

 

People who possess the psychic gift claim that they can see the presence of the Darkling as a sparkling element in the darkness.

 

Vampire of Defiance, Ohio

Besides the reported sightings of Wolfman of Defiance in 1972, there were also reports regarding a vampire before.  In 1968, the information about a vampire haunting the Canal Road was reported on the Sherriff’s office.  The police were ordered to search for a supposed vampire and investigate the said report. They called it The Vampire of Defiance.

 

Phil Gyford/Flickr

Information about the Vampire of Defiance, Ohio

 

The police managed to get the description of the vampire to the people who claimed to have sighted the said creature. They also gathered the rumors that spread throughout the town.  They are as follows:

 

·        Wears a black cape and with pale white complexion, with a medium weight and height.

·        Story about someone saying  that he was able to shoot the head of the vampire twice, but unfortunately, he wasn’t able to kill it

·        The speed of the said creature is also remarkable as it cannot be outrun by a vehicle considering that it appears to be crippled.

·        Rumors about two youth claimed that they managed to hit the vampire on his legs with a chain, but it looks like it didn’t do him any harm.

 

Unfortunately, the police were not able to trace the origin of the rumors stated above.  They could not locate the location of the guy who supposedly shot the vampire in the head, the people who had been outrun by the creature while riding a vehicle, and the two kids who attacked the Vampire of Defiance, Ohio, with the chain.

 

The Investigation on The Vampire of Defiance

 

Residents of Canal Road have hampered the police investigation as they said that they would file charges against everyone who would try to invade their place while looking for a ghoul. Could they be protecting someone, or do they know something about the 1968 incident, and they only refused to talk about it?  What happened to those people who supposedly sighted the Vampire of Defiance?  Are they simply rumors, or do the witnesses disappear due to what they discovered?

 

Polong: Malaysian Vampire

A Polong is a tiny vampire about the size of a thumbtack under the command of a particular practitioner of black magic.  This small creature is of Malay descent, but don't let its size deceive you because this one is instructed by its master to torment and eventually slay its prey. Having said that, this could be similar to the familiars of the witches of the Western culture.

 

Polong: A Humonculus of Malaysian Folktale.

 

Someone with knowledge of witchcraft created Polong.  The blood of the murdered person was collected and placed in a bottle.   The bottle is set aside at around 1-2 weeks.  The owner should then utter a magic incantation.  After two weeks, he should be able to hear someone crying inside the bottle.  The owner must cut his finger and feed the Polong with his blood.  It is a traditional sign of pact among the Southeast Asian nation.  This method is believed to strengthen the bond between the owner and the creature.

 

Appearance of Polong

 

There is no clear description that depicts the actual appearance of a Polong.   In some parts of Malaysia, they believe that the creature will take the form of a fiery ball when they are released from the bottle to hunt. Its height is no more than an inch. They are often female and will possess their victim. The victim will often act deliriously until the creature has been successfully exorcised.

 

How Does a Polong Attack

 

Polong like the Pelesit grow berserk when they are hungry and will start to harm others.  However, in some books, Pelesit will often be familiar of the Polong. These two creatures will often work hand in hand.  The Pelesit, which is a cricket demon, will drill a burrow into human skin.  The Polong would then enter that opening to suck the blood of the victim.

 

A few indications that Polong attacked a specific person are through the markings in his body.   The attack should leave bruises, and most often than not, they would be spitting blood.

 

 

If a Polong enters the human body, it will not listen to anyone except the master.  The master would then present itself to the victim's family, offering his help that he can exorcise the polong in exchange for money.  Sometimes a Bomoh (witch doctor) is called to repel the attack of the Polong.  The Bomoh would place black pepper on the victim to drive the creature away.  If the victim is a Muslim, he must recite prose found in the Quran.  The Polong will plea for the prayer to stop, it will then state the name of its master, but the shaman says that the Polong statement cannot be trusted due to its loyalty to its master.

 

The Werewolf of Jarnitz

In Jarnitz, Germany, there lived a werewolf who was believed to have the ability to transform himself into anything. This werewolf was said to spend the whole evening thieving sheep to their pen. During those days, the shepherd is keeping all the sheep inside the enclosure every evening. Eventually, the shepherd noticed the alarming rise of the stolen sheep. He started guarding the pen at night while armed with a loaded gun, hoping that he would come across the robber of the sheep.

 

The Werewolf of Jarnitz: The Shepherd Account

 

There were nights that he could sight the sheep, and he managed to hit it with his gun. However, to his surprise, it doesn’t seem to have any effect on the werewolf. Finally, the shepherd decided to load his gun with a silver bullet. Those silvers are his inheritance, but he decided to melt them and turn them into ammunition. This time he believes that he would be able to pin down the creature.

 

The Identity of the Werewolf of Germany

 

The shepherd did his night patrol again as he usually does. The werewolf appeared again that night, but as he was getting close to the sheep inside the pen, he felt a sensation that the shepherd might be able to kill him this time. The werewolf immediately reverted to his human form and approached the shepherd. He told the shepherd that there was no need for the shepherd to kill him. The shepherd appeared to be familiar with the werewolf as he lowered the gun that he was aiming at him a while ago.

 

After this incident, the werewolf of Jarnitz never stole a single sheep again. Jarnitz is said to be a town on the Rugen Island near the Baltic Sea. Similarly, there are other legends about werewolves in Germany, such as the Benandanti werewolves.

 

AL-half human/half animal creature (Armenia)

An Al is a part of the Armenian lore; a half-human, half-animal cryptid usually preys on pregnant women.   Some scholars believe that the identity of an al may have sprung from the Babylonian legend of Alu, a phantom that causes disease in the shape of a black dog.

 

Al: Armenian Monster

 

According to legends, the Al can be identified with its fiery eye,  brass fingernails, iron teeth with the tusk of a wild boar, and hair similar to a snake.  The Al often conceals those characteristics by wearing a pointed hat with bells.  It is said that the Al can often be seen living in damp and dirty old places.

 

How Al Attacks its Preys

 

The al attacks the pregnant women by strangling them and taking their unborn baby, which is said to cause their miscarriage.  Based on the stories, al often attacks those unborn babies that are up to 7 months old.

 

The Story of Al

 

The story of al is associated with Christian literature.  Some said that the Lord gave Adam an al, but they were not in harmony since the al is a composition of fire and Adam was made up of dust.  So the Lord decided to create Eve.   Ever since that fateful day, Al has promised to attack every woman and make their lives a living hell.  There is also this story about St. Peter that came upon an Al.  St Peter was traveling down the road when he noticed a creature occupying the wet spot of the road.  The creature has the same characteristic as an Al that was first mentioned above.  St. Peter approached the beast and told it to identify itself and its activities.

 

How to Defend Against an Al Demon

 

They said that the best way to defend against an Al is an iron.  A pregnant woman should always make sure that he is surrounded by iron in her bed.  Some say that placing an iron knife under your pillow would drive the Al away.  There are also types of prayers and chants to repel the gruesome creature.