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Sinister Spirits of Asia (part 1)

© Sarah Davis

This week's featured sites are Bamboo Scares and Horrifying Asia , two excellent collections of Asian ghost stories. In honour of these two very scary sites, here's a look at some of Southeast Asia's most sinister spirits. Beware!

Berbalang- Berbalangs are winged humanoid predators native to the Philippines. They are organized in packs, and attack humans with impunity, relishing the challenge of intelligent prey. In its normal form, a berbalang resembles a human being, but can be distinguished from other humans by the fact that it never consumes food in this form.

At night, while berbalang lies dormant, its consciousness leaves its body and magically forms a second, monstrous body, which resembles a hairless ape with cruel fangs and leathery wings. In this form, the creature preys vampirically on other sentient beings. Stories differ on whether the berbalangs are completely inhuman creatures or a tribe of human cannibal magicians who have perfected this method of magical attack.

Berbalangs can be driven off with weapons soaked in lemon juice, vinegar or other acidic fluids, and, according to the story linked above, are repelled by magical gems occasionally found at the heart of coconuts. The initial approach of a pack of flying berbalangs is marked by ear- splitting cacophony, which gives way to increasingly softer sounds as they draw closer. When they are near enough to strike, only the soft whir of a hundred leathery wings can be heard.

Langsuyar- The langsuyar, a tragic female spirit, is native to Malaysia, although she is present in some form in a number of Southeast Asian traditions. In life she was an uncommonly beautiful woman who was able to conceive and carry a child only with great difficulty. When her child was stillborn, madness claimed her, and she flew keening off into the forest, where she died and became a spirit of the night.

As an undead creature, she remains strikingly beautiful. He hair and fingernails, both signs of beauty in her culture, are of exaggerated length, and are sometimes adorned with elaborate decorations, though her nails are now filed into cruel talons. She is most often said to favour voluminous, flowing robes, although occasionally a langsuyar may be seen in some degree of undress.

Aside from her deadly beauty and her long, sharpened claws, her single monstrous feature was an oriface in her neck, through which she sucked blood from her victims Both the original langsuyar, and those among her victims who became langsuyars are said to have favoured green clothing and adornments..

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