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Malaysia, another country rich in
lore, had some very interesting and most frightening Vampire
apparitions. The legend of the langsuyar tells the story of a
beautiful young woman who had a stillborn child. In her grief she
recoiled in shock, then clapped her hands and flew away to a
nearby tree. Afterwards she would be seen in her green gown, long
fingernails and long black hair, which concealed the opening in
the back of the neck through which she drank the blood of
children. Poor kids, it seems wherever we look there is some
creature of the night preying on the innocent.
Subsequently more langsuyar come into being. Usually they were
women that died in childbirth of forty days thereafter, the period
in which they were considered to be unclean. Measures could be
taken to prevent this from happening if a woman died in such
fashion. The cadaver was treated thus; her mouth would be filled
with glass beads so as to stop her shrieks in the night and to
prevent her from flying, eggs would be placed under each arm and a
needle driven through each hand.
Directly linked to the sanguyar was the Pontianak. This was the
creature's stillborn child. It was believed to take the form of a
night owl when prowling for its victims. The measures to keep the
dead baby from becoming a Pontianak were the same as those used
for the mother.
In Java, the Pontianak was more like the langsuyar of Malaysia.
She would either be a woman who died a virgin or a woman who died
in childbirth. The Pontianak was a banshee like creature that flew
through the night and would be heard wailing from the trees in the
forest in the evening. They could take the shape of a beautiful
woman to lure men before emasculating them and drinking their
blood. A man might save himself from this fate if when the
Pontianak turns its back to reveal the hole in the back of her
neck if he grabs her by the long black hair and manages to pull
one single strand from its head. Well, at least the Pontianak
picked on someone her own size.
A third Vampire creature of Malaysian lore is the senanggalan.
Stories of the origin of the senanggalan vary. One account is of a
woman performing a ceremony of penance. During the rite she was
startled by a man and fled so quickly that her head separated from
her body, with the stomach and intestines trailing behind. She
flew to a nearby tree. The severed head with stomach dangling
below became an evil spirit. It appears on rooftops of houses
where there is a baby being born, shrieking in a high pitched
sound as it tries to get to the child and suck it's blood. Dario
Argento could not be near as gross as some of these legends.
In China, the belief in vampires, in part, revolves around the
belief that two souls exist within an individual. One, the
superior soul, was able to leave the body, while the individual
slept, and wander the country side. The other, the inferior soul,
or the p'ai/p'o inhabited the body of a fetus during pregnancy and
often lingered in the body of the deceased person, resulting in
it's unnatural preservation. If strong, the p'ai could animate the
corpse and use it for its own purpose. This revenant cadaver was
called the chiang-shin, the Chinese Vampire. Some would appear to
look as a normal human being while others had a hideous green
phosphorescent glow with serrated teeth and long talons.
The chiang-shih would arise from people who died a violent death,
including suicide. Improper burial procedures such as a long
postponement of burial which angered the dead. Animals,
particularly cats, were kept away from the unburied corpse for
fear that the might jump over it and thus the deceased would come
back as a chiang-shih. Because they had no powers to
dematerialize, transformation had to occur before burial, an added
incentive for prompt burial.
The chiang-shih was a strong and vicious creature, infamous for
ripping off heads and arms of its victims. Lacking the ability to
entrance or lure, hence a lack of charm, they had to surprise
their victims. Chiang-Shih in addition to being vicious was also
quite horny and would attack and rape women, a far cry from the
suave, aristocratic and continental Vampire of the Gothic Novel.
Fortunately there were measures to protect one from chiang-shih.
Good ol' garlic almost universal both as a medicinal herb and
charm was most effective. Salt had a corrosive effect on its skin.
They were offended by loud noises (as a note of interest the
Chinese use firecrackers in many religious ceremonies to frighten
away the evil spirits) and a clap of thunder could destroy one
(never need worry about chiang-shih showing up a rock concert).
Iron fillings and rice made a barrier against them and would often
be placed around an empty coffin to prevent them from finding a
resting place.
The kappa, not a Vampire in the sense that we know them to be, is
a creature with some Vampire characteristics. This creature is
found in Japanese mythology. It is almost child-like in appearance
with yellowish-green skin, webbed toes and fingers and big eyes,
it looks almost like a character in a Japanimation film. It dwells
in water ways-rivers, lakes and ponds and at times will leave that
environment to steal cucumbers and melons from a farmer's field.
However, they had a nasty little trait of grabbing horses or cows,
drag them into the water and suck their blood through the animal's
anuses. Yuck!!!
Source: Classic Horror Webzinc, Legends of the Vampires, Part
Three, Or, Vampires the World Over
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