The Dayak people from the Isle of Borneo believe that people who are morally tainted are most susceptible to demonic possession by the bali djaka. Once this demon has entered into the person’s body, it forces them to commit suicide, which is why the Dayak people associate this vampiric spirit with accidental, sudden, and suicidal deaths.
Source: De Leeuw, Crossroads of the Caribbean, 74
Бали Джака
Народ даяков с острова Борнео верит, что морально испорченные люди, наиболее восприимчивы к демонической одержимости бали-джака. Как только этот демон проникает в тело человека, он заставляет его совершать самоубийство, поэтому даяки связывают этого вампирического духа со случайной, внезапной смертью или суицидом.
Источник: De Leeuw, «Crossroads of the Caribbean», 74
A vampiric, GHOUL-like creature from Tagbanua, Philippines, the balbal can be found in or near Muslim villages. Its name, which literally translates to mean “one who licks up”, is an apt description of its hunting technique. The balbal glides through the air and alights upon a home with a thatched roof. Then, using its long, curved nails, it rips open the roof and snatches up its sleeping prey with its very long, thick tongue. After it kills and feeds, the balbal returns with a facsimile of its prey made of banana leaves and places it in the home.
The baka is a vampiric spirit created when a bokor (a Vodun priest) who has led a life of evil dies. The baka has the ability to shape- shift into any animal it desires and by doing so will have a physical body. Once a form has been assumed, the baka can then hunt down humans to consume their flesh and drink their blood. The baka is especially dangerous because no matter what animal form it takes, it will retain its natural strength, which is powerful enough to kill a healthy adult man. In addition to sating its hunger for blood, the baka oftentimes is a vengeful being, especially if the bokor it was in life was murdered. To ensure that it has its revenge against those responsible for its death, the baka may decide to spread a fatal disease throughout a community.
Witches and sorcerers in Malaysia can bring forth a vampiric demon through a magical ceremony that involves the body of a stillborn child or the corpse of a family member. If the demon is male, it is called a bâjang; the female of the species is called a LANGSUIR. If the caster is strong enough, he can bind the demon to him as a familiar that can be passed down through the generations. The witch will then keep their bâjang familiar in a specially constructed container called a tabong. It is made of bamboo that is sealed with leaves and locked with a magical charm.
The person who possesses the bâjang must personally feed it a diet of milk and eggs or else it will turn on its owner and then start eating its favorite food — children.
The bâjang can shape-shift into three different forms: a cat, a weasel, or a large lizard. In its cat form, if its mews at a baby, the child will die.
The witch will oftentimes send its familiar out to do its bidding. When it is sent out to harm a person, the bâjang will inflict upon its intended victim a mysterious disease for which there is no cure. The person will grow weak, suffering from convulsions and fainting spells until he eventually dies.
There is no known way to destroy a bâjang, but there are charms that can be made or purchased to keep it at bay. Probably the best way to deal with it would be to deal with the witch who commands it.
Source: Clifford, Dictionary of the Malay Language, 121; Gimlette, Malay Poisons and Charm, 47; Hobart, People of Bali, 116-117; Winstedt, Malay Magician, 25
Also known as the Vetala Panchvimshati (Twenty-Five Tales of a Baital), this is a collection of stories from ancient India, originally written in Sanskrit, that center around a BAITAL. The framework of the story is that King Vikram sets out to bring a baital to a sorcerer, but each time he attempts to do so, the baital tells him a story about someone being unfair. At the end of each story, the vampire then asks the king a theoretical ethical question. If the king knows the answer, he must give it lest his head will rupture. If he does not know the answer, he may sit there quietly. If the king answers the question, the baital flies away. Unfortunately, the king, who is very wise and knowledgeable, correctly answers the baital’s question twenty- four times. It was only with the last tale told that the king was unable to answer.
Returning home with the vampire finally captured, the baital informs the king that the sorcerer knows that the king has 32 virtues and plans to sacrificially slay him to honor a goddess. By doing so, the baital will then be under the control of the sorcerer unless the sorcerer is slain first. The king kills the sorcerer and is granted a boon by Lord Indra. The king asks that the sorcerer be restored to life and that the baital will help him whenever he is needed.
Source: Arbuthnot, Early Ideas, 102; Forbes, Baital Pachchise; Masters, Natural History of the Vampire, 66; Summers, The Vampire, 220; Vikram and the Vampire
Baital (Bay-TILL)
Variations: Baitala, Baitel, Baitol, Bay Valley, Katakhanoso, Vetal, VETALA
A divine vampiric race first mentioned in The Tibetan Book of the Dead, the baital is described as being half man and half bat. It has a short, stubby tail and stands anywhere between four and seven feet tall. In ancient artwork the baital has been depicted as holding drinking cups to its mouth that are filled with human blood and made of human skulls. These beings are so horrific that to even look fully upon one will cause someone to lock up in fear, growing weak and dizzy; some people even faint. When not consuming the human flesh that is offered up to it in sacrifice, the baital can be found at rest, hanging upside down from trees in the jungle, usually near cemeteries. Despite their horrific appearance and taste for human flesh, the baital are not mindless monsters.
Capable of possession, they are known to animate corpses so that they can involve themselves in human affairs. The vampire from the Indian story Vikram and the Vampire is a baital. In the story, the vampire decided to help the hero, Rajah Vikram, by giving him a reminder that the giant’s advice should be taken seriously and that the sorcerer should be slain. Vikram was frightened by the baital’s attempt to help, as the vampire had possessed the body of a murder victim, causing the hero to think it to be a devil.
Source: Burton, Vikram and the Vampire, 11; Icon Group, Hanging: Webster’s Quotations, 400; Making of America Project, The Atlantic Monthly, vol.49, 69-72
This is the cooking pot or cauldron that some of the VAMPIRIC WITCHES of Africa use in their magical ceremonies to capture and hold the blood and life-giving essence of their victims (see AFRICAN VAMPIRE WITCH). The pot is created by the witch through the use of magic. To a nonwitch, the baisea looks like a normal cooking pot that is full of water. However, a true VAMPIRIC WITCH can see what it truly contains. Witches will gather together and sit around the baisea, preparing a magical brew that is made with the vitality captured from their victims. Victims will not have any sign of physical abuse on their bodies, and if cut they will bleed freely as none of their blood has actually been removed, just the essence of their vitality. However, the victims will act as if they have been drained of their energy and desires (see ENERGY VAMPIRE). The only way to restore the stolen energy to the victim is to find out who the witch is. When confronted and convinced, forcibly or otherwise, to reform from their evil ways, they vomit up all of the blood that they have stolen from their victims over the years. Only once this is done will the victim be able to recover.
Source: Field, Religion and Medicine of the Gã People, 142; Guiley, Complete Vampire Companion, 7; International African Institute, Ethnographic Survey of Africa, 103; Manoukian, Akan and Ga-Adangme, 103
A vampiric forest spirit and nursery bogey from Romania, Baba Coaja (“The old woman of the tree bark”) is a bloodthirsty monster described as being half bear and half woman. She is a singular entity who snatches up children who have wandered into the woods alone or away from the watchful eyes of their parents. Particularly evil, she will consume their physical bodies but locks their souls up in elderberry trees where they will rot away.
Source: Cremene, Mythology of the Vampires of Romania; Indian Psychoanalytical Society, Samīkṣā, 73; Róheim, Fire in the Dragon, 65, 76; Sylva, Legends from River and Mountain, 104-108
Баба-Коажа
Вариант: Самка
Вампирический лесной дух и пестунья призраков из Румынии, Баба-Коажа («Старуха из древесной коры») — кровожадный монстр, описанный как наполовину медведь, а наполовину женщина. Она — конкретная сущность, похищающая детей, которые бродили в лесу в одиночку или вдали от бдительного глаза родителей. Чрезвычайно злобная, она пожрет их физические тела, но запрет их души в деревьях бузины, где они будут чахнуть.
Источники: Cremene, Mythology of the Vampires of Romania; Indian Psychoanalytical Society, Samīkṣā, 73; Róheim, Fire in the Dragon, 65, 76; Sylva, Legends from River and Mountain, 104-108
This is an evil vampiric ioa from Haitian mythology. Ioa is an African word that means “spirit of the dead”.
Source: Herskovits, Life in a Haitian Valley, 241; Holloway, Africanisms in American Culture, 117; Núñez, Dictionary of Afro-Latin American Civilization, 44; Perusse, Historical Dictionary of Haiti, 5
Азето
Это злое вампирическое иоа из гаитянской мифологии. Иоа — африканское слово, которое означает «дух мертвеца».
Источники: Herskovits, «Life in a Haitian Valley», 241; Holloway, «Africanisms in American Culture», 117; Núñez, «Dictionary of Afro-Latin American Civilization», 44; Perusse, «Historical Dictionary of Haiti», 5
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