Malaysian Ghost Stories

Malaysian ghost stories and supernatural creatures. In Malaysia, there are many legends and myths about ghosts called “Hantu”. Some of these legends are shared with Indonesia and other Asian countries.

Pontianak

A Pontianak is the ghost of a pregnant woman who died before she could give birth. It appears as an ugly woman with pale skin, long black hair, sharp nails and a white dress. The Pontianak makes a sound like a baby crying. If the cry is soft, it means that the Pontianak is close, and if it is loud, it means she is far away.

During the day, she hides in banyan trees and banana trees, but at night she goes in search of human prey. The Pontianak attacks men and drinks their blood. She can disguise herself as a beautiful young woman walking alone at night.

Just when you are least expecting it, she will transform back into a Pontianak and plunge her sharp fingernails into your stomach, ripping out your internal organs and devouring them whole. It can also suck your eyes out of your head.

The only way to stop a Pontianak is to hammer a nail into the hole at the back of her neck. This will make her into beautiful woman and she will be a good wife. However, if the nail is ever removed, she will return to her true form.

Langsuir

The Langsuir is the ghost of a woman who died while giving birth to a dead baby. She is similar to the Pontianak, but there are some differences. She appears as a hideous woman with glowing red eyes, a rotting green face and long sharp nails. She has long black hair that hangs down to her ankles and is usually wearing a green or white dress.

The Lang Suir is jealous of pregnant women, so she attacks them and tries to kill them or cause their babies to be born dead. She has a hole in the back of her neck through which she can suck the blood of her victims. She can also possess her victims and suck out their blood from the inside.

The Langsuir lives near the coast and when she can’t find human victims, she resorts to sucking the blood out of fish.

To prevent a pregnant woman’s corpse from becoming a Langsuir, you have to place needles in both of her hands, glass beads in her mouth and an egg under each armpit.

It is possible to tame a Langsuir by cutting off her long nails and stuffing her long hair into the hole at the back of her neck.

1. Polong
   A Polong is an evil spirit that is controlled by a Malaysian witch doctor (or “Bomoh”). If you are its master, you can use it to torment your enemies with madness, sickness and eventually death.

To summon a Polong, you put the blood of a murdered person into a bottle and use incantations and magic spells. After two weeks, you will hear a chirping noise or the sound of crying coming from the bottle. Then, you cut your finger and allow the blood to drain into the bottle and feed the demon. This binds the Polong to you, telling it that you are its master and it is your servant.

Nobody knows exactly what a Polong looks like. Some say it appears in the bottle as a naked woman around an inch tall. Others say that when it is let out of the bottle, it looks like an egg-shaped fiery ball.

1. Pelesit

The Pelesit is a dark spirit revered by shamans in Malay culture. It feeds on blood and works as a servant for its master. It demonizes people and causes chaos in society. Pelesit must have a continuous host and therefore needs to be passed down from one generation to the next. It should always be taken care of and fed constantly because if not, the demon will soon create havoc among the local inhabitants of its master’s village, especially after the master’s death.