Vampires

The adze is one of the strangest and most specific vampiric beings I have encountered in twenty-five years of tracing bloodsucking folklore across continents. Among the Ewe people of Ghana, Togo, and Benin, the adze travels by night as a firefly, slipping through cracks and window gaps to feed on the blood of the sleeping. … Read more

The obayifo is one of the most distinctive witch-vampires I have encountered in twenty-five years of tracing bloodsucking beings across world folklore. Among the Ashanti and other Akan peoples of Ghana and Ivory Coast, this is not a monster from beyond the grave. It is a living neighbour, a person walking among the community by … Read more

The asanbosam is one of the most physically terrifying creatures I have encountered in twenty-five years of studying comparative folklore. Unlike the shape-shifting witch-spirits found throughout West African belief, this Akan forest ogre is solid, corporeal, and armed with iron teeth and iron hooks for feet. I first came across detailed descriptions of the asanbosam … Read more

Impundulu is the name I heard most often during my early fieldwork readings on Southern African witchcraft beliefs, and it remains one of the most fully realized blood-drinking familiars in world folklore. Known across Zulu, Xhosa, and Pondo communities as the “lightning bird,” the impundulu is far more than a symbol of storms. It is … Read more