Tag Archives: zombie

Flying Head Vampire: The Penanggalan

Arkane Curiosities

In Malaysia the Penanggalan detaches its head, leaving its body behind as an empty husk. This flying head vampire seeks out pregnant women to drain their blood. In fact, “Penanggal” or “Penanggalan” in Malay literally means “to detach” or “to remove”. But it’s not just the head. The internal organs dangle below, twinkling like fireflies.

Invisible Tongues

The Penanggalan, who always appears as a woman, looks completely normal during the day. She’ll avoid eye contact and smell strongly of vinegar (a tool of the vampire trade). Typically, Penanggalans take jobs as midwives. 

At night, it twists its head off and soars through the air, intestines and organs dangling below it. The Penanggalan perches on the roof and waits for the woman to go into labor. Then it wriggles an invisible tongue into the house to drain the blood from the mother. 

Legend has it, the tongue can pass through walls or slither through floorboards to reach its victim. Alternately, it will entwine the victim in its long intestines. 

Vinegar Bath

Upon reaching home again, the Penanggalan takes a quick dip in a tub of vinegar. Why, you ask? The vinegar shrinks the organs so it can squirm back into the body suit and pretend to be a person again. 

Snag Those Intestines

Want to keep yourself safe from this horrific creature? Your best bet is to snag those dangling intestines. Often people will scatter thorny leaves on roof or windows. Additionally, they might plant a pineapple tree under their house (Malaysian houses are built on stilts).

Still want a little more protection? Slide a pair of scissors under your pillow.

Mess With the Body

If your intent is to stop the Penanggalan for good, you’ll need to track the vampire to its lair (possibly by following anyone with the strong scent of vinegar). When the head detaches for the nightly peregrinations, you go to work. 

Fill the empty body with shards of broken glass. Then, when the creature returns to crawl into its body, the glass will shred the vampire’s organs. 

If you simply want to mess with the Penanggalan, just flip the body over. These creatures don’t really understand how human bodies work. It will reattach backward. Then the head will be facing in the wrong direction (an easy way to spot the vampire). 

Tim Kane

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The Last of Us: How Well Can Fungus Think?

Arkane Curiosities

In “The Last of Us,” the fungal disease that turns people into “infected” creatures is based on a real-life fungus called Cordyceps that infects insects and controls their behavior. Science fiction? Hell yes. But it’s based on real science. Turns out mushrooms might have a consciousness despite having no nervous system. So the question is: how well can fungus think?

Underground Internet

Some experts argue that fungi may have a form of consciousness that rivals that of animals or humans. It all boils down to the mycelia. Mycelia are thread-like structures that make up the vegetative part of fungi. They range in size from just a few cells to several acres.

Mycelium in fungi collects intelligence and transmits it to anything they’re connected to — information about how to survive and fight disease, warnings of nearby dangers, and also ways to raise a host plant’s defenses. 

In “The Last of Us,” merely, stepping on an active filament from the fungus can trigger the fungal zombies from much further away to activate and attack them. 

Different Levels of Consciousness

Most of us are so hardwired to think of humans with brains as the only things that have a consciousness. Yet if we consider consciousness a continuum, then this opens up the possibility for less complex organisms to have self-awareness. 

I’m not suggesting that mushrooms lead rich, emotional lives. Yet fungal mycelia resemble neural pathways and can span vast distances, creating a web of communication and cooperation that shapes entire ecosystems.

Fungi does support a rudimentary level of consciousness. Mycelia show decision-making capabilities, such as spatial recognition, learning, and short-term memory.

Cordyceps, the culprit for the apocalyptic situation in “The Last of Us,” exhibits complex and highly adaptive behaviors that allows it to manipulate its host and ensure its own survival.

Cordyceps is based on a real world fungus that infects insects. One species of Cordyceps causes infected ants to climb to the top of a plant and attach themselves to a leaf, where they eventually die and release spores that can infect other ants.

In “The Last of Us,” the fungus is portrayed as having a sort of hive mind, with infected individuals acting as part of a larger organism, seeking to spread the infection to new hosts.

Perhaps we have already been infected by such a fungus, and they continue to keep us alive and breathing to propagate their own species. 

Tim Kane

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Hungry Ghosts: Mischievous Spirits

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In Japan, ghosts can be much more than simply chain-rattling spirits. They hunger, and not only for the things you expect. Some of the hungry spirits (or Gaki) yearn for vomit or baby poop (yes, you heard me right). Many of the Gaki originate from sins people did while alive, a group of hungry ghosts are nothing more than mischievous spirits, called yasha.

Nature Spirits into Demons and Back

The yasha are supernatural beings that can range from caring to murderous. They began in India as benevolent nature spirits who watched over the earth and the forests. Yet as they migrated into China, they shifted into ghost-like spirits who preyed on travelers. 

Finally, as these spirits entered Japan, they were seen as a demon-god (kijin) to be worshiped and feared. They mixed with the legends of the amanojaku and oni.

The Last Twenty Gaki

In the last post, we explored the first sixteen hungry ghosts. Here are the other twenty to make the full consort of 36.

17 Underworld Ghosts

These spirits live in caves or with snakes in their burrows. They suffer from hunger and chills, a result of extreme thirst. These Gaki can also create epidemics. In life, they put someone in jail for personal gain. 

18 Supernatural-Power Ghosts

The most powerful of the Hungry Ghosts, these spirits may experience some joy. They inhabit the deep mountains, the middle of the sea, or other remote locations. Demons surround them, constantly staring at them. In life, they abused power by stealing other people’s property. 

19 Blazing Ghosts

The bodies of these spirits continually burn with a blazing fire, making them cry out in pain. They wander the countryside, desiring to loot villages or robbing people. In life, they looted and robbed. 

20 Infant-Excrement-Eating Ghosts

Only the excrement of babies will do for these spirits, who linger around cribs. They target mothers who let their babies sit in their own poop too long. When a child cries, people believe that the ghost has appeared to the child. These spirits are yakṣa rather than the  deceased.

21 Desirable Appearance Ghosts

These ghosts will shift appearance, becoming attractive or repulsive to gain access to food. They can prey on people’s lust. Additionally, they can transform into animals to swoop in to steal food. These spirits are considered yakṣa, a class of nature-spirits. 

22 Island Ghosts

These spirits are always thirsty and live on uninhabited islands. They slurp up the morning dew, but it offers them little respite. The heat of even a single winter day would feel hotter than ten-times a summer’s day. In life, these people abused those in difficult situations, like refugees or lost travelers. 

23 Assistant-to-the-Underworld Ghosts

Also known as Assistants of Yama Armed with Sticks, these hungry ghosts managed other ghosts and spirits. Yama, the Indian god of the Dead, record sinful acts committed by humans and bring these sinners back to Yama. Physically, they have scrunched-up hair draped over their faces and long ears with protruding stomachs. People pray to these ghosts on their deathbed, which means these Assistants linger between the human world and the underworld. 

24 Child-Eating Ghosts

These Gaki are malicious, feeding off the energy of infants. They wander in search of children to kidnap, but are often unsuccessful (thus their hunger). In life, they were healers who promised to cure a sick person with prayers, but abused their position. 

25 Energy-Eating Ghosts

These Gaki lurk around critically ill people and siphon off their energy. They might also target depressed people, gradually creeping into that person’s life to absorb their “vital energy.”

26 Brahmanic Rākṣasa Ghosts

These ghosts haunt crossroads and back all eyes. They linger and await the right opportunity to latch onto a victim and possess the body. While controlling the person, they will act recklessly in an attempt to kill the person. In life, these people were religious leaders who lost their faith. 

27 Hearth Ghosts

These Gaki loiter in kitchens or religious establishments to steal food. They also gorge on temple leftovers, mixed with coal. In life, these were people who stole food from religious sites. 

28 Dirty Street Ghosts

These Gaki live on dirty city streets, skulking in places where vomit and urine stains the streets. They dine off this refuse as their nourishment. 

29 Wind-Eating Ghosts

Each time this ghost reached for food or drink, it proves to be an optical illusion and vanishes with the wind. They are tormented by illusions of sustenance, only to have nothing in the end. In life, these people made empty promises and donations to charity. 

30 Coal-Eating Ghosts

These hungry ghosts wander through cemeteries, searching for the remains of a cremated body. They then scarf down the ashes generated from cremation fires. In life, they were in charge of prisons and let the inmates suffer from hunger. 

31 Poison-Eating Ghost

These ghosts nosh on poisonous fumes and toxic grass. Their food ends up killing them and then they regain their life only to hunger for these poisons again. They live in caves on mountains with extreme hot or cold weather. The mountains are home to wild beasts (lions, hawks or tigers) who pluck out the eyes of these unfortunate Gaki. Additionally, it can sometimes rain knives from the sky. In life, they poisoned someone to steal that person’s property. 

32 Jungle Ghosts

These Gaki roam the jungle, driven by intense hunger. As they traverse the wilds, branches and thorns cut their skin, jungle animals attack them, and fierce birds swoop down. When they finally arrive where they think there’s food, they discover it’s the wrong place. These ghosts are punished for a very specific punishment. Often, virtuous men would plant trees and provide people with water while traveling. These thieves steal the water, making the travelers thirsty and weak, and thus easier to rob. 

33 Living-in-Cremation-Grounds and Eating-Hot-Ashes Ghosts

Similar to the Coal-Eating ghosts, these long titled ghosts lug instruments of torture on their back to mimic the acts they committed in their former lives. In addition, they also carry red-hot irons on their head. In life, they stole offerings and flowers from temples.

34 Living-in-Trees Ghosts

These ghosts are reborn inside trees, where insects and animals chew away their bodies. Also, the weather that batters the tree also affects these ghosts. It’s believed that hermit monks, who live away from civilization, will be tormented by entire forests of these Gaki. In life, they stole wood from Buddhist temples.

35 Crossroads Ghosts

These ghosts reside in the classic haunted area of crossroads. People will make offerings to these spirits to ward off illness or difficulties at work. In life, they stole food from travelers who were crossing through remote parts of the world. 

36 Mara-Body Ghosts

These Gaki superficially feed off the confusion generated by the daily lives of Buddhist temples. They frighten monks with sinister sounds or nightmares. Their goal is to disrupt and undermine the entire community. In life, these people spouted false doctrines. 

Tim Kane

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Hungry Ghosts: The Symbol of Eternal Wanting

Arkane Curiosities

In the West, we think of ghosts as spirits to haunt old and dilapidated places. The kinds of specters that make our blood run cold and serve to scare the wits out of us. Yet across Easter Asia, the concept of a hungry ghosts emerged — these hungry ghost are forced to wander to earth, eternally wanting.

Suffering Spirits

The Japanese call these ghosts Gaki (literally meaning “hungry ghost”) but they also go under the name Preta from Buddhist cosmology. These are the spirits of people who were exceptionally greedy in life. Most of the tales about how Gaki are created originate with a person refusing to give a Buddhist monk food or water. 

A commonality with all hungry ghosts is their insatiable need to eat. Yet most of the time they are unable to consume food. For some it’s impossible to find nourishment. With others, their mouths or necks are too small to eat the food. And for some, the food bursts into flames even as they consume it. 

Feeding the Hungry Ghosts

The Buddhist cosmology has six realms of existence and rebirth. The realm of Gakidō is the land of hungry spirits. It’s a barren land filled with deserts. A person who is cursed to become a Gaki is trapped there for 500 years (A single day for a hungry ghost is equivalent to 10 of our years). Yet the living can perform a ritual to ease the cravings of these restless spirits. 

A special Buddhist ceremony, called the Segaki (feeding the hungry ghosts) is performed as part of the O-Bon festival in July or August (and feels a bit like the Western All Hallows’ Eve). Offerings of rice and water are presented on altars positioned out of sight of any Buddha statues. 

The 36 Types of Hungry Ghosts

Gaki come in all shapes and sizes. Many of the sites simply give a brief example of a few, but we’ll list the whole shebang here. If you want a more detailed explanation, you can read Sūtra of the Foundations of Mindfulness of the True Law. Presented here are the first 16 of these ghosts. The remainder will come in the next post.

1 Cauldron-Body Ghosts

These Gaki are twice the size of a human and they can never find food. These ghosts are plagued by fire. In life, they were greedy and refused to return items to their rightful owners. 

2 Needle-Mouth Ghosts

These spirits have throats only as wide as a needle. Even when they find food, they cannot consume it. In life, these people were rich but pretended to be poor to avoid giving to charity. 

3 Vomit-Eating Ghosts

Ghosts of this sort prefer to scarf up vomit. Although harmless, they may follow around an alcoholic and seek to influence that person to drink more, in order to produce more vomit. In life, these people only shared “inferior” or lower-quality food with others while keeping the most delicious eats for themselves. 

4 Excrement-Eating Ghosts

These Gaki prefer to dine on excrement and frequent dirty toilets. If you enter a bathroom and feel like someone is watching you, it might be this spirit. In life, they offered spoiled food to charity or to holy people.

5 Foodless Ghosts

These should really be called thirst-ghosts. They roam the countryside in search of water to quench the raging flames in their stomachs. In life, these people starved others to death. They can also be people who abused their power over others (as in jailers abusing prisoners).

6 Odor-Eating Ghosts

Ghosts in this category feed off the smell of food offered to deities. In life, these people didn’t share the best foods with their spouse or family members. 

7 Dharma-Eating Ghosts

These repulsive ghosts are bony and emancipated, with protruding veins along their body. Insects swarm around them, slowly nibbling away. Their only sustenance is to hear monks at the temple teaching Dharma. They tend to cluster around temples anytime there is a Dharma talk. In life, they spread false teaching of Dharma. 

8 Water-Eating Ghosts

These Gaki have desiccated and brittle bodies. They live near drains or rivers and slurp up water, but with their dry, withered bodies make it hard to hydrate. They can only swallow small droplets of water at a time because they try to grab it with their hands and it slips through their fingers. In life, these people were brewers of alcohol, but they tampered with their product by adding worms or insects.

9 Living-On-Hope Ghosts

These spirits are extremely hairy with deep wrinkles on their faces. The can only consume offerings made by mourners to honor deceased parents. THey frequent funerals. In life, these people profited off the misfortune of others by selling goods at inflated prices. 

10 Spittle-Eating Ghosts

These Gaki hunger for human spit and they follow those who spit often. In life, they offered impure food to monks. 

11 Garland-Eating Ghosts

These ghosts can appear in dreams to scare people. They crave offerings intended for Buddha or monks. However, once they have these offerings in hand, the garland attached itself to the ghost to torment it. In life, these people were caught stealing from religious places.

12 Blood-Eating Ghosts

These Gaki are attracted to blood. They will influence the mind of a victim to self-inflict wounds in order to draw blood. 

Another type of ghost with supernatural power. They are attracted by blood and blood sacrifice. Some people mistaken them as gods and make blood offerings to them and pray to them for material gains.

13 Flesh-Eating Ghosts

These ghosts feed on various meat offerings, preferring raw meat to blood. In life, these people were butchers who took advantage of customers by short selling meat. 

14 Fragrance-Eating Ghosts

Gaki of this sort yearn for incense and sweet smells. They have the ability to fool people into worshiping them in order that someone will burn incense. In life, they sold low-quality incense at high prices. 

15 Harmful-Conduct Ghosts

These ghosts feed off the wicked deeds of unsavory people. They delight in epidemics and death, often traveling thousands of miles in seconds to find a meal. In life, they encouraged people to donate to the poor, but kept the donations for themselves. 

16 Looking-For-The-Right-Opportunity Ghosts

These ghosts have hairy bodies and are always surrounded by flames. They feed off the negative energy generated from weak-willed people — a sort of energy vampire. Meditation and chanting can strengthen the mind and thus fend off these ghosts. Instead of a former human life, these spirits are yakṣa, a nature-spirits.

The next post will show the rest of the hungry ghosts. Until then, be virtuous, lest you end up as a Gaki in the afterlife.

Tim Kane

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