Disclaimer: In Real Life is a platform for everyday people to share their experiences and voices. All articles are personal stories and do not necessarily echo In Real Life’s sentiments.
If there’s one thing Malaysians love more than food, it’s ghost stories.
Fortunately, Malaysia has many different types of ghosts for those who love being spooked. This is because of the region’s cultural history which began with animistic beliefs, and was then influenced by Hinduism and Buddhism, and then Islamic practices.
Here are Malaysia’s 5 most popular ghosts:
1. Pontianak
By far the most popular Malaysian ghost, the pontianak is a type of vampire that is created when a woman dies in childbirth. In order to prevent the creation of a pontianak, there is a ritual involving the corpse of a woman who died giving birth: an egg is placed in each armpit to prevent the pontianak from being able to fly and her body is covered with verses from the Quran.
No newcomer to Malaysian horror films, she is often portrayed as a dramatically fair skinned woman with long dark hair in a white dress.
Folklore about the pontianak states that her presence is accompanied by a strong and sickly sweet flowery scent (often attributed to jasmine or frangipani) and the stench of rotting meat.
She usually hunts men and pregnant women. She feeds on her victims by ripping open their stomach and devouring their guts. If you suspect a pontianak is on your trail, tales about escaping the pontianak show that the pontianak will flee in fear or rage if you bare yourself!
Much like the Western vampire, a pontianak must be invited into your house for it to enter. However, a major difference is that the pontianak can read your thoughts and twist them for her own advantage. For example, if you even think about the pontianak entering, she will interpret that as an invitation.
Banana trees are said to house pontianaks in the daytime. There is a belief that if you stick a needle with red thread to a banana tree and lead the thread to wind around a corner of your bed, a pontianak will appear to you at night and give you the numbers you need for a lottery strike.
A pontianak can be domesticated by hammering a nail into the back of her neck. She then turns into a beautiful mortal woman, capable of carrying children for the man who traps her. However, the removal of the nail will release the pontianak from this state and she will return to being a pontianak.
Many also believe that the pontianak is a feminist icon.
2. Penanggalan
Another type of vampire and female supernatural entity, the penanggalan is made up of a head which has the entrails of the body attached to it. It flies around at night, its dangling guts trailing behind it.
Many other cultures in South East Asia have some sort of penanggalan, from the manananggal of the Philippines to the ahp of Cambodia.
Unlike the pontianak, the penanggalan is not an undead entity. It is said to be the form a witch can take through a ritual involving meditation in a bath of vinegar. This causes her head and neck, as well as all attached internal organs, to detach from the body and fly away, leaving the body behind. People say that she smells like vinegar because of this.
The penanggalan in a community can be identified if the body is found while she’s away – all you have to do is flip the body over without the penanggalan’s knowledge. When she returns to her body, she will attach itself the wrong way round, revealing herself to everyone.
The penanggalan feeds on blood, and she is especially fond of menstrual blood and the blood that is released in the process of giving birth. Her victims are pregnant women and young children. Victims do not die immediately – they waste away unless a bomoh is called upon for assistance.
The penanggalan does have a major fear of sharp objects as they can damage her delicate exposed organs. Pregnant women are often advised to keep a knife or scissors around themselves to discourage a visit from this hantu.
She can be eliminated by destroying the body before she returns to it, or by preventing her from returning to her body by sunrise.
3. Pocong
The pocong is definitely an undead being, and its appearance reflects this. It is a corpse that is trapped within its kain kafan (burial shroud), a wandering spirit with unfinished earthly business. The condition of the corpse and the shroud is an indicator of its age – the more decomposed and decayed it looks, the older it is.
Irreverent Malaysians joke that it looks like a popiah.
Horror films depict the pocong’s movements as a bunny hop due to practical issues (actors can’t move normally within the shroud as it is tied up), but according to tradition, the pocong is able to levitate off the ground and even teleport. It is usually found close to its grave or its former home.
Unlike the pontianak and penanggalan, the pocong is a much less antagonistic spirit. It requires release, instead of being destroyed. The pocong is typically a spirit that needs the ties of its shroud loosened so that it can finally leave earth to pass into the afterlife.
However, there is a type of pocong that is aggressive – the red pocong. This pocong originates from a vengeful spirit who seeks retribution for an unfair or unpleasant death. This is the only pocong that is said to actually attack people. Some believe that the red pocong is the leader of regular pocong.
The pocong is an enemy in the Indonesian indie horror game DreadOut.
4. Toyol
An entity created from a baby, the toyol is employed in robbing others of their wealth for its owner. It can be purchased from a bomoh (even online now!) or created through special embalming techniques of an aborted fetus or stillborn baby.
The toyol feeds on blood, and tales vary on its source: some say that it sucks blood out of the big toe of its owner, and others say that it is breastfed blood by a female family member of the owner. There are other stories that say that the toyol requires milk and toys as offerings.
Unlike many other Malaysian hantu, the toyol does not have a focus or direction of its own without an owner – if it is set free, it will merely wander without disturbing anyone, except maybe to play with toys left around a house. According to legend, it does seek new owners when it doesn’t have one, courting them with gifts of money and jewellery stolen from others, especially when it thinks that the potential owner is sad.
This is because of its childlike nature. A toyol can be easily distracted by marbles or sweets or toys, as it will drop everything to play with these items. On its own, a toyol is not particularly intelligent and will follow its base instincts. Some stories do tell of toyols killing babies out of jealousy, recognising the life that could have been theirs.
Besides stealing valuables, a toyol can also be used to sabotage or spy on enemies. Small and quick, it is able to get around easily without being noticed. The use of special rituals and other spirits can make the toyol even more powerful, capable of murdering a fully grown adult.
Toyols can be warded off with simple objects. They are said to be afraid of needles and their own reflection.
The toyol is usually kept in a jar, like pickles, and supposedly that is what it looks like: a pickled fetus. This jar must be hidden away in a dark place until the toyol is needed.
A contract can be entered into with a toyol, and in these cases, at the end of the contract the owner must bury the jar with specific burial rituals so that the spirit can be laid to rest. Alternatively, a toyol can be passed down the generations within a family.
To get rid of a toyol, one can bury the jar or throw it into the sea.
5. Orang minyak
The orang minyak is a supernatural creature to some, but according to others it is the result of a man who practices certain types of black magic. The name is pretty self explanatory – it appears as a naked man covered in dark grease.
Despite his famously greasy skin, it does not impede him from climbing over gates and walls. The grease seems to work only to his benefit because it sticks to his skin and leaves no tracks. It helps him evade capture and allows him to squeeze through small holes and gaps.
A truly evil creature, the orang minyak is a famous sexual assaulter. This entity has been blamed for rapes and peeping tom related antics. He enjoys watching women while they’re showering and he often targets virgins for rape.
He is also said to be more powerful during the night than the day. It is possible to fend him off when the sun is still up, but after nightfall he may be unstoppable. Some legends say that he has the power to paralyse his victims or to take away their voice during his attacks.
Since his victims are exclusively virginal women, prospective victims may prevent an orang minyak attack by pretending to be male in wearing masculine clothing or scents.
Malaysian hantu are pretty hardcore
Although many Malaysians are horror buffs, we often find that Western horror is too tame for our liking and full of cliches that are unrelatable. We’re more captivated by horror films produced by Asians, because of the increased focus on the cultural aspects.
Here’s to hoping we see more of these ghosts on our TVs and in our games, but not in our bedrooms!
For more stories like this, read: 3 Real-Life Malaysian Horror Encounters During Halloween and My Dad Confessed He Had A Side Chick Who ‘Bomoh’d’ Him Out Of RM700,000.
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