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The Kuntilanak and the Pontianak: Vampiric Ghosts of the Banana Tree

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At the cusp of a vengeful ghost and a vampiric entity, the Kuntilanak of Indonesia, or the Pontianak as she is called in Malaysia, is after both vengeance and to devour her victims. 

In Indonesia, particularly on the islands of Java and Kalimantan, there exists one of Southeast Asia’s most haunting and widely feared spirits known as the Kuntilanak. She is said to be the restless ghost of a woman who died during childbirth or in a violent circumstance, forever trapped between life and death. In Malayan folklore where the story is also told, she is called the Pontianak. 

Read More: Check out all ghost stories from Indonesia and Malaysia

Her domain is said to be in hollow banana trees and if you smell the sweet scent of Jasmine or the frangipani flower, it might just be the ghost of a woman who died in childbirth. And she might be after your blood. 

The Woman in White of Southeast Asian

The Kuntilanak is believed to originate in the spirit of a woman who died while pregnant or during childbirth. There are different variations of the legend throughout Asia, as we will get more into later. In traditional belief, dying in such a vulnerable state without completing the life cycle left the soul restless and unanchored.

The Kuntilanak is often depicted as a long-haired woman dressed in white as an astral female spirit. In modern media, she is often portrayed as a Woman in White. Often, her dress is depicted as blood-smeared. It is also often a traditional kebaya or funeral shroud.

She lures in unsuspecting men to devour and sometimes also for some sort of revenge. Some say that the phantom is an invention of Malay wives who wanted to discourage their husbands from random sexual encounters with women that they met on the road at night. Or perhaps it acts as some sort of subconscious warning to men to leave women alone at night. 

Signs that a Kuntilanak is nearby include the sound of an infant crying and the smell of plumeria flower followed by the smell of decay.

The Vampiric Creature of the Night

Another thing the Kuntilanak spirit is depicted as, is a monstrous transformation when she has lured her prey, more like a beast or type of vampire than a ghost. 

The Kuntilanak suddenly turns and reveals that her back is hollow, much like the Sundel bolong the prostitute ghost with her large gaping hole on her back.

Another version of this figure depicts her as a woman with long, sharp fangs and fingernails that she is said to use to feed on her victims, digging them into their stomachs and devouring their organs and blood. In some versions, she is also said to have wings she can fly away with making a ke-ke-ke sound as it flies.

The Ghost in the Tree

Banana trees are by nature hollow at the center. In Javanese and Malay belief these hollows are places where spirits can dwell. The Kuntilanak is said to hide in the hollows of banana trees, emerging at night or when someone passes too close. This is why it’s advised to ask permission from the spirits and guardians before entering a jungle. Kuntilanak are also said to favor certain trees as their “dwelling places,” such as the hibiscus tree, which grows leaning to the side (popularly called “waru doyong”).

When she appears, her wail is a long, high-pitched cry that carries over fields and villages, chilling listeners with its sorrow and fury. Those who hear the cry are believed to be marked by her presence.

The legend holds that the Kuntilanak may call out a person’s name, drawing them nearer with a voice that sounds familiar, kind, or beckoning. They usually announce their presence through baby cries. It’s said that if the cry is loud, she is far away, but if it is soft, then she is nearby. It is also said that if you hear a dog/wolf howl she is far away, but if it’s whimpering, she is nearby.

According to Javanese beliefs and traditions , a kuntilanak will not harm a pregnant woman if she always carries nails, knives, and scissors with her whenever she travels. This is why scissors, needles , and knives are often placed near a baby’s crib. According to Malay beliefs as well, sharp objects like nails can ward off attacks by the Pontianak.

Kuntilanak can be subdued by plunging a sharp nail into the top of her head. Sometimes the story goes that she doesn’t die from this, but once again becomes a normal woman. Sometimes even a good wife. Although, be careful to never remove the nail ever again as she will go back to her old ways. 

The Malayan Pontianak

As mentioned, the Kuntilanak of Indonesia is also called Pontianak in Malaysia. But what exactly is the difference? There are many Malay ghost myths, remnants of old animist beliefs that have been shaped by Hindu-Buddhist cosmology and later Muslim influences. Some ghost concepts such as the female vampires pontianak and penanggal are shared throughout the region. Often these two names are conflated to one being, just in different languages. 

There are some things that are more quintessential Malayan lore though than you would find in Indonesia. The Pontianak is similar to another entity found in Malayan folklore, the Langsuir. This is a vampiric ghost of a woman who died in childbirth in Malaysia is often connected with the stories of the Pontianak where the Langsuir is the ghost of the mother who died in childbirth, and the Pontianak is the child who died in stillbirth. Modern popular culture often confuses the pontianak with its mother the lang suir. However, traditional myth is clear that the pontianak is the ghost of a dead baby and not a pregnant woman.

There are also some traditions for the Malay Pontianak that are followed. To prevent this ghost to form, as with its mother the lang suir, a needle is placed in each of the corpse’s hands and a hen’s egg under each armpit. The Pontianak is also said to locate their prey by sniffing clothes that are left out to dry, which is the reason Malay’s refuse to keep their clothes outside at night. Also whistling after night is said to draw evil spirits. 

An interesting thing is how the Pontianak stopped showing up in modern media for a long time in Malay media. Films about her had mostly stopped being produced by the 1970s and in the 1990s, the Malaysian government censored horror films. These laws were relaxed in the 2000s, which brought on another wave of films, including the feminist Pontianak Harum Sundal Malam. She once again became something shared in media and culture to this day. 

The City of Pontianak

Pontianak, capital city of Indonesia’s West Kalimantan province, shares its name with the fearsome monster. Perhaps a little confusing, the Indonesian city is given the Malayan name for it. 

Pontianak is said to have been founded in 1771 as a Malay fishing village, near a delta on the trade route of the Kapuas River. The legend of the city of Pontianak holds that the city began as an old trading station, infested with ghosts until Syarif Abdurrahman Alkadrie and his army drove them away with cannon fire. 

Read More: The City of Pontianak and the Vampiric Ghost its Named After

He also cut down all of the trees they could be hiding in, then constructed a mosque and a palace on the site. These buildings became the city and the seat of the Pontianak Sultanate. Holiday celebrations often include firing bamboo cannons to pay tribute to the Sultan.

Some claim that the vanquishing of the ancient creature in Pontianak was a metaphor about how the area entered to a place of a more modern era, ridding itself of old superstition in order to take on new ones. But old stories are hard to get rid of completely. And if they are still firing cannons, did she vanish at all?

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References:

Kuntilanak

The Indonesian Frontier Town Named for a Jungle Vampire – JSTOR Daily 

Kuntilanak – Wikipedia 

Kuntilanak – Wikipedia bahasa Indonesia, ensiklopedia bebas

(DOC) INDONESIAN GHOST KUNTILANAK IN FOLKLORE AND MASS CULTURE

Pontianak

The Indonesian Frontier Town Named for a Jungle Vampire – JSTOR Daily 

Kuntilanak – Wikipedia 

If Singapore has a lion, why should Pontianak not have a ghost? – National – The Jakarta Post

The ultimate survival guide to Malaysian superstitions and ghosts

Ghosts in Malay culture – Wikipedia

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The City of Pontianak and the Vampiric Ghost its Named After

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How haunted is a city to be named after its ghosts? This is the case of the Indonesian city of Pontianak, said to have been haunted by the fearsome ghosts known as the Pontianak or the Kuntilalak ghosts, thirsting for blood and vengeance.

The seductive but bloodthirsty Kuntilanak is a popular character in Malay horror films and novels, where she typically lurks around forested areas with abundant banana or banyan fig trees, waiting for her victims she can drain dry. 

The ghost of the Kuntilanak or the Pontianak as she is known in this city, has given name to the capital of the West Kalimantan on Borneo island, as it was said the place was filled with ghosts. Not just ghosts though, bloodthirsty ghosts, lurking in the deep jungle. 

The Pontianak City Founded on a Coast of Ghosts

Pontianak, capital city of Indonesia’s West Kalimantan province, shares its name with a fearsome monster. Perhaps a little confusing, the Indonesian city is given the Malayan name for it. Throughout most of Indonesia, she goes under the name Kuntinalak. 

Pontianak is said to have been founded in 1771 by Syarif Abdurrahim, near a delta on the trade route of the Kapuas River as a fishing village, with the equator line passing through it. There does however seem to have been a more ancient civilisation living here in the late 17th century. The city is also sometimes known as Khuntien in Teochew and Hakka and was a Malay state on the western coast of Borneo in the late 18th century until 1950. 

A nobleman of Arab descent, he was given land because of the strategic importance since the river served as the main trading route for transporting goods from the interior of the island. 

The delta was also home to pirates and building a fortress against them was also an important task. It is said that when they first came by boat, they noticed many disturbances and frightening sounds coming from the thick and dark jungle that surrounded them. The disturbances were perceived as evil ghosts and they frightened the people they didn’t want to stay. 

To scare away the ghosts, Syarif Abdurrahim fired cannon to keep them at bay. The city was built on swampy ground and tropical forest subjected to regular flooding by the river, requiring buildings to be constructed on piles to keep them off the ground. He also cut down all of the trees they could be hiding in, then constructed a mosque and a palace on the site. These buildings became the city and the seat of the Pontianak Sultanate. 

It went through many hands, until it became a part of the Republic of Indonesia after the Japanese surrendered after the second world war. Because of its history and blended population, it has a culture unlike other places in Indonesia. But did they really rid themselves of the ghosts said to roam here?

The Pontinak or the Kuntinak Ghost

But what exactly is a Pontinak, or the Kuntinak that the ghost is known as in the rest of Indonesia?

The Kuntilanak is believed to originate in the spirit of a woman who died while pregnant or during childbirth. Banana trees are by nature hollow at the center and in Javanese and Malay belief these hollows are places where spirits can dwell. The Kuntilanak is said to hide in the hollows of banana trees, emerging at night or when someone passes too close to drain them of their blood and life like a vampire. This is why it’s advised to ask permission from the spirits and guardians before entering a jungle and take certain measures. 

Some people also claim that the origin of the name Pontianak comes from the Malay language, namely ponti, from the acronym for tall tree, something the place was before turning into a city. 

The Ghost as a Citizen Today in Pontianak

To this day, the story of the Pontianak is important for the city, both as history, and everyday life. There used to be annual festivals in order to commemorate the founding of the city, during which people fired the bamboo cannon and thereby symbolically evicted Kuntilanak. Almost like they still have to do it to keep her at bay.

During the New Order the annual event and the cannon disappeared. However, some citizens have set up cannon again in recent years. An annual festival is still held in Pontianak during which meriam karbit, special carbide cannons made from wooden logs, are fired to ring at the end of Ramadan.

In recent years, the people of Pontianak city stand divided over how to honor their namesake. For years, plans of raising a statue of the Pontianak were put forth. There had long been rumors and ideas about these plans, but it seemed more real when Kartius, head of the Youth, Tourism and Sports Agency in West Kalimantan. Kartius proposed the idea to build the statue, arguing that the monument would increase tourism. Towering over 300 feet, the ghost would dwarf the buildings around it.

Protests started and banners with “Community Movement to Reject Ghost Statue.” They turned up outside of the parliament building, although no official moves had been done.  Turns out, not every person was eager for the idea of their childhood nightmare turned into a tourist attraction. A poll showed 98% of residents were opposed to the idea. 

Fear to attract the ghost perhaps? 

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References:

Kuntilanak – ScienceDirect

The Indonesian Frontier Town Named for a Jungle Vampire – JSTOR Daily

Pontianak – Wikipedia

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Langsuyar: The Night Vampire of Malay Folklore

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From the despair of a mother dying in childbirth, a blood thirsty spirit rises in her place. With her alluring appearance and ability to transform into flying entities, she is one of the feared vampires from Malay folklore. 

From the Malay Archipelago is a creature both feared and cautionary known as the Langsuyar or the Langsuir. This spirit is a type of vampire that emerges under very specific and tragic conditions. 

Read More: Check out all ghost stories from Malaysia

The Langsuyar is not just another night ghost, but the spirit of a woman who died in childbirth. Transformed, a spirit driven by hunger, regret and in some cases, vengeance. The legend has survived for generations across Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore, haunting the night and the edges of village life.

A Death That Cannot Be Rested

At the core of the legend is the belief that a woman who dies in childbirth, or shortly after giving birth, may rise again as a langsuyar. Often after she suffered from a laboring sickness called meroyan. Forty days after burial, her spirit rises as a Langsuyar if proper rituals are not performed. 

Some stories also suggest that betrayal by her husband contributes to her transformation after he’s been cheating. 

In one version, the Langsuir was a beautiful woman who lost her child. When she heard about the stillbirth, she died of shock and became a demon. Upon hearing the news of other stillbirths, the woman claps her hands and flies off to a tree where she perches. The stillborn child becomes the Pontianak.

The Pontianak: The Pontianak is the spirit of the stillborn child and the Langsuyar is the mourning mother. In some versions and stories, the two exist as spectral counterparts in this tragic ghost tale of a mother and her child separated by death. // Image: Malaysian model of a langsuyar.

In most tales, the langsuyar looks like a normal woman and is sometimes described as beautiful by day with hair down to her ankles, often appearing in a green robe. At night, especially near the moonlit hours, her true form emerges.

Her hair becomes unkempt and her fingernails grow sharp like claws. Her eyes gleam red with hunger. In some versions of the legend she has wings like a bat or a bird. Her name is believed to originate from helang, the Malay word for eagle, but it’s often an owl she is compared to. 

Her voice becomes a shriek that carries across forests and fields. Travelers and villagers alike speak of hearing her call at night. Some versions of the tale say she calls out names familiar to her victims, drawing them closer into darkness.

A Predator in the Night

The langsuyar is associated with dark forests and rural areas where she hides. It is also connected with certain trees and the parasitic fern “sakat,” growing in dark green clusters and is said to be a common resting place for her kind. Woodcutters do exorcisms to protect themselves from Langsuyars and other spirits when they harvest wood from the poisonous Rengas trees in Malaysia.

Asplenium nidus (Sakat Fern)

In many stories, the preys upon men and children who travel alone at night as well. She approaches quietly, her feet barely touching the ground, until she is near enough. Then she feeds. In some tellings she bites at the neck, drawing blood and life, but most often her feeding is through her small hole at the back of her neck covered by her long hair. 

Signs and Omens of the Langsuyar

Langhui, Langhuā!
Your beak is stumpy,
Your feathers are cloth of silk,
Your eyes are “crab’s eye” beans,
Your heart is a young areca-nut,
Your blood thread in water,
Your veins the thread for binding on cock’s-spurs,
Your bones twigs of the giant bamboo,
Your tail a fan from China.
Descend, O Venom, ascend Neutraliser,
Neutralise the Venom in the bones,
Neutralise it in the veins,
Neutralise it in the joints,
Neutralise it within the house,
Neutralise it within the jungle.
Descend, O Venom, ascend Neutraliser,
And lock up this Langsuir.
Descend, O Venom, ascend Neutraliser.

Chant of the Sakai people and a charm against the Langsuir from Pagan Races of the Malay Peninsula.  While repeating the charm, the sufferer would be rubbed with the leaves or root of the “kělmoyang,” possibly Chamacladon, Homalomena, or Alpina conchigera.

Traditional practices to protect against the Langsuyar vary by community, but most have to do with the burial practices. After death, family members could place glass beads in her mouth, chicken eggs under her armpits, and steel needles in her palms to prevent the corpse from rising as a Languyar. The leaves of the gandasuli were also considered to be a powerful charm against Langsuyars.

There are stories where the Langsuyars were defeated though. It was believed that if her nails and hair were cut and stuffed into the neck cavity, the Langsuyar would lose her powers and revert to a normal woman. In some stories, she becomes a wife and a mother again, almost like a second chance at life.

This can go on for years. But folklore warns that if she ever experiences joy again where dancing is particularly mentioned, her supernatural form will return and she will go back to the forest where she came from.

A Legacy of Fear and Folklore

The earliest written mention of the Langsuyar appears in the English anthropologist Walter William Skeat’s Malay Magic (1891), which recorded tales of local spirits and beliefs in Selangor on the west coast of Malaysia. Of course, the legend existed long before that, although it’s uncertain exactly how old it is. Female and bloodsucking entities that can transform to a winged being, have existed for ages in various forms and stories throughout southeast Asia. 

In modern Southeast Asia, belief in the literal existence of the langsuyar has faded among many, although it still happens that a sighting of the Langsuyar causes panic. 

In 2013, villagers in the Pasir Puteh district in Kelantan, in the northeastern part of Malaysia, bordering Thailand reported sightings of a langsuyar that was terrorizing the town. This state is one of the poorer and conservative muslim parts of the country, and perhaps one of the more superstitious as well? 

The residents in several villages described seeing a long-haired Langsuyar flying and shrieking in the night. The fear spread and reached the news and local authorities urged the villages to remain calm and pray together to repel the spirit. It didn’t die down until a local shaman entered the scene though. He claimed to have captured four of the creatures and put them away. A local religious officer acknowledged the existence of the spirit, but cautioned against talk of magic as it may be sacrilegious.

The Langsuyar embodies ancient fears about death, motherhood, and the consequences of an interrupted life. Her wail echoes among trees, across fields, and in the quiet imagination of anyone who hears a woman’s cry in the night. 

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References:

Langsuyar – Wikipedia

Langsuir

Skeat, William Walter (1900). Malay Magic

https://web.archive.org/web/20160603133323/http://malaysianreview.com/32993/penduduk-kampung-solat-hajat-halau-hantu-langsuir

Langsuyar | Legends From Around The World | Stronghold Nation

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The Lady Nak of Phra Khanong — Thailand’s Famous Ghost Mae Nak

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The story of The Lady Nak of Phra Khanong or Mae Nak Phra Khanong is a very popular ghost story in Thailand about a wife waiting for her husband even in her death. 

Mae Nak Phra Khanong (แม่นากพระโขนง), meaning The Lady Nak of Phra Khanong is one of the most famous Thai ghost stories. Her hauntings are retold in countless movies, books and series and even today, you can visit a shrine in her honor to give offerings in Thailand. 

The Story of Mae Nak Phra Khanong

During the reign of King Rama IV in the mid 1800s, there lived a woman named Mae Nak. She lived together with her husband, Mak on the banks of the Phra Khanong Canal in Bangkok until he was conscripted to fight in a war. 

In many versions of the story it was a war against the Shan tribe where he was wounded and had to spend time away to recover. He was sent to central Bangkok where he was nursed back to health before being sent home. 

During this time, Mae Nak was pregnant and waiting for her husband’s return, but the birth of their child would be struck with tragedy. While in labor, she died together with their child after a long and difficult birth. But instead of going to the afterlife, she turned into a powerful spirit called Phi Tai Hong Thong Klom (ผีตายโหงทองกลม), a vengeful and restless spirit of a person that suffered a violent or cruel death.

Finally when Mak returns home from the war after being healed from his injuries, he finds his wife and their child waiting for him and thinks they are alive and well as the news of their deaths never reached him. When neighbors try to warn him that they have already died, he refuses to believe them and lives together with his family in blissful ignorance.

Ghost Legend in Movies: The legend of Mae Nak Phra Khanong has been made into a movie on several occasions. Here actress Davika Hoorne in ‘Pee Mak Phra Kanong.

One day Mae Nak is preparing nam phrik, a type of Thai chili sauce, she drops a lime on the porch. The house was built in a traditional thai way with piles, so the lime fell on the ground under the house. Being a ghost, she makes her arm longer and picks it up from the ground. This is the moment when Mak realizes that his wife is in fact a ghost and his undying love turns to fear. 

He tries to flee the house without her noticing and manages to slip away when lying about going to the toilet. In the dead of the night he escapes. When Mae Nak notices that her husband has left her, she goes after him. Mak hides behind a Blumea balsamifera (หนาด) bush. According to folklore, ghosts fear this bush and he is protected. 

He finally reaches Wat Mahabut temple, a holy ground where ghosts cannot enter and is finally safe from the ghost of his wife, whose undying love for her husband is turning to anger and grief. 

Mae Nak’s Spirit in a Jar

Mae Nak uses her anger and in her grief, she starts to terrorize the people of Phra Khanong for helping Mak to see the truth and leave her. She is finally captured by an exorcist, trapping her spirit in a jar that is thrown in the canal. 

From there, the story has several versions for the continuing haunting of the ghost. In all versions though, some finds her jar in the canal and opens it and thereby freeing her. 

This time it was the famous monk  Somdet Phra Phutthachan that captured her spirit and trapper her in the jar. He was a widely recognized monk that they said possessed magical powers and confined her spirit in the bone of her forehead. He then binded it to his waistband. Legend says that the waistband is actually in possession of the Thai royal family. However, in other versions, the monk promised Mae Nak that she would be together with her husband in the next life, and she chose to go to the afterlife herself. 

The Shrine of Mae Nak Phra Khanong

The Shrine: Mae Nak Phra Khanong shrine in 2009, part facing the canal// Source: Xufanc

The shrine to Mae Nak was built at Wat Mahabut until it was moved in 1997 to central Bangkok near the Suan Luang District and is located next to a large temple on Soi 77 by the Sukhumvit Road.

The Mae Nak shrine has a statue of her and her infant son. People often make offerings to her, giving her clothes, toys for her child, fruits, lotuses and incense sticks. She even has a display of beautiful dresses behind her. The people giving these offerings to her often ask her for help, either to have an easy childbirth or to help their husband be exempted from military conscription. They also asks her for the lottery numbers. 

The Story Behind the Haunting

Although the legend of this Thai ghost story is well imprinted in the culture, there are no historical evidence of it being nothing more than a myth. But there are however, some similar stories.

In 1899 there was a story about the legend in the Siam Praphet newspaper. The author claimed that the story of Nak was based on the life of Amdaeng Nak (อำแดงนาก) that died when she was pregnant. Her living son was worried that his father would remarry and that he had to share his inheritance with his stepmother. 

To prevent this, he invented the ghost story and dressed in womens clothing. When boats passed the house he threw rocks at them to make them believe it was the ghost of his mother that did it. 

No matter the origin of the story, it continues to scare and inspire people and is an example of a living legend and Mae Nak’s story that refuses to die. 

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