Churel

Detto anche: chudail, churail, petni, shakchunni, pichal peri

Folklore e mitiNon mortoVariaUna brutta morte o una sepoltura sbrigativaDal 1500 al 1899

The churel is the dangerous dead woman of South Asian folklore, the returned form of someone who died in childbirth or through ill-treatment. She seduces and destroys men, beginning with her own male relatives. The precautions taken against her are aimed squarely at the corpse: it is pinned, bound, broken and buried face down under thorns and stones. Those measures closely match anti-revenant burial practice in Europe.1

⚔️ Combatterlo

Prima attestazione

1880

Described in colonial-era ethnography, including William Crooke's study of North Indian folklore (1894)

Origine

South Asian

India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal

Cosa lo causa

Una brutta morte o una sepoltura sbrigativa

A woman who dies in childbirth, in pregnancy or during ritual impurity, or by cruelty, returns.

Come lo si diventa

Death in or around childbirth, or any unnatural death; in Bengal, dying unmarried or with desires unfulfilled.

Come si muove

Varia

Waits near trees and lonely places and leads men away into woods or hills.

Intelligenza

Furbo

Punti deboli

filling the grave with thorns and piling stones on top
nailing or binding the fingers and toes with iron
breaking the legs, sewing the eyes shut with thorns and burying the body face down
sowing mustard seed along the funeral route
carrying the body out through a side door