Aufhocker
The Aufhocker is a German revenant that attacks by riding its victims. It drops onto a night traveller's shoulders and becomes heavier and heavier until the bearer is crushed with exhaustion. Its destinations, churchyards and graves, mark it as one of the dead. It is a regional specialist within the wider Wiedergänger family.1
- a prayer or formula of banishment
What the sources say
The name means roughly 'one who squats on you'1
It grows heavier with every step until the victim collapses or dies1
Victims are made to carry it to a churchyard wall or a grave1
It can take different shapes, and in the Rhineland it could appear as a werewolf1
Folklorists stress its bodily weight as proof that it is a revenant and not a ghost1
Could you outrun it?
Speed class from how the sources describe it (runs), not a measurement.
Sources
Every fact on this page comes from these sources, written in our own words. Spotted a mistake? Tell us at hello@zombiewiki.app.
Nachzehrer
Wiedergänger
Fext
Ghoul
Pocong
Ro-langs
Toyol
Xiangxi walking corpses
Condenado