Pocong
The pocong is the shrouded dead of Java and the Malay world: a corpse still tied in its white burial cloth that leaves the grave because the knots were never loosened. It is one of the best known figures in Indonesian horror and a staple of local film and television. The belief turns a detail of funeral procedure into the cause of undeath, which is a common pattern in walking-dead folklore worldwide.1
What the sources say
The name is Javanese for 'wrapped in a shroud'1
Its face reflects the state of the corpse: pale and staring if fresh, rotted or skeletal if long dead1
Some only want to deliver a message or ask for prayers; others terrorise1
Said to gather around banana trees at night1
A red-shrouded pocong is the rarest and most feared kind1
In 2020 villagers in Java dressed as pocong to scare people into staying home during the COVID-19 pandemic1
Could you outrun it?
Speed class from how the sources describe it (hops), 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.
Toyol
Langsuyar
Toraja walking dead
Ghoul
Ro-langs
Xiangxi walking corpses
Condenado
Corpo-seco
Dearg Due