Mhachkay
The mhachkay is a Tatar and Turkic revenant explained by a double soul. The second soul stays in the dead body and sends it out to feed, typically as an owl. An Ottoman judge's report from Tarnovo in 1833 shows the belief acted on: two corpses were dug up, staked, scalded and finally burned. Its near-identity with the Slavic strzyga points to long exchange of undead lore between Turkic and Slavic neighbours.1
- beheading the corpse and burying the head apart from the body
- burial face down with a sickle round the neck
- burning, when stakes and boiling water failed (1833 case)
Yaqala nini ukuvela?
1833An Ottoman report of 1833 from Veliko Tarnovo, printed in the official gazette Takvim-i Vakayi, describes the staking and burning of two such corpses
Okushiwo yimithombo
Sucks blood and eats the entrails of its victims1
Can be held off for a while with animal blood1
A person found in the woods with torn nails and fresh soil and blood on the hands was taken for one and driven away1
In the 1833 case the exhumed bodies of two former Janissaries were said to have grown, with longer hair and nails1
The description matches the Polish strzyga almost point for point1
Ubungayidlula ngokugijima?
Isigaba sejubane esisuka ekuchazweni yimithombo (iyagijima), hhayi isilinganiso.
Imithombo
Wonke amaqiniso kuleli khasi avela kule mithombo, abhalwe ngamazwi ethu. Ubone iphutha? Sitshele ku-hello@zombiewiki.app.
Vampir (South Slavic)
Upiór
Hortlak
Zalozhnye pokoiniki
Örek
Jiangshi
Zombi (Haitian)
Strigoi
Abhartach
Arnold Paole
Churel