Pontianak City

The pontianak (Dutch-Indonesian spelling: boentianakJawi: ڤونتيانق) is a female vampiric ghost in Malaysian and Indonesian mythology. It is also known as a matianak or kuntilanak, sometimes shortened to kunti. Pontianak is called Churel, or Churayl, in Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan. The pontianak are said to be the spirits of women who died while pregnant. This is despite the fact that the earliest recordings of pontianaks in Malay lore describe the ghost as originating from a stillborn child.[1][2][3] This is often confused with a related creature, the lang suir, which is the ghost of a woman who died while giving birth. The word pontianak is reportedly a corruption of the Malaysian perempuan mati beranak, or “woman who died in childbirth”.[4] Another theory is that the word is a combination of puan (woman) + mati (die) + anak(child). The term matianak means "death of a child". The city of Pontianak in Indonesia is named after this wicked creature, which was claimed to have haunted the first sultan who once settled there.

Pontianaks are usually depicted as pale-skinned women with long black hair, red eyes, and white dress smeared in blood, but they are said to be able to take on a beautiful humanly appearance since they prey on men and helpless people. They can also be beasts due to their bloodthirsty and carnivorous nature.

In folklore, a pontianak usually arises at full moon and announces her presence through high-pitched baby cries. If the cry is soft, it means that the pontianak is near, and if it is loud, then she must be far. Some believe that if ones hears a dog howling at night, that means the pontianak is far, but if a dog is whining, that means the pontianak is nearby. Her presence can sometimes be detected by a nice floral fragrance identifiable as that of the plumeria, followed by an awful stench (resembling that of a decaying body) afterwards. The Indian version, the Churail, can be identified by her feet turning backwards just before her transformation into her vampiric form.

A pontianak kills her victims by digging into their stomach with her sharp fingernails and devouring their body organs. In some cases where the pontianak desires revenge against a male individual, the beast rips out the body organs with her hands. It is said that if one has his or eyes open when a pontianak is near, she will suck them out of the victim's head. Pontianak locates her preys/victims by sniffing out the hanging laundry outside. For this reason, some Malaysians refuse to leave any piece of clothing outside of their house overnight.

The pontianak is associated with banana trees, and her spirit is said to reside in them during the day.

To fend off a pontianak, a nail should be plunged into the hole on the nape of her neck. This is said to make her turn into a beautiful woman and a good wife until the nail is removed. In the case of the kuntilanak, the nail is plunged into the apex of her head.

The Indonesian kuntilanak is similar to the pontianak, but commonly takes the form of a bird and sucks the blood of virgins and young women. The bird, which makes a "ke-ke-ke" sound as it flies, may be sent through some black magic to make a woman fell sick, the characteristic symptom is vaginal bleeding. In her female form, when a man approaches her, she suddenly turns and reveals that her back is hollow, but this apparition is more specifically referred to sundel bolong.

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Comments

  • Then you are lucky, Adi Mursalin! I want to see something unseen :)
  • YES, THE GHOST DOES NOT EXIST. BUT I MUST BELIEVE IN THE UNSEEN. I USED TO MEET THE UNSEEN SEVERAL TIMES

  • i dont think i want to meet one Adi..  do you know there's a tree which the pontianak like to hangout. "pokok Ara"

    I have that tree at the back at my house.  

  • I don't believe that ghosts exist... :) But this story is interesting! Thank you for sharing!
    •        Thanks for sharing  this terrifying myths from ur culture  . It is interesting  to know about these things  . However  , mothers go through  lots of pain during pregnancy and labour and face alot of risk to survive with their babies :(  In my part of the world they say alot of things like when a woman  give birth  her grave is opened for 40 days  . This mean if she passes the 40 days  , she will make  it  . Women suffer  alot more than men to bring up a new generation  in all the globe  . Such incidents  are tragic I feel sad whenever  I hear the news of mom death  . Me myself when it comes to giving  birth I feel death approaching  me in away or another   , thanks God I have made it alive  . 
    •   And a bout babies we have a sweeter funny myth here it says  that : when the new born baby pouts  he is seeing a fox taking his mom away  in his dreams  , on the other hand when he smiles  , this means that the fox  left his mom  . They called  it in arabic "يحصني " I enjoyed  reading  ur blog alot  :) 
  • YES, I USED TO MEET ONE. IF YOU DO NOT BELIEVE ME, COME TO PONTIANAK

  • Have you meet one? 

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