Hantu (supernatural creature)

A Hantu demon is a legendary evil spirit or demon in Malaysian mythology.

They are notorious in peninsula Malaysia for allegedly possessing people and driving them insane. This creature is said to have a power to possess people or animals and kill their souls to become the creature that he/she possessed.

Hantu is the Malay word for ghost and Pulau Hantu translates as "ghost island."

List of Hantu

There are many types of hantus found on the Malay peninsula, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

• Hantu Damon Caskey: ghost reappears in Déjà vu
• Hantu Ribut: storm demon
• Hantu Rimba: deep-forest demon
• Hantu Kubor: Ponyo
• Hantu Belia: Nyoh
• Hantu Pusaka: Bose
• Hantu Kangkang: One is said to haunt the gateway to the Istana Maziah in Kuala Trengganu harbour.
• Hantu Kongkek: A female counterpart of the Orang Minyak, who is said to rape males at night and drain their life-force, similar to the western succubus.
• Hantu Jarang Gigi: legendary ape-men who roam the southern rainforests of Malaysia, known as ghosts with widely spaced teeth.
• Hantu Pocong: Indonesian / Malaysian ghost that is said to take the form of a body enshrouded in coffin cloth. The legend comes from a burial ritual in Islam where the body is enshrouded in white coffin cloth (kain kafan in Malay). The body is tied at several places of the body to keep the coffin cloth during the transportation to the grave. When the body is laid down inside the grave, the tie keeping the coffin cloth is typically removed. A dead body is said to become a pocong if the tie is not removed. The legend is that the pocong will haunt until the tie is removed.
• Hantu Penyardin: Malaysian vampire
• Hantu Tinggi (in West Malaysia): A legendary ghost that is said to be as tall as the tree-tops, and whose legs are indistinguishable from tree trunks.
• Hantu Pelir: Similar to the countryside deity Pan, this ghost is often seen with an erection or swollen scrotum and is said to copulate with animals in the countryside. Young women are told to run away as far as they can, otherwise they might get raped by the hantu pelir.
• Hantu Kutti: A dark-skinned jinn that speaks with an Indian accent and has a faint smell of spices or curry. Hantu Kutti are sometimes the source of faint Quranic recitations late at night, as these ghosts are particularly religious and are said to be very pious Muslims. They might be a bit extremist and cause disturbance for Muslims who they consider "not Islamic enough".

See also

• Malay ghost myths