ESL Blogs

The pontianak (Dutch-Indonesian spelling: boentianak, Jawi: 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.