ASIA

ASIA

Dab Tsog: The Hmong Nightmare Spirit Blamed for 117 Deaths

Dab Tsog doesn't knock, and it doesn't need a door. It comes while you sleep, sits its full weight on your chest, and pr...
ASIA

Umm al-Subyan: The Shapeshifting Jinn Blamed for Yemen’s Infant Deaths

She never shows up looking like a monster. Umm al-Subyan first appears as your mother, your wife, or a cousin you trust ...
ASIA

Nyala Duem: Bhutan’s Vanishing Highway Demoness Legend

She never announced herself as a demon. She showed up as a monk walking the ridge at dusk, or a striking woman rinsing m...
MIDDLE EAST

Bahla, Oman: The City of Magic and Its Jinn Legend

Locals call it Madinat al-Sihr (مدينة السحر) — the City of Magic. Bahla is a real oasis town in northern Oman, and the l...
ASIA

Aghach Kishi: Azerbaijan’s Hairy Forest Man of the Caucasus

Aghach Kishi (“tree man,” آغاج کیشی) is the name Azerbaijani mountain communities give to a hairy, foul-smelling forest ...
ASIA

The Girl in Red of Boom Gorge, Kyrgyzstan’s Haunted Road

Boom Gorge (Боом капчыгайы, Boom Kapchygayy) is a real 25-kilometer canyon on the only road between Bishkek and Lake Iss...
ASIA

The Purple Áo Dài Ghost of Nguyễn Thị Minh Khai School

She only appears under the banyan tree, and only when the moon is full. Students at one of Saigon's oldest high schools ...
ASIA

Maria Labo: The Philippine Aswang Legend of the Cannibal Mother

Maria Labo doesn't lurk in a forest or wait under a bridge. She's a mother — an ordinary overseas worker who came home f...
ASIA

Khara-Khoto: The Black City’s Ghost Soldiers and Cursed Well

Ruins don't usually come with a warning label, but Khara-Khoto's has held for six centuries: don't dig in the wells, and...
ASIA

Kalu Kumaraya: Sri Lanka’s Incubus Prince of Pathaha Pokuna

Villagers near Udugampola, Sri Lanka, still point to a stone-lined pond called Pathaha Pokuna and lower their voices. Ka...