Impundulu Lightning Bird of South Africa

South Africa is a country of stark contrast, the beautiful modern cities shares its space with tribal societies that still practice rituals and believe in legends thousands of years old, and vampire creatures are one of the darker legends. Among the people of the Eastern Cape region, the Xhosa, the Ponda (Pondo), and the Zulu believe the Impundulu is one of their most feared blood thirsty creatures. Sometimes it is called the impundulu, thewane, izulu, and also the inyoni yezulu. The Impundulu, or Lightning Bird, is a vampire creature that is created by a witch or witch doctor as a familiar to kill the witch’s enemies and is later passed on to the witch’s daughter.

Impundulu namely means Thunderbird. If he leaves the home of his mistress he will take the form of a human sized bird with an insatiable thirst for human blood and intercourse and would feed on not only humans, but on cattle as well. Not only does it feed on blood, it also feeds on their pain. It had the ability to call down thunder and lightning with its wings and talons. The witch that controlled an impundulu had to make sure that it was always well fed, otherwise it would turn on her.

The impundulu inflicts an insatiable blood-thirst upon its mistress’s enemies. To the witch, the impundulu will not disobey her. If the African vampire didn’t kill its victims, a wasting disease caused by the vampire still could finish his victim off. The feeding would leave you with a bad cough and infertility. In rare cases, the Impundulu may cause the victim a quick death, which was often called “being slain by the bird of heaven.” Victims will often experience a sharp unbearable pain in the chest or head. For all these reasons and because it is the servant of witches or witch doctors it is considered to be an evil creature.

Unlike other African vampires, which usually appeared in some monstrous form, the impundulu looked like a gorgeous young man, which is why some legends claim that the witch and her impundulu would become lovers. Whether in bird or human form the Impundulu, is a dangerous blood thirsty killer.

Among certain African tribes the hammerkop is believed to be the lightning bird. Among others the lightning bird is believed to manifest itself only through lightning, except to women, to whom it reveals itself as a bird.

In one instance a village girl described a black rooster-like bird that ran up her hoe and left claw marks on her body before it flew back to the clouds. In other instances it is described as having iridescent feathers like a peacock’s or a fiery red tail, bill and legs. Most supposed sightings describe the lightning bird as a winged creature with the size of a person; when needed it can indeed masquerade as a human, but usually it’s a huge black and white bird of prey.

Some African people believe the hammerkop is the lightning bird and if someone destroys its nest it will sit on that person’s roof and call down lightning to destroy the house. Others say the lightning bird will only usually appear through lightning but will sometimes reveal itself to women as a bird. When this happens it is believed to appear in the mind perhaps as some kind of inner vision and sometimes comes in different forms.

In most instances the tribe’s witch doctor plays the essential role in dealing with the lightning bird. A supposed extract from the bird’s flesh may for instance be prepared into a remedy for tracing thieves. In this way the witch doctors may exert control over the minds of both law-abiding and criminal members of their society.

The impundulu is known to be a confidant of witches, it’s sometimes spotted riding on the back of a hyena, because witches can turn themselves into a hyena. The lightning bird is widely feared as a witch’s familiar. It is considered an evil creature because it does the bidding of witches; if a witch doctor dispatches an impundulu it can cause illness and bad luck to a person.

The fat of the bird is believed to be of significance either as the fuel that the bird sets on fire when it throws down a lightning strike or as a component in valuable traditional medicine. It is difficult to obtain the fat of the lightning bird for medicinal use as according to tradition the bird must be captured the instant the lightning it lets loose strikes the ground. Another way is to dig it from out of a hole underneath the ground at the exact spot where lightning strikes the earth.

The bird is furthermore believed to lay a large egg underground at the location of the lightning strike. This may be a good or bad omen that may require digging to procure or dispose of the eggs. This creature has another similarity to vampires, it is said that the lightning bird is immortal, because it outlives its masters. The lightning bird is impervious to gunshots or stabbing, it cannot be poisoned or drowned. Effectively immortal, there is not a lot you can do except set it on fire.

In 2005, a South African man was convicted of culpable homicide after killing a two-year-old child he believed to be an impundulu.

To the many Africans the Lightning bird was seen as a bird of power and magic and like thunder and lightning, something to be feared or at least respected.

An Ishologu is and African vampire that is essentially an Impundulu without an owner. Since Iimpundulu are servants of witches, one without a witch would cause pure chaos. Without an owner, an Ishologu has no boundaries and will become more merciless. A rooming monster feeding off chaos and pain.

“In Africa there are any number of folkloric or legendary creatures that subsist on the blood of the living, but these are not truly the undead.”

John L. Vellutini, Editor of the Journal of Vampirology, Interview 2016