Tikoloshe- The Goblin Vampire of 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.

In Zulu/Xhosa mythology, Tikoloshe, Tikolosh, Tokoloshe, Tokolotshe, or Hili is a mischievous dwarf-like water sprite African folklore taking the form of a short little man, living in the water, and being friendly to children. It looks like a freakish baboon and can be found in the southernmost African plains. The tikoloshe is a kind of psychic vampire that doesn’t feed upon blood, but instead on the energy of its victims.

Tokoloshes are called upon by malevolent people to cause trouble for others. At its least harmful, a tokoloshe can be used to scare children, but its power extends to causing illness or even the death of the victim. The creature might be banished by a pastor (especially with an apostolic calling), who has the power to expel it from the area. It is also considered a part of superstition and is often used in a satirical manner as a reference to overcome.

It is best known for it horrific sexual appetite – most stories tell of this monster raping and then feeding off of the life force of women. Some say that a witch-doctor can trap and destroy a tikoloshe’s powers by luring it with milk.

The client – usually a jealous person – will approach an evil witch doctor to take vengeance on someone. The client has to promise the soul of a loved one, but cannot choose who, as the Tikoloshe will choose the soul it decides to take. The witch doctor locates a dead body to be possessed, piercing the eye sockets and brain with a hot iron rod so that it cannot think for itself, and sprinkling it with a special powder, shrinking the body. The Tikoloshe is then let loose to terrorise its target, taking its payment of the soul of the client’s loved one weeks, months, or maybe years later.

According to legend, the only way to keep the Tokoloshe away at night is to put a few bricks beneath each leg of one’s bed.

The advent of the phantom Tokoloshe came about through Bantu folklore to explain why people inexplicably died while sleeping in their rondavels at night. Traditionally, these people slept on the floor on grass mats encircling a wood fire that kept them warm during sub-freezing cold winter nights on the highveld in the rarefied air.

They never realized the fire was depleting the oxygen levels, leaving noxious carbon monoxide, which is heavier than pure air and sinks to the bottom. Eventually it was realized that anyone who happened to be sleeping in an elevated position escaped the deadly curse of Tokoloshe, which was described as a short man about hip high who randomly stole one’s life in the night unless they were lifted to the height of their bed.

“Some Zulu people (and other southern African tribes) are still superstitious when it comes to things like the supposedly fictional tokoloshe—a hairy creature created by a witch doctor to harm his enemies (also … known to bite off sleeping people’s toes).”

Danger Level: Unsafe