Con Tinh

(SONTENTH)

This type of vampiric REVENANT of the Orient is created when a woman dies before her time, specifically if her death occurred because of anillicit love affair or if she were a virgin who dies a violent death. Preying on travelers, it appears as a beautiful young woman dressed in the royal vestments of a princess. It will carry a fan and a basket of fruit. Usually its familiar, a pair of cranes or doves, accompany it. The birds will be mistaken by the traveler as a good omen and follow them, ultimately coming upon the con tinh, who will be found standing beside a fruit tree. Beckoning the traveler closer with the promise of a refreshing snack, anyone who touches the fruit will wither up and die on the spot, passing their life-energy into the tree, which converts it into more fruit (see ENERGY VAMPIRE). The con tinh, desirous only of killing and consuming life, lives off the fruit of the tree and cannot leave its immediate area.

Source: Fjelstad, Possessed by the Spirits, 65­66; Leach, Funk and Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folk-lore, 284; Stein, The World in Miniature, 84, 97, 300, 302