Ghoul

(GOOL)

Variations: KASHA

The Arabic stories of the ghole spread east and were adopted by the people of the Orient, where it evolved as a type of vampiric spirit called a ghoul ("grabber") that possesses corpses. Once it has claimed a corpse, it animates it in order to consume the other bodies in the cemetery in which it lives; it is particularly fond of the liver. In art the ghoul is rendered to look like a three-year-old boy with reddish-brown HAIR and a mouth full of black teeth and blood. Its eyes are rendered to make it look as if it is insane.

To prevent a ghoul from taking a corpse as its own, a vigil must be maintained over the newly deceased with bells, drums, and gongs constantly sounding off. The ghoul is particularly frightened of loud noises and can be easily frightened away in this manner. Carefully woven talismans of crimson thread can be used to ward it off, as well as the use of Passover bread and metal plates with the Tetragammaton inscribed on them. Should a ghoul manage to capture a body, there is no way to remove it. To destroy it, the ghoul must be captured and burned to ash.

Source: Scarborough, Supernatural in Modern English, 158­59; Summers, Vampire: His Kith and Kin, 204; Thompson, Devils and Evil Spirits of Babylonia, 35­37