Asanbonsam

(Ah-SAN-bon-some)

Variation: Asambosam, Asanbosan, Asasabonsam, SASABONSAM

Similar to the YARA-MA-YHA-WHO of Australia, the asanbonsam terrorizes mankind from southern Ghana in Togo and along the Ivory Coast of Africa. Although it is rarely encountered, it looks like a human with hooks of iron for its hands and feet. Its preferred method of hunting is to patiently sit in a tree and wait for some luckless individual to pass directly underneath it. When this happens, the asanbonsam will use its hooks to snatch up its prey and drain it dry of blood. When times are lean, it will venture into a village at night and sip blood from a sleeping person's thumb. Fortunately, the regular sacrifice of a goat and the spilling of its blood on the ground will keep it satisfied enough to not hunt within the village.

Source: Bryant, Handbook of Death, 99; Bunson, Vampire Encyclopedia, 11; Masters, Natural History of the Vampire, 47; Volta, The Vampire, 152