Sucoyan

(Sue-COIN)

Variations: Ligaroo (masculine), SUKUYAN

In the West Indies there is a vampiric creaturecalled a sucoyan. Looking like an old woman by day, at night it removes its skin and hides it in the hollow of a tree. Then, it shape-shifts into a CORPSE CANDLE and flies out in search of its prey—a sleeping person that it will drain dry of blood. Like many vampires that have the ability to remove their skin, such as the ASEMA and the LOOGAROO, finding its skin and rubbing it with SALT so that it shrinks will ultimately destroy the sucoyan, as it will die if exposed to direct sunlight.

Source: Allsopp, Dictionary of Caribbean English Usage, 161; Beck, To Windward of the Land, 209; David, Folklore of Carriacoum, 29­30