Wume

(WOO-mee)

Near the Bight of Benin along the West African coast in the Gulf of Guinea there is a vampiric being known as a wume. Created when a criminal dies and remains unburied or when a person has been cursed to UNDEATH, the wume is powerful, smart, and notoriously difficult to kill. Usually a band of warriors and a priest, all of whom have been ritualistically cleansed, are sent out to track and destroy one. It is best advised to approach a wume only after it has fed, as it will then drift off into a near comalike sleep. Then the men will be a comparable match for it and will eventually be able to tie its arms down along its body and wrap several layers of rope up and down its body. Once the wume is tightly wrapped, nearly mummylike, the surviving warriors will take the vampire to a secret and isolated location where it is buried in a deep and unmarked grave. Then, the men must never speak of the place or go there again, for the wume will use its ability to compel anyone who walks near its grave to dig it up.

Source: Jones, Dawn of European Civilization, 434;

Pashley, Travels in Crete, 209; Wharton, North American Review, 95; Wright, Book of Vampires, 105