What is it about being scared that some people like? Scary films, roller coasters, practical jokes, and things that go bump in the night… People like that sense of terror, as long as it’s not really real. Vampire movies and zombie apocalypse scenarios, tales from the crypt and the seemingly ever-popular chain saw massacres. C’mon, folks, what is going on? Some kind of cathartic response to all our efforts to be happy, healthy and helpful the majority of the time?
Well, whatever it is; tonight is the apex of such stuff – All Hallows Eve! This is the night when Urban Legends are born or re-born. My culture has plenty of these, but the Caribbean has more than its share of island legends. And one seems to fit with the spirit of Halloween quite well. It’s the legend of the soucouyant!
The soucouyant is a shape-shifter who appears as a reclusive old woman by day. By night, she strips off her wrinkled skin and puts it in a mortar. In her true form as a fireball, she flies across the dark sky in search of a victim. She can enter the home of her victim through any sized hole like cracks, crevices and keyholes.
Soucouyants suck people’s blood from their arms, legs and soft parts while they sleep, leaving blue-black marks on the body in the morning. If the soucouyant draws too much blood, the victim will either die and become a soucouyant or will perish completely, leaving her killer to assume her skin.
To expose a soucouyant, one should heap rice around the house or at the village crossroads as the creature will be obligated to gather every bit, grain by grain. This will keep her busy until dawn. To destroy her, coarse salt must be placed in the mortar containing her skin so she perishes, unable to put the skin back on. Spooky stuff!
For me, I prefer the harmless aspects of Halloween, any excuse to wear a silly costume and mingle with others wearing silly costumes. Some people get so creative and others barely make an effort. Either way, the mood is set for one of the better parties of the year.
Until next weekend,
~ Lisa
