Creature of the Week - Vetala

Originally I was going to write this creature up for Halloween but the power going out ruined that. So that means that today's creature is the Vetala.



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The Vetala is the Hindu version of the vampire.  It is a vampire-like spirit that haunts cemeteries and inhabits corpse in order to move around. It has to animate the dead in order to attack the living. In that way, it is almost a zombie/vampire.

Vetalas supposed cause madness and miscarriages and have been known to kill children. They live in the realm between life and death and so are about to see the past, present, and the future. Because of this, magicians try to enslave them.

Ordinary people can ward off an attack by chanting prayers.

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According to legend, an ancient sorcerer asked King Vikramaditya to capture a vetala that lived in a tree near the kingdom's cremation grounds. Why the sorcerer didn't do it himself is beyond me. Anyhow, the king had to remain silent in order to capture the vetala. But whenever he succeeded, the vetala told the king a magical story that ended in a question. The king was always compelled to answer. When he spoke, the vetala was able to escape.