Krasue(Lady Vampire)

The krasue (Thai: กระสือ; sometimes also spelled Kra-Sue) is a certain female spirit of Southeast Asian mythology.This ghost has been the subject of a number of movies in the region, including Konm Eak Madia Arb (or Krasue Mom), a Cambodian horror movie which has the distinction of being the first movie made in the People's Republic of Kampuchea after the absence of locally-made movies and the repression of local folklore in Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge era.

Cambodian horror film Nieng Arp (Lady Vampire) (2004),

 

Geographic distribution

The same spirit is part of the popular folklore in Thailand under the name Krasue, in Cambodia as Ap (អាប) and in Laos, as Phi-Kasu or Kasu.
A similar spirit is also found in the traditions of the Malaysia and Indonesia, where it is called Penanggalan or Hantu Penanggal, as well as the Philippines, where it is identified with the local spirit Manananggal. The folklore also entered Vietnamese culture, as ma lai, via tribal societies of Vietnam's Western Higlands.

 Description

A Krasue or Ap is a malevolent spirit appearing during the night. It manifests itself as a woman, usually young and beautiful, with her internal organs hanging down from the neck, trailing below the head.^[1]
Since it has no lower body this spirit hovers in the air above the ground. The organs below the head include a length of intestine and are usually represented freshly daubed with blood. Her teeth often include pointed fangs in vampire-fashion.

 Origin

It is believed that this spirit was formerly a rich person with a length of black gauze or ribbon tied around the head and neck as protection from the sunshine. The ghost originated with the possession of this woman by an evil spirit which turned her into a head suspended in the air with some internal organs hanging from the neck after the separation of the head from the body.
This hungry ghost is always active in the night when it goes out hunting, seeking blood to drink or raw flesh to devour.^[2]
This ghost can prey on pregnant women in their homes just before or after the childbirth. It uses an elongated proboscis-like tongue to catch the fetus or its placenta within the womb and its sharp teeth to devour it. This habit, among other unmentionable things that this spirit does, is believed to be the cause of many diseases affecting mainly women during their pregnancy. Attacking pregnant women is a feature Krasue or Ap shares with the Filipina ghost Manananggal.
In order to protect pregnant women from becoming victims before delivery, their relatives place thorny branches around the house. This improvised thorny fence discourages the Krasue from coming to suck the blood and causing other suffering to the pregnant lady within the house.^[3]
After delivery, the woman's relatives must take the cut placenta far away for burial to hide it from the Krasue. There is the belief that if the placenta is buried deep enough the spirit can not find it.
To crush the still body of the krasue is fatal to the spirit. The flying head will return after hunting but rejoin with the wrong body which will lead it to suffer pain until death. The creature will die if the intestines get cut off or if its body disappears or gets hidden by someone. If the top part of the body fails to find the lower half before daybreak it will die if it does not rejoin the other half when sunlight comes. Some traditions believe that the creature can be destroyed by burning it.

 Heredity

Many religions believe that heredity to becoming the spirit originally came from The Physical or Supernatural. Someone trying to learn the black arts in Hindu culture makes a mistake or studies the wrong magic. It appeared to them to separate their head and body. Past sins are also related to Krasue Heredity; women who aborted or killed someone in a previous life will become a Krasue as punishment. Another story refers to a person who later became the Krasue, by food and drink contaminated with an old krasue's saliva or flesh. Transformations into a Krasue mostly happens to the relatives of witches, especially their daughters or granddaughters.

 Origins

The nature of the Krasue is derived from Hinduism from India which later spread to Cambodia, which first led to the birth of the Krasue Spirit by its dark art and cursed witches. It was part of the local religions for a long time until various wars sent refugees fleeing to other countries. In Thailand, there is a story of a Khmer princess becoming the krasue in the mid-18th century during the dark age of Cambodia; the loss of war against many countries was the origin of the first Thai Krasue. The legend was again used in the Thai horror film Demonic Beauty

 Adaptations

Countries where belief in the Krasue tale is high have adapted it to film. Several Thai films depict the krasue, including Krasue (Demonic Beauty) in 2002, Krasue Valentine (2006) by Yuthlert Sippapak, the Cambodian horror film Nieng Arp (Lady Vampire) (2004), Burn the witch, Hong Kong's Witch with the Flying Head (1977), and Indonesia's Mystics in Bali(1981). In the Vietnam War-era drama Freedom Deal by Camerado, President Nixon orders the 1970 military incursion into Cambodia, unwittingly unleashing a legion of Cambodian Arbs, similar to the Krasue. A Krasue was also comically featured in a Sylvania light bulb commercial for Thai audiences.

The krasue (Thai: กระสือ; sometimes also spelled Kra-Sue) is a certain female spirit of Southeast Asian mythology.
This ghost has been the subject of a number of movies in the region, including Konm Eak Madia Arb (or Krasue Mom), a Cambodian horror movie which has the distinction of being the first movie made in the People's Republic of Kampuchea after the absence of locally-made movies and the repression of local folklore in Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge era.

 

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