vampires

In Caribbean folklore, Soucouyant is an old woman who sheds her skin at night to become a ball of fire. She flies through the air, enters homes through keyholes, and sucks blood from victims. She can be stopped by salting her skin or placing rice grains for her to count.

Before Dracula, there were Strigoi—Romanian undead who rise from graves as bloated corpses or transform into animals, drinking blood, attacking families, and spreading disease. Living Strigoi are witches with two souls. Dead Strigoi are vampires. Both are deeply feared in Romanian tradition.

A small red creature with a huge mouth and suckers on its hands and feet, the Yara-ma-yha-who drops from fig trees onto travelers, drains their blood through its suckers, swallows them whole, and regurgitates them alive but shorter. Repeated attacks transform victims into Yara-ma-yha-who themselves.

White and black with blood-red eyes, the Impundulu is a bird the size of a human that can summon lightning, drink blood like a vampire, and serve as a witch's familiar—but with a terrible price. It demands blood, turns on masters, and shapeshifts into attractive humans to seduce and drain victims.

By day, she's a beautiful woman. By night, her torso detaches at the waist, sprouts bat wings, and flies through the dark hunting pregnant women. Her long proboscis-like tongue extends through roofs to suck fetuses from wombs. The Manananggal is the Philippines' most terrifying vampire.

Lying in its coffin, the Nachzehrer doesn't leave the grave—it doesn't need to. It chews its burial shroud and its own flesh, and as it feeds, family members above ground sicken and die one by one. This German vampire kills from the tomb, draining life force without ever rising.

By day, she's a beautiful woman. By night, her head detaches, trailing intestines and organs, glowing as it flies through the dark hunting for blood, placenta, and filth. The Krasue is Southeast Asia's most horrifying vampire—a floating head with dangling guts seeking to feed.

Hanging upside-down from trees in cremation grounds, the Vetala are undead spirits who possess corpses and torment the living. They have supernatural knowledge, tell riddle-stories with moral lessons, and can kill with a word—or grant immense power to those clever enough to outwit them.

When darkness falls, the undead rise—restless spirits, cursed guardians, and eternal predators who defy the grave and haunt the living.

The Adze, a vampiric entity from West African folklore, is as elusive as it is deadly, slipping through cracks and shadows in search of blood.

The Jiangshi, cursed revenants with an unquenchable hunger for life force, prowl the night in search of the unwary. Beware their frozen movements and lifeless stare.