Pontianak (folklore)

The pontianak (Dutch-Indonesian spelling: boentianak, Jawi: ڤونتيانق) is a female vampiric ghost in Malaysian and Indonesian mythology. It is also known as a matianak or kuntilanak, sometimes shortened to kunti. The pontianak are said to be the spirits of women who died while pregnant. This is often confused with a related creature, the lang suir, which is the ghost of a woman who died while giving birth. The word pontianak is reportedly a corruption of the Malaysian perempuan mati beranak, or “woman who died in childbirth”.^[1] Another theory is that the word is a combination of puan (woman) + mati (die) + anak (child). The term matianak means "death of a child". The city of Pontianak in Indonesia is named after this creature, which was claimed to have haunted the first sultan who once settled there.

Appearance

Pontianaks are usually depicted as pale-skinned women with long black hair, red eyes and dressed in bloodied white dresses, but they are said to be able to take on a beautiful humanly appearance since they prey on men.

In folklore, a pontianak usually announces its presence through high-pitched baby cries. If the cry is soft, it means that the pontianak is near, and if it is loud, then it must be far. Some believe that if you hear a dog howling, that means that the pontianak is far away. But if a dog is whining, that means the pontianak is nearby. Its presence can sometimes be detected by a nice floral fragrance identifiable as that of the plumeria, followed by an awful stench (resembling that of dead corpses) afterwards.

A pontianak kills its victims by digging into their stomach with its sharp fingernails and devouring their organs. In some cases where the pontianak desires revenge against a male individual, it rips out the sex organs with its hands. It is said that if you have your eyes open when a pontianak is near, it will suck them out of your head. Pontianak locates its prey by sniffing out the hanging laundry outside. For this reason, some Malaysians refuse to leave any piece of clothing outside of their house overnight.

The pontianak is associated with banana trees (pokok pisang), and its spirit is said to reside in them during the day.

To fend off a pontianak, a nail should be plunged into the hole on the nape of her neck. This is said to make her turn into a beautiful woman and a good wife until the nail is removed. In the case of the kuntilanak, the nail is plunged into the apex of her head.

The Indonesian kuntilanak is similar to the pontianak, but commonly takes the form of a bird and sucks the blood of virgins and young women. The bird, which makes a "ke-ke-ke" sound as it flies, may be sent through some black magic to make a woman fell sick, the characteristic symptom is vaginal bleeding. In the female form, when a man approaches her she suddenly turns and reveals that her back is hollow, but this apparition is more specifically referred to sundel bolong.

Sightings

There are numerous sightings of the Pontianak/Lang suir all over South East Asia, particularly in Malaysia and Indonesia. Most of them are hoaxes. In August 2010 there was a video caught by a group of Malaysian Policeman PDRM in the town of Bentong, Pahang, Malaysia. The 2 minute long video does not show the apparition of the Pontianak in her full form.^[2]

In popular culture

• Indonesian films, see also id:Kategori:Film kuntilanak
  • Kuntilanak (1962) starring Ateng
  • Kuntilanak (1974)
  • Lawang Sewu (2007)
  • Terowongan Casablanca (Kuntilanak Merah) (2007)
  • Sarang Kuntilanak (2008)
  • Kuntilanak (2006), Kuntilanak 2 (2007), Kuntilanak 3 (2008)
  • Kuntilanak Kamar Mayat (2009)
  • Kuntilanak Beranak (2009)
  • Paku Kuntilanak (2009)
  • Santet Kuntilanak (2012)
• Indonesian Video Game
  • DreadOut (2014)
• Malaysian films
  • Anak Pontianak (1958)
  • Pontianak Gua Musang (1964)
  • Pontianak Kembali (1963)
  • Pontianak Harum Sundal Malam (2004)
  • Pontianak Harum Sundal Malam 2 (2005)
  • Pontianak Menjerit (2005)
  • Tolong Awek Aku Pontianak (2011)
  • Pontianak Vs Orang Minyak (2012)
  • Paku Pontianak (2013)
• Malaysian fiction
  • The House of Aunts (2011) by Zen Cho^[3]

Related folklore

In Philippine folklore, the vampiric tiyanak shares many similarities in terms of origin with the pontianak. However, the tiyanak is the ghost of the child rather than the mother.

See also

• Malay folklore
• Sundel Bolong
• Lang Suir
• White Lady (ghost)
• Tai Thong Klom
• Keres (Κῆρες), spirits of violent or cruel death in Greek mythology
• Hun and po
• Onryō

References

1. Lee R. The Almost Complete Collection of True Singapore Ghost Stories. 2nd ed. Singapore: Flame of the Forest, 1989.
2. Chandran83. "PONTIANAK LEPAR HILIR 7,PAHANG,MALAYSIA" YouTube, Pahang, 15 August 2010. Retrieved on 5 February 2013.
3. "The House of Aunts". 2011-12-01. Retrieved 2015-04-13.

External links

• Kuntilanak ('Pontianak'): 'The Ghost of a Woman Who Died While Pregnant' | Dukun Indonesia
• Article by Singapore Paranormal Investigators about pontianaks
• Pontianaks And The Issue Of Verisimilitude In Singaporean Cinema(requires a login and password)—an essay by Dr Timothy White of the National University of Singapore, about the important role played by 1950s and 1960s horror films in the evolution of pontianak mythology (Microsoft Word document).