Mythical Creature Saturday - Soucouyant

I’ve always held the opinion that our local folklore here in Trinidad is severely underrated. We have some of the most amazing stuff in the world that no one ever hears about. So tonight, here is a fully Trini myth – the soucouyant.

 What is a Soucouyant?

A soucouyant is generally said to be an old lady (though age and gender vary in some cases)  who had made a pact with the Devil and is given the ability to shed her skin at night and changes into a large fireball. In this form, she can fly and enter the houses of unsuspecting victims through cracks in the wall or a keyhole. She then proceeds to drink the blood of those in the house, sometimes killing them. Some variations claim that the soucouyant can only drink the blood of those who weren’t christened when they were children, while others say that if a soucouyant is seen by a human while drinking blood, she must spit out the blood and leave.

Soucouyant Origins 

The story of the soucouyant most likely came from a mixture of French vampire myths and African Vodou. In Guadeloupe the Soukougnan or Soukounian  as they are called there are said the be either men or women, not just old ladies.

Soucouyant Abilities

Apart from being able to fly through the air, soucouyants are said to cast spells on their victims before they suck their blood. If too much blood is drained, the victim could die and become a soucouyant themselves. Despite being made of fire, there are no records of them using it to burn anyone or anything. Some soucouyants are said to trade some of the blood from their victims with the devil Bazil, who lives in the hollowed trunk of a silk cotton tree for varying powers and abilities. The soucouyant is also said to hide her skin under a stone mortar. She must return to it before sunrise, or she will die.

How to defeat a soucouyant

A soucouyant’s skin is very valuable to it, and if one were to get a hold of it, you would be able to control the soucouyant. Like most other vampiric myths, soucouyants suffer from arithmomania, which is the obsessive compulsion to count objects (parodied by Sesame Street’ Count von Count). If you were to drop grains of rice near a soucouyant she would be forced to stop and count each grain. She would be so taken with this task that she would complete forget about her sunrise restriction and be taken by surprise and destroyed. If you were to find her skin before she returns to it and covers it in salt, when she puts it back on, would be consumed by her own fire. They are also affected by holy items such as crucifixes and holy water.

Why soucouyants are awesome

1) Who doesn’t want to be able to fly around as a ball of fire.
2) They do not need to use conventional entrances and exits
3) They can trade blood for power, allowing them to continue increasing their abilities

Why soucouyants suck

1) They have waaaaayyyy too many weakness. There are various ways to defeat them.

Soucouyants are too vulnerable for my liking but their appearance is pretty cool . What do think? Do you wanna be flying ball of fire? Leave a comment and tell me.