Soucouyant

Tales of bloodsuckers preying in the night go back throughout almost all of human history. From vampires to incubi and succubi, most cultures have detailed folklores about mysterious creatures draining one’s life essence while they sleep.

A soucouyant is a version of a succubi, a female blood-sucking demon. In Caribbean and Creole mythos she is known by the variant names: soucriant, loogaroo or lougarou, Ole-Higue or Ole Haig, and Asema.

Most stories tell of a wizened old woman who typically lives by herself. In this form she is generally unassuming though still subject to speculation, as there are many tells that could give away her true identity.

At night, she sheds her restrictive outer skin and becomes a ball of fire. She can then travel through the village and enter homes through even the smallest of apertures, like a keyhole or a cracked window. Once inside, she carefully extracts blood from the homes’ sleeping occupants. Her preference is for the blood of babies and small children but anyone can be targeted.

Once her jaunt is over she goes back home, making sure to get there by sunrise as she cannot risk being seen in her true form. Soucouyants are agents of the devil and each has a jar that is supposed to be filled up in order to be released from their contracts. However, the devil is an unfair boss, regularly lessening the amount of collected blood in the jar, thus ensnaring the soucouyant in a cycle of always needing to collect more.

It is said that soucouyants in their human forms are practitioners of obeah and can be relied on for spiritual guidance in those matters.

There are many ways of “outing” an old woman who might be a soucouyant. A popular method is to scatter rice grains somewhere along her path. If she stoops to gather every single one of them, then you can be sure she’s basically a furnace. Another effective stunt is to place a broom or a mop upside down (with the handle on the floor) by your doorway. A soucouyant cannot enter the home if this is set up and you can tell by their reluctance to step further into the house.

Placing salt by all entry points is also a great way to deter a soucouyant from getting inside.