Krasue

The purpose of this post is to inform you of some Southeast Asian folklore.  When my brother and I were children, our mother would tell us different stories about different kinds of ghosts in Laos and Thailand.  The krasue (กระสือ) is only one of them.  Feared by many in Asia, the Krasue to sum it up in short is basically an attractive female flying, entrail-eating, disembodied head.  By day, it looks human, but at night it separates its head from its body and hunts for blood, flesh, fecal matter, placentas, and baby fetuses. 

All the information I have gathered on this particular ghost states that it originated from Cambodia.  Some people believe that the krasue came from a rich female who was possessed by an evil spirit which in turn turned her into this ghost.  My mother believes that it is a demon that has possessed a female because she did not follow the rules of her craft.  When I say this, I mean it refers to black magic.  In Lao black magic, there are certain rules you have to follow.  If you break them, turning into a krasue is unfortunately one of the consequences.

Country people dress their doorways and windows with thorny vines to protect themselves from this ghost.  The krasue is afraid of the thorny vines because she doesn't like getting her entrails stuck in them.  For a krasue to transform a person into one, the krasue must trick you into ingesting her saliva or flesh.  The krasue would usually either trick you into drinking a glass that has her saliva on it or trick you into eating food that has her flesh mixed into it.  In my point of view, I grew up believing in these ghost stories so I'm not going to say it's not real.