I was born in de New World by way of de ancient evils from two continents. Dey called mih daddy "vampire" in Europe. He came to de West Indies in de guise of a French planter. Mih mammy was de shapeshifter of Ashanti an' Yoruba legends. She came across on de whispers of de African slaves stolen from dey homelands.
In 1624, ah had no name yet, still ridin' on mih mammy and daddy's coattails but by 1783 ah had earned many. De people who knew me by day called me de Old Hag. De people who suspected me (but could prove nuttin'!) spat de name of Witch. Children spoke of me as de fyah in de night sky! Finally, de slaves who understood mih nature called mih Soucouyant, Soukougnan or Soukounian dependin' on which island ah was harassin' at de time.
While mih legend has dimmed in most of de old colonies, to dis day, de folks on de island of Trinidad fear and revere mih powah.
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Fast, fluid and fiery.
By day, an unassuming old black woman. Perhaps a little too old looking for her own good. By night, an entity made of flame roams the skies. Legends say that inside the flame, the form of a woman can be seen.
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The Soucouyant is a West Indian legend that comes from the fusion of the European (French in particular) vampire myths and African (Ashanti and Yoruba) slaves bringing their own vampiric / shapeshifting spirits to the shores of the West Indies.
As their old language was lost and new words began to spring up (eventually forming the island patois), the Caribbean vampire myth was born on the lips of the slaves of Martinique and Guadeloupe under the names "Soukougnan" and "Soukounian".
In 1783, after the Cedula of Population was granted by the king of Spain, Roman Catholic French planters flooded the then-Spanish island of Trinidad. These planters, of course brought their slaves with them. In 1797, the English took control of the island. So you had a blending of French, Spanish, English and African languages and traditions. The words Soukougnan and Soukounian quickly evolved into Soucouyant and has remained such ever since (at least in Trinidad).
She is an old woman who has great powers (some say, due to a pact with the Devil). She removes her skin at night to become a twisted ball of flame. In this form, she goes around feeding on the locals.
Similar to the vampires most are familiar with, she can fly, shapeshift and drinks blood. However, unlike the European version, she does not make slaves of those she bites. Instead, they just wake up (if they're lucky) with two puncture marks on some part of their body.
She comes out of her skin at night to take her fiery form. She does not have an aversion to garlic or silver or even holy items. However, if one was to find her skin and placed salt in it while she was out, she would surely die upon putting her skin back on.
To keep a Soucouyant busy, you place grains of rice in front of your house. She must count each one individually. If she drops one, she must start over. So the ordeal can take hours. If spotted, she will flee. This is when you follow her back to her skin so that her daytime identity is revealed.
