A pontianak or kuntilanak (as known in Indonesia, sometimes shortened to just kunti) is a type of vampire in Malay folklore. The pontianak is usually a woman who died during childbirth and becomes undead, seeking revenge and terrorizing villages. She often appears as a beautiful woman, usually accompanied by the strong scent of frangipani. She is also seen by the head and neck and the intestines dangiling to the ground when wanting to feed. Men who are not wary will be killed when she morphs into an ugly vampire, she will also eat babies and harm pregnant women. People believe that having a sharp object like a nail helps them fend off potential attacks by pontianaks, the nail being used to plunge a hole in the back of the pontianak's neck. This article contains information that has not been verified and thus might not be reliable. ... Malays (Dutch, Malayo, ultimately from Malay: Melayu) are a diverse group of people living in the Malay archipelago and Malay peninsula in South East Asia. ... Childbirth (also called labour, birth, partus or parturition) is the culmination of a human pregnancy with the emergence of a newborn infant from its mothers uterus. ... Undead is a collective name for all types of supernatural entities who were once alive in the normal sense, died, and then continued to exist in the world of the living, in forms spiritual (as ghosts) or corporeal (as animated corpses). ... Species 7-8 species including: Plumeria (common name: Frangipani) is a small genus of 7-8 species, native to tropical and subtropical America. ...
It is believed that when a nail is plunged into the back of a pontianak's neck, she will turn into a beautiful woman, until the nail is pulled off again. The Indonesian twist on this is plunging the nail into the apex of the head of the kuntilanak.
Also see Bajang, Langsuir, Langsuyar. Langsuir is a version of pontianak, popular in Malaysia as one of deadliest banshee in Malay folklore. ...
Pontianaks And The Issue Of Verisimilitude In Singaporean Cinema -- 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).
A pontianak or kuntilanak (as known in Indonesia) is a type of vampire in Malay folklore.
The pontianak is usually a woman who died during childbirth and becomes undead, seeking revenge and terrorizing villages.
Pontianak is about an hour flight from both Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, and Batam an island neighbouring Singapore and Johor, 40 minutes flight or 8 hours bus from Kuching in Sarawak, East Malaysia.