Twa kɔ nsɛm no so

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Illustration of Nachzehrer — Original AI-made illustration based on the descriptions in the sources. Not an official design.

Fael Nɔma 050 wɔ 446 mu

Nachzehrer

Wɔfrɛ no bio: Nachtzehrer, shroud eater

Tete nsɛm ne anansesɛmAwufoɔ a wɔnantewƐkeka ne ho kakraa biOwuo bɔne anaa ayie a ɛnkɔɔ yie1500 kɔsi 1899

The Nachzehrer is the German shroud-eater, a corpse that kills without getting up. By chewing its grave clothes it was thought to drag its surviving relatives after it one by one, by malice or simply from wanting company. The belief gave communities a reason to open graves during outbreaks of disease and helped shape learned debate about the 'masticating dead' in the 18th century. It represents the stationary end of the revenant spectrum, where the corpse is dangerous but does not walk.1 2

Wɔdii kan kyerɛw

1800

The word dates from the 19th century; the belief is several centuries older

Mfiase

German

Gyaaman, Poland

Deɛ ɛde ba

Owuo bɔne anaa ayie a ɛnkɔɔ yie

Folk explanations blame mistakes at burial, such as giving the dead some of the living's own belongings.

Sɛnea wobɛdane bi

Burying a person with grave goods taken from the living, or with their name still on the burial clothes, was thought to risk it.

Sɛnea ɛkeka ne ho

Ɛkeka ne ho kakraa bi

It need not leave the grave at all: lying there, it chews its shroud and draws the life out of its kin at a distance.

Nyansa

Nyansa kakra

Ɛberɛ bɛn na ɛdii kan puee?

Tete wiase Mfinimfini Mmerɛ 1500 kɔsi 1899 1900 kɔsi 1967 1968 kɔsi 1999 2000 kɔsi 2009 2010 kɔsi ɛnnɛ

1800

The word dates from the 19th century; the belief is several centuries older

nhwehwɛmu nsɛm

Deɛ fibea no ka

1

The name means roughly 'after-devourer'1 2

2

It gnaws its own shroud and clothing, which was treated as the commonest sign1 2

3

Other signs on exhumation: open eyes or mouth, red lips, a soft body, a thumb clasped in the opposite hand1 2

4

Often, though not always, blamed for epidemics1 2

5

Belief centred on northern Germany, with reports from Silesia and Bavaria1 2

6

Michael Ranft devoted a 1734 treatise to the 'chewing and smacking of the dead in their graves'1 2

Fibea

Asɛm biara a ɛwɔ krataafa yi so fi saa fibea yi mu, na yɛde yɛn ankasa nsɛm na akyerɛw. Wohunuu mfomsoɔ bi? Ka kyerɛ yɛn wɔ [email protected].

Ma dɔm no aduane. Dawurubɔ nni hɔ, trackers nni hɔ, onipa baako na ɔtua ho ka. Akyɛdeɛ ma ɛkɔ so wɔ intanɛt so.Ma akyɛdeɛ

Tete nsɛm a efi nsase koro no ara so

StrzygaPolish and Silesian, 1863

UpiórSlavic, 1100

Pień padlocked burialPolish, 1650

Shoemaker of BreslauSilesian (German), 1591

WiedergängerGerman

AufhockerGerman

Berɛ koro: 1500 kɔsi 1899

JiangshiChinese, 1789

Zombi (Haitian)Haitian (Vodou folklore), 1750

StrigoiRomanian, 1714

Vampir (South Slavic)South Slavic (Serbian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Bosnian), 1725

AbhartachIrish, 1870

Arnold PaoleSerbian, 1732

Ma dɔm no aduaneMa akyɛdeɛ