The Ghanaian Asanbosam is one of several vampire species whose evolutionary paths can be traced back to the bat.[1] Most are quick to assume that the vampire bat is the natural forefather of the Asanbosam, but its origins are, in fact, closer to home.
The vampire bat belongs to the microbat (Microchiroptera) family and is native to the regions of Central and South America – the home of the Chupacabra, whose origins are deeply rooted in evolution (see the chapter on South America). However, the Asanbosam is considered to be a subspecies of the megabat (Megachiroptera) family, which can be found among the forests of Africa. It was once thought that the micro- and megabats shared a common ancestor, but they have two very distinct evolutionary chains. Unlike the microbats, who evolved from small, shrew-like insectivores, megabats developed from something far more human: primates.
At an average height of 2m and with incredible muscle mass, an Asanbosam strikes an impressive figure. Taller than most men, it has evolved quickly to survive in the forests of Ghana. The creature started life smaller than it appears now. As a megabat subspecies, its original diet consisted largely of fruit and nectar, but this would not have been enough to sustain the Asanbosam’s physique that we see today.
Like other primates, the Asanbosam are curious animals. In an effort to supplement the paltry diet provided by the flowers and plants of the forest, they turned to other sources in their immediate vicinity. Once the vampires had sunk their teeth into the forest fauna, they quickly developed a taste for blood; a small drop was all it took to trigger a reaction in their minds, sending them into a frenzied state. The taste of blood ignited the impatient, angry and territorial behavior that had remained dormant for much of its early life.
Driven by bloodlust, the Asanbosam craved a new food supply. Such was their need to ingest blood and protein that they had no choice but to look at other ways to catch prey. They did not have to search far; the trees were teeming with wildlife, from birds to snakes, and even monkeys. The Asanbosam would eat anything they could sink their teeth into. Seeing the animals flee only fueled their salivating. They became transfixed by the “easy prey” that surrounded them, and it was during their pursuit of other food sources that the Asanbosam began to develop their hunting skills.
One of the most largely reported features of the creature is its hooked feet. Descriptions of these “hooks” vary, from large-scale fishing hooks to slightly curved human-like feet. The latter is closest to the reality. As a result of their evolution in the Ghanaian forests, the Asanbosam have developed a natural balancing ability, and they use the incredibly powerful muscles in their legs and feet to distribute their weight evenly.
Despite their imposing grandeur and gruff exterior, Asanbosam are relatively nervous on the floors of the forest, understandably so, having spent their evolution living entirely among the trees of Ghana’s forests. Taking the lead from their bat kindred, the Asanbosam learned to dangle upside down from overhanging branches using their hooked feet and unparalleled balancing ability. Consequently, they are able to scoop up any prey that scuttles below. They also possess a prehensile tail, which is crucial to their balance when moving through the trees or hanging down from them. An Asanbosam can use its tail as a distraction for prey, and exercises it much like a snake charmer.
A reconstruction of an Asanbosam made from a partially dismembered corpse recovered in 2007. (Reconstruction by Hauke Kock)
An Asanbosam’s body is lean and incredibly toned, and the musculature of the creature is a sight to behold. Suspended upside down, an Asanbosam would need to be able to use its core stability to maintain its static and composed posture. They are able to stretch their long, lithe bodies, so that even from a great height they can reach smaller animals passing below, and use their incredible upper-body strength to drag prey into the trees to be eaten.
The Asanbosam use their prehensile feet as hands. Should the situation call for it, the creature can reverse its position and hang from trees using its hands, thereby leaving its feet free to grab prey from underneath. The Asanbosam’s dark skin tone allows them to remain camouflaged in their surroundings, and keen eyesight ensures that they can peer through the dense, dark forests by day or by night.
Having evolved into vicious hunters, the Asanbosam use their claws and teeth to tear into their prey, ripping open the skin and shredding through muscle, bone and cartilage. In true, classic vampire style, they tend to aim for the neck first to ensure a quick death. Oral stories have described the vampire’s teeth and claws as resembling iron, but there is nothing in the physiology or evolution of the Asanbosam that would indicate the presence of such a material.
The flying fox, a subspecies of the mega bat, is the largest bat in the world and a likely candidate for being the ancestor of the Asanbosam. (PD)
Over time, the Asanbosam moved to target larger mammals that would scurry through the forest, oblivious to the fate that awaited them. Animals such as buffalo, red river hogs and the yellow-backed duiker were popular choices. But still, the hunger of the Asanbosam was not satisfied, and in the 16th century hunters returning from the forests began to tell stories of forest elephants mauled to death by unknown, evil forest spirits. Was this a sign that the vampires had begun to venture onto the forest floor? After all, it would be extremely cumbersome to drag a 6-ton elephant into the forest trees. So what caused the Asanbosam to make this giant leap?
Between AD 1000 and 1400, the earliest towns built by the Akans (an ethnic group native to Ghana and consisting of several tribes) began to emerge. Their villages that populated the region were becoming bigger and brought more people into contact with the forests. Before this “urbanization,” human-Asanbosam encounters had been rare, as the Asanbosam lived deep enough in the forests to avoid discovery by the Akans. But with the population gradually building, the Akans needed to go further into the forests to find the food they needed to provide for their people. As a result, Asanbosam sightings became more frequent, and the mythology of the creature was introduced into the oral traditions of the Akan people.
Deforestation in Ghana had been a problem as far back as 450 BC, when the ancient Greek historian Herodotus documented losses of forest resources in sub-Saharan Africa. During the late 15th and 16th centuries AD, when Europeans arrived in the country, the economy of Ghana shifted from one that relied primarily on hunting and gathering to one that focused on agricultural produce. The traders imported crops that would adapt easily to forest conditions, such as bananas, sorghum, and cassava from southeast Asia and the New World.
As farming expanded, the population of Ghana increased significantly, encouraging numbers of Akans to migrate across the country’s forests in the search for good farmland. This land was not easy to come by, leading to a significant clearing of forest vegetation that has continued to this day. To put this into perspective: at one point, around two-thirds of Ghana was covered with tropical forest. Today, that stands at approximately 25 percent.
Stories of Asanbosam attacks were quick to arrive in the 16th century and became more prevalent in the following years. As forests were cut back to allow for expansion of farming, the Asanbosam habitat grew smaller. Threatened by the invasion, the creatures’ primal instinct was to attack.
The Akans were not as easy to kill as the helpless antelope; they were seasoned hunters. Formed of tribes of skilled warriors, the Akans had some degree of fighting techniques. Sadly, their skills were not enough to completely overcome the Asanbosam. The might and power of the creatures were almost impossible to conquer, even for the Akan hunters. Survivors of Asanbosam encounters were uncommon, and as the legends took on a life of their own, it was difficult for anyone to distinguish between what was fact and what was fiction.
Ashanti war drums, which were also historically used as part of sacrifices to the Asanbosam. (Mary Evans)
Angry, threatened and starved, the Asanbosam took desperate measures. After millennia spent in the trees, they had no choice but to be more active in their efforts to pursue their prey, human and animal alike. Following in the footsteps of their primate forefathers, the Asanbosam mimicked the actions they witnessed; they took their cues from the Akans, recognizing similarities in the appearance and behavior. Driven by their human brothers to evolve their hunting practices, the Asanbosam literally hit the ground running.
The Ashanti, one of the tribes of the Akan, were the first tribe of people to react against the attacks of the Asanbosam in an organized way. As part of a rapid and massive expansion of the Ashanti kingdom that began in the 1670s, tribal chiefs decided that they had to act in order to combat the growing Asanbosam problem. Meeting at a clandestine location in the city of Kumasi, the capital of the Ashanti Empire, several prominent chiefs from different districts decided that hunters should be trained to specifically combat the Asanbosam.
The Ashanti are famous for being a warlike people. With their armies numbering anywhere between 200,000 and 500,000, they went on to overcome neighboring states ruled by the Denkyira, Wassa, Fante and Bono people from the mid-18th to the late 19th centuries. They even held their own against the British Empire on four occasions during the Anglo-Ashanti wars. The Ashanti region ultimately became one of the most powerful states in the central forest zones.
Many Asanbosam hunters have discovered that the best way to find the creature is to follow its prey.
The Ashanti people follow the line of matrilineal descent: a mother’s clan is seen as more important than the father’s, with offspring inheriting a mother’s flesh and blood (mogya) and the property and/or titles that come with her side of the family. From their father’s side, a child inherits the soul or spirit (okra).
Consequently, potential hunters were chosen based on their genealogy, looking specifically at the physicality of the women and the character and personality of the men. Chiefs would have to scrutinize hundreds of potential fighters before they found someone suitable.
Once a prospective vampire hunter was selected, the individual would begin their training. The Ashanti had very little information to go on at this point, and so they had to prepare for any situation. After examining the many oral stories surrounding the Asanbosam, the chiefs understood that their unit would have to be trained to skillfully navigate the branches of the forests to give the hunters any chance at slaying a vampire.
The hunters took to the bush with ease – after all, their ancestors had lived as forest dwellers. They would train on the forest outskirts, bare-footed to grip the branches that they ran along, and working to improve their balance. Nutrition was also important, and vampire hunters made their bodies as lean as possible to minimize their weight. It was important to seize any opportunity to eliminate an Asanbosam in the maze of trees and branches. If a branch snapped under the weight of a hunter, not only would he lose his opening, but probably his life.
The hunters became skilled in the use of a number of different weapons. Many would already be trained in the use of short spears and a small knife. These were no ordinary weapons: both were tipped with gold, a metal that the Ashanti held in high regard and an element for which the region would become famous. The weapons were light and small in order to minimize weight and allow for a greater ease of movement in the cramped forest conditions.
As the hunters became more advanced, they learned to wield the hunga munga, a weapon resembling a cross between a knife and a hatchet. This lightweight weapon had a series of straight and curved blades, and its composition meant that the blade would make contact with its target at any angle when thrown.
Not all chiefs believed in killing Asanbosam. Some worshiped the creatures, believing that the Asanbosam would prevent those who deified them from coming to harm. These chiefs, protected by their bodyguards (abrafor), would hold rituals that involved moving in rhythmic fashion to the beat of giant drums adorned with human skulls as a mark of sacrifice to the Asanbosam. The abrafor would behead their brethren in ritualistic practices to appease the gods, and the more skulls there were on a drum, the more powerful the chiefs were believed to be. Further sacrificial rites included the use of blood in certain celebrations.
Every weapon, accessory and item of clothing was chosen with the greatest precision. The Ashanti chiefs thought it essential that hunters were decorated with powerfully enchanted totems to protect them against the supernatural Asanbosam. In the face of the unknown, the chiefs turned to witch doctors and the mystical powers of magic, or juju, to help the hunters in their crusade against the vampires. This was dangerous territory, with the spiritual customs as dark and mysterious as the perception of the Asanbosam.
The most common crafters of juju were a cult of Muslim holy men called marabouts, who traveled around Africa, dazzling the people of the continent with their magic. The chiefs sought out good juju to combat the evil juju of the Asanbosam. But there was more to this magic than verbal enchantments. Marabouts were asked to provide the strongest totems possible, and hunters would carry skulls and bones imbued with magical properties on a ring of string, a sort of charm bracelet, which would offer protection against the Asanbosam.
One of the most important artifacts, or fetishes, was a silver ring given to each hunter to wear. Within these rings was a text bearing unknown scripture provided by the marabouts. Over time, these rings were passed down from hunter to hunter, and they took on a mythical and superstitious quality that eventually made it taboo to try and read the scripture.
Chiefs appealed to the best herbalist healers (odunsini) in the villages to provide medical care and teach the hunters how to use the plants and flowers scattered throughout the forest to heal their wounds. Each village also had an okomfo (a fetish priest or white wizard) who would become possessed by deities and channel the godly power to help fight the evil lurking inside Ghana’s rainforests.
Asanbosam have evolved into vicious killers with powerful jaws, easily capable of tearing off a man’s arm. (Reconstruction by Hauke Kock)
There was little in the way of clothing. Hunters wore traditional African war cloth, batakari, in colors that would help them blend into their surroundings. There were also hints of red, yellow and orange. The hunters were surrounded by death, and they believed that warm colors that represented fire – a symbol of rebirth and life – would help to protect the hunters from the evil they were facing.
Once training was over, and the chiefs felt they had done all they could, the hunters entered the forest. From that point, they were on their own.
The vampire hunters quickly learned that the Asanbosam were nothing like they had ever faced before. Unlike the other, more supernatural vampires that we have come to know, the Asanbosam were relatively easy to maim and kill, providing the hunters could get close enough. Unluckily for the hunters, by the time the Ashanti had sent their first organized unit into the forests, the vampires were literally foaming at their mouths; they would twitch at any sound, smell or sight that could potentially lead to their next meal. A lot of blood was shed during those first raids, and the trained Ashanti vampire hunters suffered heavy losses.
Despite these early, unsuccessful raids, each new hunter-Asanbosam encounter yielded at least some slight fragment of information on the vampires. The hunters recognized that the Asanbosam were acutely aware of their surroundings. The branches, twigs and leaves of the trees acted like the threads of a spider’s web, with the vampires able to detect the slightest hint of movement. However, they were easily distracted by their food, too absorbed by the meal wandering across their path.
Physical balance was such an essential part of the behavior of the Asanbosam that the hunters quickly learned to incapacitate their targets by severing the tail. Close-range attacks were rarely successful. Any hunter that survived a melee with one of the creatures did so out of luck more than skill, particularly if a fight broke out in the trees. Knocking the vampires to the ground earned the hunters an advantage; though the Asanbosam had begun to venture onto the forest floors, they had not developed the confidence that matched their abilities in the trees, which hindered their fighting skills.
Yet the hunters found more than they bargained for during their patrols of the Ghanaian forests. They discovered that the Asanbosam were perhaps not the malicious vampires that they had been portrayed as. Though their loss of habitat fueled their violent and extreme behavior, there was a more malevolent presence pulling at the strings. Another vampire was sweeping across the country, enacting terrible and deadly deeds upon innocent Ashanti.
A hunga munga throwing knife. Just one of the many odd weapons developed in Africa and adapted to hunting the Asanbosam. (Brooklyn Museum)
Obayifo are a powerful and parasitic species, and like the Asanbosam, they are not considered to be a “conventional” vampire. “Obayifo” is the name given to a person who has two spirits – one neutral, the other evil – residing within them. The vampire fights an eternal inner struggle to keep the malevolent spirit from overcoming their mind and soul. Should an Obayifo become overpowered by the evil spirit, the darker side of its personality emerges with the ability to wield incredible magic. Though their behavior and appearance is similar to the Western idea of a witch – for example, they gather round pots known as kukuo to create powerful elixirs using the blood of their victims – they are officially classed as vampires.
An Obayifo can go undetected for years, as they integrate themselves into communities without being noticed. Pro-vampire sociologists and historians believe they do so to protect the villages they inhabit from evil spirits, as a sort of okomfo.
Their control over the magical arts led some to believe that they were good magicians gone mad with power. Some of the blame was placed at the feet of the marabouts, leading to a number of innocent men being falsely accused and succumbing to a violent death. Others thought that the Obayifo were responsible for summoning the Asanbosam, who were considered to be dark spirits, to scare away European colonists in an effort to protect the land and the forests. They were half-right.
Ashanti Priests performing an unknown blood ceremony. (Mary Evans)
Obayifo are protectors of the land. The spirits within them are aligned to the flow of energy that runs through the earth itself. With Ghana under threat of deforestation, the Obayifo sought to rid the region of its offenders. Recognizing the susceptibility of the Asanbosam mind in its blood-frenzied state, the Obayifo were able to manipulate the forest vampires into doing their bidding.
There are two ways to identify an Obayifo. The first is by their “shifty eyes” (rapid eye movement, or saccades), a result of their anxiety at being discovered at any time as their eyes shift to survey the area. Secondly, Obayifo have an obsession with food, particularly red meat, and they can be spotted prowling around when a meal is being cooked. They are desperate to feed, and they turn into ravenous animals in the presence of food, not unlike their forest friends, the Asanbosam.
While Obayifo are vampires in the strictest sense, they depend on other sources of food to satisfy their hunger. As empathic vampires, they use their psychic ability to feed off the telepathic waves of pain and misery that radiate from the organisms that surround them. They have a particular taste for children; the innocent nature gives a child’s blood and psychic vibrations a refined and untainted quality. A child’s melancholy is like nectar to the Obayifo; they are so utterly intoxicated by the purity of their essence.
One unexplainable revelation about the Obayifo is its ability to transform into a ball of light in order to possess humans and animals. It is very easy to tell when a possession has occurred, as light emanates from a number of areas, including the armpits and anus. This method of possession has baffled the scientific and paranormal communities. It is only employed by the Obayifo in extreme circumstances, often in times of crisis, using a host body to escape when the vampire has been discovered. Perhaps, in their urgency, an Obayifo cannot focus its energy and is therefore unable to keep its power under control.
There is no known way to exorcise the vampire from its victims. One must simply wait until the Obayifo is finished with the possession. Unfortunately, most victims don’t survive the experience, not because of the Obayifo itself, but because the victim is normally killed by panicked villagers who are unsure how to act when greeted with such a strange and mysterious sight.
Ghana is littered with caves. Today, most function as tourist attractions, but not all are as empty as they seem.
During their evolution, the Asanbosam line divided, creating an offshoot vampire subspecies: the Sasanbosam. In an evolutionary path not too dissimilar from the bat, a genetic mutation led to the Sasanbosam’s large fingers to extend further to create a giant hand. Living in the uppermost canopies of the rainforests, the Sasanbosam would jump from branch to branch, using the high launching points to take off. A thin membrane of skin developed between their digits, creating wings that would eventually reach a space of up to 6m (20ft).
When competition for food in the forests increased, the Sasanbosam took to the skies and flew to the caves, finding solace in the dark grottos. The Sasanbosam shares many of the same traits as its Asanbosam cousins, including a taste for blood, a tail, “hooked” feet, and an aversion to moving along the floor. As a result, they use their feet to grip onto cave ceilings and hang down.
Tourists should beware when entering a cave. Though many caverns are reportedly uninhabited and attacks are infrequent, you can never be too sure of what is hanging overhead. The Sasanbosam is not afraid to swoop into a cave under the cover of darkness and await a meal, particularly if it knows that meal will wander in so unwittingly.
Obayifo cannot stay in these orb forms for long. If they are unable to find a host, or if they have not fed, they will enter crop fields and suck out sap and vital juices. Their ability to survive using a number of different food sources, coupled with their ultimate escape tactic, indicates that Obayifo deaths are extremely rare.
Obayifo are able to reverse their empathic feeding ability and use their power to bewitch the mind and ensnare the senses of those easily susceptible to control. One such target was the Asanbosam, whose primitive minds are easily manipulated. The Obayifo use a process that is similar to the glamor technique employed by certain other vampire types. If an Obayifo is powerful enough, they are able to control three or four Asanbosam at once, though this amount of control will weaken the Obayifo.
This ability to effectively control minds allows the Obayifo to manipulate the Asanbosam into terrorizing communities, inciting pain and misery, thereby providing the Obayifo with a greater source of nourishment. Though the vampire hunters had adapted quickly to hunting Asanbosam, the Obayifo presented an altogether different challenge.
Although the Ashanti vampire hunters possessed a certain degree of juju knowhow, and they were adorned with enchanted items for extra protection, their skills lay in physical attack. The “magic” they wielded was simply not strong enough to combat the power of the Obayifo. In response to the new threat, the chiefs appealed to the village okomfo again, who recognized that it would take a formidable force to overpower the dark magic of the Obayifo.
After conversing with the gods, the okomfo discovered that only the combined power of the religious spirit would dispel an Obayifo. Villages consisted of close communities, and the Ashanti treated neighbors and friends as family. The okomfo believed that the support of this cohesive unit – trusting, respectful, selfless, and enriched with religious traditions – would infuse them with enough power to defeat the antagonistic magic of the Obayifo.
Fearful that the Obayifo would seek means of escape through possession once confronted, the okomfo advised the villagers on spells and charms that could be used to seal their homes. Uncooked meat was used to draw out the Obayifo, like a dog. It was placed at the entrance to the village in an attempt to draw the Obayifo as far away as possible from the living creatures it could possess.
Once distracted, it was essential to kill the Obayifo as quickly as possible. The hunters tried first to cut off the head, but were met with disastrous consequences. The blood of the Obayifo was contaminated and burnt the skin of whomever it touched. When it seeped into the ground below, the surrounding land would grow infertile, and crops withered and wilted, leaving a desert-like wasteland in its place.
To avoid blood being shed, it was necessary to strangle or drown an Obayifo. With water in short supply and not wanting to contaminate the water that the villagers had access to, strangulation became the most popular method. It would require a team of hunters protected by the most powerful charms to take down an Obayifo before it was able to use its powerful magic to escape.
Ashanti vampire hunters have been protecting the nation of Ghana from Asanbosam, Obayifo, and other so-called “supernatural” creatures for more than 500 years. Thanks to their efforts, Asanbosam attacks have fallen dramatically, particularly since the beginning of the 20th century, helped by the deforestation from which the country has suffered.
Obayifo appearances have decreased, but this could simply be a result of them becoming more skilled at integrating themselves into Ghana’s communities. Sightings of traveling Obayifo have been reported in Togo, Benin and Nigeria, and these countries have employed their own vampire-hunting units to tackle the threat.
At the current rate of deforestation, Ghana could lose all its forests by 2040. As the Asanbosam’s habitat continues to vanish, its numbers are decreasing. Packed into such a small space, the vampires are becoming easier to take down, especially with hundreds of years of hunting experience against them. Recent findings of dead Asanbosam also show long claw marks and giant bites on their bodies. Perhaps we are witnessing a species turning on its kind in order to survive, or the rise of a new, stronger, more savage vampire species, claiming Ghana’s forests for its own.
An Ashanti Juju Man. These magicians have played a large role in supplying weapons and magic to fight against both Asanbosam and Obayifo. (Mary Evans)
It has been recently posited that Asanbosam are simply misunderstood creatures who reacted to the loss of their habitat. After all, they peacefully coexisted with humans until rates of deforestation hit high levels. And what of the Obayifo’s role as puppet master? We may never truly know if the Asansbosam’s actions were their own, or the result of outside interference.
[1] The Kingdom of Ashanti, the Gold Coast and British Togoland adopted the legal name of “Ghana” when the country became independent on March 6, 1957. Though the country’s borders and names have changed throughout the course of history, we will continue to refer to it as Ghana for the sake of simplicity.