THE NIGHT DEMON OF TANZANIA
- Located: Tanzanian island of Pemba in the Indian Ocean
- This evil creature can change shape — a bat sometimes, a human-like form at others.
- It prefers to come out at night, but some say they have seen it during the day. The popobawa — “bat-wing” in Swahili — is indiscriminate in its targets.
- But in a common retelling, the spirit sexually assaults men.
- Reports of attack send some locals into a panic. A few years ago, a series of night-time sexual assaults were blamed on the popobawa.
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