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The sasabonsam or asanbosam is a vampire-like creature in the folklore of Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire, and Togo.[1] A sighting is reputed to have occured in 1918 or 1928, making it a true cryptid, specifically a flying humanoid.[2][3][4]
Description[]
Sculptures of the sasabonsam depict it as a humanoid creature with a bearded human face, long hair, a pair of horns or pointed ears, a skinny body with protruding ribs, short forelimbs connected to "a pair of thin membranes resembling a bat's wings," and long, twisted legs. The only known sasabonsam eyewitness claimed that the individual he saw resembled the pictured carving closely, and added that it was well over his own height (over 5'6'' tall), with very thin wings which could stretch to the local lorry road (about 20'), long teeth, spotted black and white skin, scaly ridges over its eyes, a ridged chest reminiscent of a fowl's, hard, stiff hair on its head, a long beard, and a prominent nose. The eyewitness also said that it had long arms, unlike the sculpture. It was described as sleeping in tree hollows, and making a cry like that of a bat, but deeper.[2] In folklore, it is said to attack humans to eat them or drink their blood.[1]
Sightings[]
1918[]
During the photography of a sasabonsam sculpture in Ghana, J. B. Danquah was told by an Ashanti youth present in the crowd that a sasabonsam had once been killed by a man named Agya Wuo and brought to his town, where it had been observed by a number of people. According to the youth, Agya Wuo had come across the sasabonsam sleeping in a tree hollow in a dense forest, and fatally injured it after it "emitted a cry like that of a bat but deeper". He took the body back to his village, where it died after making "ho, ho" noises,[5] then on to the bungalow of District Commissioner L. W. Wood, who supposedly photographed it on 22 February 1928.[2][5]
When questioned about the incident by Danquah, Wood "seemed uncertain whether he had indeed photographed such a creature," and cautiously said that "he may have taken the snap and the film, when developed, may have shown nothing!".[5]. He had not been in Ashanti in February 1928, but he had been there in February 1918, making it possible that the youth had misremembered the date of the incident.[2][5]
Notes and references[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Eberhart, George M. (2002) Mysterious Creatures: A Guide to Cryptozoology, ABC-CLIO, Inc., ISBN 1576072835
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Shuker, Karl P. N. (2003) The Beasts That Hide From Man: Seeking the World's Last Undiscovered Animals, Paraview Press, ISBN 1-931044-64-3
- ↑ Heuvelmans, Bernard (1980) Les Bêtes Humaines d'Afrique, Plon, ISBN 978-2259005609
- ↑ Heuvelmans, Bernard "Annotated Checklist of Apparently Unknown Animals With Which Cryptozoology Is Concerned", Cryptozoology, No. 5 (1986)
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Danquah, Joseph Boakye "Living Monster or Fabulous Animal?," West African Review 10 (September 1939)