You may have heard of it when you were a child, or on the popular nineties show “By the Fire side”. Sasabonsam in Ghanaian folklore is a vile evil creature. Long before Bram Stoker dreamt of the blood sucking night faring Count Dracula, there was his more feral cousin in the jungles of Africa, Sasabonsam.
Legend has it that the hairy Sasabonsam has large blood-shot eyes, long legs, and feet pointing both ways. Its favourite trick is to sit on the high branches of a tree and dangle its legs so as to entangle the unwary hunter. Unlike their European counterparts, they are more sinister and do not appear to infect their victims and is unperturbed by daylight although most of its feeding activities is nightly. Their origins are known to be Akan and parts of West Africa. Very little is known of its backstory, just that hunters and colonialists who failed to heed the advice of indigenes at the time may have fallen victim to the creature.
Sasabonsam came to prominence on SYFY’s Season 6 semi finals of the hit make up show Face Off. In the penultimate round called “Bloodsuckers”, the artistes were to produce a artistry impression of vampires from various parts of the world. The challenge of Sasabonsam fell to Tyler Green. The ambitious young man gave a below par make up of the fiercest of all vampires, this ultimately costed him the title to Rashad with the Asian Vampire, Jiangshi.
Sasabonsam vs Jiangshi (a vampire that can shoot tendrils from it hands to capture it’s victim)
This however gave audiences around the world, a glimpse of some through horror creature that easily outplays popular vampires on television. Sadly though the creative arts industry have failed to unpack the mysteries that come with this force of the wild and put it on the big screen. So Sasabonsam still awaits as the passing years fades it away.
Content created and supplied by: LloydST (via Opera
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