Ethereal Chronicles

Al Karısı, also known as Alk in Armenian and Kurdish, is a vampire like spirit that feeds from the organs of pregnant women and their babies.

Child Killer…

She cradled the newborn in her arms, drenched in sweat and blood from the difficult labour, feeling his tiny movements in her grasp as his wrinkled face stretched to release a cry.

“Shhh.” She whispered. “Come on.” She gently pressed her lips against the child’s forehead, her breath coming in gasps. She did not look into the corner, where the thing stood, waiting, watching, a grotesque smile plastered on its hideous face.

“No.” She looked down, refusing to meet the hollow, crimson eyes. “You cannot have him.”

Her husband, who had seen her speaking to the wall for over a fortnight before the birth, knelt down, worry etched across his brow. “And there it is again.” He said softly, leaning forwards so that his eyes could meet hers. “There is no monster, my love. No demon to take our son away. He is here, alive, in your arms. Why do you worry so?”

“It is there.” She said, her throat closing up as she forced her words out in a sob. “It is always there, watching me, waiting to take him from me. I won’t let that happen. Over my dead body will I let that happen.”

Her son cried again, and the creature, eyes widening with increasing hunger, let out a groan of desperation.

“Why can’t you see it? It’s right there.” She wailed, jabbing her finger out towards the creature, which merely tilted its head with that same despicable smile.

“I see nothing.” Her husband replied, as he had so many times before. “There is nothing there. You are confused, my love. Let yourself rest. Put the child to bed.”

“I can’t leave him.” She shook her head harshly, as though caught in a seizure. “I can’t leave him alone.”

“Enough. You both need to rest.” He said, taking the child from her arms and placing him in the crib beside her. The thing’s eyes followed him, peering through the greasy locks that framed its pale, twisted face.

Once he had cleaned the child, he gently helped his wife out of bed, changed the sheets, and washed her tenderly. All the while, the thing watched and smiled, watching her from over his shoulder, and she grew more and more agitated.

“There.” The husband said finally, laying her back down. “Rest. Please.” He took her hand and held it to his face. “There is no monster. I am here. I will lay right beside you, and you right beside our child. Nothing will happen.”

She whimpered, but complied, because in truth she was exhausted, her body battered and worn from birth. As her husband got into bed beside her, wrapping his arms around her in a protective embrace, she kept her hand in the cradle, touching the fingers of her little one.

Five, maybe ten minutes passed before she began to grow drowsy. Another five or ten minutes before she was half asleep, and the thing began to move.

It moved slowly, silently, almost floating across the room to steal a glance at the child, leaning over him, the greasy strands brushing against his face. In the instant he let out a cry of pain, it was over. Then, with its talon-like hands bloodied and its mouth still full of the chewy remnants of his tiny lungs, it turned to his mother.

The next morning, the husband awoke to an eerie silence, broken only by a steady drip, drip, dripping sound, like water falling against the wooden floor. Sleep blurred his vision as he sat up, rubbing his eyes before turning to wake his wife. But, as he did so, pain enveloped his body. There she lay, a great gaping hole in her chest where her heart should have been, the blood around it sticky and congealed, her eyes even in death glazed over with terror, and her mouth frozen in a silent scream. And in the cot beside her, the white sheets were soaked red with the blood of his son, dripping onto the floor, his tiny body split down the middle and torn right open.

And for the first time, the husband saw the thing his wife had feared so, sitting right there in the corner she had grown to despise. It took famished bites out of the wet heart in its hands, tearing through with yellow, jagged teeth, all the while watching him with a satisfied glint in its eye.

APPEARANCE AND CHARACTERISTICS

Her deformed, pale face is framed with long, lanky hair, her smile revealing rows of long teeth. Her fingernails, sharp as knives, are used to slice organs from the bodies of women and newborns.

In some stories, Al Karısı is presented as an aged crone, carrying a sack or a basket over her shoulder which she uses to carry the stolen organs.

She is a vengeful, bloodthirsty spirit, who poisons the precious moments of childbirth with sudden, unexplained deaths like SIDS in newborns or chronic illnesses shortly after birth that defy any form of treatment.

If Al Karısı chooses to feed while a person is conscious rather than during sleep or after death, she has the power to paralyse her victim so that they are unable to flee from her or scream for help as she devours them alive.

In addition to simply feeding from newborns, Al Karısı is said to also steal them, substituting them with Imps or Changelings. She is also believed to cause miscarriages in pregnant women by destroying embryos in the womb.

In some cases, she may deceive her victims by appearing as family members and friends to lure them to their deaths if they have preventative measures in place.

PROTECTION

Because Al Karısı tends to attack her victims while they are sleeping, pregnant women and newborns are kept awake for as long as possible or supervised while sleeping to prevent Al Karısı from appearing and harming them.

Wearing protective amulets or reciting prayers before bed are believed to effectively ward off her presence.

REFERENCES

Al Karisi – OCCULT WORLD (occult-world.com)