Adze

ADZE

Pronunciation:

Ads

The Ewe people of southeastern Ghana and southern Togo, Africa, believe that this vampiric spirit looks like a Corpse Candle, the constant light of a firefly, or like a shining beetle when not possessing the tribe's sorcerer. The adze, whose name means “an axelike tool,” is attracted to, hunts, and takes the blood from only the tribe's most beautiful children.

Although the creature would normally drink blood, it can be staved off with offerings of kokosmilch (coconut milk) and palmoel (palm oil). If captured while in its ball of light or insect form, the adze will immediately shape-shift into the form of a human. While it is in this form, any means that would normally kill a human will destroy the vampire.

Source:

• Arens, The Man-Eating Myth, 153;
• Bunson, Vampire Encyclopedia, 2;
• Hollinge, Blood Read, 87;
• Spauldin, Reforming the Past, 104

• Corpse Candles
• African Vampire Witch

From the Encyclopedia of Vampire Mythology Written by Theresa Bane ©2010 Theresa Bane. All rights reserved

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