The Ghoul of the Desert
Travellers in the Arabian desert once feared the ghūl: a shape-shifter that could look like a friend, or a beautiful woman, and lead them away into the sands.
What was reported
The ghūl is a creature of Arabian folklore from before Islam, a kind of jinn that lived in deserts and lonely places. It could change shape, appearing as a traveller, an animal or an alluring woman, and called out to people to lure them away from their caravans.
Its true form, the stories said, had the feet of a donkey. It was said to haunt graveyards too. The way to defeat one was to strike it only once; a second blow would bring it back to life.
Explanations offered
The ghūl appears in The Thousand and One Nights, and from there entered European languages as 'ghoul', a word that now means something quite different. It's a folk figure, born of the dangers of desert travel.
- When
- Told since before Islam
- Where
- As told across Arabia
- Witnesses
- Arabian folklore
- Status
- Legend
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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