The Pichal Peri, the Fairy with Backward Feet
In the mountains of northern Pakistan, a beautiful woman may appear to travellers in the forest. Look at her feet: if they point backwards, run.
What was reported
The pichal peri is a figure of folklore in Pakistan and northern India, especially in the mountain valleys of the north. She's a peri, a fairy, often beautiful, with long hair, who appears to men in lonely forests and mountain paths at night. Her one sign is that her feet point backwards.
She's said to lure travellers away from the path or to lead them deeper into the mountains, and in some stories she can be bound to serve a person if someone captures her hair or a piece of her clothing.
Explanations offered
Backward feet are a common sign of supernatural beings in folklore around the world, from the churel of South Asia to the curupira of Brazil. Their footprints lead the wrong way, making them impossible to track. Such stories warned against wandering alone in dangerous mountain country.
- When
- Told for generations
- Where
- Swat Valley, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan
- Witnesses
- Folklore of northern Pakistan and Punjab
- 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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