At some point in your life, you’ve been envious of someone’s success. You’ve also felt jealousy. These feelings, although uncomfortable to some, can lead to insane amounts of horrible action by others. In fact, there’s an entire field of law devoted to this when men murder their spouses in a fit of jealous rage. They call it the demon of jealousy… Others call it the green demon. In South Africa, this entity comes in the form of a Zombie goblin that will kill you while you sleep. Its name is the Tokoloshe (pronounced toe-kohl-osh.)

Although many African tribes call the Tokoloshe by a slightly altered name, the origins can be traced back to the Xhosa people of South Africa.

But First You Must Summon The Tokoloshe

Summoning the Tokoloshe is interesting. It’s not just a seance, it’s not just a voodoo spell… It’s a little of everything. Upon locating the dead body you wish to get possessed you must pierce its eye socket with a hot iron rod. You then sprinkle a special powder and shrink its body! Simple, right?

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Once the Tokoloshe is on its way, it demands a soul as a form of payment. In the next year, a dear loved one will pass away to pay the price of your jealousy. But who is worth that price? The soul of your mother? grandmother? Son? Only the Tokoloshe gets to pick who it takes with him.

This evil spirit becomes invisible by drinking water or eating a pebble. It likes to scare children, but its creepiness extends far beyond that. They also cause illness and death to the victim. Some say only children can see it, which is why killing adults is easier. If ever spotted, never draw attention to it. The creature is mischievous, but only malevolent when controlled by an evil sorcerer, or jealous foe.

This weird-looking zombie creature is best described as a brown, hairy dwarf. It speaks with a lisp. If often appears naked, but sometimes wears a cloak. 

The Tokoloshe has a single buttock. Its penis is so long it slings it over his shoulder. In other words, the Tokoloshe is packing some meat, which he uses to make love to his master witch. Considering he loves milk and other foods, he is rewarded accordingly.

If you’re trying to trap a Tokoloshe, hire a witch doctor who can sprinkle mystical powder created from the corpse of an already deceased Tokoloshe. He sprinkles this powder at the entrance of the farm, where the Tokoloshe steals his preferred cow’s milk. Upon entering, the Tokoloshe becomes paralyzed and trapped by the witch doctor.

How do you know if you’re being attacked by the Tokoloshe?

Some people claim night terrors are the first sign that the Tokoloshe is after you. Others say it’s the dreams you have. The interesting fact is the dreams are often good. In fact, they’re so good, it feels like your luck is changing. You might dream about a young handsome man, sweeping you off your feet only to get it on, in a fiery blaze of passion. The opposite for a man.

You sleep like a baby with these great dreams. You’ll never see the creature sneaking into your room, climbing onto your bed, and stealing your life away.

Origins of the Tokoloshe

Back in the olden days, tribes and families needed a place to stay warm. Without modern-day marvels like central heating, they used what nature gave them, fire! The families build a great bonfire inside their rondavels, only to have each member of the family die of carbon monoxide poisoning. 

This is how the legend began. But how did they solve the problem? Since the Tokoloshe is small, climbing a high bed is not easy for it to do. So, they began putting bricks under each leg to lift the bed in hopes to have the demon spare their lives.

To their surprise, it worked! The Tokoloshe cannot climb and it’s too small to jump. Other people call upon a spiritual healer to get rid of the evil entity.

The scientific explanation at the time is that carbon monoxide gas is denser than oxygen, which means it sinks to the bottom. If your bed is higher than the gas, you will not breathe it in. Although we now know this isn’t true it begs the question: Is the Tokoloshe real?

But what about the other soul the Tokoloshe needs as payment? So it seems, just like all other legends and folklore, this one is rooted in some facts with plenty of superstition around it.

Today, the Tokoloshe is a big part of South African culture. They are making headlines throughout the country regularly. The townspeople still believe that the Tokoloshe is out there, summoned by someone envious of their success. Sellers of muti (traditional medicine), who have small shops in South Africa, often sell products to protect against this supernatural being. These products include a concoction made from tokoloshe fat. You smear it on your skin as a repellant.

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Although the Tokoloshe might be a legend made up to explain the sudden death of someone who’s died of carbon monoxide poisoning in their sleep, the demon of jealousy is as real as the sun is bright. The harmful actions people take towards someone they despise can be unforgiving… But is jealousy and hatred enough to summon a zombie dwarf monster to kill you? The people of South Africa seem to think so.

A Real Life Encounter with the Tokoloshe

This happened to my late grandmother when she was a child during the early 1930s.

She grew up on a farm on the Orange River in a small town called Prieska in the Northern Cape of South Africa.

Their farmhouse was build in such a way that the front door and back door aligned across each other. You could walk through the house from front to back with only the dinner table in your path.

One summer evening, just after sunset, she, her parents, and her seven brothers and sisters sat down at the dinner table. My great grandfather started to pray, giving thanks for the food they were about to have. As all kids do, my grandmother opened her eyes during the prayer. She looked around the table. Suddenly in the front door, she saw a little man covered in hair standing in the front door no taller than two or three feet.

In his hand, he had a little shambok and a cap on his head. He looked directly at my grandmother and started to run towards the table. She began to scream with fear.

Everybody at the table was bewildered because of her scream and jumped up.

At that moment, everybody saw this little man run towards them, dove under the table, and run out of the back door.

Everybody’s shaken, and nobody slept that evening. Many strange things happened on that farm. They saw the Tokoloshe and a pitch-black dog with an extremely long tongue that would only appear at night. But, as Christians and very religious, my grandparents didn’t let that get them down and give up on their farm.

Mostly, black people believe in the Tokoloshe as African folklore, but I tell you my grandmother and her family where white Afrikaners, and they saw the Tokoloshe. I think he is real.

I want to thank Reddit user Johannes777 for letting me post this story. This story was previously posted on my horror blog, iMonstre. However, I regret to inform everyone that I shut down iMonstre.

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