To put it another way, Africa never held that figure beloved of many horror readers and romanticists – the cursed or afflicted human being who dies, rises from the grave as one of the undead, and goes for the jugular, drinking blood for sustenance. No vampire in the Gothic or Stoker tradition, nor in the mould of Balkan fears; no Varney or Nosferatu or Dracula equivalent.
“(In Africa) there are any number of folkloric or legendary creatures that subsist on the blood of the living, but these are not truly the undead.”
The Obayifo
“(This is) a kind of human vampire whose chief delight is to suck the blood of children, whereby the latter pine and die. Men and women possessed of this power and credited with volitant powers, being able to quit their bodies and travel great distances in the night. Besides sucking the blood of their victims, they are supposed to be able to extract the sap and juices of crops. Cases of coco blight are ascribed to the work of the obayifo.
“These witches are supposed to be very common, and a man never knows but that his friend or even his wife may be one. When prowling at night they are supposed to emit a phosphorescent light. An obayifo in every day life is supposed to be known by having sharp, shifty eyes, that are never at rest, also by showing an undue interest in food, and always talking about it, especially meat, and hanging about when cooking is going on, all of which habits are therefore purposely avoided.”