The night demon

An evil creature stalks the Tanzanian island of Pemba in the Indian Ocean. It can change shape a bat sometimes, a human-like form at others. It prefers to come out at night, but some say they have seen it during the day. The popobawa — "bat-wing" in Swahili is indiscriminate in its targets. But in a common retelling, the spirit sexually assaults men. The popobawa story is rather new — only dating back a few decades from a time of civil unrest following the assassination of the country's president. The popular thinking goes that after a popbawa attack, victims must spread the word to others on Pemba. Otherwise, they will continue to be visited by the popobawa. Reports of attack send some locals into a panic. A few years ago, a series of night-time sexual assaults were blamed on the popobawa. "Some men are staying awake or sleeping in groups outside their homes," the BBC reported in 2007. "Others are smearing themselves with pig's oil, believing this repels attacks."A peasant farmer named Mjaka Hamad claims he was attacked by the popobawa in 1997.