Akan TraditionCreature
Asanbosam
- Tree Ambush
- Hooked Appendages
- Blood Draining
- Silent Movement
A vampire-like creature from Ashanti folklore of Ghana that dwells in the deep forests. It has an almost human appearance but with iron teeth and hook-like appendages on its feet. It hangs from trees and uses its hooked feet to snatch unwary travelers passing below, draining their blood.
About Asanbosam
Iron Teeth in the Canopy
Ashanti folklore collected in the Gold Coast describes the asanbosam (or asanbosam) as a forest vampire with iron teeth and hook-feet, hanging in trees to snatch hunters. R. S. Rattray and later summaries are the paper trail; there is no court chronicle of a hunt.
It is a forest warning dressed as anatomy.
Sasabonsam
Rattray's Religion and Art in Ashanti (1927) describes the sasabonsam, the more common Twi name for the same forest monster: a long-legged, hairy being that sits high in the silk-cotton trees and hooks hunters up with its feet. It was linked with sorcery and with the priests' knowledge of the forest, and carved figures of it were made for shrines. In Asante belief it belongs with the mmoatia to the dangerous life of the deep bush.
Quick answers about Asanbosam
- What is Asanbosam?
- A vampire-like creature from Ashanti folklore of Ghana that dwells in the deep forests. It has an almost human appearance but with iron teeth and hook-like appendages on its feet. It hangs from trees and uses its hooked feet to snatch unwary travelers passing below, draining their blood.
- Where does Asanbosam live?
- The atlas lists Asanbosam's habitat as Deep Forest Canopy.
- What abilities does Asanbosam have?
- The atlas lists these abilities for Asanbosam: Tree Ambush, Hooked Appendages, Blood Draining, and Silent Movement.
Sources and further reading
Source notes
These references are recorded in the catalog. Their passage wording and translation have not been checked, so quotations are not displayed here.
- Asante oral tradition (ethnographic record)
About this entry
By Elizabeth Stein for Mythos Atlas. About the author. Editorial notes are grounded in the site's cited sources and can be challenged through the contact page.
The danger rating is an editorial shorthand for how the myths portray the creature, not a claim made by the sources.
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