The Pontianak is a female, blood-sucking vampire who lurks around trees and graveyards in south east Asia. The name actually means “childbearing ghost” because the belief is that she is a woman who has died in childbirth.

The Pontianak appears as a beautiful woman until she pounces on her victim, when she becomes an ugly old crone with razor-sharp teeth. Sometimes only her head appears, with entrails dangling from her neck. Legend has it that she preys especially on pregnant women and babies, driven by jealousy from beyond the grave.

Men aren’t safe either – in fact it’s very unlucky to strike a woman in south east Asia, especially a married one, presumably in case she returns from the dead to get you! Sceptics say that Pontianaks are nothing more than large owls, whose faces look a bit human when they swoop out of the darkness.