oily man and other stories

i suspect that when we were children, out of exasperation, some adults fabricated stories about the oily man and head hunters to frighten us so that we would not stay out too late or wander too far from the house.

at one time, talks and stories about the oily man were so rife that every kampong kid was gripped with fear when it got dark. we stayed close together in a group and did not dare venture to unfamiliar places at night.

from what i can remember of those stories told, the oily man or orang minyak (as the malays called him) had very dark skin which was also shiny and oily. some stories told of the orang minyak raping young virgin girls. it seemed that sex with virgin strengthened his power in black magic. he was elusive and difficult to capture because his oily skin made it difficult for his captors to get a grip on him and so he always managed to give them the slip.

the other story that struck fear in us was that of children being beheaded. the theory was that every time a new bridge was built or being built, they needed human heads to ensure its stability. incredible as it might sound, we were too young and naive to see how illogical it was. we were just too afraid to lose our heads.

then there were also stories of pontianak associated with the banana tree. some movies were made based on these stories and in some way it reinforced our belief in such stories.