The Making Of Pelesit & Polong

I can assure you that the below info is exclusive and hard to come by these days...

Basically Pelesit and Polong have the same characteristics. The only differences lie in the form and the gender of their owners. A polong works for a male owner and a pelesit works for a female owner.

The functions of a pelesit and polong are the same: for stealing of money and to destroy the enemies. Except that a pelesit has an additional edge that is it can make its lady owner look young always.

It is believed that a pelesit and polong can transform into the form of their owners; which is the same of a ‘hantu raya’ or a wandering spirit or a great spirit if you will. In old days, people in Selangor, Kuala Pilah, Negeri Sembilan, Kedah and Trengganu used to be knowledgeable of the ‘arts of pelesit and polong.

 Pelesit and polong feed on chicken eggs that have been poked a hole with a sewing needle. As I heard that this egg is placed near the feet of the owner at night when the owners sleeping at night. During mid-night, the pelesit or polong will protrude its elongated tongue from the roof down to suck the contents of the egg. In another version, I was told that a pelesit or a polong will transform into an insect and sneak to the toe of its owner and bite on the toe to draw blood. Hence people believe that if a people look extremely skinny, he/she might be a possible candidate for owning one of this spirits. In another version of the story, a pelesit/polong is kept inside a small bottle and it is fed with the owner’s blood drawn from ring finger during full moon night. However, if a pelesit/polong is not fed amply, then it will venture out of the house and disturb the neighbors.

Local believe that when the owner of a pelesit/polong dies, the cloth covering the face of the deceased would show signs of moving. And when the cloth is removed, people would find the tongue of the deceased protruding and wriggling out from the mouth; while the eyes rolled back.

The owner of a pelisit/polong is said to be void of descendent because the spirit would kill all children in the house if it is not being well taken care of. A locol bomoh (shaman) told me that when a person is possessed by a pelisit/polong; the only way to coax out the owner is to bring a red onion and 3 grains of black pepper seeds. The items are then pressed onto the thumb nails.

Another sign of a person possessed by a pelisit/polong is that the possessed person dare not look into the eyes of others. The bomoh also told me that it helps to fumigate the victim of a pelisit/polong with ‘kemayan’ (benzoin) smoke. It is said that when one of the above method is used, the person will utter the name of the owner. Of course this method has caused many innocent folks to be accused and harmed for many personal reasons. Perhaps this resembles some sort of ‘witch hunt’ in the medieval Europe…

It is not difficult to detect if a pelisit/polong is present as it would make the sound of ‘sat… sat… sat’ and if people would perform a search, they shall find a grass hopper with the head similar that of a person. If this grasshopper is caught and its head being pluck, in addition three breathes are blown onto the grasshopper with added cursing and swearing before letting it go (provided that if the poor creature still lives…). If a grain of yellow rice or a piece of hair is found after the head is plugged, then it is said that this pelisit/polong has an owner.

Another method to kill a grasshopper believed to be a pelisit/polong is to strike it with a broom while saying: “it is not that I have killed you, it is the broom!” This is to avoid the revenge of the pelisit/polong. This is due to the belief that a pelisit/polong is afraid of a broom. Old Malays believe that when they believed that a pelisit/polong is making noise, they would strike a broom onto the floor; and the pelisit/polong would become silent and flee from the place.

If a grasshopper believed to be a pelisit/polong being caught and put into a bottle, its owner will wandering about like insane finding his/her pelisit/polong within two days of the creature being caught. This bottle should be thrown into a river that flows into the sea. Would it help to get rid of a pelisit/poling by killing the grasshopper? Well, no. People believe that the owner can always generate another grasshopper to replace the lost ones.

Folks believe that a pelisit/polong can be summoned in three ways:

Method 1:

An old green coconut which stem is being bitten off with teeth and that his green coconut should be carried down while holding in one’s mouth. After that this coconut husk is shredded and then the coconut flesh is used to produce coconut milk. Then the coconut milk is being boiled to make coconut oil. The coconut oil is later filled into a terracotta urn together with 3 pieces of white or black chicken eggs. This urn is then sealed and then buried in a 3-way crossroads for 40 days.

When the time is up, this container is dug up and it is then hung in the center of the house beam. This urn should then be fumigated by smoke produce from burning 7 pieces of coconut ‘lidi’ (leaflets) taken from the same midrib during Maghrib time. It is believed that thousands of grasshoppers will come to enjoy the feast. Only one of the grasshoppers will transform into pelisit/polong.

Method 2:

The dead body of an eldest baby of less than 40 days whose mother is also the eldest in the family is the main ingredient for making a pelesit/polong. The corpse of the dead baby should be dug up during mid-night usually a Friday night. After that, the corpse is placed on an ant hill and subsequent conjuration is made until voices came out from the corpse with its tongue wriggling. The person should approach the corpse and bite off this tongue.

This tongue should be placed inside a coconut shell. This tongue and coconut shell is then burn with slow fire until oil is produced. It is then buried in a 3-way crossroads for 3 days consecutively. The coconut shell must be collected from an isolated coconut tree. It is said that on the fourth day, a pelisit/polong will present inside the coconut shell ready to be deployed.

Method 3:

A much simpler method is to comb one’s hair at dusk for a consecutive of 40 days in front of a mirror. The person should wear the clothing worn by a previous owner of a pelisit/polong. It is said that this way enables one to recall a pelisit/polong from the previous owner.

Whatever method one uses, the pelisit/polong should be fed with blood at an interval of at least once a month; and that it should be kept in a small bottle filled with coconut oil.

The telltale sign of a pelisit/polong owner is that he/she would have small and red eyes; and that he/she would avoid direct eye contacts. When he/she sleeps, he/she will sleep facing up with mouth opening and producing sounds of a cat drinking water. Another way of testing if a person keeps a pelisit/polong is to hide a small piece of monkey bone under betel leaves. If the person consumes the betel leaves and moan in pain, then he/she is the keeper of a pelisit/polong.

I am not sure if anyone still keeps a pelisit/polong in that matter to date, and I have not personally tried the making of pelisit/polong ritual. If you have tried and successfully produced one; then please do let me know.