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Fext/Kostlivec
Fext are a form of undead from Eastern Bohemia and Western Moravia. Their other name, Kostlivec, simply means “skeleton” which is a less specific term. It is believed that babies with their amniotic sac still around them at birth are likely to become Fext. Their corpses do not decompose after death. Their skin is like a hardened shell, and they cannot be killed with normal bullets but can be killed with a glass ball or peg. Many of them are connected to the thirty years war. Citations: Marenčin, Albert, and Stejskal, Martin. Labyrintem tajemna, aneb, Průvodce po magických místech Československa. Czechia, Paseka, 1991.
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Ka Dinga Pepo/Ka Denga Pepo/Ka-Dinga Pepo/Kadinga Pepo
Ka Dinga Pepo is a phenomenon from Zanzibar. The term is Swahili with “ka” meaning ‘a form of,’ “Dinga” meaning a cramp-like seizure, and “Pepo” referring to an evil spirit or plague. The term refers to a spiritual attack causing sickness. The term was also for the origin of the name for ‘dengue fever’ in 1800. Citations: Africanderisms: A Glossary of South African Colloquial Words and Phrases and of Place and Other Names. United Kingdom, Longmans, Green and Company, 1913. Dobson, Mary. Murderous Contagion: A Human History of Disease. United Kingdom, Hachette Book Group, 2015. Fabes, Stephen. Signs of Life: A Doctor’s Journey to the Ends Of The Earth. United…