Ghul

Also: ghoul, ghoula [feminine], ghulah [feminine], ghol [Persian]

A powerful djinni (jinee, genie) made of fire from Arabic folklore. Ghuls are the offspring of Iblis, the Arabic version of the devil.

Ghuls are basically humanoid in appearance. They come in various sizes and can change their shapes, typically into different animal forms. Sometimes they are said to have hooves, and Saharan ghuls might have ostrich legs and one eye. They ride on the backs of hares or ostriches.

Ghuls are said to eat human flesh, both of the dead and the living. They inhabit desolate places like deserts and graveyards. They lure their victims away and eat them, particularly travelers in the desert. Some female ghulahs play flutes to enchant men to their deaths. There are also forest-dwelling ghuls, which abduct men and women and seduce them. In this manner, Ghuls can procreate. The offspring of these unions are savage creatures.

Male ghuls are associated with the qutrub, another type of demon. Ghuls are also related to the udar, another desert spirit. They are also identified with the Vetala, a similar creature from Indian folklore.


Ghuls are said to rob graves and eat the bodies of the dead. Western culture is more familiar with this characteristic of the creature, adapting the ghoul into a vampire-like monster that eats human flesh. In this vein, ghouls become a more indistinct sort of monster, with various traits and appearances depending on who is telling the tale. In many instances, ghouls are more akin to zombies than vampires, in that they are mindless beasts. More recent treatments, however, have ghouls functioning like half-vampires, subservient to vampires but retaining human reason.

Ghuls are found in the Arabian Nights, and it was through the translation of these stories that ghuls, or ghouls, became known to Western culture. Arguably the most famous rendition of the ghoul in Western culture is Dracula's Renfield, the servant who eats insects and craves flesh.

The Westernized version of ghouls feature in Jeaniene Frost's Night Huntress series. In these books, ghouls are a type of undead, formerly human but transformed after death. To create a ghoul, a dying human is given vampire blood. Once the human dies, his heart is replaced with a ghoul's heart and vampire blood is used to reanimate it. Frost's version of ghouls are rational beings with their human personalities more or less intact,  very similar socially to vampires. Like vampires, ghouls are immortal and can only be killed by decapitation.Unlike vampires, though, they feed on raw meat rather than blood. 

Fans of Batman and DC Comics will recognize the name Ra's al-Ghul, a centuries-old villain who extends his life through his Lazarus Pit. While Ra's is not a ghul as described above, the name al-Ghul reportedly mean's "Demon's Head". 

See Also: djinn

Sources and More Information: , Answers.com, Comic Vine, DearDeath.com, The Dictionary of Mythology, Encylopedia Mythica, Jeaniene Frost's website,


Related Books:
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Kitty Goes to War (Kitty Norville series) by Carrie Vaughn
Night Huntress series by Jeaniene Frost