When you think about popular myths about things that go bump in the night, some creatures are more well known than others. Werewolves for instance have been widely popular ever since Lon Chaney breathed life into the Wolfman, and Bela Lugosi did the same for vampires ever since he put on the cape and the charm for Dracula. In fact one might argue that vampires have crossed over from fiction to reality with the various groups of sanguine and psychic vampires that are out there in society. The undead are popular monsters in both fiction and reality, as the cases of real zombies created through Voodoo as well as the number of people who believe in ghosts, or who claim to have seen them, shows.
However, history has a way of letting us keep words and phrases without actually holding onto the origin and the meaning of things. Who knows what a Blue Moon really is these days? Or where the days of the week came from? Likewise most people know what the word ghoul means, associating it with graveyards, cannibalism and the worst taboos humanity has set. But if asked, most people would be hard pressed to tell you what a ghoul is, aside from a person who takes pleasure in the morbid and the macabre. In truth, ghouls are much, much worse than your regular denizens of the darkness.
The word ghoul is traced back to Middle Eastern folklore, where it appeared in both the Koran as well as in famous works of fiction such as the Arabian Nights. The ghoul is a being that is linked to demons, as well as to the djinn (spirits where we get the idea of a genie, who could grant wishes but who were typically deceitful and wicked). Ghouls were encountered at night, and they could take many forms through magic. They were considered to be sorcerers or warlocks among the djinn, who were already considered spirits of great powers. Generally speaking ghouls stole things, including offerings to god, unattended food, people (especially children) and they were responsible for robbing graves and stealing the pennies from the eyes. Ghouls were also known to eat both the living and the dead, a fate that was considered particularly horrible for those who were pious individuals.
Maybe it was the lurking around in dark burial grounds, but as the term moved into Western society it began to become applicable to grave robbers and other lurkers in the mortal realm. However, the term has evolved into a mishmash, with a ghoul joining the ranks of the undead as a crypt robber and cannibal. But, as with anything in modern language or culture, it had a birth somewhere that can be found if you’re a diligent searcher.
“Ghoul,” by Anonymous at The Free Dictionary
“The Hadeeth of the Ghoul,” by Mashhur Hassan Salmaan at QSS
“The Ghoul- A History of the Monster,” by Matthew Head at Suite 101
