In Malaysia or any other South East Asian (SEA) country, ghosts are portrayed differently from Western ghosts. From my two cents, SEA ghosts are more scary and horrendous than the Westerns. Have you ever thought why we never heard of folktales about SEA ghosts in America, Paris, etc?
@IzzraifHaz on Twitter got the answers for you. He came out with some theories why there are no SEA ghosts in western countries. It is due to the winter. Let’s see his tweets one by one:
Some of the famous ghosts in SEA countries
1) Penanggal ghost
Penanggal ghost is one of the vampiric entities popular in SEA countries. The ghost is portrayed as a woman without a body. She only has her head with her organs attached to it. She travels floating. The name ‘penanggal’ comes from the word ‘tanggal’ which means remove to indicate her body being separated from her head.
@IzzraifHaz made sense with this theory. The usus or colon will freeze due to the weather. Even a normal person who wears multiple clothes during winter could feel the cold.
2) Pocong
Pocong is known in Malaysia as the candy ghost or hantu gula-gula. Why is that? Why must we associate this spooky thing with something sweet like candy? The nickname is given due to its appearance looking like a wrapped candy.
This time, @IzzraifHaz thinks that pocong may or may not survive in winter. As the pocong is wrapped with white clothes all over the body, he may survive the cold, but if the clothes got wet due to the snow, he may not survive.
3) Pontianak
In the Malay language, we call it pontianak, but in Indonesia, they call it kuntilanak. This ghost is depicted as a pregnant woman who is unable to give birth. If you hear a baby’s cry or a pungent smell (smelly or the smell of plumeria flower), you have to run. Pontianak is near you!
4) Hantu air
Hantu air or the water ghost can be found in the lakes, rivers, and seas. In Malay folklore, this ghost is the reason for missing people, and for the people who die from drowning.
Living in the water to survive, this ghost would surely not survive the cold winter.
5) Yellow Volkswagen ghost
This is a modern ghost. It owns a Volkswagen! People say that this ghost haunts people on the Karak highway. It will drive past any cars unexpectedly. What is more shocking is that there is nobody in the car. Worst, the car will pass by you not once, but many times!
As @IzzraifHaz mentions, his job is only to drive the yellow Volkswagen. So, it makes sense that he could not haunt people in winter.
6) Nenek Kebayan
Nenek Kebayan takes the form of an old lady. This ghost is portrayed as ugly.
The guy who came out with the theory is very creative. However, this information is just for fun. Do you know any other ghost that can’t survive the winter?
Source: Twitter IzzraifHaz