Impundulu

bird · South Africa · Southern Africa

Impundulu (lightning bird, thekwane) is the Zulu and Xhosa vampiric lightning bird — a human-sized black-and-white bird that summons thunder and lightning with wings and talons. It functions as a witch's familiar, drinks blood, can take human form to seduce women, and is passed down matrilineally. Only fire can destroy it. Documented by Berglund, Werner, and contemporary belief.

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