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A churel, also written as "churail", or rather "chudail" (pronounced chew-dail) (Devanagari: चुडेल) is a female ghost out of Hindu folklore. She appears either as a hideous creature with long sagging breasts and unkempt hair, or as a beautiful young woman who can charm any man. Often, her feet are backward, and she has an unnaturally long and thick black tongue. The churel is said to be the unhappy ghost of a woman who died in childbirth or while menstruating. This connection means that she sucks blood, a habit shared with another monster, the vampire, and because young men are the cause of her death, the Churel always drinks from young men, beginning with the one she loved in life. The churel usually lives near small rivers or springs. She is either seen wearing a white or a red sari, representing a widow or a bride respectively.
