URBAN LEGENDS ADAPTATION

The Hanging Horror (A Sasabonsam Story – Ghana, Ivory Coast, Togo)

The Legend of Sasabonsam

Deep in the shadows of the West African rainforests, where the trees grow too thick and the air is always humid, something watches from above.

Something ancient.

Something hungry.

They call it Sasabonsam—a demon, a vampire, a creature that never touches the ground.

It clings to the highest branches, its long, spindly limbs dangling down like dead vines. Its skin is leathery and dark, its eyes burning red like embers in the night.

And when it chooses a victim, it does not chase them.

It simply waits.

And waits.

Until they step beneath its tree.

And then—

It drops.

---

The Forbidden Path

Yaw never believed in village superstitions.

"Stay away from the old forest," his grandmother had warned. "Sasabonsam lives there."

But Yaw was eighteen. He didn't believe in monsters.

So when his friends dared him to take the shortcut through the rainforest, he laughed and agreed.

"You're afraid of an old folktale?" he teased.

His friends didn't follow him.

They stood at the edge of the trees, watching nervously as he disappeared into the shadows.

---

The First Sign

The deeper Yaw went, the quieter it became.

No birds. No insects.

Just the sound of his own breath.

The trees loomed overhead, their gnarled roots coiling through the damp earth like twisted veins. Thick vines hung down from the branches, swaying slightly, even though there was no wind.

The air smelled wrong—not just of damp leaves, but of something rotting. Like old meat left in the sun, sour and sickly.

Yaw swallowed hard, telling himself it was just the heat making him dizzy.

Then—something creaked above him.

Yaw stopped.

The trees here were massive, their branches stretching far above him like skeletal fingers.

Another creak.

It sounded like something shifting.

Something moving.

Yaw glanced up.

For a moment, he thought he saw something hanging.

Something long and still.

Then a gust of wind stirred the branches, and whatever he saw was gone.

He laughed it off and kept walking.

He never noticed the two red eyes that had opened in the shadows above.

Watching.

Waiting.

---

The Drop

Yaw stepped over a fallen tree trunk.

The air felt thicker now, pressing against his skin like a damp, suffocating blanket.

Then—

A shadow moved above him.

Before he could react, something huge and unnatural dropped from the branches.

He barely had time to scream before it was on him.

The weight knocked him to the ground, forcing the air from his lungs in a choked gasp. He clawed at the dirt, trying to push himself up, but the thing wrapped around him—long, bony arms, skin cold and leathery, limbs like ropes twisting around his body.

Yaw thrashed, but the creature was too strong.

Its wings snapped around him like a coffin lid, blocking out the light.

He felt something press against his neck—not teeth, but clawed fingers, tracing the pulsing vein beneath his skin.

A slow, deliberate touch.

Sasabonsam was enjoying this.

Yaw's breath came in shallow, panicked gasps. His muscles screamed as he struggled, but the thing only tightened its grip, pulling him closer until he could smell it—

That same rotting stench.

But now, beneath it, something else.

Old blood. Stale breath. The scent of a thousand dead things.

Yaw opened his mouth to scream—

And then he saw its face.

Its eyes were sunken pits, glowing red like dying coals. Its mouth was too wide, splitting open to reveal rows of jagged teeth, each one stained a dark, sickly brown.

The thing grinned at him.

It wasn't just killing him.

It was playing with him.

Then—

The pain began.

Sasabonsam's teeth sank deep into Yaw's shoulder, and a white-hot wave of agony tore through his body.

He screamed.

The thing shuddered, as if it liked the sound.

Then it bit down again.

Yaw's screams turned to gurgles as something thick and warm spilled down his chest.

His vision blurred. His fingers twitched weakly in the dirt.

And then, finally—

Everything went black.

---

The Aftermath

Yaw never came home.

His friends waited until morning before daring to enter the forest.

They found his clothes first. Torn. Stained with something dark and dry.

Then, they saw the trees above them.

Something was hanging from the highest branches.

At first, they thought it was just another vine.

Until they saw the eyes.

And the grin.

Yaw was gone.

But

Sasabonsam…

Had not finished feeding.

---

The forest is not empty.

It never was.