The Chudail is one of the most feared of all ghosts. It is prevalent in legends, folklore, and horror movies across the length and breadth of South Asia, from Iran to Indonesia, though it goes by different names in different regions. Pakistanis and Indian Muslims often call it the Pichal Peri — the backwards-footed.

It is the ghost of a woman who died while pregnant, or in childbirth.

All Chudails are extremely powerful and deadly. A young wife who was abused by her husband and in-laws, or an unmarried woman who was murdered by the father of her unborn child, become particularly murderous in the afterlife. The first aim of these vengeful ghosts is to seek and destroy the father or family members who ill-treated them. Once they have killed these offenders, they continue to attack others, especially unmarried young men or new mothers.

In her natural shape, a Chudail appears as a hideous hag with wild hair, a bulging belly, long claw-like fingers, a thick black tongue, and feet that are turned backwards, with the heels in front and the toes pointing behind.

But the Chudail can also make herself appear as a beautiful young woman. In this guise she usually wears a white sari or a dress smeared with blood. There are many stories of Chudails appearing on lonely highways late at night. When a male traveller stops to offer her a ride, the Chudail accepts… and then seduces him, draining him of his life fluids and vitality. The man is found dead the next morning.

When they are not haunting lonely highways, Chudails hang around cemeteries, old battlefields, swamps, dirty toilets, and cremation grounds.