Kappa - In Japanese lore, a horrible water imp who likes to drink human blood and eat entrails. The kappa is named after the river god Kappa, whom it serves as a messenger.
The kappa resembles a monkey. It is about the height of a 10-year-old boy and has webbed hands and feet, a monkey face, a long beaklike nose, and a tortoise shell on its back. On top of its head is a bowl-like indentation that contains a clear, jellylike substance, which is the source of the kappa's power. Short black hair rings the indentation.
The kappa lives in swampy areas, ponds, lakes, and rivers, where it taunts its victims—men, women, and children—into treacherous or deep waters so that they drown. It also attacks animals. After the victims are dead, the kappa enters the bodies through the anus, drinks their blood, and sucks out their entrails. It is especially fond of livers. Sometimes it will devour some of the flesh.
The kappa offers a supernatural explanation for a phenomenon of drowning: a bulging anus.
Folklore stories about the kappa tell of it losing an arm in an attack. It goes after its arm and promises people favors in exchange for the limb. It promises not to attack the local people anymore, or it teaches someone how to heal.
Kappa-like beings have been reported in UFO and extraterrestrial encounters in South America. The creatures are described as about two to three teet tall and covered with reptilian scales. They have webbed and clawed hands and feet, skull-like heads, pointed ears, and slits for noses and mouths. They have not taken blood directly, but seem to vampirize eyewitnesses of energy and leave them feeling weak, anemic, and faint, similar to the effects experienced in Chupa-Chupa attacks.
Text from The Encyclopedia of Vampires, Werewolves, and Other Monsters (Checkmark Books, 2005) by Rosemary Guiley
