According to Bear Nation online – in Native lore, the Acheri is a demon who brings disease upon the defenseless, especially children. The malevolent spirit lives in the mountain tops and comes down to enter settlements at night, singing and dancing, and sometimes playing the drums. The demon casts it’s shadow like a contagious net, and the falling of the Acheri’s shadow is like the breath of someone who has a highly communicable respiratory disease breathing directly into your lungs, like what would happen in mouth-to-mouth recesitation.


The Acheri seemingly are indestructible, however, there is a North American Indian (Chippewa) tradition that says that wrapping the red cloth of a medicine woman around the creatures neck would put it to rest. [4]
The Acheri in Pop Culture
- Japan has a similar folklore – ‘Ju-on’. The Ju-on was the basis behind the well-known movie, The Grudge.
- The Acheri was featured in the series ‘Supernatural,’ (2.21 All Hell Breaks Loose: Part one).
The Writing Prompt
It is said that the Acheri can be ‘put to rest.’ by placing a red ribbon from a medicine woman around it’s neck…but how in the world do you catch it? Are there more than one?
Your writing prompt deals with the salt.
You are living in a mountainous region and aren’t necessarily Native American. You aren’t necessarily from India either. You are simply a person with a lowered immune system, which is mentioned in the video below as being one attribute for making you easy pray for the Acheri.
You are in a hospital bed with a curable disease but are very weak and have been getting worse for weeks instead of getting better and seem to have become resistant to the medication. This is strange to the doctors because you started off as having a fairly routine illness with predictable positive results after normal dosing with the medication.
At night, in the hospital room, you surround your bed with salt, making a circle all around you…and a friend of yours, a friend whom you have told repeatedly about a scary child who has come at night to visit you- wants to see the Acheri first hand.
She sees the Acheri that night and because of the salt, you were protected on the inside of the circle, but your friend ends up in a hospital bed next to you. What happens next? The entire hospital is vulnerable, and you still don’t know how to get the red ribbon around the Acheri’s neck.
If you find this fun and interesting and decide to expand on it- let me know how this story continues in the comment section below, and as usual…happy writing!
References from Bear Nation Online
1. ↑ Maberry, Jonathan. Vampire Universe: The Dark World of Supernatural Beings That Haunt Us, Hunt
Us, and Hunger for Us. Citadel Press: New York, 2006, p.5.
2. ↑ Alex. “Acheri”. http://everything2.com/title/Acheri, Accessed June 08, 2009.
3. ↑ Guiley, Rosemary G. The Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits. Facts on File: New York, 1972, p.1
4. ↑ Alex. “Acheri”.
5. ↑ Longstaff, Thomas G.; Sherring, Charles. Western Tibet and the British Border Land. Asian
Educational Services: New Delhi, 1996, p.360.
Interesting. Kindly follow my blog @oladewalaura. wordpress.com
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Ooh I love this one, too! I live very close to a Chippewa reservation which makes this especially interesting to me. “The Acheri seemingly are indestructible, however, there is a North American Indian (Chippewa) tradition that says that wrapping the red cloth of a medicine woman around the creatures neck would put it to rest. [4]” Nicely done!!
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That is SO amazing that you live close to a Chippewa reservation! Have you heard of the Acheri before Lisa?
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I have heard of it, but I didn’t realize what it was until I read your post. Now, I will have to read more about it. There are so many legends locally, it has definitely piqued my interest.
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That’s really awesome! I’m just regurgitating information ultimately, but I’m still really glad your interest is piqued, and that you’re having fun with these like I am❤️!
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I love that you put writing prompts on these.
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Good, I’m glad!!!!! 🎉
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It’s a great blog and will definitely be a resource for me. I love new creatures
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Thank you E.J.!!
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I don’t really take my time to read more then 3 sentences but this lore peeked my interest! Thank you
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Absolutely T :)- glad you enjoyed this!
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