It’s true. There is such a legend as the “Oily man”. The Orang Minyak is Malaysia’s boogeyman. Covered in slick oil, the Orang Minyak is supposedly a person (is it only males?) who is practicing a dark art and requires them (amongst other things) to rape several virgins to complete the rite of passage.

We had something like that in the barrios in Mexico growing up. We called them rapists.

Full source: The Star The supernatural phenomenon purportedly terrorising Kampung Laksamana in Gombak has rallied the residents to stand together in defence of the young girls in their community. WHILE most people would be in deep slumber at 2am, residents of Kampung Laksamana in Gombak were wide awake, roaming up and down Jalan Laksamana 1 in Gombak, Selangor. Around 40 residents all divided into groups of about five to 10 people each and fully equipped with spotlights and wooden sticks were on patrol in the village located about 2km from Batu Caves that Thursday morning. Although they were joking with one another, you could feel the tension in the air. An outsider might think that a gang rumble was on the cards. But what the residents of this village were worried about were not humans, instead they were keeping an eye out for not one, but two, supernatural beings. They are under attack from a couple of orang minyak (oily man), they claim. This village has been buzzing with sightings of the two paranormal creatures for the last 10 days. Many residents claim to have seen and heard the orang minyak around the vicinity of the Pangsapuri Laksamana and Jalan Laksamana 1. And they all say the same thing the orang minyak are clad only in their underwear and drenched in black shiny oil. They can jump from one roof to another with ease, and vanish into thin air within seconds. It’s definitely no laughing matter, stresses Aslam Khan, 33, one of the villagers “lucky” enough to have seen them. As he describes them, one is tall, stocky and bald while the other is thin and curly haired. “I saw the bald orang minyak hiding behind the water tank of a house at about two in the morning. It was breathing really loudly, like a cow. Read the full article here: The Star

DoubtfulNews chimed in and had this to say:

Not unlike the Monkey Man in other parts of India, there is a supernatural element here that may have a grain of truth that has grown into a strong superstitious belief (fueled by the media and film) causing mass hyteria [sic] that terrifies a community. Check out this movie clip: Fun! Wondering… why can’t they slow this thing down with some hot soapy water or degreaser.

I couldn’t agree more. If you dig deep enough through every supernatural folklore, you’ll eventually bump into a small grain of truth. It’s rumors and overactive imaginations that fuel these legends. What I don’t agree with is using hot soapy water on that monster. Sawdust. Sawdust soaks up oil pretty well.