Cha kla () or Phi Cha kla (ผีจะกละ) is a Thai ghost appearing like a

cat The cat (''Felis catus''), also referred to as the domestic cat or house cat, is a small domesticated carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species of the family Felidae. Advances in archaeology and genetics have shown that the ...

wild cat Felidae ( ) is the family of mammals in the order Carnivora colloquially referred to as cats. A member of this family is also called a felid ( ). The 41 extant Felidae species exhibit the greatest diversity in fur patterns of all terrestria ...

. Cha kla were believed to be used by sorcerers for attacking their enemies.

Folk tale

Cha kla is a kind of Phi Ka (ผีกะ). In the

Southern Thai language Southern Thai ( ), also known as Dambro ( ), Pak Tai ( ), or "Southern language" ( ), is a Southwestern Tai ethnolinguistic identity and language spoken in southern Thailand, as well as by small communities in the northernmost states of Malays ...

,''"Phi Luang"'', (ผีล้วง) it means a cat with completely black (but not shiny) fur. The cat's fur runs from back to front and it has blood-red eyes. The cat is a

nocturnal animal Nocturnality is a behavior in some non-human animals characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatures generally have hi ...

and is fearful of humans - when it sees a human it runs down its hole. It will dig into the hole and will only emerge at night. When someone sees or touches it, that person will eventually die.

Similar creatures

Nekomata ''Nekomata'' (original form: , later forms: , , ) are a kind of cat ''yōkai'' described in Japanese folklore, classical kaidan, essays, etc. There are two very different types: those that live in the mountains and domestic cats that have grown ...

References

Mythological felines Thai ghosts Cat folklore {{Asia-myth-stub