I grew up being told loads of stories that revolve around different aspects of life and the like. Among the genres of stories we were told, one stood out, and that's the scary ones that literally always leave us horrified and fearful, but then we still find our way to listen to more of such at the foot of our elders in the dock of the night under the beaming light of the moon, and I guess that's one of the reasons such are called tales by moonlight.
I've remembered loads of such stories, and I'll probably talk about one of two of them in this article, and the first is about the bush baby, popularly called Egbére here in Nigeria among the Yoruba people. This mystical creature is said to be so tiny, like a midget, and only roam around at the dead of night looking for its next prey. The bush baby tale is one that literally makes us shiver when we're told and on the same light optimist because of some beacon of hope that revolves around the tale.
So the bush baby usually roams around at night, crying like a baby and hoping to lure out an unsuspected individual to come out and check, which could ultimately lead to the push baby taking such a person away forever, never to be fond again, or dealt with in a way where such a person who encounters them won't be able to recall anything that happens to them.
This tale usually makes us scared of the night, especially going out at the latest hour alone. I can remember not wanting to go out despite waking up at midnight and pressing to urinate, but out of fear for the bush baby, I'll hold on to my urine till this morning, or when I see any adult going out, I'll follow them so I won't fall victim to the bush baby.
Now, like I said, it also offers a beacon of hope, and that's because it's alleged that the bush baby always carries a mat around everywhere it goes, and if paraventure any individual was able to get hold of that mat, then such a person would be very rich in as much as they sleep on the mat every night throughout the rest of their lives, but paraventure such a person misses a day without sleeping on the mat, then the person will run mad. It's just a complicated story that got us scared back then, and it seems so real because a movie was made to capture almost every mystery said about the egbere around that time during my childhood.
The other scary story we were told back to them that I remember was about that of Madam Koi Koi. This is a legendary tale of a woman who, just like the bush baby, does walk around at night, but unlike the bush baby. Madam Koi Koi is known to only plague and terrorize school environments like boarding schools, and at light you'll hear the sound of footsteps like a woman walking on the corridor with a resounding sound of her heels.
It's alleged that at night you'll hear her footsteps walking in the corridor and calling out to you to come out, but if paraventure you go out, that'll be the end of such a student because most of her victims weren't never found, and that makes it very difficult and scary for you to see students go outside at night regardless of who's calling them. I stayed in boarding school for one section, and believe me, every single student believes in this tale and even claims to have heard her footsteps before.
Although it seems as though whoever started most of these tales had a purpose of preventing young ones from wandering around at night, but it ended up being real or paraventure, some people decided to adopt the methods to kidnap unsuspecting students who wanted to find out how true the legend is and ended up getting kidnapped because of their curiosity.
All photos taken and edited on canva.
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