The Craquehhe

The Craquehhe is one of the undead, a creature that was once human but now exists beyond death without a soul, doomed to kill and feed on the living for its own sustenance. It is a revenant, a restless reanimated corpse.

Habitat

The Craquehhe inhabits old graveyards in France.

Diet

The Craquehhe is purely anthropophagous, feeding on both the flesh and blood of its unfortunate victims.

Features

The Craquehhe’s appearance bears very little resemblance to what the creature may have looked like while it was still alive. This revenant is a decaying corpse, having bloodless wax-white skin, sunken red eyes, and greasy hair clotted with grave dirt and infested with maggots. Maggots and other insects infest and crawl through the rotting tears in its flesh and infest the creature’s tattered clothing. The revenant’s hands and fingers are badly torn from the efforts of slowly clawing its way out of the grave. What is more terrifying yet is that, no matter how badly the Craquehhe was injured before death, it will walk and seek out living prey all the same. The Craquehhe has been seen shambling forth on shattered legs, with missing limbs, and other massively disfiguring or debilitating injuries.

Behavior

The Craquehhe shambles along rather like a zombie, but the revenant’s clumsy gait is deceptive, belying the incredible speed it possesses when attacking. It will greedily devour any human parts, and the creature will not stop until its stomach is bloated and full, leaving only a few scraps of flesh and a skeleton behind. Like the majority of the undead, the Craquehhe rises from the grave after sunset, clawing through the dirt to the surface, and then proceeding to hunt for living prey. This creature has been known to utterly destroy nearby towns in its constant search for food.

Abilities

The Craquehhe is one of the most savage and powerful of the Undead. It possesses supernatural strength and speed, despite being a rotting corpse. It has been known to destroy entire towns, preying on the townsfolk. Because it is a decaying corpse, the Craquehhe may be capable of spreading a virulent, highly contagious disease when it attacks. This plague will kill any who may have survived the revenant’s initial attacks.

Being truly dead, the Craquehhe is completely impervious to pain and injury. Gunshots and dismemberment will slow the creature down, but cannot stop the revenant. Even if somehow cut in half at the waist, the creature still clings to unlife, attempting to hunt all the same.

Weaknesses

For all of its savage ferocity and sheer power, the Craquehhe can be destroyed and has a few weaknesses as well. The creature cannot abide by the presence of consecrated icons (like a crucifix), and such a symbol of light and purity offers great protection against the creature.

Slaying the Craquehhe

Only two things can truly destroy the Craquehhe: fire and decapitation. To accomplish this seemingly foolhardy task, one needs highly-skilled and courageous men armed with consecrated icons, swords, axes, a great deal of courage, and faith in God. Either that, or an angry mob equipped with torches and sharpened, fire-hardened wooden staves (or pitchforks, whichever works). The revenant should be pinned to the ground with the wooden staves and decapitated with a single stroke of the sword. However, even headless, this ungodly creature will stubbornly cling to unlife. It is best to be sure if the creature is really dead before the next step is taken.

Afterwards, the Craquehhe needs to be cremated completely, and the ashes should be scattered to the four winds. Failure to burn the creature will result in the Craquehhe’s resurrection, or worse yet, the revenant’s taint will spread throughout the graveyard, creating a host of these undead monsters.

History

France may be a beautiful, picturesque country, but like any other place in Europe, the French have their share of dark evils. One of the most feared of these evil beings is the Craquehhe, a horrifying revenant that rises from the grave in order to feed on the flesh and blood of the living.

How does such an undead abomination come into existence? If a person dies unbaptized, he was never accepted as one of God’s own. If one were to die without repenting of one’s sins, he is rejecting Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross, and is therefore damned to suffer eternally in Hell. In either case, the result is an aberrant revenant known as the Craquehhe. This creature is said by some to be a form of vampire, but in truth, this revenant is much closer in relation to the cinematic Zombie. This creature is extremely formidable, and fighting the revenant alone is strongly discouraged, at least for the beginning Demon Hunter.

References

Maberry, Jonathan. Vampire Universe. New York: Kensington Publishing Corp. Copyright ©2006 by Jonathan Maberry.

Maberry, Jonathan. The Vampire Slayer's Field Guide to the Undead. Canada: Strider Nolan Publishing, Inc. Copyright ©2003 by Jonathan Maberry.