Ro-Langs, The Zombies of Tibet

Stock Photo of the Himalayas looking creepy and perfectly zombie-like.

Zombies & The Ro-Langs

Zombies are supposedly undead creatures born from the infection and/or reanimation of a human body. Zombies are very popular in movies and pop culture and have been portrayed in many different ways. The most popular thought of the creation of zombies is that they pass on a virus or pathogen through biting a healthy human being which makes them a zombie as well. Some other types are also said to be formed through magic or a curse of sorts. This process of their rapid multiplication continues making them very hard to stop. On the plus side, zombies seem to lose most of their cognitive abilities and become very close to mindless creatures who have just a single goal, to find other healthy humans and bite them. Today's mystery is about real-life zombies in the scary heights of the Himalayan mountains and Tibet.

A Ro-langs is a sort of zombie-like being that originated from Tibetan folklore and tales. Ro stands for corpse while Langs means "to rise up", so Ro-Langs literally means "a corpse that has risen up". These creatures are said to be created through the power of a sorcerer by performing an evil ritual

Ro-langs are said to lack the ability to speak and they are very stiff, causing them to lurch in movements instead of bending any joints. They do not make the usual groaning or moaning sounds associated with zombies but are known to wag their tongues back and forth at the sight of prey (humans). This creature is so popular in Tibetan folklore that some areas even go as far as having low doorways so the ro-langs, who cant bend, are unable to enter.

The tongue of these creatures is black in colour and is usually considered to be the lifeline of the ro-lang. Thus, it is assumed that cutting off the tongue of the ro-lang will, in some cases reduce the creature to a cloud of fine dust. Ro-langs have no physical feeling or emotions and thus are able to withstand all types of trauma that would be too much for a living human to bear such as great heat or cold. This is also why the ro-langs have been able to survive in the harsh conditions of the Himalayas and why they are probably unheard of for so long. Even though they are impervious to pain, as every being does, they also have weak points on their body which are specified below

Types and Classification

These creatures are divided into various types and subtypes based on two main things, how they are created and what one's vulnerability is.

1. On the basis of Creation-

a) Demonic-

Demonic ro-langs are created by the independent will of an evil spirit in the attempt to cause harm to humans. They can be created from either a bgegs spirit, which already has an evil intent or a gdon spirit that is usually a helpful kind but has broken its oath and become evil. The human decided to be controlled must have not led a "pure life" and must have done some evil deed allowing the spirit to reanimate their body after death. Once the body has been subdued of its willpower, the evil spirit enters the body before its burial. These ro-langs are totally independent and unlike their tantric counterparts, they don't serve under anyone. The scariest feature about these ones is that they possess the ability to infect other humans through physical contact of the ro-lang on the human's head.

b) Tantric-
Unlike the demonic ones, This type of ro-langs is raised from the dead through an evil ritual and is usually done for personal gain, for example by a sorcerer to gain ultimate power. There is one example of this being done by a Necromancer name Na-ra-da written in a religious scripture. Na-ra-da achieved his necromancy powers and decided to raise the dead by enlisting the help of a Buddhist. It is claimed that he succeeded and that the body of the ro-lang morphed into pure gold. This is because it is believed that Tantric ro-langs turn into a golden statue upon their demise.

2. On the basis of Vulnerability-

Ro-langs are undead creatures so the term "killing" them would technically be incorrect and instead, we use "falling over." The way to do this varies based on the type of ro-lang and what their vulnerability is. The known types are:

1. lpags-langs or skin-zombie -
The skin of these zombies must be broken/cut at any point.
2. khrag-langs or blood-zombie -
This zombie must be made to bleed from an open wound for it to perish.
3. sha-langs or flesh-zombie -
Similar to the blood-zombie, a large flesh wound is required to "kill" these zombies.
4. rus-langs or bone-zombie -
Any bone of this type of ro-lang's body must be fractured for it to be destroyed.
5. rme-langs or mole-zombie -
These zombies are very tricky to kill and will have one specific mole on their body which will be vulnerable to injury.

The types of ro-langs above are ordered from weakest to strongest. The skin-zombie is considerably the weakest as piercing the skin at any point is the easiest out of all the vulnerabilities. On the other hand, the mole-zombie is on a level of its own. This is because finding a tiny mole that may be anywhere on the body of the creature and then attacking that minuscule point of vulnerability is a very difficult task.

Conclusion

My opinion on this mystery is quite strange as I both believe it and don't at the same time. The whole concept of zombies as a whole seems very unlikely from a scientific perspective. While I'm not a professional of any sort, I find it hard to believe that any virus or power would have the ability to reanimate a corpse and give it enough cognitive function to be able to kill other humans. Some things such as altering a living human's mind are possible to an extent but still very difficult. While I don't believe in zombies overall, this story of ro-langs seems like its not totally a hoax. This is because the Himalayas are so isolated that there must be things that are unknown to man and beyond our comprehension. While they may not be zombies I believe there must be something that people fear and believe to be zombies.

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