An Acheri is the

ghost A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to rea ...

or spirit of a little girl who was either murdered or abused and left to die. Acheris are also referred to as "hill

fairies A fairy (also fay, fae, fey, fair folk, or faerie) is a type of mythical being or legendary creature found in the folklore of multiple European cultures (including Celtic, Slavic, Germanic, English, and French folklore), a form of spirit, o ...

." They are often depicted with dark or unnatural eyes, a skeletal appearance, and a skin dress. It is said that they sleep during the day in the mountains or hilltops and become active at night. They sing while playing a small

tam-tam A gongFrom Indonesian and ms, gong; jv, ꦒꦺꦴꦁ ; zh, c=鑼, p=luó; ja, , dora; km, គង ; th, ฆ้อง ; vi, cồng chiêng; as, কাঁহ is a percussion instrument originating in East Asia and Southeast Asia. Gongs ...

, and their voices are omens of the death of the person who hears it, or somebody (especially a child) close to that person. They are also said to bring

disease A disease is a particular abnormal condition that negatively affects the structure or function of all or part of an organism, and that is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical conditions that a ...

to children (and sometimes others) who come in contact with them. The Acheri are also said to bring death to the elderly or other people who are quite ill. Legend says to protect yourself from their curse, one must wear a bright

red Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondar ...

ribbon or red string tied around one's neck. Alternatively, one may wear red clothes or

pearl A pearl is a hard, glistening object produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle) of a living shelled mollusk or another animal, such as fossil conulariids. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pearl is composed of calcium carb ...

References

1. André-François Ruaud, The dictionary of Fey, the Oxymoron edition, 2002. 2. Michael Page, Robert Ingpen, Encyclopedia of Things That Never Were: Creatures, Places, and People, 1987. 3. 4. {{death-stub Hindu legendary creatures Ghosts