Origin: South Africa
With the advent of democracy in 1994, a story started doing the rounds in primary schools about a monster that awaits girls in the school toilet. Girls were warned by their friends no tot wear pink to school because this would anger the creature, who would then try to attack or even rape them.
The hysteria grew and sightings of the monster, dubbed Pinky Pinky, were reported at many schools around the country. It was said to resemble a bogeyman or a tokoloshe (an African mythical creature) and had one paw and one claw. Boys could not see the creature but some claimed to have been attacked by it and left scratched and bruised.
No one really knows what prompted the Pinky Pinky tale. It has been suggested that it was an embodiment of the fear young girls had of going to school toilets by themselves in a society where instances of rape and other sexual abuse was very prevalent.
Pinky Pinky seems to have left the building in most cases, with only one or two sightings still being reported as the years go by. Several books and an art exhibition have been dedicated to the story. Today it is just a scary story that those who went to primary school in South Africa in the 1990s can relate to.
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Urban Legends
אימהUrban legends and myths from around the world will be published here.
