The Orang Minyak scare at Kampung Laksamana, Gombak

The orang minyak, the "oily man," is one of Malaysia's oldest night terrors. The figure first appeared in print in Berita Harian in Singapore on 12 October 1957. Soon after, P. Ramlee put him on screen in Sumpah Orang Minyak, a man cursed by the devil who must rape 21 virgins within a week. In December 2011, residents said the legend had come to Kampung Laksamana, a village in the Gombak district of Selangor about 2 km from Batu Caves.

There were two of them, residents said. One was "tall, stocky and bald." The other was "thin and curly haired." Both were clad only in underwear and "black and shiny" with oil. "They can jump from one roof to another with ease, and vanish into thin air within seconds."

Aslam Khan, 33, saw the bald one at about two in the morning. It was hiding behind the water tank of a house, then climbed onto the roof and vanished. "It was breathing really loudly, like a cow." P. Mohan, 48, watched one crawl up the stairs of a house at about 12:30am, "just like Spider-man." It jumped onto the roof.

Christmas Eve. Kamal Bahari Satar's family found themselves locked out of their home, and he broke the door down. "We saw a black heap underneath the kitchen table." His 17-year-old sister-in-law said she had been touched, and called outside. At 3am on Christmas Day, a bank officer named Man woke to a commotion outside his house, and the next night his niece saw a black figure sitting on his wall, its back to her.

About 200 people patrolled over the Christmas weekend, some carrying machetes and axes. One Thursday morning, about 40 went out in groups of 5 to 10 with spotlights and wooden sticks. Residents made a police report, consulted a bomoh and held nightly prayers. K. Chandran, 49, feared for his 14-year-old daughter. His family slept in the hall with the lights on.

In the bushes beside a block of flats, villagers found a large oil patch. They said the creature recited jampi there and bathed in oil. A packet of fried rice and noodles left at the spot was gone the next night.

Zaki Zainudin, 42, showed photographs of oil stains and a footprint. Sinar Harian then reported a find. Night patrols searching an empty house on Jalan Laksamana 1/5 discovered three containers of black oil and a bottle of olive oil.

To sceptics, the containers pointed to a person deliberately greasing up. Benjamin Radford called such tales "rooted in myth and folklore," and noted that a greased body would struggle to turn doorknobs, run or climb walls. Gizmodo linked the scare to a similar panic in Sungai Petani in 2009 and to the "grease devil" mob violence in Sri Lanka in August 2011.

Meanwhile, about 20 villages around Ketari in Pahang reported a black figure of their own. On 14 November 2012 police arrested Rabidin Satir, known as Rambo Bentong, whose offences included the rape of two girls in Ketari in 2011. Some residents there knew him as the orang minyak. No source ties him to Kampung Laksamana.

The Gombak figures were never identified in any record. One resident found a bright side. "The neighbourly spirit has been enhanced by these happenings." Another made a promise. "Until we manage to catch this thing, we are going to carry on with our patrols."