This entity ought not, strictly speaking, to be classified under the
head "human" at all, since it is only its outer vesture, the passive,
senseless shell, that was once an appanage of humanity; such life,
intelligence, desire and will as it may possess are those of the
artificial elemental animating it, and that, though in terrible truth
a creation of man's evil thought, is not itself human. It will
therefore perhaps be better to deal with it more fully under its
appropriate class among the artificial entities, as its nature and
genesis will be more readily comprehensible by the time that part of
our subject is reached. Let it suffice here to mention that it is
always a malevolent being--a true tempting demon, whose evil influence
is limited only by the extent of its power. Like the shade, it is
frequently used to further the horrible purposes of the Voodoo and
Obeah forms of magic. Some writers have spoken of it under the name
"elementary," but as that title has at one time or other been used for
almost every variety of _post-mortem_ entity, it has become so vague
and meaningless that it is perhaps better to avoid it.