The Churel,, alternatively spelled Chudail, Churail, Chudel, Churreyl, or Churrail, also known as Petni and Shakchunni, is a mythical or legendary creature resembling a woman, which may be a demonical revenant said to occur in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Caribbean, particularly popular in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, and Suriname. The churel is typically described as "the ghost of an unpurified living thing", but because she is often said to latch on to trees, she is also called a tree-spirit. According to some legends, a woman who dies very cruely will come back as a revenant churel for revenge, particularly targeting the males in her family.

The churel is mostly described as extremely ugly and hideous but is able to shape-shift and disguise herself as a beautiful woman to lure men into the woods or mountains where she either kills them or sucks up their life-force or virility, turning them into old men. Their feet are believed to be turned the other way around, so the toes face the direction of their back.

There are many folk remedies and folkloric sayings that elaborate on how to get rid of revenant and ghostly churels, and a number of measures that supposedly prevent churels from coming to life. The family of a woman who dies a traumatic, tragic, or unnatural death might perform special rituals fearing that the victimised woman might return as a churel. The corpses of suspected churels are also buried in a particular method and posture so as to prevent her from returning.

The churel is known as the Pichal Peri in the Punjab region of India and Pakistan, Petni/Shakchunni in the Bengal region, and Pontianak in Malaysia and Indonesia. The word "churel" is also often used colloquially or mistakenly for a witch in India and Pakistan. Churel have remained prevalent in modern-day literature, cinema, television, and radio, with many references to their activities. There may still be reports of sightings in rural regions in South-East Asia.

The legend of Churel supposedly originated from Persia where they were described as being the spirits of women who died with "grossly unsatisfied desires".

In South-East Asia, the Churel is the ghost of a woman who either died during childbirth, while she was pregnant, or during the prescribed "period of impurity". The period of impurity is a common superstition in India where a woman is said to be impure during her period and the twelve days after she has given birth. According to some sources, in India, if a woman dies an unnatural death or during childbirth, especially during Diwali, she will become a Churel.

The Korwas of Mirzapur say that if a woman dies in a lying room (the place where women give birth) she becomes a Churel. The Pataris and Majhwars say that if a girl dies during pregnancy or when she is unclean she becomes a Churel and appears in the form of a pretty little girl in white clothes and seduces men away to the mountains; the only way to free those captured is to sacrifice a goat. The Bhuiya say that if a girl dies before she is twenty days old, she becomes a Churel.

In Punjab, though nobody has ever seen this, some people believe that if a man dies on a bed and after his death if no proper donation of some items relating to his bed is done, his soul becomes a Bhoot (ghost), and a woman becomes a Churel. The Kharwars believe that when the soul leaves the body, it becomes air but if it comes in contact with a person, the soul becomes troublesome. In western India, especially Gujarat, any woman who dies an unnatural death is believed to turn into a Churel, also known as jakihn, jakhai, mukai, nagulai and alvantin. Originally, it was believed that only a low-caste woman turns to a churel.