Witawit - The TRUTH

On the August 11 episode of KMJS, one of the featured topics was the 'Witawit' which, according to the people of Iloilo was their version of 'Kamatayan' or Grim Reaper. This topic was brought to light by a viral photo on social media that purportedly shows the Witawit as a disembodied head floating in the air above one of the three boats that would later capsize in a squall off Guimaras island that killed 30+ people.

Before that episode was aired, I received an SMS message from KMJS asking my take on the said viral picture in relation to Pinoy folklore and a few days later, the crew was interviewing me in my living room for their Witawit segment.

During the interview, I provided a detailed description of the concept as well as the Medieval origin of the Grim Reaper,' or 'Sundo, along with other possible parallels of the Witawit in Filipino and Malay folklore but my take on the subject was whittled down from an hour to a few insignificant seconds of airtime that did not even scratch the surface of the REAL topic. That's half expected though. It's the editor's call anyway, but I digress.

To be honest, I think the floating 'head' was nothing more than dirt or lens artifact. I wasn't interviewed for my opinion on the picture though (although I was a graphic artist for 4 years). KMJS wanted my take on the mythical/folkloric aspect of the 'Witawit' so that chunk of the interview and many more interesting bits were left out.

Below is the full segment regarding this alleged being:

See, I would like to set the record straight. Word of warning though. The truth (as always) is way more stranger -- or boring -- than fiction

You see people, there is NO Witawit. It exists only in the realm of entertainment, particularly Shake, Rattle and Roll 4 the movie. In one of their interviews with PEP, Shake directors Peque Gallaga and Lore Reyes admitted that the 'Witawit' is an entirely made up creature, in much the same vein as the more famous Undin. Check the link below:

Witawit and Undin

In other words, the Witawit is a 90's fabrication with no real roots in Philippine folklore unlike the Aswang or Tikbalang. As for why the Witawit is famous in Iloilo -- well, Direk Peque is Ilonggo so go figure. This is not to take away anything from the genuine entertainment value of the famous horror series I grew up watching though. What I'm saying is that this clearly a case of real life imitating fiction, albeit tangentially.

You see, Shake Rattle and Roll 4 painted the Witawit as a nature spirit or elemental that has a thing for kids and trees. Not a grim reaper type of creature that dwells in or above the seas. When it comes to 'floating heads,' the Tausugs and Malays have more colorful critters in their folklore like the Berbalang and the Penanggalan which I would discuss in detail on my next post.

Still, I can't help but marvel though when the supposed 'psychic' described the Witawit as a worm-like creature as big as a jeepney that uses its horns to 'swim.' I think this is truly pushing the bounds of credulity.

We have WAY more interesting creatures in our rich folklore and mythic menagerie. We don't need a Tremor-type monster wannabe that moonlights as the Grim Reaper. Oh c'mon.

And lest we forget, the Guimaras tragedy is an accident that can happen to anyone anywhere. Squalls can develop and dissipate without warning, even in enclosed bodies of water like Taal Lake. This is something I experienced firsthand while sailing towards Volcano island in 2014. One moment it was all warm and sunny but in a span of a few seconds, the skies got dark, the wind howled and rain started pelting our boat like crazy. Good thing the wind and waves weren't as strong but in an open body of water, squalls are stronger many times over and can wreak serious damage.

Plausibility scale for Witawit: 0/10

The Himamaylan Aswang Sighting

Back in 2008, I described in detail how misinterpretation of certain phenomena can give rise to perceptions of Aswang/Manananggal sightings:

https://themoonlitwindow.blogspot.com/2008/10/thoughts-on-myth-and-reality.html?m=1

It would be easy to say that the Himamaylan aswang video runs along the same lines. The video was blurry and you can barely make out the wings of the 'aswang' which would most likely be an innocent Kabog or Flying Fox / Fruit Bat.

I don't think the people of Himamaylan are crazy or ignorant though. It's just that they connected the dots and the sight of the poor animal coincided with the alleged sighting of the aswang itself which was witnessed by several people of Aguisan. The urge to believe in the existence of the aswang is so strong and compelling that people would readily associate any seemingly out of place object or animal with the alleged 'Aswang' terrorizing the sleepy village.

Which brings us to the strongest reason why most people there believe it's legit: they allegedly SAW it in human form and man, it scared the shit out of them.

And then there was the blood inside and outside people's houses.

Finally, the roof/tree video.

If these events were taken alone and did not occur in clusters, it would be fairly easy to dismiss each phenomenon in perfectly logical terms:

Blood - big rat or injured cat

Aswang on the roof video - Kabog or Fruit bat / Flying Fox

Aswang in Human form - Over Active imagination/mass hysteria.

But the fact that they occurred almost in sync with each other makes it difficult for some people to say that these events are NOT connected.

Was there a common cause:  e.g. Aswang.
Or was it mere coincidence?

The place is Kabog territory. Big Rats and Cats are almost everywhere in this country. People with fertile imaginations can see things that aren't there.

Eyewitness accounts are fun but not always reliable. That leaves us with the other two factors: which have a high probability of occurring, both involving animals as well.

Plausibility wise, I'd give this a 3/10.

Where is all the EVIDENCE?

It took me several years just to write this post. Between then and now, several intriguing stories came and went. Some were genuinely creepy, others were downright laughable but they all beg the question: is there a truth to all of this?

In our day and age, smartphones are everywhere and even people in far flung rural areas have them. You'd think it would be a lot easier to obtain irrefutable proof of the existence of Kapres, Aswangs or the like. In fact, the opposite is true. Yes, the web is swimming in a sea of strange, 'unexplained'  videos (that weird part of Youtube) but if you remove the chaff of Adobe edited vids, blurry resolution, Pareidolia and misrepresented, out of context vids  from the grain, you'll end up with precious few material that will stand to informed scrutiny.

People like magician James Randi have made it their life's work to research, debunk and expose charlatans, frauds and illusionists who make a living making people believe they have paranormal capabilities. He has even put up a 1 million dollar prize from 1964 to 2015 for anyone who can prove to him that paranormal phenomenon can happen under strict test conditions that all parties agreed upon. No one came close to claiming that prize.

How about those who claim to have a personal experience with the 'unknown' or with 'paranormal entities'? Are they all frauds? Of course not. Their truth is based on their own 'empirical' evidence that cannot be re-created in a lab setting but can be scrutinized only on a limited but informed basis through research.

Unlike magicians and charlatans or self proclaimed psychics,  witnmost paranormale witnesses of aswang, ghost or even demon encounters would rather stay quiet than be subjected to scrutiny and eventual ridicule.

What's more, if I put myself in the shoes of a paranormal being like say, an Aswang, wouldn't it be better if everyone believes I do NOT exist? What good would it do me to convince anyone of my existence? Of course I'd rather stay in the shadows than be caught in the glare of the ubiquitous phone cameras and cctvs out there. The greatest favor I can get from anyone is their complete disbelief in my existence. Pretty much the devil's argument for its own non-existence.

So if you have any weird paranormal story to tell, send them over to me. We'll investigate and rate its plausibility on a scale of 1-10. 10 being perfect, irrefutable proof of a thing's existence. Just like in the case of the Giant Squid or the Okapi.

1 of course is plausibility in the level of Pikachu or Barney. Personally, I'd prefer a pink, boring cephalopod over a creepy purple dinosaur that likes to be around kids anytime.

If we arrive at a viable conclusion, we've done humanity a favor. If not, at least we've added to our compendium of fascinating folktales and campfire stories our children's children will enjoy for generations to come. Truth be damned.

The Aswang Phenomenon - A documentary

In my opinion, this is by far the most incisive and cerebral approach to the question of the Aswang's origin. Unlike other Aswang documentaries or movies before that propagate the myth by obscuring it, this feature offers a 21st century view that represents the most rational approach sans judgements and bias characteristic of some filmmakers nowadays. Far from coming up with an anthology of spook tales, Film Maker Jordan Clark placed the concept of the aswang inside a multi-faceted prism to be viewed from all possible angles - from the downright ridiculous to the utterly scientific. I'm glad to have contributed a small part in the making of this one-of-a-kind film.

So where do I stand in all these? In the middle of course :)

Exorcist’s tales: ‘Hair on my arms stood on end’

Just in time for All Souls', I'll be reposting this interesting article I found in the Inquirer earlier today. This story reminds me of the "possessed" house we rented in Mandaluyong way back 1986. We stayed there barely a year and left. I'll discuss more about that on a future post. In the mean time enjoy this interesting read:

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Exorcist’s tales: ‘Hair on my arms stood on end’
By Cathy C. Yamsuan
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 04:29:00 10/30/2009

Filed Under: Belief (Faith), Mysteries

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MANILA, Philippines — Walking toward the squat bungalow on a narrow street in Mandaluyong City, the priest wondered why his friend had requested “a lot of holy water” for the blessing.

“I thought I was going to bless a big house. It was only a bungalow surrounded by tall trees,” Fr. Armand Tangi said, remembering that rainy afternoon in 1984.

Tangi, then a freshman priest of the Society of St. Paul, saw nothing strange about the house that was inhabited only by his friend’s uncle.

But as soon as his friend (let’s call him Rey) opened the front door, “it was so cold even with all the windows closed,” Tangi said. “The hair on my arms stood on end.”

Tangi, Rey and their companions—two women, both office subordinates of the latter—walked in.

Looking around, the priest noted that there were no religious statues or objects to be seen—something he found odd in a house owned by a Catholic family.

Rey introduced him to the elderly uncle seated on a rocking chair. But the latter’s “thoughts seemed somewhere else,” the priest said.

Having arranged the holy water and the prayer cards brought by Rey, Tangi put on his stole and opened his book of prayers at the appropriate page.

Moaning

“I started the prayer and I could hear moaning, a male voice, as though in pain. It wouldn’t stop,” Tangi said.

He and the women exchanged glances anxiously.

Praying aloud, they walked around the house, with the moaning growing louder each time they entered a room.

Recalled Tangi: “It was loudest when we reached the kitchen. I realized it was coming from the refrigerator.

“I didn’t know whether to open the ref door or not. What if whatever was moaning leapt out? What if it were a spirit and entered me or one of my companions?”

Eyes closed but still praying, Tangi grasped the vial of holy water, swung the refrigerator door open, and wildly squirted the vial’s contents inside.

He opened his eyes and saw only food and bottles of drinking water.

“I could still hear moaning inside the ref but it was getting faint. When I posted a card bearing a prayer to the Holy Name of Jesus on the door, it stopped,” the priest said.

Rey then asked Tangi to pray over his uncle, who appeared indifferent to what had just transpired.

“I stood behind him and put my hands on his head. I blessed him but I felt that something was very wrong,” Tangi said.

No one spoke as he and the others left the house.

With horns and tail

Only after they had gone a considerable distance did Rey disclose why he wanted the house blessed, Tangi said.

Not one of the housemaids hired to look after his uncle stayed for more than a few days. The girls complained that the chairs, even slippers, moved by themselves.

The most disturbing detail came from the neighborhood kids who claimed to see “a man with horns and a tail” standing behind his uncle, as if watching TV with him.

Rey also said that as a younger man, his uncle used the house for occult sessions involving the use of an Ouija board.

The guests at these gatherings were well-off people, many of whom later suffered bankruptcy or tragic deaths, Rey said.

He said one of them was a well-known socialite whose mysterious murder made headlines in the mid-1980s.

In one session, the group called on the spirit of a peer who had committed suicide.

“They asked the spirit, ‘Where are you?’ And it answered, ‘Why are you mocking me?’” Tangi quoted Rey as saying.

Witnesses said the glass on the board suddenly flew and smashed into a nearby wall. The furniture moved, as if being shoved around.

Causes of haunting

In his book “Exorcism: Encounters with the Paranormal and the Occult,” Fr. Jose Francisco C. Syquia mentioned the “preternatural demonic causes” of a “haunted” house.

“Occult and sinful activities” may lead “evil spirits” to find “a spiritual opening,” said Syquia, the director of the Office of Exorcism of the Archdiocese of Manila.

Listed among the “magic sessions” that, according to Syquia, lead to the demonic possession of a place are “Ouija board, tarot cards, spell casting and the like.”

“Unless these activities are stopped, repeated sin and dealings with the occult can allow these spirits to have even more dominion within the home, as well as attract more evil spirits,” he warned.

Syquia said simple house blessings “do not suffice to drive … away” spirits who had attached themselves to houses used for occult activities.

He said a haunting could also have a spiritual cause: “Someone died, was killed, or committed suicide in the house and now needs prayers, sacrifices and Masses.”

In this case, family and friends can help by frequently offering prayers and Masses for the deceased, he said.

Protocol for exorcism

There is a protocol for the exorcism or deliverance of a house.

Tangi said a priest “has to fast, go to confession, and by the grace of God, try his best not to sin before the exorcism.”

Fr. Jude Rebaldo of the Diocese of Kalibo said that for an exorcism to succeed, the house owners must also be active participants.

“They need to exhibit the desire to put an end to the haunting. The initiative to clean the house must come from them,” he said.

Rebaldo said the house owners must also go to confession before the exorcism.

Vulnerable to retaliation

“The Holy Rosary is an effective protection. They must implore the help of Mama Mary and recite deliverance prayers addressed to the archangels, particularly St. Michael and St. Gabriel for protection,” he said, adding:

“This is because the owners who want to get rid of unholy spirits become vulnerable to retaliation.”

In the case of the Mandaluyong house, Tangi said he was not told beforehand. “I did not fast because I was thinking it was a simple house blessing.”

Asked what he thought saved him despite his unpreparedness, Tangi said: “I was newly ordained then, so perhaps I was very confident and still full of grace. Remember that I was armed only with a prayer book, my stole, holy water and the prayer cards brought by [Rey].”

Better prepared

In 2008, Tangi was better prepared for another exorcism, this time of a house built on a scenic mountain ridge that also served as a venue for Ouija sessions.

“When the host-owner died, he was buried in the property. That’s a no-no because Catholics are supposed to be buried in a sacred place,” Tangi said.

The heirs wanted the property converted into a retreat house.

“And for good reason,” Tangi said. “It is a beautiful, three-level property, with good architecture, overlooking the ridge, with a lawn and trees.”

An aunt of the heirs asked Tangi to bless the house.

“She admitted that there were spirits causing disturbances. The house was uninhabited for the longest time. Nobody wanted to stay. The caretakers felt that something unseen was always keeping watch, especially when they sleep,” Tangi said.

“Even visitors appreciated the house’s beauty and architectural design, but they felt ill at ease,” he said.

To prepare, the priest went to confession, fasted, and recited prayers of protection, particularly to St. Michael and Padre Pio, the Capuchin monk who also suffered demonic oppression.

3 p.m. prayers

Tangi chose to begin at 3 p.m., deemed the Hour of Great Mercy.

Everyone gathered around the dining table that stood at the center of the main floor.

“When I started with the prayers, we heard the sound of a door opening and closing,” he said.

Everything went well until Tangi reached the part of Pope Leo’s exorcism prayer to St. Michael that commands “unclean spirits, all satanic powers, all infernal invaders, all wicked legions, assemblies and sects” out of the house “in the Name and by the Power of Our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Suddenly, a dinner plate on the table shattered.

“The shards went flying!” Tangi said. “Nobody got hurt so I continued praying, but I was worried that another plate might explode and hurt someone. The atmosphere was ominous. I was scared.”

But Tangi went on to finish the prayers and the eerie feeling soon disappeared.

Invitation to the devil

He led everyone in a walk around the house, sprinkling holy water and urging them to sing prayers to boost their spirits.

Tangi made a follow-up visit after a week. The caretakers said they no longer felt uneasy.

But a priest who came with him advised the heirs to remove an abstract painting displayed in the living room.

“It was predominantly black and red. The other priest said the painting was actually an invitation to the devil,” Tangi said. The heirs immediately complied.

Blessed objects

Syquia warned against calling on “agents of superstition”—such as arbularyo, magtatawas, spiritista—to exorcise a home.

Quoting the Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, he said: “[I]f the [occupants of the home] should happen to make use of superstitious means condemned by the Church to rid themselves of the curse, they enter, though without knowing it perhaps, into communication with the powers of darkness, which then acquire fresh strength.”

Syquia prescribed “blessed objects, like crucifixes on the door of every room, and the image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary at the front part of the house.”

“This manifests that the house belongs to God,” he said, adding that the family’s daily praying of the rosary would also keep an atmosphere of peace.

The Maranhig

If the West has zombies, here in the Philippines, there is what some Visayan speaking locals call the Maranhig (also Amalanhig or Amaranhig), our native version of the corporeal undead.

According to Wikipedia, the Amaranhig is "an aswang who has failed to transfer their monstrosity causing them to rise from their graves to kill humans by biting their necks." The description was based on a list of mythical creatures as depicted in "Pedro Penduko," a popular Philippines comic book superhero which had been portrayed many times in TV and cinema.

Usual stories about Maranhig sightings usually fall under the "my-uncle's-cousin's-grandpa saw it" category and are rarely reliable and informative. My father described hearing about it as a child growing up in his home province but he never mentioned seeing anything that remotely fits the description above and otherwise. He says based on accounts of people who allegedly "saw" it that they are not 'Aswang,' but Zombies - undead corpses whose presence is announced by the overpowering stench of decaying flesh.

I don't know much about the Amaranhig and honestly, this is by far one of the most far-fetched mythical beings I've heard about.

Well up until recently, at least.

I work for a prominent BPO company and I was facilitating a "free speech" exercise as part of our upskilling sessions back then. People took turns sharing their personal stories and most of those were really interesting yet this one guy's story intrigued me as he stated quite matter-of-factly that he has seen a lot of weird things during his Mindanao tour of duty that left a lasting imprint on his psyche. By weird, the first thing that came to my mind was senseless violence and killings or irregularities within the ranks. The guy is, after all, an ex-soldier before he joined our call center.

Well I was wrong.

This guy, let's just call him Max, told me that his Army unit set up camp by a river after one of their routine patrols hunting for rebels one cold night. However, he discovered the following morn that his buddy was missing. They combed the perimeter of the camp for hours and finally found his buddy's corpse, torn to pieces, literally, with most of the organs missing. The first thing that came to their mind was a predatory wild animal. You see, even though illegal loggers are making short work of our forests, there are still patches of barely touched greens in certain places like Mindanao, which can harbor animals of all shapes and sizes.

Upon establishing the location of the remains, his comrades tried to pick up what's left of his buddy in order to bring them back to camp but for some strange reason, they can't lift the pieces of flesh scattered about. In fact, several members of his unit tried to do it but they all failed. Finally, one of his more superstitious comrades approached Max and told him to talk to the corpse of his buddy so that they may put his remains to rest. Distraught as he was, Max spoke to the remains as if they were alive, and lo and behold - the rest of the unit was able to pick up  the remains and put them in a sack or bag.

When I asked him what he said to the remains, he said he simply asked for his dead buddy's permission to allow them to put his remains to rest and bring him home to his mom. That somehow did the trick.

I know hearing is the LAST sense to go when someone dies but that last bit about talking to your dead friend's mangled remains pushes the envelope just a bit too far.

The night before, Max felt that they were being watched and true enough his team kept seeing red, glowing pairs of eyes dotting the darkness surrounding their riverside camp in the dead of night. This would be usually followed by the rustling of leaves and a scurrying noise from nearby foliage, as if a big animal is stalking them from behind the trees. They never had a clear picture of the critter(s) that visited them that night but some reported its profile was about as big as a man, that it was arboreal and it had lots of body hair.

I don't know if primates have "reflectorized" eyes like cats do but I'm almost certain that what they saw was a large monkey, a Crab Eating Macaque (Macaca fascicularis) to be exact. This species of monkey is native to Mindanao and I'm under the impression its diet is one of the reasons it lives near the river. As for the gruesome death, only a great ape can do that (gorilla, chimpanzee) but there are no endemic great apes in the Philippines. There are NO native species of Big Cats and Canines in these parts as well, but I digress.

The one incident that made me include Max in this post is his assertion that he, along with his entire squad, saw a group of Maranhigs on one of their Mindanao sorties. He said the way these things walk were somehow similar to the way zombies are portrayed in the movies (pre World War Z at least) - slow, plodding and erratic. It was a bright full moon, he says, that allowed them to make out these beings from across a narrow clearing. They were some yards away, with only a few trees standing between his unit and the macabre spectacle of the reanimated corpses. Based on his description, the Maranhigs were walking quietly in a a broken line. They were naked but rotting flesh and skin hung from their bones like old curtains. The stench was unbearable, he says, and methinks to exude a nauseating smell from yards away, one has to be really diligent in skipping showers,  or one has to be dead. Really dead.

Upon seeing the creatures, the unit's local guide implored all of them to stay quiet and to look away immediately. They need to avoid the Maranhig's deathly stare, otherwise, it will chase them without letup. They promptly complied and waited until the beings were out of sight.

I was told that that night wore on without further incident but to say they were shaken with what they saw is a gross  understatement. I'm not told if this incident was reported to their leadership. I highly doubt they did,

True or not, that was the FIRST and LAST time I met someone who claims a first hand account of seeing a Maranhig.

Max said he never believed in the supernatural until those two incidents. That was quite understandable given the fact that this guy had a college degree before joining the ranks of enlisted personnel. Only his military haircut, muscular build and deep bullet scars in his arms (which he showed to us after I asked him out of curiosity) will tell you this guy used to prowl the jungles of Mindanao wielding M16 rifles in search of insurgents and terrorists. Everything else about Max tells me he's either a businessman or a well-bred, well-schooled yuppy with his light complexion, American twang and well-modulated voice.

By the way, if you're asking yourself why Max retired from active service, it's the same condition most of our retired serviceman are suffering from: post-traumatic stress disorder.

It's not war or hardship, however, that traumatized and stressed him to the point of quitting -- and that much he admitted.

Weird and intriguing indeed.

White Lady? You decide.

‘White Lady’ appears on cop’s video
By Carla Gomez
Visayas Bureau
First Posted 17:33:00 01/20/2009



Filed Under: Belief (Faith)

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines—A strange apparition has appeared on a video taken by a member of the police Regional Mobile Group (RMG) using his cellular phone.

But Negros Occidental Board Member Nehemias de la Cruz said no one could explain the image of a woman in white on the video.

On January 15, the RMG personnel were conducting a mapping operation at Spur 21, in the village of Kumaliskis, Don Salvador Benedicto (DSB) when one of them took the video of his companions and the mountainous area at noon, De la Cruz said on Monday.

The RMG personnel was surprised when they returned to their headquarters in the town at about 6 p.m., to see a female in a white flowing gown on the side of a mountain, said De la Cruz, a former mayor of Don Salvador Benedicto.

The RMG men said that when the video was taken, there was no woman in white on the mountain or anywhere near, so her appearance was a mystery, he added.

On Monday, De La Cruz showed the media a copy of the video of the woman in white.

Five years ago, a town council member of Don Salvador Benedicto was also surprised to see a woman in white appear in a family picture, De la Cruz said.

The woman in white at Spur 21 seen in the video was not the only strange thing that has happened in Kumaliskis this month.

About 24 persons who were planting trees in the village, early this month, also alleged that a rainbow drained them of their energy and caused one of their companions, 15-year-old Jenessa Refuela, to collapse, DSB Mayor Laurence Marxlen De la Cruz said last January 11.

De La Cruz said the residents claimed that they saw a rainbow locally called "balangaw" near a creek followed by a sudden bright light, after which, Refuela, who appeared to levitate, lost consciousness.

Kapre: the Philippine Bigfoot

North America has the Bigfoot or the Sasquatch. The Himalayas have the Yeti. The Russians have the Almas and the Aussies have the Yowie. Here in the Philippines, we have the Kapre, our own version of the hairy, oversized not-quite-human-not-quite-ape being that's been the object of countless expeditions and hoaxes to date.

The UP Cultural Dictionary and Wikipedia says that "Kapre" is derived from the Arabic word "Kaffir" meaning "non-believer of Islam." The term was allegedly used by the Moors to describe the dark-skinned non-Muslim Dravidians. See, the moorish dynasties of the middle ages used to rule large swaths of land from South Asia to Northern Africa and as far north as the Iberian Peninsula.

So how did the term get here, half a world away?

Fact is, Spain, which ruled our country for 333 years was itself under muslim rule for 781 years. The syncretism of languages and cultures was thus inevitable. As for the pejorative use of the term Kapre/Cafre/Kaffir, it is alleged that we owe this to the Spanish penchant for demonizing people they deem undesirable. It all boils down to outdated color/race politics that serves to affirm the concept that dark people are sinister and should thus be shunned. It was said that the term was used to prevent Filipinos from associating with African slaves and other dark skinned people, indigenous or otherwise. Sounds familiar? This was the same technique they used to anathemize the dark-skinned Atis as well as local shamans or babaylans of Panay or any other people who cling to their culture in defiance of the Iberian rulers.

The Kapre is usually portrayed perched on a huge tree, mostly old, gnarly Banyan (locally known as Balete) trees with a huge, lit cigar in hand. The Kapre is the most un-cryptid-like among the previous examples I've mentioned. Unlike the yeti et. al., There has been no photographic evidence of the creature or even footprints and hair samples to work with. Testimonials from rural folk abound but no "smoking gun" has been found as of yet. Personally, I believe the kapre, if it does exist, is not really a cryptid animal. From the way the subject is approached here, people seem to agree that a kapre seems more of an elemental (nature spirit) than an unknown animal. Thus, the concept of Kapre is more in the realm of the supernatural than cryptozoology.

Although considered relatively harmless, Kapres can inflict harm and sickness if it wants to. There has been stories going around about Kapres leading people astray, driving them away forn their home or taking fancy on women and abducting them. Curiously, it has been noted that most alleged Kapre sighting involved trees: huge, old trees, not-so-old trees or any tree that's about to be cut (who would want a tree stump for a home?).

Not all kapres puff cigars, however. On the summit of Dolores, Quezon's Mount Cristobal a.k.a. "Devil 's Mountain" stories abound about a huge anthropoid "guardian" of the forest called Tumao. Tumao was described by locals as a huge, dark, hairy man with piercing eyes. He was rumored to dwell near the camping spot at the summit of the mountain which had a huge, age-old tree nearby. A friend of mine who recently visited the mountain agreed that Tumao's tree was huge but the hairy man wasn't there when they paid a courtesy call.

Personally, I believe that the legend of Tumao and the demonizing of Cristobal might have some historical links. What's ironic is, the demonizing tag could have been used against the people who only wanted freedom to practice their own brand of Catholic faith which was frowned upon by the peninsular-centric government of the time (even full-blooded Spaniards born in the Philippines were discriminated against at the time). In the mid 19th century, Mt.Cristobal and the nearby Banahaw Volcano became the refuge of thousands of Filipinos who were condemned and persecuted as "heretics" by the Spanish government. The group was led by Apolinario Dela Cruz a.k.a. "Hermano Pule" who wanted to be a priest and was refused by the Religious Orders in Manila for being an "indio" or a native. Hermano Pule set up his own religious group called the Cofradia de San Jose but the crackdown was swift and brutal. After initial victories, Hermano Pule's people were overwhelmed and slaughtered en masse although a few thousand managed to escape. The religious rebels who escaped and hid in the mountains were called all sorts of names like "remontados" or "ladrones" (mountain people, bandits). In a way, demonizing the mountain and the people who dwell there was sanctioned by the colonial government and they were partly successful in making the perception stick (in Mount Cristobal at least).

This goes to show that branding people who go against the status quo was a state policy during the Spanish era. Anyone who doesn't conform will be treated as an enemy or worse, avoided and ignored. It is fairly safe to assume thus that the collective memory of these people and events has evolved over time to account for some of the Philippines' local legends and myths as we know them.

Still, first-hand stories about these supernatural beings persist. Some of these stories can be explained in purely rational terms but some simply can be quite convincing to some extent. Since these things are "supernatural," their existence can run the whole gamut of possibilities from pure "mystical imaginings" to actual experiences that cannot be quantified or described by any existing scientific process. When something is branded outright as "Supernatural," the cryptozoological buck stops there and science (or pseudoscience if you may) can't go any further.

I'll relate some of those stories on a later post:)

Thoughts on Myth and Reality

Pronunciation:

\ˈmith\

Function:

noun

Etymology:

Greek mythos

Date:

1830

1 a: a usually traditional story of ostensibly historical events that serves to unfold part of the world view of a people or explain a practice, belief, or natural phenomenon b: parable , allegory
2 a: a popular belief or tradition that has grown up around something or someone ; especially : one embodying the ideals and institutions of a society or segment of society myth of individualism — Orde Coombs> b: an unfounded or false notion
3: a person or thing having only an imaginary or unverifiable existence
4: the whole body of myths

Judging from M-W's definition above, our menagerie of beings, from the aswang to the nuno sa punso and everything else in between would definitely fall under the category of things with "imaginary or unverifiable existence."

I don't have any problem with that. Social norms agree that the belief of the majority should preside over the unfounded assertions of the few. In this day and age, very few people actually believe in the existence of the aswang, the mangkukulam, etc., and even fewer people claim to possess evidence pointing to the truth of these beings' existence, even in some of the Philippine 's remotest provinces. As the masses become more and more educated, people began to question old beliefs, superstitions and folk lore. A lot go by the dictum that "seeing is believing."

Careful, rational observation and studies have unclouded a lot of myths in the past few hundred years. Take the disease Malaria for example. In the olden times, people thought that Mal Aria, which literally means "bad air" in latin, was caused by the foul smell coming from stagnant bodies of water like moats or swamps. The debilitating chills and fever caused by Mal Aria afflicted mainly those people who live near such bodies of water leading to the classic cause=effect assumption that the foul smelling air itself causes the disease. It took the invention of the microscope for us to determine that microbes carried by mosquitoes breeding in stagnant pools were the real culprit. However the name "Mal Aria" has stuck, rendered a misnomer by the advances in medical science.

Creating assumptions from observable natural phenomena is a natural cognitive function. Much like a mental version of Pavlov's conditional reflex theory which essentially states that the presence of two variables preceding a corresponding effect can cause a subject to respond the same way in case one of the two variables (the dependent one) is removed. In short, we reduce everything to two things: cause and effect. Thus, the repeated presence of a presumed cause before a presumed effect will bolster out belief that the presumed cause is also the logical cause.

This is why preconceived notions play a vital role in the shaping or propagation of a myth. Take for example the Philippine Flying Foxes or Giant Fruitbats, some of which reach 5 foot wingspans. In a place were both the Bat (a reality) and the Manananggal (A myth) exists, it's fairly easy to mistake the reality for the myth. Factor in the element of dusk or darkness (where it's easy to mistake a large bat for anything sinister) and you have the perfect recipe for a folk horror story.

But would you do if you find someone who has supposedly seen a manananggal, and that person is say, reputable, has good knowledge of the fauna in his area, has good eyesight, and seeks no publicity whatsoever? Chances are you won't believe him but you will investigate further. Have you covered all the possibilities? Have you checked if he was inebriated at that time? Does schizophrenia run in his family? Is the area at the foot of an elevated hang-glider spot? Did someone lose a big umbrella that evening? Once you've satisfied all these questions, and more and yet the story stands on its own you have an Anomaly. Something that happened without dispute but can't be explained in orthodox scientific terms.

Having something anomalous is an invitation to come up with all sorts of crazy ideas and that's the fun part. what if these things really do exist? What if being a manananggal or an aswang is simply a malady unknown to science? What if Science is totally wrong and we really have a thriving menagerie of elementals or demons or monsters in our backyard? What if our age-old folk tales and belief in the occult and the paranormal is merely a form of mass hysteria, subconscious social control or plain uneducated misinterpretation? What is both science and superstition is wrong and there's a third, independently verifiable point of view on the matter? What then?

One thing is certain. Some myths or mythical creatures, however fantastical they sound, could have been derived from some sort of precursor reality which has been morphed, modified and distorted by society over time to fit the prevailing socio-eco-poli-cultural context. The concept of the "Aswang" can be explained in anthropological terms as a form of social control and a collective memory of the Spaniards' indictment of things indigenious or "pagan" in their attemps to spread Christianity in these islands since the 16th century.

Our fear of the unknown and the sick could also be partly responsible for the "aswang" concept. Take the case of the disease known as TDP or Torsion Dystonia of Panay. Victime of this neuro-muscular disease, to the uninitiated, would look like someone trying to morph or expel their inner demons. There is nothing demonic about this disease which is endemic to the island of Panay but somehow, the grotesque symptoms of the disease which includes involuntary muscular contractions and profuse saliva production perfectly fits the concept of the anthropid "aswang" our parents or grannies or yaya from the provinces have been talking about every Good Friday or Halloween season.

This theory, however, does not explain the origins of the other "forms" of the Aswang which is known to take the shape of a huge pig, bird, cat or dog. Most people who reported aswang encounters reported seeing them in this configuration, like in the case of the boy who survived an alleged Aswang attack in 2004.

People can make all sorts of claims but they won't be able to establish the veracity of their sighting unless they have a photo or DNA-rich hair strand to back their claims. Conversely, people can't just debunk these stories outright without offering evidence that will eliminate the possibility of a hoax or mistake beyond reasonable doubt.

Just as relying too much on science is an invitation to be arrogant, relying too much on superstition and myth makes a society utterly backward and ignorant. A learned man trained in the ways of science sometimes finds it easy to be smug and dismiss the mythical and the supernatural as a fabrication, misidentification or plain lunacy. I personally believe we must temper our reasoning with a sense of wonder and an open mind to ask "What if...?" in the face of strange questions that science cannot readily answer. As Jordan Clark* (director of the documovie Aswang: A journey into Myth) puts it, "I can't say that the person who claims to see an aswang is mistaken since I was not there." I'd say that's admirable for an outsider looking in to find the truth behind the lingering myth.

*Jordan Clark is currently in Panay Island filming his full length documentary about the "Aswang" phenomenon in the Philippines

Tikbalang?

One of the most popular and enduring mythical creatures in Filipino lore. The tikbalang is said to be a half human, half horse creature in the mold of the Greek Pan, that is, having an upper body of a human and lower limbs of a horse (check out my original drawing above ^). There are two known versions of the creature's appearance: the more popular and oft portrayed version has the tikbalang with the head of a horse while the lesser known version has it sporting a human visage. Both versions however agree that the tikbalang has unusually long, powerful legs that resemble the rear quarter of a horse, hooves and all.

Legend has it that whoever can ride the tikbalang and pluck the golden hair from its nape can tame the beast and make it a willing slave. In its element however, the tikbalang, powerful as it is ,does not hurt or kill people. At worst, it leads people astray and plays mischievous tricks on their senses.

As far as I know, the word tikbalang is universally understood throughout the Philippines although there might be other regional variations of its name that I don't know of. As for the etymology of the word, I'm not that sure, really. In tagalog, a balang is a locust. Of course, we all know that locusts have relatively long hind legs so I'm wondering if this has got something to do with the portrayal of the tikbalang as hunched over with legs folded, knees taller than its shoulders. It would sure look like an oversized locust somehow.

I know a couple of people who had tikbalang stories. One of them is my father. When he was a teener living in Antique he mentioned one particular night when two of his brothers were quarreling and socking each other outside their hut after a late evening drizzle. You can hear shouts and a dull thud here and there. After sometime, their mother broke up the fight and asked them to sleep away their tempers and change their clothes for the night. The two grudgingly obliged. A few hours later, there were dull thuds all over again, this time however, the sound shifted from one side of the house to the other. Father said the last time he checked, both his elder brothers were fast asleep, tired from their fisticuffs earlier. Who or what could be making the sound outside? He tried to sneak out of the back door to check but his mother, who was still awake and sitting near the window, stopped him and told him nonchalantly that he should stay inside as "there's a tikbalang outside". He obeyed and made sure that everyone was inside at the time. My father was the 7th of nine siblings by the way, and everyone except for himself and my grandma was fast asleep already.

Still the dull thud-thud-thud continued, one at a time on each side of the house. He describe the sound as akin to the sound of the heavy pestle used for separating the rice chaff from the grain. He was forbidden even to sneak a peak at the window so he can only imagine what it looked like. Apart from the dull thuds, there was no other sound to hear except the stridulation of crickets and cicadas. He fell asleep to the sound of the "tikbalang" jumping like crazy outside.

The next morning he woke up to find that their neighbors and relatives were all milling around a strange sight: huge hoof impressions, each the size of ripe coconut littered each side of the house. the impressions came in pairs and overlapped each other. Each mark was several inches deep and filled with rainwater from last night's drizzle. No one owned a horse in the barrio and not even a thoroughbred bronco can make impressions that big. It's clearly not a buffalo's since the hoof is not cloven in the middle. Whatever made those impressions would be immensely bigger and heftier than a carabao or a horse judging from the depth and size of the impressions. The fact that the impressions came in pairs suggest a bipedal creature left those marks. Granting that this thing had legs proportionate to a horse and the torso of a human relative to its legs, it could've easily scraped the ceiling at around 10-15 feet tall.

Unfortunately, no one had a camera at the time. Which was understandable considering that the area was so poor at the time some students had to walk unshod to and from school just to make their precious "bakya" last longer. Umbrellas were expensive and were almost unknown so if it rained, people used banana leaves instead. The blessings of Tesla's electricity still hasn't reached those parts yet (this was in the early 60's).

What was the tikbalang's business jumping over the roof at those late hours? What it did was similar to the Filipino chidren's game called "Luksong Tinik" lit. "Jumping Thorns" but its motives were never known. Tikbalangs have been known to be playful and mischievous so it's anybody's guess.

I only wish I was there. I could've punched a small hole on the wall and taken a peek, but after a night of rains (cloudy sky, no moon, no electricity) I don't think I can make out much, if anything at all.

Classes stopped as ‘possessed' students alarm Mindoro school

By Madonna Virola
Southern Luzon Bureau
First Posted 18:42:00 08/20/2008

CALAPAN CITY, Philippines—Classes in a public high school here have been disrupted since August 8 after about 25 students were “possessed” by evil spirits, a school official said Wednesday.

The allegedly haunted students of Pedro Panaligan Memorial National High School experienced "seizures", shortness of breath and were shouting in pain, which generated hysteria in the campus, said school principal Henry Tungol.

Located in the village of Communal, about 50 meters away from the highway, the school has a population of 692 students and has graduates who became scholars and honor students in college, according to school officials.

In past years, there were one or two cases of "seizure" reported but in the last week of July, as many as 25 students were reported having "seizures," Tungol said.

From August 8 until August 19, classes were disrupted because of the disturbances, and other students were joining in the hysteria, he added.

School officials even invited local healers, who "offered" two black pigs to drive away the bad spirits, to no avail.

Affected students have pointed to evil spirits angered by the cutting of a 30- to 40-year-old tree at the backyard of the campus building.

"But that was three or four years ago," said Tungol, now on his sixth year as school head.

A Mass was also conducted in the campus by Fr. Ed Fabella, president of the Divine Word College of Calapan, upon request of some students.

"Periodical exams were postponed on August 14 to 15 and students don't obey our advice to stay home until things return to normal," said Tungol.

One girl told her guardian that it was boring in the house and she was observed pensive with a blank stare and had seizure attacks in the house, he said.

"I even saw a student with patches of pieces of ... intermediate paper on the head and drops of candle wax on the feet after treatment by the faith healer," said the principal.

Tungol said the cases seemed all the more puzzling for the school community as the priest and local faith healers did not seem able to deal with the "spirits."

Due to the worsening cases of "seizure" the school administration is appealing for help from experts.

Asked if they had plans to seek help from the Department of Health or other medical practitioners regarding the case of the children, Tungol said they have yet to do so.

"We're open to whatever will be effective and will heal the students. We want our classes to return to normal as soon as possible," said Tungol.

He asked the cooperation of parents and guardians to be part of the solution and talk with their children.

He also cautioned the public against sensationalizing the issue.

source: Inquirer.net

Philippine UFO: is there such a thing?

Unlike Mexico, Russia or the US, the Philippines doesn't make the headlines for CNN or FOX News when it comes to alleged UFO sightings. I guess geographically, we are just not as significant as the countries I mentioned earlier. Looking at Google Earth, the Philippines looks like a speck compared to the huge chunks of Russian and American territory sprawled across the face of the globe. More land means more cities and bigger populations. Bigger population means an increased probability of spotting an anomalous flying thing when one goes whizzing by.

Globally, UFO is oftentimes connected to conspiracy theories ranging from the usual alien visitation concept to the more complex US Gov't - Nazi scientists collusion or Reptilians-taking-over-the-world theories. In short, high technology and multi-layered historical cover ups dominate the field. Hereabouts, we're more preoccupied I guess with our Malayan heritage of spooks and critters, shamans and witches that adds a subtle mask of fear to our daily material existence. We don't look to the skies in search of alien phenomena. Instead, we lock our doors and keep our pregnant or sick kinsmen and women close by for fear of an Aswang or Tiktik visitation.

The Philippines is where the concept of Aswang flies the friendly (night) skies.

James Randi, the world-famous illusionist and debunker who, at one time, clashed with our very own Jimmy Licauco, (Mr. Inner Mind himself) lived by the rule of Occam's Razor which postulated that the simplest explanation for everything is usually the closest to the truth. This rule proved effective in exposing and debunking several acts of magic that made us hold our breath but I digress. All I want to say is, it would be very interesting to see Mr. Randi himself offering simple explanations for our menagerie of monsters which has had such a pervasive effect on the Filipino psyche.

So we're all monsters and no UFOs right?

Wrong.

I stumbled upon this video of an alleged UFO, shot in Las Pinas, south of Manila. Tony Israel, the person who shot the video gives a short statement prior to footage of the strange phenomena being shown. Have a look-see and judge for yourself.

Have a look-see and judge for yourself.

The Manananggal or Wakwak

The subject of countless movies here in the Philippines, the Manananggal is another type of evil creature in the same league as the Aswang. Legend says the Manananggal is a pretty woman by day that transforms into a vicious, half bodied, viscera-eating monster by nightfall. It is said that the Manananggal will sneak out of her house near midnight to hide in the bushes, or maybe a grove of banana trees. There she rubs her body with a certain type of oil and minutes later, she will sprout bat-like wings and her body gets cut at the waist. The body from the navel down will stay rooted on the spot while the top half will fly around looking for something to eat. With its acute sense of smell, it can smell a sick person or a pregnant woman even miles away.

In some areas in the Philippines particulary the Visayas, the locals call it the Wakwak. The Wakwak is so named for the sound its wing makes while hovering or flying. In the movies it is normally portrayed as flying in an upright position. My father who grew up in Antique, in the island of Panay, says this is not so. He has a relative who saw a Wakwak flying over a bamboo grove. Dad's kin says with all lucidity and sobriety that the thing flew upside down. I just can't imagine the aerodynamics involved with a position like that but it does make sense if you think of a bird out to hunt in the night. It woud be easier to see the big picture if your head hangs below like the gunsights of a bomber plane.

My wife told me that some time ago a group of kids and some elderly menfolk saw what they think was a manananggal here in our little municipality of Pateros. The thing, they said looked like a big umbrella hanging from one of the electrical posts around 7 in the evening. One of the kids saw it and threw stones at it. One of the elders cautioned the kids to stop throwing lest they broke a neighbor's window. When the man looked up, he was terrified as the "umbrella" unfolded to reveal a face and arms. The thing quickly flew away and the kids (and the men) ran in the opposite direction.

I haven't seen a Manananggal (Heck , I'd give everything to see one) nor did my father but my mother has seen one in her teens, out in the rice fields, back in her hometown of Dulag in Eastern Leyte. I can still remember my mother talking about it matter-of-factly. She said she worked alone on the fields and lost all track of time until it was dusk. She was then preparing to untether the buffalo so they can both go home - which was about a kilometer of thick bushes and rice paddies away. She said she had just lit her bamboo torch when she heard the sound that went "Wak...Wak...Wak...Wak..." She unsheathed her bolo (a long machete-like knife) and looked up and around. My mother is a strong woman even at a young age but what she saw unnerved her. She said she saw what she thought was a large, tawny looking bird with sharp, black talons just a few feet above her head. Its flapping wings disturbed the leaves and brushes for yards around. That would've been scary enough when you are alone and it's nightfall and you still have to walk through unlit parts to get home. What struck her though was the looks of the creature's head. She says the thing had a pretty humanoid and feminine face with yellow curly hair. She described its face as looking "like a doll." Its wings were that of a bird, not a bat. And she says by the dancing light of the torches she can tell the thing is staring at her with cold, grey eyes. Mustering all her courage she tried to shoo it away using the torch and bolo. The Wakwak flew away.

That was the first and the last time she saw a Manananggal/Wakwak but to this day, she insists that a Manananggal is different from a Wakwak.

I wouldn't know. I just hope I can see and photograph one nowadays. That'll give the Enquirer a run for it's money hehe.