Tales on supernatural are passed from one generation to another and refuse to vanish despite advancement of knowledge and science. The reason is that people love to hear stories that are unusual or extraordinary. Some fairy tales and fantasies are even considered as stories that are appropriate for children. Like other people of the world the Filipinos too have folklores that border on superstition.
Manananggal- (flying vampire) is a malevolent witch. Although she might look attractive and tender in person, she would prefer to live in a desolate place to hide her being a witch. She is said to be endowed with the power of evil. During a night with a full moon, her witchery acts up. Applying self prepared oil or casting spells, she turns herself into a monster. She splits her torso into two. Her appearance then totally changes. Two sharp fangs come up along with two bat-like wings. She has bloodshot eyes and long disheveled hair. She would have to leave her lower body behind when her upper body is away. She is usually attracted with the scent of a pregnant woman. That smell is very pleasant to her. Her delicate sense of smell guides her to the house of her victim. In a rural setting she lands on a thatched roof undetected and she is capable to let his proboscis like tongue through a small opening and stretch it down toward the abdomen of a pregnant woman. Her tongue could penetrate the abdomen and suck the blood of the unborn fetus. Meanwhile the left behind standing lower body is very vulnerable while the upper body is away doing its activity. An ordinary person could neutralize a manananggal by sprinkling salt or ash on top of the standing lower body. He could also put garlic on it. A manananggal subjected to that situation could no longer attach her split torso and the break of dawn would eventually catch up with her. The ray of the rising sun would be fatal to the manananggal so that it would kill her in the end.
Aswang: Probably adopted from the Western Werewolf. It is a human that assumes the form of a big dog or pig and then goes under any house where there is a pregnant woman to steal the baby from her womb.
The aswang is deathly afraid of the buntot-pagi (the dried tail of a sting ray) or the barbed snout of a swordfish. When it is hit by any of these, it turns back into its human form.
Tikbalang: Half-man, half-horse, probably adopted from the Centaur. It is very fast, it does some mischief but does not do much harm except scare the wits out of children.
Kapre: An ogre that sits atop a big tree smoking a big cigar to scare people. You can see the glow of the cigar from a distance. Some trees are said to be its favorites. Know their kind and avoid them during dark nights.
Dwende: A dwarf, that little fellow living under toadstools and is said to keep hoards of gold. (Think of the Seven Dwarfs.) There are good dwendes and bad dwendes. The good ones are fair-skinned; the bad ones, dark. (There is racial prejudice even in the underworld.) They are all invisible unless they want to show themselves to you.
The good dwendes can give you good luck and wealth, but the bad dwendes can make you sick, perhaps make a part of your body swell. So keep away from those toadstools when walking through a forest.
Nuno sa Punso: The old man of the mound. It is a malevolent, invisible little monster that lives in those termite mounds. Don’t brush against any one of them when walking through a forest. The Nuno sa Punso will be angry and make you sick. Instead, ask for permission to walk through as you cannot see him.
These are only some of Filipino version of other countries myths and tales to scare people.
:D
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