Ethereal creatures from the Philippines

In ancient times, people in the Philippine Island believed that dark, mysterious, night living creatures exist. They were thought to cause bad harvest, misfortunes, sickness and death. So great care was taken not to displease them.

Sadly, there are still those who believe in them, especially from the countryside, and remote areas where the march of progress is a bit slow.

However, in these times of computer age, such creatures were fast being forgotten. Maximo B. Ramos; a scholar has classified these night dark beings into twelve groups: Demons, Dragons, dwarves, elves, ghouls, giants, mercreatures, ogres, vampires, werebeasts, viscera suckers and hexers.

The demons are tall, dark men or men-like creatures. Some were large bodied and smokes giant cigars (Kapres) some had the head of horses (Tikbalang) others could perform self-segmentations (Pugot). These demons can take on various shapes such as carabaos, horses,

pigs or even a ball of fire or they can disappear at will. A person who is frightened by these creatures goes insane. These creatures live in huge trees with thick, oval leaves like the Calumpang tree or Balete tree.

Dragons are said to have combined images of other creatures like snakes, fishes, crocodiles and bird-like. The legends told stories about giant serpents (Marcupo), island size monster birds (Bawa) and the monstrous Baconawa of the sea.

Dwarf and dwarf-like creatures are small and their features are all out of proportions. They were said to have potent powers and at sunset, they roam the countryside. Because they are invisible, people were extra careful not to step on or brush off any of these supposed beings as not to rile them. Dwarves like the "Nuno sa Punso" are said to release a murderous curse at their oppressors.

Elves are handsome and beautiful beings said to have albino-like characteristics. Some of these creatures turn ugly after they married a hapless victim. Elves are said to live in trees and they forbid the climbing and cutting off their tree home. They are said to retaliate by releasing powerful hexes at the trespassers. Some elves are said to communicate with people by whistles and making prank jokes and stealing food.

Ghouls (Aswang) are animal-like with curved nails that they use to dig the grave. They are also notorious snatchers of living people, especially children and they also victimize old ailing people. Because of what they do, ghouls are terribly smelly. And fire, garlic, loud talking, sharp bamboo poles and copper knives scare them away.

Giants in Philippine folklore seldom hurt people. They were even legends about them helping farmers and fishermen. They are said to live in crude houses, and were said to be very stupid.

Ogres are man-eating giants said to live in crude houses. These creatures are extremely ugly and can change into beasts.

Mandurugo are Philippine vampires who seduce a victim and gives him a kiss. This "kiss" is actually a blood sucking were the fiend uses her pointed tongue to bore hole inside the victim's mouth where she can suck blood.

The self-segmenting viscera suckers (Mananangal) are said to be the flying variety of the land ghoul (Aswang). They eat the unborn fetus, the internal organs and the phlegm of tuberculosis sufferers. These looked like ordinary women by day, but at night, they sprout giant bat wings and separate their lower half, to fly out in search of victims.

Hexers are like Voodoo Witches. They have small wax or straw dolls of their victims that they prick needle with. Another type of hexer, called the Mamalarang (Mambabarang) uses hard- shelled insects to enter the body of the victim with excoriating pain.

The "Kataw" are Philippine mermaids said to abduct young boys where they can play with in their undersea domain. They will give their victim trick questions and if they heard the wrong answer, they will drown their said victim. If they heard the right answer, they will keep him alive.