Inaswang*
* As in “attacked by creatures out of lower Philippine mythology”. Could also refer to a boyfriend getting pounced on by some scheming tart.
Sunset at Pagudpud, 2007. Photos by JZ.
In his comment on our Tiktik review, reader Allan Carreon observed that the creatures in the movie looked like the ones he and his friends encountered on vacation in Ilocos. Read his complete account here.
He mentions sari-sari stores selling anti-aswang salt in Pasuquin, hometown of our friend (and source of abel) Rene. We sent the story to Rene and he confirmed it.
It’s a common mistake, but tell them it’s spelled “Pagudpud,” no “o”.
But yes, aswang-wise, Ilocos is the place. My grandmother used to cut up the Palm Sunday palaspas leaves and sew them together into cross shapes and hang them at every window and doorway. She would also put together salt, holy oil, and garlic in saucers, and display them at the windowsills. There was a giant cross in the altar, together with the seated Christ the King, and various Marian images for good measure.
Whenever there was lighting and thunder the mirrors were covered with cloth, and a large yellow candle, the type called ‘sperma’, would be lit until the light and sound show was over.
I spent my first six years, and every summer until I was 20, in my hometown of Pasuquin, where salt is made. Sadly, I never saw any aswangs or duendes, or other diwata (except the pink kind). There’s plenty of superstition, and stories, but I did not come across anything like what AJ, BJ, and the narrator experienced.
We’ve never had an aswang encounter either, but we’re either very dense or we scare off the moomoo. On several occasions we’ve slept in places that people swore were haunted and noticed absolutely nothing. Of course it helped that we didn’t hear the ghost stories until the next day. If we’d heard them before going to bed we would’ve been kept awake by our overactive imagination.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
November 6th, 2012 at 03:45
Hypnagogia
Probably their shared activities throughout the day; same food, same level of tiredness/fatigue, sleeping in the same environment, has contributed to the both of them having a hypnagogic episode at the same night. I’m not saying that the experience is isn’t genuine or that they are lying. It’s because they have a human brain. And the human brain does a lot of quirky things as Michael Shermer has lectured:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_6-iVz1R0o
I’ve experienced this several times. Usually when very tired and sleep deprived. Sometimes with some very vivid/cool hallucinations. Nope. Unfortunately not a schizo, only happens several seconds during the daze waking up. :D
The discomfort about the darkness and the dreadful feeling that somebody of watching you is normal. It’s one of our primal fears as primates. The other two being snakes and falling at great heights(trees). Remnants of our arboreal ancestry. We’re African primates, we evolved where predators(lions) hunts at night.
This primal fear of the darkness could be very powerful/unforgettable for somebody who grew up in urban areas where light pollution is abound. And is experiencing for the first time a “real black night”; Class 1 or 2 of the Bortle Dark-Sky Scale.
I have seen and spooked a lot of city mice(folks) because of this fact. :P
Regarding the aswang thing, my grand-aunt has beaten Carl Sagan’s “The Demon Haunted World” with this conundrum:
“Kung merong aswang nasaan sila nung may mga Hapon?”
Updated version: If it doesn’t affect the physical world; it cannot be weaponized; it cannot be capitalized; it doesn’t exist.
Also a very good lecture by Sean Caroll:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5Fel1VKEN8
November 6th, 2012 at 07:07
Thanks for the link back. :) I’ve also corrected all references to “Pagudpod” to “Pagudpud.”
The funny thing is, the experience did not deter me from going back to the exact same resort the following April 2007 with my officemates for a management outing. I did hesitate recommending it at first, but I decided it was worth a try given that (1) it would be peak season, and aside from about two dozen of us, the entire beachfront across multiple resorts would be jam-packed, so I wasn’t that scared unlike if it were just three of us again, (2) prices were reasonable, and (3) the beach really WAS that gorgeous.
I didn’t experience anything during my second trip, though some of the supervisors did sense something when they stayed late drinking on the beach. One of them kept glancing at the distant coconut grove, something seeming to draw her attention and beckoning. She tried to ignore it, but every so often her gaze kept being drawn to the grove almost against her will. Then another supervisor looked at her sideways and quietly told her, “Tama na ‘yan. Alam kong parang may nakatingin sa ‘tin. Pigilan mo.” (“Enough of that. I know someone seems to be watching. Restrain yourself.”) Another supervisor, who had a third eye, confirmed that there was some kind of presence; her eyes started to glow red as well (“nanlilisik ang mga mata”).
That, however, was the extent of their experience, and nothing happened as blatant as the one I experienced there just four months prior.
A completely different aswang encounter in Ilocos was experienced by one of my former assistant managers. Not sure exactly where in Ilocos, but I believe it may have been in Norte as well. He and some friends were driving convoy-style in a dark and isolated stretch of highway one late night. In one of the cars, the passengers suddenly felt something landing hard on the roof with a very loud thud. The occupants of the other car saw something with huge wings, spanning about six meters long, on the roof of the first car. They just drove really fast until the, um, hitchhiker vanished.
So yes, Ilocos – at least from personal experience and the experience of people I know – does have an aswang tradition.
PS I laughed so hard at your “scheming tart” introduction.
November 6th, 2012 at 07:53
Also, this got me intrigued:
“Whenever there was lighting and thunder the mirrors were covered with cloth, and a large yellow candle, the type called ‘sperma’, would be lit until the light and sound show was over.”
I never heard of covering mirrors as an aswang-repellent. I know it’s usually done when somebody died, but I’ve never heard of it in relation to aswang. Is there any story behind this? I’m curious…
November 6th, 2012 at 10:01
Hmm. Used to be afraid of all sorts of monsters lurking in the dark, until I read “The Demon-Haunted World” by Carl Sagan.
Also, I know James Randi is offering a million dollars to anybody who could provide evidence for the paranormal, supernatural, and pseudoscientifc claims.
With “eyewitness” accounts of supernatural beings in the country as common as rains in July, getting that million-dollar prize shouldn’t be a problem.
Not to mention the slew of patients “cured” by Filipino psychic healers, (among other claims of this kind).
Proving them is an entirely different matter, however.
But if somebody could, it’d be awesome.
November 6th, 2012 at 16:47
In many folklore systems mirrors are regarded as doorways. Maybe they’re covered to keep something from coming out? Or to keep people from getting heart attacks when they run into their reflection in a dark room.
November 6th, 2012 at 16:47
when i was a kid, my grandmother would cover all the mirrors in the house when there’s lightning because reflective surfaces seem to attract lightnings. in fact, one of the the mirrors in the house was split in half after being struck by lightnings long before i was born.
she would also light up this candle called “candelaria”. it’s long and thick and apparently blessed with holy water. what it has to do with lightnings, i don’t really know.
but i do want to share an encounter with the supernatural in my province (Bataan). when i was 12 years old, i was walking on the way home from dawn mass with a friend. we stopped by the side of the road to rest and watch the sun rise. after a while, i noticed some strange shadow on top of this huge acacia tree. and it was jumping down to the side of the road. and then it would reappear on top again and jump down to the side of the road again. i kept blinking my eyes to see if i can make it disappear. but it was still there. i pointed it to my friend but she didn’t see anything. in the end, i just ignored it. it disappeared after some time, though.
November 6th, 2012 at 17:01
Someone commented on my blog that the town in the movie might be Pulupandan in Negros Occidental. I’m pretty sure they pronounced it “Palapundan” in the movie, which is probably why when searching for it on the ‘net I didn’t get any hits. Regardless, the Pagudpud theory still opened up some interesting memory lane strolling for me.
—
Ros: the Hypnagogia theory is possible, though I must note it wasn’t a shared dream. My experience was different from AJ’s – I dreamed a very vivid dream, he saw someone in the room.
Also, as per my follow-up comment above, others experienced a presence in the same resort four months later without me; they told me the story only later on.
Not saying hypnagogia is impossible, just that it seems too much of an odd coincidence otherwise (four months apart, same place, different set of people… and with the second set, no one was asleep).
I never really believed in the supernatural lower myths until this experience. Now, I think there must be some basis given their prevalence across not just the Philippines but in the Malay region (look up penanggalan and leyak). Not necessarily as fantastical as our folklore may suggest, but somehow I think these common stories may have originated from somewhere.
I was also prone to “night terrors” when I lived in Taytay from 1995-2004. You know, that feeling while sleeping that something was sitting on you or choking you. Didn’t really happen elsewhere that I’ve lived (Philam QC; Makati; now Eastwood City), so I kind of think there may have been something specific in our Taytay home that was causing it.
I actually thought the Pagudpud thing was a night terror, too, but realized it was different in that I never dreamt in my night terror episodes (just that it felt something was choking me) and that someone else saw something then.
Who knows? :)
November 6th, 2012 at 17:07
“In many folklore systems mirrors are regarded as doorways. Maybe they’re covered to keep something from coming out? Or to keep people from getting heart attacks when they run into their reflection in a dark room.”
True, re: doorways. I just assumed it was all just about ghosts, particularly the newly-deceased, but thinking about it, maybe it covers all entities (including one’s own frightening reflection :) )
November 7th, 2012 at 15:59
Gallaga and Matti are both from Negros Occidental thus their aswang movies often reflects the folklore beliefs in the western visayas region. I haven’t watched tiktik yet but based on the trailer, it is about the tiktik that we hear so many stories about in our childhood.