KAPRE

Is it true kapre exists?

In a barrio in Tigbauan there are still a lot of people who remembers Lolo (Grandpa) Tisyo to what happened to him when he was still a young man. This is what he told:

One evening, he arrived gasping for breath and his facial expression appears visibly shaken and terrified. He was asked why he was acting that way. Everyone were surprised when he said he saw a kapre. He was going home that night when he saw that the sampaloc tree seems like a smoldering ember. He came closer a little bit and was surprised when all of a sudden an object he thought was an ember fell. Due to his surprise and wonder, he enlightened it with his flashlight. He was surprised to see a very big foot of a human and when he looked up he realized a giant man was in front of him sitting while smoking a tobacco under the Sampaloc tree.  “Kapreeee,” he shouted and he scampered away. Since then he never wanders around at night.



Photo Source:

http://warriorsofmyth.wikia.com/wiki/File:Kapre-g5f3d-9j6.jpg

The Mantiw and the Manghaharana

Mantiw has a resemblance with the Kapre.

Long time ago, there is a young man a musician or guitarist who likes to serenade while playing the guitar even if it’s in the depth of the night or midnight. He was told by his parents not to spend the midnight or deepest nights serenading (from the root word “harana”) because he might encounter the wandering mantiw and bring him to the farthest. But these pieces of advice of his parents was received with cold shoulders.

One night at around 11 o’clock he sat down at the stairs of the house of his suitor while plucking the strings of his guitar. A very tall man (seems like a giant) came close to him, carried him and put him sitting on his broad shoulders. In the great shock of the young man he hold his guitar tight and with all strength he played the guitar until his fear and nervousness is gone. The guitar which is near the ear of the mantiw (giant) created much noise. The mantiw thought what kind of man he is carrying. The mantiw got scared and put the one he carried on his shoulder at the top of a buri. When the morning comes, the parents of the young man were surprised and looked for him because he never returned home. A lot of people were looking for him.

When the fear of the young man is gone, he asked for help. Two long stairs were used for him to go down. He learned his lessons well. Since then he doesn’t went out and return home late at night in serenading.


*Mantiw is an ogre

Photo Source:

http://flashfictionworld.blogspot.com/

A Piece of Liver

It was a full moon then, the siblings Lourdes, Sinang, Miting and Dadong were happily playing at the porch of their house when all of a sudden, a tiktik passed by. Since Lourdes is the youngest and the naughtiest among the siblings suddenly shouts, “Give us some pieces of something for skewers!” After that, they run inside the house. Lourdes was reprimanded by their mother. After sometime, the tiktik came back and dropped something in the porch. The mother went out to check what the dropped object is. Her eyes went bigger in surprise when it appeared to her a piece of liver of a human!

The Aswang Bird

According to the stories of the elders, there is a woman living in the town. One day, while the woman is planting some vegetables a big bird came close to her suddenly. She whacked the big bird with a bolo or a sharp bladed weapon but unfortunately, it was not hit and unharmed. After this, she was wrestled by the big bird. The powerless woman can’t do anything because the big bird is so strong and powerful that she could not even move or shout. After a few days, the woman was found dead. Her stomach was cut open wrecked and her liver is gone. The big bird was actually an aswang.




Photo Source:

https://www.anthonyfrancisco.com

Saved Thread-Thin by the Last Minute

In a town lived Gimo who is rumored by the people as the aswang. One night in a gathering, a teacher was invited by the daughter of Gimo to spend the night in their house. The teacher agreed because there were no transportation to ride home. They were already lying in bed when the teacher overheard someone having a conversation. It was almost dawn then. She had doubts about what they are talking about and arguments and tried to understand it. She was never wrong with her intuition. A man ordered another person that when the water boils they will go upstairs in the house. To distinguish it from his daughters, they will look for the distinguishing marks of the teacher which is the earrings and the ring. The teacher was overwhelmed with extreme shock but she tried to compose herself and tried to find ways in this tough situation. She slowly and silently returns back to her bedroom, remove her jewelries and put carefully to one of the daughters of Gimo. She gets a patadyong to cover her face and went downstairs. She felt more shock and surprise when she saw a cauldron full of boiling water. She became more tense and have more goosebumps when she was sighted by Gimo and asked why she was downstairs. Fortunately, she was able to reason out immediately.  When she was able to shelter or hid away from the men, she run as fast she could away from that place. Meanwhile, Gimo went upstairs and chosen his victim.  He hacked the one he touches with jewelry and brought it down. In his clumsiness he realized that the one he hit was his daughter. They immediately chased and went after the escaped teacher who already reached the house of a judge.  The lady is narrating her ordeal when Gimo arrived. Gimo accused the teacher of stabbing her daughter but the judge never believed it. The daughter of Gimo was not dead. There are some statements claiming that the daughter of Gimo is putting a bandana on her neck to hide the scar caused by the wound on her neck.

Awakened by Asphyxiation

A thirty-year old man was almost killed by asphyxiation by an aswang. Fortunately, he was able to grasp the long hair of the aswang and pulled it so the aswang abandoned him. By grabbing and holding the arms of the aswang he felt it was slipping away.

It felts like a nightmare that had happened to him.

The House Full Of Aswangs

There is a soldier who got lost in a far flung remote town in Iloilo. Since he knew someone in the place named Sario, he stayed in his house.

“Sario, Sario, this is Ruben, your soldier friend. Can I sleep and spend the night in your house?”

He was graciously accepted and brought to the only room in the house. He observed that there were lots of people in the house of Sario.

“I was ashamed, you have lots of guests here,” the soldier said.

“Those were the friends of my mother, in a short while, they will leave,” replied Sario.

When Ruben is fast asleep, he was suddenly awakened by an unusual smell that seems foul and putrid. He heard a rustling sound in the room and after that, he felt something perching on his skin. He saw it was a huge bat. He pulled out his bladed weapon and shouted:

“Ikaw,  yawa ka, patyon kita karon (you demon, I will kill you).”

After that, he called Sario. When Sario went inside the room, the bat is gone and the smell and then Sario went out the room. Moments after, Ruben again felt something sticking on his body like a sharp pointed needle. He shouted and showed his bladed bolo weapon. Sario went inside the room again and said:

“Nay, ayaw pag binuang.” (Mother, don’t be silly, don’t act foolish).

Ruben was terrified so he decided to leave the house at that moment of full moon. With the lights of the full moon striking the house, he saw while leaving the bed room, in the living room a lot of bodies without heads and half bodies cut from the waist without its upper part. He gets some salt and put it in all the half bodies. After that, Ruben left the house. He stayed in other people’s house and spent the night there and he learned from there that the mother of Sario is the leader of the aswangs in the barrio and they all meet in the house of Sario.