My own near encounter with an aswang.

Once at a party amongst filipino, we got to talk about filipino movies.  One movie that was mentioned was "Tiktik: the aswang chronicle".  So I watched it in youtube ASAP because I am fascinated by these filipino folklore.  In fact, it reminded me of my own near encounter with a tiktik/aswang/mananaggal.

When I was around 8 to 12 yo, we lived in the suburban area of Bacolod City.  The houses were not close to each other and in fact there were several empty lots around our block.  Across the street from our house was empty field.  We had two maids then.  One was an older lady and one was younger.  The older lady was a firm believer of the supernatural creatures in filipino folklore.  She in fact planted some vines around the house to ward off these unnatural creatures that prey on children/people.  One night I had a quarrel with my mother.  And my mom punished me by banishing me outside the house.  Our house was fully gated and fenced like a prison so there was no real danger that I get abducted or harmed by strangers/animals.   It was dark so I decided to sat under one corner of the house where there was a light as I cried.  About 5 or 10 minutes later, the two maids came rushing out to me and hurriedly ushered me inside the house.  There was fear in their eyes.  They acted like my life was in mortal danger.  So I asked them what was the matter.  The older maid told me that she heard a tiktik which could mean that an aswang or mananaggal was around.  They feared that I will fall victim to these creatures.  I personally was oblivious to hearing any tiktik.  There were several lizards and crickets making all sort of "tik tik" sound that I would not know the difference.  But the fear in our two maids were palpable that I did feel fear also at that time.  To these days, I can still remember that very night that I almost encountered a tiktik/aswang/manananggal.  The memory sends chill all over me.