Vampires do exist; they do sometimes carry different names and different persona, but they are real. I am not a believer myself, but like they say you have to experience it first hand to really believe.
In the US, they are called vampires and from other countries they are donned as Dracula, but in the Philippines, we call it “Aswang.”
The myth of the “Aswang” is well-known throughout the Philippines, except in the Ilocos region, which is the only region that does not have an equivalent myth. I have a closed encounter with an “Aswang” before and allow me to narrate my own personal experience of a creature believed to be a myth, a blood sucking, shape shifter creature that lives beyond the realms of our imagination.
It was one sunny afternoon in a small town in Cebu Philippines. It was Halloween, and everyone was talking about what happened the other night.
The place was called “Pagsabungan” comes from the root word “sabung” or “sabong” which means cockfight. I was bewildered upon knowing there aren’t any cockfighting arenas on the place.
Older people would readily tell tales about how the place got its name. The place was usually the meeting place of “Aswangs” from different areas, and they ended up fighting each other, like watching in a cockfight.
I would only laugh about the thought of mythical creatures fighting each other, and the winner gets to have the first bite on their would-be victims.
A young lady was watching me intently as I talked about the recent news that happened to our village. It was believed that a pregnant woman has just lost her baby on an “Aswang” attacked.
“If the aswang was a cute sexy lady I would give my neck to her without question” as I laughed and shouted loudly.
As I walked along I could still feel that the lady was still watching at me. Her eyes were bloody red, and her hair is long that has an odor of a dried mopped. When I looked back, she gave an eerie smile that gave me goosed bumps all over my body.
During night time while I was preparing myself to bed. I heard some unusual sound outside my window. It was more like a big bird waving its wings looking for shelter. I never really cared about it as I rest on my tired eyes to sleep. At 3am, I was awakened on a creepy shriek outside my window. I could feel someone is watching at me. I hurriedly ran into my brother’s room and slept there all night.
The following night and as early as 9pm, I could already hear the same shriek and the flopping of wings throughout the house. I shouted aloud… “I know you! You are that young lady I saw in the store before…” and the noise has suddenly become unnoticeable. I have learned that when the “Aswang’s” voices are getting low it means they are getting closer. Then suddenly I smelled that familiar odor… the scent of a rugged old mopped that smells distinctively like the young lady’s hair the other day.
When I carefully looked at the grilled and jalousie windows, I saw a big creature clinging with her red eye that is watching me intently.
I hurriedly run across the room and went to my brother’s room and was panting heavily.
I never really tried sleeping that night and was holding my rosary the whole ordeal.
The following morning our banana tree was crushed, and its body has been covered with scratches all over. Maybe she did take my joke literally and was mad that it never happened.
It’s been 7 years now since that incident happened and every odd year I always hear that familiar noise. As if she was trying to check on me every now and then. Halloween is fast approaching, and I guess this year I will be expecting an old visitor.