Previous Horror Stories--The Favorite Grandson,The double walker,Hitchiking Ghosts,The Room Mate
Aswangs
This story was from my beloved Lola Emelia (Grandmother) who passed away several years ago. Aside from being very caring and loving, one of the things that I loved about my grandmother were here amazing stories. My grandmother told unverifiable yet very interesting stories that, more often than not, involved ghosts, dwarves and other supernatural beings. My summer days and nights as a child would've been incomplete without her stories.
One of my favorites was the story about the aswang who stalked pregnant women. Aswangs are creatures who can take the form of ordinary animals and likes to feed on unborn fetuses, the reason they are often spotted near houses where pregnant women stay.
My grandmother told me that when she was young she lived in a bahay kubo in the province together with her then newlywed brother Lolo Ume and his pregnant wife. Lola Emelia would often keep Lola Patricia company and both of them usually stayed in the lower part of the house called the silong.
Bahay kubo's are usually made with stilts and are placed high above the ground that people and animals can go underneath. Because they are made of thatched bamboo grass, one can see from the floor whether there's someone under the house.
One night, as everyone in the house lay asleep, Lola Emelia heard noises coming from below the house. She heard a panting similar to that of a dog. Dismissing the sound as that made by one of their pets, my grandmother returned to sleep. After a few minutes she was awoken by the same sound only louder this time as if the animal was directly below her. My grandmother stood up, unrolled her banig and peeped through the thatched floor to check on what it was. She was terrified as she was met by huge red eyes which could not possibly be from an ordinary dog. My grandmother couldn't see the whole creature from her point of view but she could see that it was dark and it had a hairy face and body.
Frightened, my grandmother screamed and in doing so scared the creature away. She then heard heavy, dragging footsteps of a creature.
The ruckus woke my Lolo Ume, who was then sleeping in the upper portion of the house. He immediately took out the preserved tail of a manta ray which is said to be an effective weapon against aswangs. But when he went out of the housethe creature was nowhere in sight. All he saw was rustling leaves and the deep and big fresh claw marks on the soil.
From then on my Lola Emelia and Lola Patricia never slept in the silong again.
(c)
I write poems, stories and thoughts in life.
