In the Philippines, there are many superstitions and
stories about the paranormal. As far as I can remember,
I've heard many tales about the spirits that roam the lush
province side of Ilocos Norte. I merely thought the
spectacular stories about magical dwarves, and even the
fabled half-bodied demon “aswang” were just that, fairy
tales. But that all changed after I crossed paths with one
while on vacation there.
We were staying in my families’ village, roughly eight
acres to hold the entire family in a small community. Our
branch of the family was separated into three houses, one
made of bamboo and the other two houses made of cement.
There is a large bamboo tree that is visible from all three
houses, it formed a weird structure and never seemed to
grow, instead of the bamboo growing outward, it kept
together to create a natural wall. It has a weird aura to
it, a feeling that it didn’t want you near it.
As kids, if you are warned to stay away from an area, you
will most likely go there to figure out why and that’s what
we did. We examined the bundle but we couldn’t see inside
(that’s how tight it was) so we moved on to better
things.
My cousin made a slingshot for me out of a fallen
branch and a fastened thick rubber band the day before, so
we decided to do some target practice.
Picking up nuts and pebbles, we hit fruits in the near by
trees and cans next to houses, even the chickens that ran
around, but that wasn’t enough to keep us in content. We
warned by my Aunty to stop doing that or else we would wake
the spirits, but as kids we didn’t care. I couldn’t shake
the feeling that someone was watching me while I was
playing; it was like a stabbing sensation in my mind. The
feeling came from the bamboo tree that was growing, it was
an ominous feeling that I didn’t understand at the time.
My Aunty didn’t know how right she was. I began firing my
slingshot at the bamboo tree and into the bushes around it,
and all the sudden the wind began to pick-up. My brother
was with me at the time, we were trading shots but he was
aiming at tin cans and such. Every time I hit the tree
there was a “thump” and I would rustle the bushes, but when
I shot into the bushes I heard a “thump” as well.
The bush began to rustle about but I simply thought it was
the wind, so I shrugged it off ran off to our house for
supper. That night I woke up to the sound of laughter, the
windows were barred up so I felt protected. A shadow
stalked outside our window, about the size of me so I
thought it was my cousin who usually wandered during the
night. The next morning, I went into the bathroom to
discover my left eye was heavily bruised and on the verge
of closing. Mucus ran down it and it itched, but there was
no pain. I didn’t realize it at first, because I see
perfectly fine.
My grandfather grabbed me after I told him how I felt, he
is one of the three remaining brothers who own this land
and his wide eyes told me that he knew what was going on.
Three old ladies stayed with me that night, chanting in
Tagalog, the Filipino province dialect. My brother lay on
the bed opposite to me, bed stricken with a fever of
massive proportions. Laughter rang across the room as if
carried in by the wind, and silhouette appeared once more
and so the ladies picked up their chants. My grandfather
wasn’t home that night, but appeared exhausted in the
morning. My eye was opening and my brother was getting
better.
It was explained to me that the old ladies were protecting
me against a vengeful spirit that I hit in the eye; it was
getting back at me for attacking it without apology. It
would have gotten worse until what degree I don’t know and
I don’t want to know. My brother was with me so he felt
its wrath as well. My grandfather jokingly told me he
begged the spirit to release me and my brother, I don’t
know if it was truth or not. We made our miraculous
recoveries but never approached that bamboo tree again.
Contact me here: hum_baller@hotmail.com
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