(Image by travissimmons.net)
Cryptozoology
is the study of creatures that exist in the middle of fact and folklore. It
mainly focuses on evidence of a creature's existence, relying much on anecdotal
reports of those who have seen them.
In Cryptozoology,
there is a ghoulish creature known as the Aswang which is the most famous
cryptid in the Philippines. The Aswang was fist documented in the early 1500's (way before the Werewolf-Hybrid concept which Hollywood popularized in the Underworld movies).
It has no definite counterpart in the western culture, however, it does possess
characteristics akin to a vampire and werewolf.
In
the day, the Aswang is as ordinary as anyone. It mingles with the crowd usually
in remote rural towns. It is only when twilight turns into night, when darkness
creeps and rule, that they can summon their powers of transformation, turning
at will into monstrous dog-like creature with or without bat wings, wild boars,
humanoid bats, or other ghoulish humanoid forms. It has an appetite for human
heart, liver, blood and considers unborn fetuses as a favorite delicacy. The
full moon enhances the Aswang's senses and predatory features which include
claws, fangs and a meaty hollow tongue that elongates to pierce through a
pregnant woman's belly and eat her unborn baby.
The
Aswang is vulnerable to garlic, salt (for the tongue), beheading, wooden stake,
holy water, blessed palm or palaspas
and crucifixes.
Originally
thought of as mythical creatures, occasional sightings and encounters with the
Aswang and its victims are reported in the Philippine news media outlets.
Dave
Dewall or "The Kano", an
American based in the Philippines tells in his website tales how his housemaid's
mother-in-law is an aswang and of an eyewitness report of previous attack of an
Aswang on his wife's relatives.
In
2008, Jordan Clark a Canadian documentary film producer made a documentary
entitled "The Aswang Phenomenon".
