Folklore contains unsolved mysteries and intriguing narratives. Our culture and history have been preserved through folk tales, legends and myths.

As a graduate student, I decided to write a thesis based on the folklore narratives of my hometown and found myself conversing with diverse communities who shared different and varied stories arising from their culture and traditions. I discovered that these types of stories reflect the way they perceive life.

I heard volumes of stories, each one fascinating. From mystical forests, manggagaglaw, religious apparitions, mythological entities and bewitching tales, but the one that crept into my terrified consciousness and gave me nightmares is a story my own grandmother told me. The story about the “tikbalang”.

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Tikbalang is one of the terrifying and supernatural creatures that are believed to stalk the forests at night and victimize the innocent. This humanoid creature with its grotesque horse-like features is believed to exist only in folklore as a figment of the imagination intended to frighten young people. Although tales about tikbalang are passed down from generation to generation and have been savored and given new form, the one I heard from my grandmother is enough to assume that tikbalang is not a creature of tales and folklore. but an entity that really exists.

It was in the 1950s when the people of a small town in Batangas experienced a famine due to the casual slaughter of livestock in the area. According to my grandmother, every night the animals on her father’s farm made a dying sound, as if something was crashing on the farm. They would wake up in the morning and find their animals lifeless. This incident alarmed the townspeople. It aroused suspicions that there was something or someone behind these atrocious acts. It could be someone’s dog or a thief from somewhere else, but a middle-aged farmer named Juang Tulingan, a friend of his father, was very sure that behind these murders was neither a dog nor a thief, but a tikbalang.

According to him, the tikbalang liked to hunt small and farm animals. It uses its strong hooves to kill its victim, eat it and drink its blood to push everything through its enormous belly. Sometimes the tikbalang steals pigs and takes them to another nest to avoid starvation. However, tikbalang does not eat humans; kills The monster could wound a human to death if threatened. He could leave you with broken ribs or skull from his strong kicks. The terrifying monster also has a great memory.

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One night, Juang Tulingan and several men from the village, including my great-grandfather, decided to capture the tikbalang. Armed with itak and paddle, they waited for the tikbalang to appear at the poultry farm where they would have their festive and bloody dinner. When the animals began to wander, they knew that the tikbalang was nearby. Suddenly, the monstrous creature appeared, causing some men to flee, but Juang Tulingan managed to hit its leg with his itak. The last thing they saw was the tikbalang running through the pitch black forest.

The days passed and the town lived in peace after the horrific encounter with the tikbalang.

One Sunday afternoon, townspeople found Juang Tulingan on fire, running and calling for help. The burning man survived and the reason he was set on fire sent shivers down everyone’s spine. Juang Tulingan was returning home from the forest when he decided to burn some twigs. The fire grew and the smoke crept through the forest, making the surroundings white and unbreathable. Suddenly, a strong force from his back threw him into the fire. It fell easily into the fire and was burned. He miraculously survived. Once recovered, Juang Tulingan came across a terrifying discovery. He saw two circular bruises on his back shaped like a horse’s hoof. He realized that the tikbalang they tried to capture might have remembered his face and decided to kill him as revenge.

Life returned after the nightmares that the tikbalang brought. They never heard or experienced horrors during the night and the monster was never heard or seen again and was believed to have left the area. Juang Tulingan died weeks after the incident.

This story about tikbalang is a cliché for everyone. I’m not sure if this narrative happened in real life, but I’m pretty sure this story was created as a guide to life; Be brave in the search for clarity.

As I continued to gather related data for my college thesis, I realized that the power of faith and fear of the unknown is what immortalizes these stories. These stories seem to share a common facet: scaring people and giving them the idea that we could coexist with beings beyond the visible. Although humanity has not proven the veracity of such entities, we must remember that everything is fine if we follow and believe the stories that might seem false.

Is tikbalang a monster that only exists through orality and fiction? We don’t know. Maybe they are out there in the woods, up in the trees, near a river stream, or in your backyard, silently watching and waiting for their prey.

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James Permejo, 21, is an English student and university journalist at Batangas State University, National University of Engineering.