Aswang – Filipino Folklore

I was introduced to the Filipino folk stories about the “aswang” when my cousins emigrated from the Philippines in the late 1980’s. They told of a creature that resembled a woman with bat wings who revealed her true self only at night. During the day, she could only “scoot” along edges of sidewalks to get around. When a woman lost a child, the townspeople would attributed it to an aswang who had a proboscis-like tongue to suck out the fetus.
The following and very informative documentary goes into detail about the history and gathers information about this paranormal folk creature of the Philippines.
Things I’ve learned:

• There is no consensus about the facts regarding the aswang.
• The aswang is a shape-shifter, so unexpected large animals (e.g. dogs, pigs, cats) can be aswangs in disguise.
• Some of the “facts” about the aswang have been shaped by historical events.

 

Birthday in Vegas

It was my birthday trip to Las Vegas. The boyfriend and I settled into our hotel room at the Plaza Hotel at the far end of the Fremont Street in the heart of downtown. We were staying for the next 5 days. We went out for dinner, a few drinks and played some of the machines in the various casino-hotels nearby. We returned to the room well past midnight and went to bed.

According to my boyfriend, he was bothered by the spirit of a woman the entire night. He tried to ignore her as much as he could but to no avail. The following morning, she continued to bother him and even poked him. He described her as mid-50’s with black hair standing at about 5’6”. She never spoke to him nor did she try to communicate with him or with me – “She just stood there,” he said matter-of-factly.

When he told me about the third occupant of the room the following morning, I logged into my Facebook account and looked for a talisman that I used to keep wayward spirits away. I found it years ago reading Lillian Too’s Feng Shui (Complete Illustrated Guide). I had never had problems with visitations, so I never had to use the talisman. But, when a couple of friends of mine were having issues with nightly, bothersome visitations, it was the first thing that came to mind. (Their stories are “The Lingering Scent of Vanilla”, and “The Uninvited Passenger”)

I “copied” it for them to a piece of 8”x11” sheet of printer paper as shown above. In one incident, a friend was visited in the dead of night by deceased relatives of her boyfriend. She complimented on how well it worked. Once she put it up beside the door to their room, the nightly interruptions stopped. I uploaded it to Facebook when another friend was bothered by a spirit in his parents’ home, a spirit that the he had invited.

That night, when I recreated the talisman on pad of paper supplied by the hotel, I affixed it to the wall above the head board and near the door. My boyfriend reported that he didn’t see the woman again. I wondered the next day what housekeeping would think about the pieces of paper.

Although she stopped bothering him, there was some unexplainable activity a couple of nights afterward when the door handle rattled when there was no one in the hallway.

When we left, we took the talismans down, thinking that the cleaning ladies to the room might be too scared to take them down themselves.

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Do you want to know if you’ll get some tonight? Or, maybe just a peck on the cheek? Or, a hug? Is there any potential with that guy or girl that you had a date with?

How will that job interview go? Will you get the job? Do you want the job? Should you keep looking?

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The Bedroom Door Rattles, a Face in the Window

Evan had finally decided to move out of the house where he experienced many paranormal events.

Jeb had taken down the last box to his car waiting on the sidewalk. Evan was alone in the house and closed the bedroom door. It began to rattle as if someone were trapped inside and trying to get out! Rattled himself, Evan reluctantly opened the door out of reluctant curiosity to find that the room was indeed empty. After closing the door once more and for the last time, it began to rattle followed by knocks and scratching.

Not knowing how to cope, Evan picked up his phone and dialed whatever number he could! He told the friend that he dialed everything that had just happened. He’d told many of those on his contact list about the goings-on in the house and had solicited support. Although many of the event were unnerving he felt a bit more at ease that others believed him and that he was no longer going insane.

The kind soul on the other line patiently listened while Evan told about this latest and, hopefully, final encounter with the spirits that occupied the house. His friend calmed him down and led him in a prayer of strength.

Jeb came back to the room after waiting outside for several minutes to find Evan talking on the phone. Irritated,  he asked, "Why the hell are you on the phone for?" Evan explained everything after hanging up. They continued out of the house with the last incident fresh in their minds. When Jeb and Evan began walking down the steps to the street, something caught Jeb’s eye.

He stood and stared back at the house. Jeb was transfixed on a face that had appeared in the living room window. How could that be? No one except the two of them were in the house!

“What’s keeping you? Don’t turn around!” He knew that Jeb had definitely seen something. Even when Jeb insisted that Evan look back, Evan refused to even turn to look at Jeb wanting to put the house and all the events behind him. They both got into the car and drove away.

Although, Evan was able to leave the spirits of the house behind, he could never leave behind the memories of the events there – the October visit of phantasmal Native Americans, the events of that one cold Winter morning, the phone interruption, the night he was possessed, this and other experiences in that house that he has to recount. They would be something that he remembers vividly to this day.

Since then, Evan has not reported of any paranormal activity in his new home outside Seattle.

THANK YOU! 4,000 READS!!!

I just want to thank all of you who have read my blog! Just today, it has breached the 4K-reader mark!

THANK YOU!

Who is on the line, anyway?

Evan had never believed much in the existence of the paranormal until he moved into the house where he stayed for a few years in the Central district of Seattle. He had several experiences there from dancing Native Americans, to whirlwinds inside his own bedroom. This particular night was no exception.

He was fast asleep when he was woken up by what he said was “…someone jumping on the bed.” He decided that it must have been his imagination, so he fell asleep. He was woken up again with the same, but this time he heard a voice tell him, “You are going to die.” He promptly got out of his bed and turned on the light to his room. Scared he called Jeb.

Evan had never mentioned the experiences to Jeb, fearing that Jeb would think him insane. But, after having had shared experiences at the house, Jeb became the person he could turn to for support.

After Evan finished telling Jeb about the latest episode of activity, Jeb tried his best to calm Evan down. As Evan’s mother had instructed him to do before, Jeb suggested that he read the same passage in the Bible that he did last time

Ten minutes into the phone conversation, Evan grew quiet for almost a minute. But, when “Evan” began to talk again, Jeb noticed that his voice sounded different; it was “dry” and in a lower in tone. It wasn’t Evan on the other end.

“Who are you?”

”It’s me! What the fuck is going on? Is this some sort of joke?”

”I don’t know who you are. Who are you?”

”Quit kidding around, Evan!”

”Who are you? What are you? I don’t even know who you’re talking about… I’m from Africa.”

”Start reading the Bible.”

After another half-minute pause, Jeb heard Evan. “Why did you do that?!”

”Do what? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

”You were asking me all these questions.”

Jeb explained what just happened over the phone, and Evan didn’t remember asking any of the questions. It could be a possibility that Evan was “possessed” for a few moments, or whatever it was decided overtake the connection and talk to Jeb.

MJ’s Spirit is Still Felt in His Songs… and in His Childhood Home? [Video]

In this video, La Toya Jackson, sister of the late Michael Jackson, tells an interviewer that his spirit is felt in his childhood home in Encino, CA.

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Do you want to know if you’ll get some tonight? Or, maybe just a peck on the cheek? Or, a hug? Is there any potential with that guy or girl that you had a date with?

How will that job interview go? Will you get the job? Do you want the job? Should you keep looking?

Scroll down to find out how to get the answers you need…

Get insight into these and more questions now!

Get The YiJing Oracle to gain insight from the ancient Chinese Book of Changes, the Yi Jing (I Ching) all on your Android phone or device.

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Called Before Bed

When you live most of your life hearing stories about the paranormal, you tend to think that because nothing like it has happened to you, you question the sanity of the people who tell them. Until the paranormal world contacts you…

Jim lived with a roommate who was a believer of the paranormal. He had talked about his roommate’s experiences and the experiences of a few other friends who had run-ins with the “other” world. But, he, himself, had none.

It was a Saturday night and Jim’s roommate was out on the town. He thought about going out, too, but he had work early Sunday morning, so he stayed in and watched TV. Around 2 AM, He decided that it was time for bed. He walked up the stairs. Once he reached the top, he went to the bathroom, and headed towards his bedroom. Just before he opened the door, he heard his name called from the top of the stairs only a few feet away.

At first he thought it was his roommate coming up the stairs after being out all night. But, the voice wasn’t that of his roommate. Then, it occurred to him – He didn’t hear the car drive up nor did he hear the garage door open and close! He was the only one in the unit! He promptly rushed into his bedroom and shut the door hoping that whatever it was had not followed him in.

Days later, Jim told his roommate.

It was Jim’s first encounter.

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Do you want to know if you’ll get some tonight? Or, maybe just a peck on the cheek? Or, a hug? Is there any potential with that guy or girl that you had a date with?

How will that job interview go? Will you get the job? Do you want the job? Should you keep looking?

Scroll down to find out how to get the answers you need…

Get insight into these and more questions now!

Get The YiJing Oracle to gain insight from the ancient Chinese Book of Changes, the Yi Jing (I Ching) all on your Android phone or device.

A Seventeen-year-old Girl Goes on Ghost Hunt, Experiences “Amling”

Came across this video posted by +Amy Michelle in "The Paranormal" community in Google+.

Dawn goes on a ghost hunt in Eastern State Penitentiary, the first of its kind in the US, and relates her experiences in the video below.

At about 5:00 in the video, she talks about how a spirit attached to her. What she describes sounds very much like what the Ilocanos of the northern Philippine island of Luzon would call “amling” or “spiritual visitation”. From her description of what happened, she was, in my opinion, “naamlingan” or afflicted by a spirit.

The Ilocanos have a ritual to alleviate the victim. Chanting, praying, burning of, inhaling and a rub-down with certain  tree leaves, seem to be common among the few accounts that I've managed to gather.

A post with information about "amling" will be published in the future.

Early Winter Morning

Winter in Seattle

I interviewed Evan previously about his experiences while he shared a house in the Central district of Seattle a while back.  In his first account (“The Dancing Trespassers”), he encountered the paranormal history of the house. He witnessed a group of phantasmal Native Americans dancing around a tree in the front yard. After he told me about that encounter, he promised to tell me more because according to him, “there were many” at that house.

 

Here is another experience that Evan had at the same house. Because he did not witness the events alone, Evan felt some solace that he was not loosing his sanity.

  

All names are fictitious to protect the identities of those involved.

 

Winters in the Seattle a rarely severe compared to many northern cities in the US. On occasion it snows, but rarely. Usually if anything it snows no more than a few hours. The next day, it all melts. But, Winter is very noticeable with the very short days. In the dead of Winter, the sun doesn’t rise until 8AM, and sunset isn’t until 4PM.

 

It was still dark at 6AM or 7AM one Sunday morning, when Jeb grabbed Evan. Waking up and still groggy Evan asked, “What’s going on?”

”Do you see that? There’s been a shadowy figure by the bed. It’s been there all night long!”

 

Evan got out of bed and headed to the light switch. As soon as Evan turned on the light, they both heard something scurry from one far, dark corner of the bedroom to the other. They didn’t pay it much attention and assumed that it might have been a mouse. Not seeing anything else out of the ordinary, they went back to sleep. A few hours later, Zack woke Evan up again,“Do you feel that?”

The atmosphere in the bedroom started to feel heavy, dark and oppressive. Evan had never mentioned to Zack any of the experiences that he had at the house. He was afraid that Zack would think him crazy. So, he kept his stories to himself. But, this time Evan was not alone, he felt some comfort that he was not going insane because Zack was with him. Nevertheless, he kept his calm because he didn’t want to show Zack how terrified he had become.

 

Evan picked up the phone to call his mother. She was the only person he knew he could turn to at a time like this. He was always skeptical about the paranormal growing up, but in this case he had no other recourse now that it was right in front of his eyes. He couldn’t deny it anymore. And, now it was not only affecting him, but someone else as well – He just didn’t know what else to do!

Wintry Street on Capitol Hill

The room began to get colder and more frigid as he picked up the phone and attempted to reach his mother. When the line connected, the woman on the other end of the line didn’t seem like his mother as they talked. She wasn’t responding as his mother would. In the end, he asked, “Who am I talking to?”

 

“But, this is your mom!” was what he heard coming from the phone.

Bewildered and still not convinced, he hung up the phone and dialed the number again.

On his second try, all he heard was growling, screaming and incoherent grumbling. He was determined to reach his mother regardless of what the entity did to hinder his attempts. He hung the phone up and dialed.

This, on his third attempt, he was able to reach his mother. They chatted a bit and indulged in some small talk. Then, he got straight to the point and told her about what was happening in the bedroom.

The first thing that she told him to do was to get the Bible and open it to a particular book. She instructed him to start reciting the Lord’s Prayer with her. All the while, the air began getting colder despite the heater being on. All the windows and doors were shut, but the air began to stir creating a small whirlwind inside the bedroom. Zack became more terrified. “What the fuck is going on?!”

Evan continued to chant and pray, and the room became colder and colder. It got so cold, that they thought they would soon get frostbite. Pages of the Bible began to flip while he held it in his hands. But, as he continued, the temperature of the bedroom started to rise. It started to get warmer. The oppressive, dark and foreboding feeling began to lift. The bedroom returned to normal as they felt the heat return.

 

Another few weeks of calm would pass before Evan would have another encounter.

Blessing or Consecration Ceremony [Blog Post]

If you are ever bothered by spirits, I came across this blog post by the Paranormal Pastor.

How to do a Blessing or Consecration