“Halimaw” is a word that means “monster” or “beast” in Tagalog.
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Week 1
1. Santelmo – Multicolored balls of fire, they are formed when sunlight comes into contact with spilled human blood.
2 .Balinonok & Balinsogo –
A husband (Balinonok) and wife (Balinsogo),
described as beings that love blood and for this reason causes men and women to
fight or to run amuck.
- Korokoto – A shapeshifter that can take the form
of a dog or cat. Its feet do not touch the ground. It seeks shelter in trees
and bushes. It wrestles with its victims, drags them home and cooks them before
eating them. The sound it emits is ‘koro-koto’ -
Banog – Large, bird like creatures. Big enough
to carry an adult man. Lives in large trees or on cliffsides. Easily
tricked. Has motherly instinct for its
young. -
Kakading – Spirits of people who have just died.
It is believed that these spirits are privileged to move freely from skyworld
to underworld and back as they wish.
6 . The Hermitanyo of Mayon – An old man/ hermit. It
is unknown whether he stays at the slopes, near the crater or at the foot of
the mountain. He is visible only during the eruption of Mt. Mayon. He looks at
the devastation sadly, then disappears again.
7 . Okot – A duende of the early Bicolanos. It is a
good-natured spirit that speaks by whistling.
Week 2
8 – Mara’sang – A Panya’en – Mystical entities of
the Tagbanwa. Mara’sang is fearsome, people never pass by Mara’sang, for fear that they might get sick and die. Mara’sang gives its name to a square rock
approximately 10×10 feet.
9 – Darikokko – A guardian spirit of the rice and
the granary.
10. Kokok – The Kokok have pointed heads with pointed eyes
and pointed long noses. They are about the same size as a human. They say that
when you are walking in the forest and you feel someone touch you from behind
and you see no one it is the kokok playing tricks. Because of this you will not
notice that you are already lost in the woods.
11 – Kagang – A huge eel they call Kasilig surrounds the
world, and that a crab, which they call the name of kágang, will bite its tail.
That, feeling the pain produced by the bite and its cruel enemy in the tail,
shakes it with such violence, that throwing the fierce crab itself, moves the
earth causing the earthquake
12 – Ugkoy – Aquatic creatures, they live in fresh
water and are seen in rivers during floods. Drags down its victims by the feet
to the bottom of their river.
13 – Batibat – It
takes the form of an old, fat woman residing in trees, and is very vengeful. In
dreams it bars the door that would let its victims leave. It deals ‘bangungot’
or madness upon its victims. To escape the batibat one must bite their thumb or
move their toes. If a person saves themselves from a batibat they become
naluganan, gaining the ability to see spirits.
14 – Boringkantada – The Boringkantada takes the form of a woman. It has
unparalleled physical beauty and a very beautiful voice. It sings to itself,
when a human is lured by the beauty of its song it attacks, thinking its
treasure would be stolen. It sucks out the blood of anyone that comes near its
treasure.
Week 3
15 – Manananggal – The Manananggal is a beautiful,
fair woman during the day and at night she can detach the upper part of her body.
In this form she has wings and is capable of flight. She cannot reattach
herself if salt or ashes are sprinkled on the lower part of her body. If she
cannot reattach her body before the sun rises, she will die.
16 – Tapong-tapong – Literally meaning ‘as tall as’,
it is a being that can be as tall as a tree or as small as a cat. Can change
its height based on what it is standing next to. A harmless spirit, but some
are afraid to walk in the dark as a tapong-tapong might walk with them.
17 – Balbal – A manlike creature. Can
sail through the air in the manner of a flying squirrel. Has curved nails and a
long tongue. Licks up (like a dog) corpses with its elongated tongue.
18 – Pugot Pari – Ghosts of monks/priests without
their heads. These priests were said to have been decapitated either by
Filipino revolutionaries during the Revolution or by Japanese soldiers during
World War II.
- Pasatsat
– Said to be the ghosts of people who died in WWII and placed inside a reed mat.
This kind of ghost usually shows itself to passersby in a solitary path in the forest or even in cities. In order for the ghost to stop haunting its victims, someone should stab the coffin or the reed mat where the body of this ghost was buried. It will
show no sign of the body but a putrid flesh can be smelled.
20. Bantay – An old man living in a large tree. He
turns into a white rooster that can change size . It stops people from going near its tree, or blocks their path so they can’t pass.
21. Pirotso – A monster that brings a pot with it. It
targets sleeping children who do not eat. They put the child into their pot and
the child is never seen again.
Week 4
22 . Salut – Beings that take the form of animals and
insects. They frequent places where there are humans.
- Omaka-an – A gigantic being. If slashed in two it divides itself and becomes two Omaka-an. Can be killed by not slashing it fully. It is attracted by flame. Radia Solaiman slashed the giant in two and eventually killed the monster. It is said that the islets Nisa and Balut were once clumps of earth thrown at each other by these two. Other legends say it is a giant made of leeches.
-
Mandayangan – A good-natured, humanlike giant, who loves to attend the combats of the Manobos. He is said to have been one of the great warriors of the days of yore. His dwelling is in the great
mountain forests, where the gods of war live. -
Tikbalang – It has the head of a horse, the body
of a human, and long legs. It has a hairy head and back, long ears, and large
teeth. It can assume the shape of an old man, a horse, or a monster. It is believed to bring
sickness. -
Mamamaraya – A human-like creature. The mamamaraya’s forte is the
swelling of a victim’s lips or abdomen causing a feeling of having devoured
something heavy. This effect can be achieved only with the placing of the worn
and unwashed clothes of the intended victim, plus a piece of paper with magic
phrases scribblings on it, inside a tightly sealed pot. The pot is then brought
to the beach where it is buried in the sand. The victim’s stomach swells and
ebbs with the tide.
27 . Oribig – A celestial bird. At the behest of the god Taganlag, it went to the ends of the universe to get soil which eventually became the earth.
- Tokol-noñgo – A gigantic Pig with tusks as big
as a carabao’s horns. The pig is invulnerable and can only be killed by
striking its shadow. Slain by the youth Nogoyagey and his magical kris
Dikalawanan. -
Daligmata – A creature that is completely covered with eyes. It can only be seen at night. Helps in the gudguden ritual which helps those who are sick or whose souls have been stolen. Sometimes steals the souls of dreaming people, it does this through singing.
-
Nangangatok –
The Nangangatok are usually invisible spirits that are harbingers of misfortune. People are advised to peek through the window first when someone knocks before opening their doors or they might let the Nangangatok inside their house.
31 – Bakunawa – A serpent or dragon that is believed to eat the sun or moon during an eclipse. It is kept at bay by loud noise and music. It seeks to possess all 7 moons by swallowing them. The Bakunawa already swallowed 6 moons but was stopped by the god Bathala from eating the last one