User blog comment:Spikeyxashe/philippine monsters/@comment-2102120-20110603144521

Sounds awesome. Philippine monsters are something that really fascinates me, how they were used to scare me as a child and how their images evolved in people's minds and their etymology. Looking forward to reading this, dude. I read this story in a collaboration once about these things, it was being narrated by a janitor who was showing you, the new guy the building and how, on the thirteenth floor and all over the building there were kapres, tiyanaks, white ladies and the like. It's pretty cool, but I forgot the title and who wrote it. It was in the Philippine Speculative Fiction Anthology number 3, I believe. I can also tell you about those three that you're not quite sure of.

Capre - A capre, or kapre is a large, dark skinned humanoid, similar to an ogre, that lives on the top of high, thick trees like narra. They are constantly smoking cigars while on top of their trees, choosing not to interfere with the folk on the ground. They are usually a bit slow witted and dumb, but if you try to take its cigars away from it it will attack you. Even though they themselves are pretty neutral and won't attack unless provoked, it is said that if the ashes of its cigar fall upon you, you will lose your way and never arrive back home. In some versions, those who are lost in the night and have fallen prey to the ashes of the kapre's cigar will turn to stone once sunlight comes.

Tikbalang - A creature with the body of a man and the head of a horse. They are known to be garbed in a kamesa de chino and barong and only appear during full moons. They take their posts on trees, much like the kapre, but usually among the vines of the balete tree. If an unfortunate passerby lingers too long, the tikbalang will jump down and eat the victim whole.

Aswang - The general "monster" or "witch" in Philippine folklore, what they sometimes differs from town to town, but they are generally human in appearance, albeit very ugly and garbed in stygian cloaks and are able to shapeshift at will into most any animal. They are also known to steal livestock like chicken and cattle. In the common Philippine household, small children are usually threatened with "Baka kainin ka ng aswang!" or "The aswang might eat you!"

Those are just the ones that you mentioned, I can certainly provide more information for you if requested. You can reach me on my email, redbartolome@gmail.com, my dA page, which is just neriza.deviantart.com or, if you're in the Philippines, via my cellphone. Just ask me via email. I might not reply til monday, though, I'm going out for the weekend. Goodluck with the stories, dude.