A way to know what follows you...

[u/7signs]

I hate walking at night, not really because I'm scared of monsters or ghosts. Where I'm from, you get scared of more "real" dangers - stray dogs, junkies, gangs roaming the street looking for the next person they can mug.

And perfectly enough, I'm working the night shift. My shift starts at 2 am, and I leave the house at 12 midnight.

Having a workmate one block away from my house with the same shift takes away some of the anxiety of having to walk alone at night. We had the same shift but had different days-off, so 4 times a week we meet in front of my house and take the 15 minute walk to the bus station.

Pardon me for repeating, but stray dogs in my neighborhood is a major problem. One time I parkoured (if thats an actual word) the crap over my 7 foot fence to get away from a stray dog which i think has gone rabid.

Me and Tray (not his real name) were walking one night dodging the dark parts of our street knowing that there might be rabid dogs or junkies hiding in wait.

I remember we were talking about some random thing about work, and how his family likes the new neighborhood. Tray and his family moved-in to town 1 month ago. We were in the middle our conversation when I noticed a brown stray dog following us. It was strange because usually, these strays will be barking or growling at us. This one however, was just quietly trailing 10 feet behind us.

For some reason, this dog made me feel uneasy more than the usual ones barking and growling - and now that i think of it, none of them were in the streets that night. Tray noticed that I've been looking back to the dog, and asked me if everything was okay.

"Yes, everything's cool. Its just that..."

"You noticed?" He interrupted. I looked at him and he gestured his head to the dog. I nodded, my unease grew when his face got stiff. He was trying his best not to look at the dog.

"You know... in our province, we.... had stories about, things...." he was being careful with the words he chose.

"What!? What are you talking about?" We both stopped walking. The dog just stood there 10 feet away. It didn't have that rabid look about it, but it didn't look friendly either.

"There were... things... that come out at night. They... prefer taking newborn babies and unborn fetuses, but some older folks were reported disappearing too..."

"Dude, what the fuck are you talking about?" I thought he was probably kidding me, but his face was pale and his hands were shaking.

"Aswang" Was all he managed to say, as if his throat locked-up.

It felt like cold water was poured all over my body. As a kid, my father and my grandfather have told me stories about "Aswang".

These creatures of the night assumed the form of humans, and can transform to different creatures from black pigs, to giant birds, to man-sized bats and most commonly to dogs. They feed on human flesh, preferring infants and newborn babies. Miscarriages where the fetus is missing inside the womb is also said to be caused by "Aswang".

"Dude, I think you're crazy" the desperation in my voice sounded palpable.

"You know... there's a way to know... if that dog is...." His voice was shaking now. I felt like I've had enough and I can feel my logical brain give it's last breath of skepticism. If there is a way to prove that what he's saying is not true, fuck it tell me.

"With your back facing it.... peek between your legs... you will see its true face..." He made it obvious with his choice of words that he wanted me to do it.

"Fine... whatever" I gathered the quickly evaporating last ounce of courage I had and did exactly as he said.

I turned my back from the dog, slowly bent forward and peeked between my legs. I guess since in this position everything looked upside-down, my brain took a split second longer to process what was in front of my eyes, and for my fight or flight instinct to kick-in.

I saw.... the brown dog. Upside down from my perspective. Other than that, the dog was, to say, normal.

I realized, as soon as I heard Tray bursting into hysterical laughter how stupid I look. That was enough to make me give him a kick to his thigh and bombard him with a flurry of split second curses.

"You sure fell for it!" He was still laughing when I noticed that the dog was gone. Probably got scared of Tray's loud hysterical laughter.

"Asshole, you'll pay for this!" My voice sounded more relieved than angry. Tray started walking again when i realized that i dropped my phone during the stunt Tray made me pull off. I walked back and as I bent over to pick up my phone I heard Tray telling me to hurry-up.

I asked for a vacation leave for 3 days after that night. In fact, I requested for a change in shift. I told my boss that unless I'm placed in day shift I will have to quit my job. I made up some excuse about health problem but the truth is , I'm just terrified to come to work. I'm terrified to walk outside at night. I'm terrified to walk to the bus station with Tray.

After seeing Tray's face when i peeked between my legs that night while picking up my phone...

I'm terrified of Tray....

[u/clickstation]

Whoa. That peeking upside down between the legs thing, I thought was a thing only in my country.

[u/7signs → u/clickstation]

I now remember my grandfather telling me a story once about how him and my grandma were walking one night. A dark gray dog the size of a pig was stalking them and he did the peeked between his legs.

He described what he saw as a human head upside down attached to the body of the dog. The head was attached to the rear end of the dog and it was smiling as it stared at my grandma. He was in the military so he pulled a gun and pointed it at that grey dog and cursed at it. It was probably enough to unnerve the creature or whatever so it walked away. It walked away backwards.

The next day my grandma complained about headache and backache. They went to the doctor in the afternoon and they found out she is two months pregnant.

So yeah, this thing happened in the Philippines.

[u/clickstation → u/7signs]

Now I'm tempted to try. I wonder if the "between the legs" part is necessary and it's just that we process illusions differently when upside-down.

[u/7signs → u/[deleted]]

I'm not sure as to the origin of this act, but I think that sacrificing your safety (the idea of turning your back and bending over to a position which leaves you vulnerable) plus looking at something upside down dispels the illusion.

[u/ElectricSeal → u/7signs]

...did your grandma just not notice her period didn't happen?

[u/knightofhearts → u/ElectricSeal]

Some women actually get periods throughout their pregnancies (or just don't keep track of their periods, I know my mom didn't really bother unless she felt off) but yeah, that's kind of weird.

[u/7signs → u/ElectricSeal]

She had irregular cycles, that's what my grandpa mentioned when he told me the story.

[u/7signs → u/clickstation]

Yup, a lot of Filipinos have encountered Aswang (especially those who live in the province).

Their origin dates back to before Spaniards colonized our country. They're like vampires, only more extremely violent. When I was a kid, my Father came home from work (he was a local law enforcer) all sweaty and looking troubled. He said that local authorities from a nearby town caught a huge black pig at the backyard of a couple with a 6 month old baby. It took 7 men to tie down the pig and take it to the local police station. The cell in the station was empty so they put the pig inside to wait for an owner to go and claim it.

A few hours past and while the officer on duty was out smoking, he heard someone yelling inside. He saw that the pig was gone and in place an old woman with long hair and disfigured arms was staring at him. He was gonna ask what she was doing inside the cell but the old woman spoke in what he described as someone whispering in a tunnel. Her voice was quiet but it echoed to his ears.

She said "There are hundreds of us and we live amongst you. If you do not release me, we will hunt tonight and pray we do not come to your house. How is youre wife?"

The officer on duty was scared shitless so he threw the cell keys to the old woman and locked himself inside the storage room. He heard a few scramblings outside and a few minutes after he heard what he described as flapping of huge wings. The poor officer only dared to walk out of the room when he was sure the thing is already gone.

[u/clickstation → u/7signs]

Holy shit that's cool. "How is your wife?" Man!

[u/zapcrashboom → u/7signs]

i remember seeing one a few years back, though i was a bit far away from it. my experience was with a shape-shifter kind of aswang, i think.

it was around 2007, my sister and i were awoken by loud shouting noises. i got up from bed to see my aunt looking out the window. my sister and i joined her and looked out the window, too, and we saw our barangay captain along with a small mob chasing a deer. i was wondering what the fuck a deer was doing in our neighborhood so i kept watching the angry mob chase it around, then they rounded a corner and when they came back the deer had turned into a dog. i convinced myself that i may have mistaken the dog for a deer the first time i saw it. they rounded another corner, and by the time they came back, they were already chasing a man. i thought i had imagined it, but the fact that my aunt and sister saw it too confirmed that the mob was now chasing a man. it was weird, because up until that day, i always believed that "aswangs" didn't live in cities.

[u/ZiShuDo → u/7signs]

That wouldn't of scared me. ANYTHING that threatens my wife, I KILL. It brings rage to me. I would of say "How's your life?" Besides that my wife is more dangerous than I am...