The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1904-05-18
PHILIPPINE SUPERSTlTIONS.
As Told by Charles Henry Wissner, a
Returned Soldier.


power among the Bisayans thar
religion. Like the peasants Of
Brittany they are faithful in
church attendance and in the
performance of ali church duties
but they have more fear of the
evil spirits which they believe
wander abroad at night than oi
all the threatened penalties o1
the church. The priests have
preached against their supersti.
tious practices and even imposed
penance upon those who indulg.
ed in them, but the average Ris.
ayan still breads the evil spirits
more than he breads the priests.
There is one superstition that
has not only terrorized them for
generations but IN one case has
rendered a whole district unin-
habltable. This superstition Is
the belief in the existence of evil
spirits called "aswang." These
spirits are supposed to be the
souls of evil people which have
the power of leaving their bodies
while they are asleep and wan
der forth IN the form of bats or
vampires to do harm to all whom
they meet. Any person found
dead in the streets or roads or in
spots remote from human habi-
tation, unless they have the
marks of violence on their bod
les, are SAID to be the victims Of
the "aswang."
The caves IN the mountains of
the Bisayan Islands are full of
large bats, which only come forth
at irregular intervals and on dark
nights. AS they pass through
the air Or skim along close to the
ground they make weird noises,
and being black in color and near
ly invisible, it can easily be un-
derstood how ignorant people be-
come fearful and timid when
abroad on dark nights. More
than one American soldier on
sentinel duty on dark nights has
had his heart sink in his shoes
at hearing these weird sounds
and seeing nothing.
The Cry of "aswang" on dark
night IN Bisayan town or vii
llge will cause every native to
close his doors and windows, to
light every lamp in the house and
to fall on his knees to reclte to
his patron SAINT every prayer
that he knows. Any sudden or
unexplained evil Is at once as
cribed to the "aswang," and the
terror excited by this superstl-
ton is so great as at times to de.
prive the native of what reason.
ing powers he possesses.
When the American troops
were making an advance one
dark night on the town of Santa
Barbara, IN the island of Panay,
a mob of half wild women and
children broke into their lines all
crying at the top of their voices,
"Aswang! Aswang!" !" 1t seems
that large bat had made it's ap-
pearance in their hiding place
and so terrified them that they
preferred to throw themselves
on the mercy of their enemies
than remain longer In lis proxim-
lty.
In the province of Capiz, a
province of the same island, a
plague appeared some years ago
and ragged with especial fatality
IN certain districts; and as the
presence of this plague was no.
ted by the natives only in those
localities where there were many
of the largest variety of bats, the
idea spread that the "aswang"
were responsible for the death of
so many people. A terror that
cannot be expressed in words
took possession of the inhabit-
ants of the districts affected, and
by the thousands they fled, first
to the smaller towns, and finally,
upon the further appearance of
the plague, to the seacoast towns.
In time reason resumed Its sway
in some degree, but even at the
present day there is a large
stretch of territory IN the heart