Do you believe that there are creatures who could not be seen but are living around us? Some say that they live in a parallel dimension so we don’t see them unless there’s some kind of ‘glitch’ that brings them to the land of the people.
In a remote village somewhere in northern Luzon, a family claims that they have a ‘tikbalang’ as guardian and ‘pet’.
A mythical creature in Philippine folklore, the tikbalang is believed to take the form of a horse. Most stories about tikbalangs are generally negative and filled with fear but the one in this story is not bad, at least to the family it is guarding.
According to Rogelio Agcaoili, he had no idea how the tikbalang came to their family but they just noticed one day that their father, Mariano Agcaoili, began talking to someone or something they could not see.
They were still young kids at the time but Mang Rogelio recalls how he and his siblings could hear their father tell someone to watch over them as he goes out at night to their farm or someplace else. Despite not seeing anything, they would hear footsteps outside their house.
As the appointed ‘guardian’, the tikbalang did not harm the kids nor did anything to scare them. They learned to live with the tikbalang despite not really seeing it. According to Mang Rogelio, there were even times when their father could actually find food and other things they needed even if they knew he had no money – and they think that this was because of his tikbalang friend!
Even when the old man later passed away, the tikbalang stayed with the family. According to Shanice Mangalindan, one of Lolo Mariano’s grandkids, they could feel the presence of the creature. She said that she always knows when he is around because he had a distinct pungent odor.
What do you think of their story?