Ungo: A Vampire Creature in the Philippines

Ungo is a variety of Aswang which is a vampire creature in the Philippines.  It can take the appearance of either male or female but it usually take the identity of a fragile old woman with a long black hair and a black tongue.

A witch can turn herself into this creature by performing rites.  But if he decided to transform anyone against their wish the only thing that she needs to do is to blow down his back.  In this case, a mananambal (healer) can come to the rescue and aid that person who is transforming into an Ungo.  He will create a potion that will return the person to his normal form.

The vampire would resist the potion so the healer would have to force feed the potion down to his throat.  Upon managing to feed the Ungo with the potion that the healer brewed, he would began to vomit random stuff such as eggs, live birds, insects, etc. When the vomiting stop, the Ungo will revert back to its human form and the curse has been lifted.  But the process is said to be effective to those unwilling person who transformed into a vampire, witches who performed the rituals cannot be reverted back to their human form.

Ungo is known to be cruel, not only because they prey on women, children and the sick, they are considered wicked because of their hunting method.  Ungo would attack the unsuspecting victims while they were asleep, he would unleash an odor that could paralyze the victims making them incapable of defending themselves.  The Ungo will then take the victim into its lair, but before that, he will make a replica of that person using leaves of banana or trunk of a tree.   After few days that replica will die, making it impossible for the relatives to distinguish if the victim was attacked by an Ungo.

But they said that there is a way to tell if he is a person or not.  You have to look him in the eye, if you can see your reflection in the inverted form then that person is a reanimated form.  The real person which is inside the lair of the Ungo would be consumed for food slowly.  The Ungo particularly loves the liver of human.

The Ungo can transform into any animals, person and even lifeless object.  A mananambal can create a potion that could identify the Ungo.  It requires mixing special oil during Good Friday.  They said that the oil will boil if an Ungo is within the area.