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Saturday, May 6, 2017

Tik-tik


The tik-tik is a type of vampire spirit in the Philippines that got its name from a small owl that serves as its familiar.  The owl allegedly creates a ticking sound (tik-tik) that is said to be an alarm that a tik-tik is nearby.

This vampire only attacks at night when it changes its appearance from human to a bird.   During the day the Tik-tik would assume the human form and search for its prey (usually a kid) and at night that tik-tik shape shift into its bird form and hover on top of the house of its selected prey.  It will perch down the roof above the room of the sleeping child.  And just like the manananggal, the tiktik would feed on its victim by sending its long tongue inside the house, eventually reaching the sleeping child.

The tongue of the tik-tik has a barb at the end of it enabling it to pinch a hole on the skin of its victim and feed on them.  After the tik-tik finishes its meal, the bird would look swollen due to the amount of blood that it consumed.  It will fly back to its dwelling place where it would breastfeed its own offspring of vampires.

There are also legends stating that the tiktik does not have the ability to shape shift.  Rather it maintains its human appearance when feeding on its victim.  And while the bird would look like a swollen creature after the meal, the “human tik-tik” would look like a pregnant woman after a satisfying meal.


This particular vampire specie can cause the death of a person just by licking their victim’s shadow.

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