A lot of Filipinos are superstitious, so much so that people actually believe a mythical creature was responsible for the recent deaths of 21 fighting cocks in Cagayan de Oro, Mindanao.
On Sunday morning, residents of Barangay (Village) Kauswagan awoke to the bloody sight of 21 dead cocks. Wounds were found on their necks and spine areas, GMA News’ Balita Pilipinas reported.
The reason for the deaths has not been determined, but villagers believe the chickens were attacked by a sigbin, a mythological creature said to look like a hornless goat or a kangaroo that comes out at night and sucks its victims’ blood.
Shivers.
Joel Garbo, the chickens’ caretaker, said the attack could have only been done by the vampiric animal.
“We suspect that a sigbin did this because the wounds are on the necks and backs,” he told Balita Pilipinas in Cebuano.
This, even though there were 15 dogs in the area that were meant to guard the fighting cocks. Garbo even recounted how they had been disturbed by barking dogs and clucking chickens the night before.
But why let that get in the way of a good supernatural tale?
According to the caretaker, this was the first time this happened, so it could not have been the dogs. He also said he didn’t see anyone in the area when he looked out from his home, so it could not have been done by a person. Case closed! It’s a ghoulish, demon kangaroo, everyone!
Cockfighting is, of course, serious business in the Philippines and can get really competitive, but they didn’t mention any possibilities of there being foul (fowl?) play involved.
The owner of the chickens said he did not know who — or what — was behind the attack but does not plan to look into it further.
Blaming mythical figures for strange occurrences is still common in some parts of the Philippines. In 2016, the death of six goats was believed to be an attack by an aswang, a vampire-like creature.
