Rumors and the Night Devil from Hell
The Night Devil attacked by night terrorizing the people of Sitio Bagbag. The creature was supposed to be a supernatural being and has powers not known to man. The Night Devil was born out of the terror of those persons who had seen awful things of the like or should I say who imagine such things. And if it was born out of fear it grows out of rumors. For the citizens of Sitio Bagbag, news from outside world is not interesting but definitely boring. They had enough of them so they created their own.
The Devil first struck suddenly one night. It was then in the forest beside the village. The loggers who were sitting in a bonfire heard a horrible a sound coming in the direction of the old, ruined church in that forest. They are not bothered for being a logger, strange noise were not peculiar to them. They knew that it‘s from the wild animals of the forest.
One logger cited a story about a priest who was beheaded by the Japanese during the war and that his spirit is roaming around the forest and haunting the old church. “Ghost Stories!” one of the loggers said. “I wish you’d never mention your story. I feel more frightened now than before”. Just then, their dogs were barking awfully, moving backward, at something hidden in the shadow in the branch of a big tree. Suddenly, a huge winged creature the size of a man appeared and attacked them. One of the loggers tried to gun it but was slashed by the Devil’s claw.
When they returned to the town, their word passed from house to house, from people to people. “Hey, his hand was really slashed! How do you figure that? Even one of their hounds was killed”. Two townsfolk went over to see for themselves. One of them said, “I would not trust one of you woodcutters to know a dark creature from a dark coconut stamp!” But once they have seen the scars, they had to admit: “This really was a claw mark”.
So, the Night Devil was born.
There was some talk of the beast in that particular area. But the talk died down and was lost in amidst of many other worse rumors. Three nights later, in a placed closed to the forest, a farmer was awaken by his chickens and goats. Thinking that it was only a robber, a petty thief, he gets his “de bomba rifle” and tried to gunned or scare the burglar away. But when he opened his window, he saw a winged creature, 5 ½ ft. tall and has a wing span of 7 ft. devouring one of his goats. It was full moon and there’s no cloud to interfere with its brightness, but the farmer didn’t saw the full image of the beast. It soars high just when he had the courage to point his gun to it.
Not so much doubting followed this nightmare. In the next morning, they saw the ripped throat of the goat, and the goat’s ripped body. That made the people of Sitio Bagbag more frightened.
The Night Devil was confirmed. Somebody else besides the sleeping farmer had seen the devil. It couldn’t be just a dream. A tanod who is weary and tired in his post saw it eating its prey on the top of a big tree. According to him, it has a big jaw, pointed teeth, more than 5 ½ ft. tall, and covered with dark fur all over the body. He runs immediately. That’s why it’s only the details he gave.
Thus, everybody gathered around the “tanod” and began to discuss weird events. They repeated the story as much as they could remember. Then somebody else in the crowd said, “I think he’s only some guy who has cracked up in an odd way. I mean he’s a psycho, too much alcohol intakes between nobody is”. Another replied, “Or it must be some crazy man dressed in some crazy costumes and is trying to scare all of us. What I mean is maybe it’s a kind of burglars’ propaganda perhaps”.
“Yeah, some night devil from hell who wants to steal from us!”
And thus, the Night Devil was christened.
Once he had a name, the story went all over the town and even in the neighboring village. During the town council’s meeting, it was one of the subjects of discussion. There was also an incident when some joker screamed horribly and yelled, “The Night Devil strikes again!” A nervous neighbor turned and knocked the joker over one of the coconut-log benches. For some, the Devil was no longer a joking matter.
Five times the Devil struck gain in one night and in different places in Sitio Bagbag. Details differ but there was agreement that there’s an enourmous winged creature with long jaws and covered with fur. At least, four out of five Devil attacks had to be jokes perpetrated by people with strange sense of humors. The Night Devil had imitators, but there’s no question of its existence.
While the authorities wanted to device ways of the Night Devil’s existence, the people had already device their ways to explain him. At first, the Night Devil was a half serious joke. He hadn’t killed anyone except chickens, goats, and piglets. Also, most of the Night Devil’s attack was seen during the day and yet rumors have it that it did the killings during the night. Except the loggers who tried to shoot him, he hadn’t nicked anyone with his wicked claws and jaws. But that changed. The story came around that the Devil had slashed a drunken man who decided to exhaust up his alcohol in an old fallen log.
The authorities now were more concerned. They ordered the sheriffs to kill the Night Devil. They also organized a vigilante group armed with old rifles, shot guns, bolos, bamboo spears and knives. Twice they sighted the devil, one during the day flying above and during the night hovering from branches to branches of the old trees. The Devil was said to be spotted going to the old church ruined found in the forest. The villagers believed that there was a girl whose spirit was troubled haunting the old ruins. The evil came out of her in the form of the Night devil and they thought that its lair is the old church. They summoned the priests to get rid of the spirit through some prayers and rituals, but the devil strikes again and again.
Finally, with weapons at hand, the courageous men of Sitio Bagbag searched the old church. What they found were only pile of rubbles. They searched all the ruins except the bell tower because its stairways are too old and fragile for people to walk. They found no signs of the devil. After they had seen the so called lair of the Night Devil, there’s no proof that such a creature existed.
The end finally came. A shadow moving in the bushes and panting like an animal was spotted by a trigger happy sheriff who raised his fully loaded rifle and shoot the moving thing many times and up close. At last, the Night Devil was dead. A life in which rumors served as morning newspaper could have created the night Devil, spread his fame, and killed him. No one really knows.
Few days have passed. A mischievous lad accidentally went in the old ruined church for he was playing hide and seek with his friends. He heard a strange noise from the top of the old church’s bell tower. Thinking that it was his friends hiding, he cautiously climbed the stairways despite its weak condition. Instead of seeing his friends, he saw a huge eagle, the so-called Monkey-eating Eagle once known to be totally extinct, with two already matured eaglets. And as the boy can utter a sound, the eagles soar above the sky leaving a horrible but majestic sreams.
