The Tale of My Cousin and The Kapre in The Caimito Tree

Most of us believe in the other world or the World of the Spirits.  They are thought to exist because of the Great Battle in Heaven when the rebels were cast down by God and thrown down to Earth.  Hence, we have "Kapre" if they fell on trees, dwarf if they landed in houses and etcetera. 


"Kapre," according to Wikipedia (related to the the Agta in the Visayan languages) is a "Philippine mythical creature that could be characterized as a tree demon, but with more human characteristics.  It is described as being a tall (7 to 9 ft), brown, hairy male with a beard.  Kapres are normally described as smoking a big tobacco pipe, whose strong smell would attract human attention.  The Kapre is said to wear the indigenous Northern Philippine loincloth known as bahag, and according to some, often wears a belt which gives the kapre the ability to be invisible to humans.  In some versions, the kapre is supposed to hold a magical white stone, the kapre could grant wishes.  Kapres may make contact with people  to offer friendship, or if it is attracted to a woman.  If a kapre befriends any human, especially because of love, the kapre will consistently follow its "love interest" throughout life.  Also if one is a friend of the kapre then that person has the ability to see it and if they were to sit on it then any other person could see it."


However, still there are a lot to learn from these phenomena since not all humans are gifted to see these creatures.  All I know and believe is that the world is made up of so many infinite things that could not even be explained by science and anything infinite is unearthly...  transcendental ...  supernatural.

This story is derived from the experience of my cousin.  They are a well-off family in a certain barangay in our place.  They have accumulated their wealth from various business ventures since my aunt is an entrepreneur.  They built their house in a lot that has a star apple tree.  It is called caimito by the natives.  It is a big tree with a relatively long lifespan.  They do not believe in the supernatural and so they preserved the tree which is outside the window of my cousin's bedroom.  When she grew up particularly during her teen years, she started experiencing different maladies.  She was bleeding all the time and had spent most of her teen life confined in hospitals.  Doctors finally diagnosed her of having problems with her reproductive system hence the surgery at an early age.  All was well and she finally was able to graduate from High School and decided to leave home for college and transfer to Cebu City.  It was then that her troubles came back with full force.  She was bleeding again and she was seeing different creatures during her waking and sleeping hours.  According to her, a black person is living in their caimito tree.  Whenever she left home she would feel sick and was always confined at home because if she stayed at home she will not feel sick.  Things began happening in their home as well.  In the middle of the night, doors would shut close with a bang.  Faucets would turn on by themselves.  It would be very noisy on the first level of the house but whenever they would go down to check, nobody was there and everything would be very quiet.  Eerily quiet.  Her mom was even locked inside her dressing room from the outside so she had to call on to their neighbor for help because she could not get out.  She was all alone in the house at that time. 


The biggest puzzle was when my cousin got accepted by the college she applied to in Cebu City.  It is pretty far from our place, an overnight boat ride or a 45-minute plane ride from a nearby city.  She became sick again.  She was hallucinating a lot and she could not sleep.  The black man, "kapre," was befriending her and wanted her to go with him.  But where? According to the creature, to his home, pointing to the caimito tree.  Her mother was very concerned because she was already becoming violent.  She was having episodes where she would black out and could not remember what transpired when she regained consciousness.  She consulted a faith healer or "mananambal."  

The healer said that the creature was of the same age as my cousin.  A naughty one because he loves to make fun of humans.  He was very large also but you would see that he is very young.  It was as if they were born on the same day.  My aunt accounted that her placenta went missing right after she gave birth to my cousin.  They think that the creatures from the tree had the placenta taken for they too bore a son.  Now that the son was mature he would terrorize the people in the house by shaking the house and jolting everyone in it.  Scaring and terrifying owners and housemaids alike.  The creature believes that my cousin was his "soulmate" and so he was claiming her.  He would promise her that he would take care of her and that she will be free from her sickness and ailments if she went with him.  

One time, they boarded a boat for Cebu for it was time to enroll for school.  Everything was fine until they were by the entrance of the boat when my cousin did not budge from where she was standing, she could not move her legs.  She was paralyzed on the spot.  Her mother was already so anxious  because somehow she knew something would happen.  Then my cousin went hysterical.  She was crying and told her mother that she could not continue with the journey because she will die.  She really thought that she would die.  She was wailing and shaking uncontrollably.  My aunt was already planning to send her away from their house because the healer said that the black man will take her and she might eventually succumb just to stop her health problems.  And so my aunt together with three male ship attendants tried to pull her inside the boat.  Dragging her inside.  According to them she was very strong, fighting all the way through.  One will ask how would a 4'11" petite girl of 16 have super strength like that? It was so hard and it was indeed a difficult feat to get her inside the ship.  Her mother had to put some oil made by the healer on her daughters neck and hands and she calmed down eventually.  She always had a bracelet with a bottle charm containing the oil the healer made for her protection.

I saw her yesterday and I couldn't believe how she transformed from a very sickly girl to a vibrant young woman.  I could never imagine what she went through her childhood and teen life.  Now, the tree is still there by her window but according to the healer the creature could only glance at her from afar because of some enchantment and rituals that she did to drive him out of the house.  For now she is safe according to the healer ..... for now.