A Shapeshifter

This is my cousin's story, which she had experienced a few weeks after giving birth to her daughter in the late 1990s.

Back in the 90s, our neighbourhood is known to be home to an aswang or a shapeshifter and they lived about two blocks away from us. Finally, in the late 2000s, they relocated to a different location within the same region.

Me and my cousin are neighbours, and their house is located beneath a massive old tamarind tree. Just a few meters under the tamarind tree, the next house belongs to another family (we're not related). We resided in a development area where houses were barely meters apart. Her house's walls are constructed of wood, and the roof is made of galvanised steel.

One cold early morning around three 'o clock, my cousin's baby daughter was crying loudly, and my cousin couldn't get her to stop. She typically carries her to keep her calm, but she couldn't stop wailing this time. Our other neighbour beside them, who was awakened by the baby's wail, opened their wooden bedroom window. He saw something unusual on the roof but couldn't make out what it was because it was dark. After a few seconds, he is eventually able to determine what it was. He noticed a large chicken by the shape of it, the size of an ostrich, with luminous eyes on the roof of my cousin's house. He stopped for a few seconds before taking his flashlight and pointing it towards the thing. The large bird fled away before he could get a good look at it and the infant stopped wailing a few minutes later.

Later that day, our neighbour informed my cousin of what he had seen and advised her to install a light source on the roof. My cousin followed the suggestion, and her kid hasn't cried at night since.