The Wakwak is a vampiric bird-creature of Philippine folklore, especially of the Visayas and Mindanao: a winged monster of the night that snatches and devours its victims, named for the eerie “wak-wak” sound of its wings (or its cry) that signals its dreadful approach. It is the flying terror of the southern islands’ nights.
The Winged Terror
The wakwak is described as a bird-like creature — or a bat-winged monster, sometimes likened to a large bird, a vampire-bat, or a winged humanoid — with sharp talons or claws and great wings, a creature of the night sky. Its defining feature is the sound it makes: the eerie “wak-wak, wak-wak” of its flapping wings (or its cry) in the darkness, which is a dread omen — for, as with the [aswang]’s tik-tik, the sound grows fainter as the creature draws nearer, and louder as it moves away, a chilling reversal that betrays its presence.
The Snatcher of the Night
The wakwak hunts by night, swooping down from the sky to snatch its victims — using its sharp talons to slash and seize, carrying off prey, and feeding on flesh and blood. Like the manananggal and the aswang, it is especially feared as a predator of the vulnerable. In some traditions the wakwak is itself a kind of aswang, or a form that an aswang or witch takes, or a familiar/companion of an aswang; in others it is a distinct creature, the flying vampire of the night. The boundaries between the wakwak, the manananggal, and the aswang are fluid in the folklore.
The Omen in the Dark
The cry of the wakwak in the night was a thing of dread, a warning that the flying monster was abroad and hunting. To hear “wak-wak” in the darkness was to know that danger flew overhead, and to take precautions — garlic, salt, holy objects, and vigilance — against the winged predator. A creature of the night sky and the eerie cry, the wakwak is one of the dread flying monsters of the southern Philippines. In the Wakwak, Filipino folklore gave form to the winged terror of the night — the vampiric bird-creature with sharp talons and beating wings whose eerie “wak-wak” cry signals its deadly approach, the flying predator of the islands’ darkness.