Tiyanak
Forest trails and rural roadsides nationwide
A tiyanak works by exploiting the one instinct people are least able to override. You hear a baby crying somewhere off the trail. You look for it. You find it. You pick it up.
Then, in every version of the story, the weight in your arms changes.
Where it is said to come from
Beliefs vary. Some accounts describe the tiyanak as the spirit of a child who died before baptism, others as a demon that simply takes an infant's shape because the shape works. The two explanations often sit side by side in the same community without anyone finding it contradictory.
Escaping one
The classic counter is the same inversion trick used against the tikbalang: turn your clothes inside out to confuse it. Others say a tiyanak can be driven off by loud laughter, or by refusing to look for the crying at all — the only reliable defence being the one nobody wants to use.
Tiyanak — Common Questions
What is a tiyanak?
A tiyanak is a creature in Philippine folklore that imitates the cry of an abandoned baby to lure travellers off the path, then reveals its true form and attacks.
Horror Stories Featuring the Tiyanak
Junjun — The Call Center Ghost
Every BPO floor in the country has heard the name. Nobody agrees on which building it happened in.
The Legend of Junjun
They say a boy was left in an office lobby. This is the part of the story nobody tells first.