This is Where The Skepticism Drops
Occasionally people send me outlandish stories, and I take joy in debunking them. It’s easy enough to do, and it’s a lot of fun.
Today someone sent me this story and asked me if it could be true:
I was born and raised in the Philippines. We moved to the U.S. when I was 11-years old. This story took place in the Philippines when I was 7-years old. I can recall some of the stuff that happened to me, but not to the fullest. My uncle retold the story again to me later on when I got a little older. And then from time to time when we have family gatherings, someone in my family would re-tell the story again as it was a bit mind boggling!
The story started when my Dad and I went to visit his sister, my Aunt and my cousins in the province. My Aunt has 3-children; one is my age and the other two are a couple of years older than I was. When we got to their house, I remember my Aunt and cousins came running out of the house to greet us with such joy and excitement.
After the initial visiting, my cousins and I went outside to play Hide & Seek. My older cousin was the seeker while everyone else hid. My Aunt’s house was out in the woods. Her house was surrounded by mountains and trees after trees and tall grasses.There’s this belief in the Philippines that most Duwende’s [Dwarfs] lives in the forest or a place where there’s lots of trees. And if you cross their path, without saying “Tabi-Tabi Po Nuno” (MEANING: Pardon or Excuse me little people) they will cast you a bad spell. It all depends on the Duwende you came across with. Some are nice and some are evil. If you cross an evil Duwende, he/she can cast a death wish on you, some can give you warts all over your body and make you ugly and hideous, so people will be disgusted of you and don’t want to be around you.
Back to playing Hide & Seek. My cousin was the seeker and everyone hid. I wanted to hide where my cousin couldn’t find me. So I saw this VERY BIG tree, what seemed to be like a hundred year old tree. Around it, I found a little hole and that’s where I hid. Without thinking and forgetting what my elders told me about Duwende’s, I forgot to say what we’re supposed to say and hid a long time in the tree. After what seemed to be forever hiding, I came out of the hole and went back to where my cousins were. They said that they have given up looking for me, since they didn’t find me anywhere.
That evening before dinner, I started not feeling too good. I remember the shivers, the many trips to the bathroom vomiting and after that I can honestly say that I don’t remember what else happened. But my Dad and Aunt told me that I was practically in a comma for 3-days. They said that in some cases, I was hallucinating. I would sweat heavily, laughed, cried and sometimes I talk to someone in front of me as if someone was there. But there was no one there. They even took me to a local hospital, but the Doctors couldn’t tell my family what was wrong with me.
So my Aunt asked her kids what we did outside. My cousins told my Dad and Aunt, that all we did was played Hide & Seek. They said that I was gone a long time and that they couldn’t find where I hid. My Dad and Aunt then knew that maybe I was a victim on an evil Duwende. They took me to an Albularyo (Witch Doctor) to find out what was wrong with me. As my Dad explained to me, he said that as soon as they brought me inside the Witch Doctor’s house, the Witch Doctor knew that I was being played or something evil was in my presence.
The Witch Doctor lit a candle. Took a tub and poured about an inch or two of water in it. Then she mixed a few drops of some special oil that comes from a plant with the water. While chanting in some weird language, she took the lit candle and poured the melted wax in the tub with the water and oil. As she poured the wax, a figure started to form. My Uncle said that the melted wax on the water formed a huge tree with the hole. Inside the hole was a human (which was supposed to be me) and around me was about 4 or 5 Duwende’s. Some where just standing there staring at me and some looked like they were throwing something at me.
So the Witch Doctor had advised my family to take me back where that big tree was and to say “Tabi-tabi po Nuno” and bring some fruits for offerings. That same day, my Dad and Aunt took me to the tree and excused me from any wrong doings and brought with them plenty of fruits. All I remember was waking up the next day without any recollections of what had happened to me!
So she hid in a hole in a tree, and then she got sick. The most obvious explanation is a spider bite. I did a quick Internet search and found that the Philippines has a spider called Latrodectus hasselti, whose bite induces symptoms very reminiscent of the girl’s description: “headache, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, pyrexia [fever], hypertension and in severe cases, paralysis.” She also said that she didn’t start feeling sick until dinner time. This makes sense, since the spider’s “venom contains neurotoxins, but works very slowly”.
So much for the curse. What about the figure forming out of candle wax? Classic pareidolia. Try pouring candle wax into a glass of water. It’s like looking at clouds. You can see whatever you want. And the description she gives of the figure, with so many separate entities, makes it sound even more like a jumbled mess onto which her family projected their preconceptions. Also note that she’s retelling her family’s description of the wax figure. She does not actually remember seeing it.
Here’s another very important aspect of the story:
My uncle retold the story again to me later on when I got a little older. And then from time to time when we have family gatherings, someone in my family would re-tell the story again as it was a bit mind boggling!
It’s a fact that human memory is highly unreliable. Every time we retell a story we change the details without realizing. Typically the stories become more and more patterned after what you believe. So if you have a story from when you were 7 years old that’s been retold for years by several different people, you can know for certain that it has changed significantly from the original account.
So here we have a spider bite and pareidolia, interpeted in light of a belief system that includes vengeful forest gnomes, which has morphed over the years after being told and retold by multiple people. See how easy it is!
Stumble it!
March 14th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
You’ve just proved my point.
March 14th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
I don’t think the dwarves will be happy to hear that.
March 14th, 2008 at 4:53 pm
Crap, I think I’m practically in a comma now, gnomes are scary!!!
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article902014.ece
March 14th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
They sure as hell are!!
March 17th, 2008 at 8:31 pm
That’s nothing! Once my husband was seduced and molested by a Ciguapa! It was the only rational explanation for why the venereal diseases he brought home!
April 11th, 2008 at 6:21 pm
Hey people have their own opinions. But hell yah they’re real.
Are you even born in the Philippines? Every person I met in the Philippines have told me stories about the Duwende. And they are true because the same thing happened to my sister when we went there.
April 11th, 2008 at 10:19 pm
Why does it matter whether I was born? Everything in the story can be explained by natural, known causes. There is absolutely no reason to invoke mythical creatures, no matter how many people you know who believe in them. I’d be willing to bet that the things your sister experienced can also be explained by natural means.
And not that it matters, but my friend who showed me the story was born in the Philippines, and she accepts my explanation.
April 14th, 2008 at 8:08 am
Also, Tamu, thanks for coming to my website and commenting!
April 14th, 2008 at 8:14 am
Jason, I was born and raised in the Philippines and believe me, I’ve heard these kind of stories over and over again. However, your explanation makes sooooo much sense to me. I could bet you that my parents, who are still in the Philippines, would believe your explanation as well. I’m backing you up on this one! ;)
Anyways, why don’t we talk about ‘aswang’ this time? :)
April 26th, 2008 at 3:00 pm
Interesting tidbit..
I don’t know where to start.. I guess sometimes, we grow up believing too much of one thing, that, in return, makes it hard to believe everything else!
It’s easy to say that this isn’t true and here are the scientific oh so hard to find facts and here are the proofs. Those will definitely make your statement solid as rock! but I ask you this.. Are you sure that it was a spider who bit her? How come the doctors never found anything wrong with her?
According to your source, and i quote this:
“The fangs of the female have the potential to penetrate human skin, and when it does can cause [b]toxic neurological reactions.[/b] Due to the small fang length, many bites aren’t sufficiently deep to cause problems. The males are even smaller, and generally are much less dangerous. If bitten, prompt first aid and a trip to the doctor is advised. A cold pack should be placed on the bite area and the spider should be collected for identification. Due to the availability of antivenom, no new recorded deaths have occurred.”
source
now, i don’t think doctors in the Philippines would be stupid enough to miss on this one..
I don’t even see anything on the story where she was given any type of medication that, (again I quote) would’ve saved her life…
“The Australian museum estimates that there are six hundred yearly bites that cause symptomatic episodes. Although, [b]deaths[/b] have been recorded with the bite of the redback, [b]none have occurred recently due to the availability of an antidote.[/b]”
source
According to your other source,
“The bite is immediately [b]painful; the pain may involve the whole limb.[/b] Sweating is common, starting only on the affected limb. Systemic envenomation usually results in headache, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, pyrexia, hypertension and in severe cases, paralysis. [b]Untreated, the symptoms worsen over a 24 hour period and may take weeks or months to resolve.[/b]”
source
and now, I don’t recall her mentioning a certain “pain” she felt when she got out of the hole, did she? Even if she can’t remember anything, I’m pretty sure, it’ll be part of the story that hmm.. would’ve gone this way.. “according to my cousins, I was in such pain when I found them…” I mean I’m pretty sure any pain felt would most likely be unforgettable. Don’t you think so? Plus, i quote this again..
[i]”But my Dad and Aunt told me that I was practically in a comma for 3-days.”[/i]
that doesn’t sound like weeks or months to be resolved? And mind you, she is of [b]no[/b] medication.
I could go on and on but we both know it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to grasp my point..
I get it, you don’t believe the story..that’s fine.. to each his own but to make fun of it? Not just disrespectful, you’re simply being obnoxious. Smart talk. Big words. [i]Oh yeah, you make sense because I don’t understand half of what you said/wrote.. duuhhh…[/i] Even your friend, whom, you’re proud to say is born in the Philippines and believes you? I say she needs to go home and try to learn something from where she came from.
Now, I’m not saying I believe her 100% i’ve got my own doubts so this isn’t a flame.. I’m not trying to pick a fight or anything.
Just like you, I take joy in debunking such outlandish articles. It’s easy enough to do, and it’s a lot of fun. :)
April 26th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
aw.. htm doesn’t work? and I so wanna emphasize…:(
April 26th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
I make fun of lots of people on this website, because they really are lying douchebags. Just do a search for Brannon Howse. But I did not make fun of the teller of this story. I believe she is honestly mistaken. So thanks for that ad hominem / strawman.
As for the other points you make, none of them invalidate my conclusion. This story is coming to us tainted and morphed by second and third hand recountings and years and years of retelling. If you think that this is really how the story played out, down to the last detail, you are mistaken. The human brain doesn’t work that way.
Furthermore, even if I got the wrong species of spider, or it wasn’t a spider, that doesn’t mean it was a duwende. That is the argument from ignorance. Just because we don’t know exactly what species of spider it was, or whatever, does not mean that there was a supernatural cause.
But to conclude, I think you are entirely missing the point of this post. There ARE natural explanations that could explain these things. There are spiders that cause symptoms very similar to what the girl experienced. There is absolutely no reason to assume that there was a supernatural cause, when perfectly natural explanations exist.
Thank you for visiting my site. I hope you have the chance to read some of my other stuff.
April 27th, 2008 at 6:38 am
I guess it was your style to input some sarcasm in your work eh?^^
Like I said, I don’t believe in it 100% as well.. Although I haven’t ruled out the fact that it can be possible..
Hey, I agree that a lot of people does tend to rely on something that’s easier to believe in rather than admitting the simple nature of the truth.. I mean they are so caught up in all these phenomena that they just want to relate it to their everyday lives. (To spice things up maybe?)
But then again, it wasn’t her story that made me want to comment here.. it was your way of errr shall I say debunking them.. ^^
I mean c’mon.. It wasn’t a competition for the true ghost story or something, where she submitted that.. It was a forum for guys who likes to be scared and likes to scare.. it can be purely out of the blue truth or fiction for all we care.. give them a break.. lolz
Well, it’s been fun.. It’s a good thing you check your site everyday. I was worried I might have to wait for like a month or so for your reply.. I guess we both made our point.. To each his own.. I’ll check out your other articles sometime.. ciao for now! ^^
April 27th, 2008 at 9:11 am
Thanks Andrea, I really appreciated hearing your point of view.
And you’re right, there’s not much point in going around looking for stories like that to debunk. What harm are they doing? I only did it because my friend asked. And if someone sends me something like that in an email forward, they are asking for it too. O:-)
April 27th, 2008 at 9:31 am
hi again.. i showed your site to my friend.. (yeah you’re getting really popular lol) uhm..she pointed out something and it made me think..
Now, correct me if I’m wrong.. gnomes are mythical creatures too, right? coz’ from what I know, “duwende’s” are almost same like gnomes.. >.
April 27th, 2008 at 11:40 am
That is correct.
Is this leading up to that cell phone video of the gnome in Argentina?
April 28th, 2008 at 10:05 am
The girl DID NOT seek a real doctor. They took her to a WITCH doctor.
Anyways, have a great day!! :)
April 28th, 2008 at 10:07 am
But which witch doctor was which?
April 28th, 2008 at 11:54 am
Doctor Quack Quack!!!!!
April 28th, 2008 at 11:58 am
Anyways, God is good!! He’s the real Doctor!! :)
PEACE.
April 30th, 2008 at 6:13 am
Jason:
yeah.. the cellphone thingie.. that was really freaky.. you think that’s real??
TrueFilipino:
err… read the story again.. she was sent to a REAL doctor first but did not find anything so then, they took her to the witch doctor.. tell me if I have to post that part of the story if you really can’t find it ^^
April 30th, 2008 at 6:27 am
It’s “real” in the sense that it’s probably not CGI.
May 1st, 2008 at 5:56 am
Just as I thought.. that was a really cool footage!!
well.. im off to your other topics.. l’see what else you have here ^^
May 1st, 2008 at 6:59 am
uhmm… isnt latrodectus mactans black widow? I dont think we have that here in the philippines. If we do, I certainly havent seen one. And arent they deadly to humans? Im not disregarding your theories. Its not about that, its about the species and im well curious as to why I havent seen or heard about it.
May 1st, 2008 at 7:07 am
Lalat,
You are correct. The spider that lives in the S. Pacific is closely related to the N. American black widow. It should actually be L. hasselti, although one of my sources lists it as L. mactans hasselti. I have fixed it in the original post. Black widows are dangerous, but don’t often kill people.
The common name is the Redback Spider. They are native to Australia but range throughout the South Pacific. Spiders the genus Latrodectus have a global range.
I live in North America and have never seen a black widow spider or a hobo spider.
May 1st, 2008 at 7:21 am
Oh, and thanks very much for pointing that out!
May 2nd, 2008 at 2:21 am
Yes its probably another latrodectus. I really hate spiders and I am paranoid that one might enter our house and bite my son. Thats why I asked you about it… Thanks for the info ^_^
May 2nd, 2008 at 4:03 am
hahaha that’s funny Lalat! :D
and don’t worry.. even if it does exist in the Philippines, as long as you keep the house clean, you’re son’s safe.. hehe ^^
May 2nd, 2008 at 6:13 am
This is off topic, but what the hell, I own this place.
Some friends of mine in Los Angeles were given a bookshelf that someone didn’t want. They brought the bookshelf into their bedroom, and the next day decided they needed to refinish it. So they took it outside and started working on it, only to discover a nest of black widows in one of the shelves, just hidden from view.
Luckily, neither they, their teenage son, or their two dogs were bitten.
May 5th, 2008 at 8:00 am
They are lucky indeed. But not everyone is lucky….
I freak out and call anyone from our neighborhood just to kill one spider. If its small I can kill it myself but if its 4 inches wide, hell Id be running out of the house to call for backup haha! And I wont sleep till I see it killed too!
May 5th, 2008 at 8:11 am
Haha! When I eventually visit the Phils, I hope I see spiders that big.
Last year in my garage I found a spider that was about as big around as the palm of my hand. I took pictures of it. I kept looking for it to appear again, but that was the only time I have ever seen it.
May 7th, 2008 at 8:29 am
The spiders Im talking about are mostly found in houses thats why I always see them but I think theyre harmless. Still creeps the hell out of me tho! Theyre brownish and have long hairy legs, real big fangs and have thin bodies, thats why thet move so fast make them hard to kill.
With those I can live with, but one as big as a mans palm? I dont think so…
May 7th, 2008 at 8:33 am
Thank you for calling me a man. You are quite kind.
May 12th, 2008 at 6:07 pm
hey ur story convince me to ell my own story but i tend to keep it to myself…the duwende you encounter was not like mine… the duwende i saw was short about 4-5 inche tall dude with black hooded jacket covering all the way to thier legs…he saved my life alot because i was encoutering humans, ghost, monsters, and gods from these diminsion - another world exist on this plannet…
but anyway where do i post my story, i feel like writtin them and see how people react..hehehe
July 16th, 2008 at 1:52 am
Hey Jason,
You are such a loser and a non-believer. if you really think you are so brave and doesn’t believe on this. Try going to the Philippines and make research on-hand? experience it for yourself. If you want, i can be your tour guide, know a lot of places where you can get the REAL DEAL. i will even pay for all your expenses and stay here if nothing happens. BUT if i can prove to you that some things are out of this world and for real, then you better pay me 10 folds. so what do you think? are you up to the DARE, amigo? all will be legal-with contract of course, stating that if something happens to you or lose your life in anyway during this research/documentation, i will not be eligible as responsible and that you are aware of the danger this research might encounter. just email me thru: love.hateme@hotmail.com so we could talk about your research thing. Believe me, its either you will become a believer or dead while doing this. Are you MAN enough?
July 16th, 2008 at 7:20 pm
[…] I’m not sure, but it sounds like it: Hey Jason, […]
July 18th, 2008 at 11:08 pm
Jason - I’m quite curious as where he’s taking you. :)