The Coal Eater Sigbin

The Sigbin or Sigben, is very popular in the Philippines, these mythical creatures said to lurk at nights when the moon is fool and look for food, it sucks the blood and soul from human shadows, or eats coal "uling in local dialect".

The Sigbin walks backward with its head behind its knees, it almost look like "smeagol" in the lord of the rings trilogy, only with a tail. They are believed to be fast runners, and bring good luck to anyone who captures this creature.

It disguises itself in the daylight as a squash, and has an ability to be invisible to the naked eye, making it impossible to kill, but it is a possibility to kill it with a whip of some sort. You can avoid a Sigbin by walking in front of it not behind it.

As the creature is very popular in the province of Mindanao, I was intrigued by their story and tried to capture one Sigbin (for good luck); I went to South Upi, Maguindanao for a vacation, their stories of the Sigbin was fascinating and I decided to see it myself, they say one farmer there had a pet sigben. I, for a moment feared, and I had to look for company to guide me where the owner of the sigbin was sited, or where I could find one, he led me to a distant mountain, to the uplands of Upi, there was a small hut atop of a mountain, there I found the 64-year old man, named "Mang Kanor" he told me how to capture a Sigbin, he had me waiting until nightfall and the bright moon shines yellow like theres no tomorrow, there was sacks of "uling" all over his farm, and alas I finally got a glimpse of the Mythical Creature "Sigbin".