Tiktik are sometimes compared to Aswangs because they devour human organs. They can jump and hop very high, and they can crawl along walls like cats and hang like bats. They prey on pregnant women's fetuses and month-old embryos. They attack at nighttime when they hop on top of the roof of the house of their victim. They then stretch their very long tongues and used it to rip open the womb of their victims, devour the fetus and leave the woman dead. They can be killed by cutting their tongues and letting them die of starvation.
The tiktik is commonly mistaken for the other types of aswang. The manananggal or the aswang are usually portrayed in local movies as individuals who lead double lives. In the morning, these individuals would interact with the society as openly and normally as any other, but on some nights, the manananggal would seek out human organs to devour on them. The tiktik, on the other hand, is not human; it does not turn into a human being in the morning.
Seeing as the tiktik is already deceased and has no human form, the tiktik takes the form of a flying creature such as birds or bats. It cannot and does not take on a human form. The tiktik serves as a spirit guide to the aswang. The tiktik is a deceased aswang, that which died from old age. It continues to become a tormentor. The tiktik is underscored to have a particular liking for human hearts, while the aswang has a particular liking for human guts.
The tiktik is named for its cry: a distinct shrill sound which could be heard even miles away. It sounds like tik-tik-tik-tik or a ticking. However, the distinctness of the cry lies in the fact that when it is far away the sound is louder, while it gets quieter the closer the tiktik is to its victims. This, I think, gives an eerie angle to the idea.
I have yet to see a tiktik in real life, I wonder these days whether the tiktik had really existed centuries before. I guess there will be very little chance for me to find out about this now, for now, here is to hoping that there are really no tiktiks in Cebu.
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