The Batibat

Cut down the wrong tree, and something moves into your house.

The batibat comes from Ilocano folklore, from the far north of Luzon. In Ilocano, batibat is also a word for nightmare. The creature and the bad dream share a name, and in the old stories one causes the other.

What she looks like

In most tellings, the batibat is a huge, heavy old woman with long hair. The weight matters most, because it's how she does what she does. Like every creature in this guide, she changes depending on who's telling the story.

Field Notes

Known for: sitting on sleepers' chests until they can't move or call out
Looks like: a huge, heavy old woman, often with long hair
Lives in: a big old tree, and then in whatever is built from its wood
Said to want: her home left alone, and her space kept clear
The name: Ilocano, and it also means "nightmare"

She follows the wood

The batibat starts out living inside a big old tree. The trouble begins when somebody cuts that tree down for lumber. She doesn't leave. She comes along with the wood, right into the post that holds the new house up.

Then she waits. If someone sleeps too close to her post, she climbs onto their chest and sits. The sleeper wakes up but can't move, speak, or call for help. It's her home, and they're in her way.

The tiny way out

The old remedy is very small. Bite your thumb or wiggle a toe, and the stories say you'll wake up and she'll let go. Notice what the remedy leaves out, though. It wakes you up, but the post is still standing, and she's still in it.

In Tiktik

The batibat is one of three creatures in Book Two, Tiktik: A Christmas of Three Names. Lola's city house has no tree to cut down, but it does have old, heavy, dark wood furniture, and on her first night there Emily notices one piece in particular: an armchair that "sat the way old things sit, like the floor had curved slightly over the years to hold it in place."

Emily knows the province rules from her notebook. She's about to find out that city creatures don't always follow them.

Five fast facts

The batibat comes from Ilocano folklore, and in Ilocano the word also means "nightmare"
In the old stories, she's a huge, heavy old woman who lives inside a big old tree
Cut that tree down to build a house, and she moves in with the wood, right into the post that holds the house up
Sleep too close to her post, and she climbs onto your chest and sits, so heavy you can't move or call out
The way out is tiny: bite your thumb or wiggle a toe, and you wake up, the old stories say