VISUAL SYMBIOSIS
  • VISUAL SYMBIOSIS / KAIJU-FICTION
ASWANG
​RECURRING DREAMS
IN THE PHILIPPINES, ASWANG IS AN UMBRELLA TERM FOR ANYTHING EVIL, INCLUDING BLOOD SUCKING ENTITY.  THERE’RE MANY KINDS OF ASWANG, DIFFERENT LORE ACROSS THE REGIONS (THE PHILIPPINES, INDONESIA, MALAYSIA, ETC.)


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Although there’re various kinds and countless lore about aswang, the most common and most vicious character is that aswang can be in any form, and be anywhere. They do bad thing simply because they can. In western vampire lore written within the rules of literature, a vampire can be killed in many ways. On the contrary, aswang has no rule, and can’t be killed (except in fiction that follows western rules of story telling). 




While the concept of aswang is well known throughout archipelagic regions in SE Asia,  most people on the mainland (Thailand) have no idea what it is. However, there’s a similar concept in northeastern Thailand called “pob”, a flesh eating spirit. “Pob” traditionally has no physical form, moving from one human host to another, eating the host from inside. Dead body of victim usually shows no physical wound. Pob, like aswang, can not be destroyed. One may temporary get rid of “pob” from one host but the spirit itself moves on to another.


READ MORE :
  • ASWANG
  • BABAYLAN
  • ASWANG DURING COLD WAR
  • EDWARD LANSDALE
  • POB flesh eating spirit (Thai)

​BACK TO MOON ZERO SYNDROME
 
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​Recurring dreams so real that one can feel pain and pleasure, eventually lost any sense of reality within one ’s own universe. Such symptoms of mythical illness once called “Moon Zero Syndrome”, and yet mostly unknown to the modern world. In many cases, patients died from what diagnosed to be natural causes. One of the most common medical explanation would be SUNDS (Sudden Unexplained Nocturnal Death Syndrome).


“The syndrome is rare in most areas around the world but occurs in populations that are culturally and genetically distinct. It was first noted in 1977 among southeast Asian Hmong refugees in the United States and Canada”

“The syndrome was again noted in Singapore when a retrospective review of records showed that 230 otherwise healthy Thai foreign workers living in Singapore died suddenly of unexplained causes between 1982 and 1990”

References : Sudden arrhythmic death syndrome



Late 1990s - early 2000s, rise of web board, blogging, online chats, self published and fan fiction, an urban legend regarding “rock from the moon” spreading among catholic schoolgirls in the Eastern Seaboard (Sriracha district, Pattaya city, Mueang Rayong district) with alarming details that had been overlooked for decades. "Rock from the moon", whether referring to an object or a concept, is unverified but said to have power to grant wishes. Once a person's wishes fulfilled, there would be sacrifices in exchange.

There're reports that some girls experienced symptoms of what could be called Moon Zero Syndrome. However, most cases were dismissed as vivid dream or lucid dream. In some serious cases involved fatality would be regarded as drug related.


By the time GeoCities (web hosting) became inactive in 2009, and local web hosting service in Thailand moving on to the next phase of technology, all data are lost. Although some older websites may be stored in personal archive or deep in blockchain somewhere, they are still beyond end user’s reach.


​Between 2014 - 2016, well documented cases were discovered, completed with interviews, medical reports and videos of certain events. Unfortunately, one of head researchers seemed to go overboard by suggesting supernatural elements in the study. In his personal comments, “there’s a type of aswang… be able to transcend spacetime, travel through multiverse, feeding on unsuspecting victims, going back and forth between infinite possibilities… victims believed they were experiencing déjà vu or in a lucid dream. In fact, they or a version of themselves are being drained by aswang in another multiverse”. The researcher refused to omit such comments from the study, and the paper was rejected from publication. He lost all credibilities in academic world, and died of COVID-19 in 2020.
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  • VISUAL SYMBIOSIS / KAIJU-FICTION