Kapre

Kapre (from Spanish: cafre; Arabic: كافر‎, kāfir, "infidel") is a wild man or spirit figure in Philippine Tagalog folklore, associated with life in the forest, where it is reported to live in the trees. The kapre is closely associated with tobacco, being said to constantly smoke cigars or pipes, and is described as being "gigantic in size, being even larger than the tik-balan," and "perfectly black."^[G]

Accounts

• Gardner, Fletcher (April-June 1906), "Mindoro Folk Tales, Tr. from the Oral Tagalog", Journal of American Folklore (Washington: American Folklore Society) 19 (73): 201, https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=miun.acx4344.1906.001&view=1up&seq=55, "Another monster, but a benign one, is the kapre. It is gigantic in size, being even larger than the tik-balan, and is perfectly black. The name and description suggest an Arabic source (from Kafir), and it is possible that further investigation will show that this superstition is derived from the Moros, with whom the writer has no acquaintance. While several natives with whom the writer talked claimed to have seen the kapre, they were unable to give any details that would have thrown light on the subject of the origin of the myth, or accounts of things done by it, beyond the mere fact of its appearance." 

Video

• Aswang Project (18 Dec. 2015), KAPRE: The Tree Dweller, youtube.com, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUrxlu1J0N8