A Compendium of Creatures from Philippine Folklore & Mythology

An alphabetical list of over 370 Creatures & Mythical Beings from Philippine Folklore & Mythology

I have dozens resources that I use when I am researching the mythical beings and folkloric beliefs of the Philippines. I used to lament about what a pain in the butt it is to pull them all out every time I get curious about a mythical being. A few years ago I thought, wouldn’t it be wonderful if a place existed where I could access the names of the documented creatures and the regions from which they come? I started this list and it quickly grew to well over 250 beings. Sadly, I didn’t have the time to keep up with it. Over time, and with reader’s help, I realized there were some discrepancies, possibly incorrect regions, and many missing entries. So, five years after initially launching this list I have finally spent the last week updating descriptions, adding entries, and most importantly, including sources – something I always encourage others to do.

This list includes ‘creatures,’ ‘monsters,’ spirits, folkloric beings, ‘witches,’ and mythical beasts, who are generally thought to cause harm or illness to people if they are not properly respected or given offering. You will also find some mythical beasts from epics and folktales. I have included the “witches” who are thought to cause harm to people – because I have seen how this list has been used over the past several years. I have tried to exclude beings that are regarded more as deities within their ethnolinguistic groups. This list should not be considered as precolonial beliefs. While some were most certainly part of early religions around the archipelago, these beings have evolved to reflect the influences and environment up to the time of documentation.

You may click on highlighted names to learn more about the religious beliefs structures that the described being is part of. Enjoy!

*Please note that many of the links to the references on this page are Amazon Affiliate links.

If you notice one is missing, please send us a message in the following format:

“CREATURE NAME – (Region) Short description. Source”.

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

These creatures can be confusing to say the least. First, there are just so many! With over 7000 islands, and the number of individual languages listed for the Philippines at 187 (according to ethnologue.com), it’s actually a surprise there aren’t more.

A

ABAK – (Mandaya, Bagobo) A malevolent or demonic spirit of the Mandayas (Mindanao); b) the proper name given by the Bagobos to one of their deities.
(source: DICCIONARIO MITOLÓGICO DE FILIPINAS, Ferdinand Blumentritt [1895], translated and republished by The Aswang Project, 2021)

ABAT – (Waray, Eastern Samar) A Waray aswang that sucks internal organs. Big red bulging eyes, fingers long and bony, and dishevelled hair. Detaches from lower body. The creature is said to resemble a beautiful maiden by day and marries an unsuspecting man in order to live close to human communities. She goes to bed early with her spouse, and one informant from Samar reported that the creature quietly gets out of bed at moonrise, opens an eastern window, and stares at the newly-risen moon until her lower body drops off. The abats of a town can visit neighboring towns. They fly over nipa houses in which live pregnant women.
(Source: The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology and The Creatures of Midnight , Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

ABAT – (Tingguian) Abat are numerous spirits who cause sore feet and headache. Salono and bawi are built for them. The spirits of Ībal, who live in Daem, are responsible for most sickness among children, but they are easily appeased with blood and rice. The Ībal ceremony is held for them.
(source: The Tinguian: Social, Religious, and Economic Life of a Philippine Tribe, Fay-Cooper Cole, 1922)

ADA – (Tagalogs) The term used for a “fairy”. Thought to be derived from the word “engkantada.” It was more likely taken from the Spanish word “hada” (fairy).
(source: Ancient Beliefs and Customs of the Tagalogs, Jean-Paul G. Potet, Lulu Press, 2017)

AGALON HAYOPAN – (Bicol) Inactive aswangs, they prefer to live right by the river where crocodiles are plentiful. They desire to eat human flesh and employ crocodiles to kill people and discreetly bring their flesh to them.
(Source: Filipinas Volume 12, Page 53, Filipinas Pub., 2003)

AGHOY – (Waray) The East Visayans call them aghoy. They look like little men and women. Their skin is fair and smooth. They have deep-set eyes, blue, green, or brown. They have high noses and yellow hair. Their feet are bare and they dress like villagers. They live in trees near villages. They come into a village after dark. They speak to men in whistles. They make friends with kind people. They give their friends wonderful gifts. They give them magic pots always full of food. They give them magic purses always full of gold.

The term likely comes from the term “panaghoy” (lament/ mourn). “Whistling at night is prohibited lest an engkanto answers. Then something bad will happen to you. (Ayaw gayud panaghoy sa gabii kay tubagon ka ug engkantos. Unya may piligro nga modangat kanimo.)”
(source: The Creatures of Midnight , Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990 | The Encyclopedia of Philippine Folk Beliefs & Customs Vol. 1, Demetrio, Xavier University Press, 1991)

AGTA – (Eastern Visayas) On September 18, 1963, Virginia Taglucop told folklorist Maximo Ramos that she and her sister were walking on a lonely footpath in Barrio Palanas, Masbate, in 1957 when they saw an agta sitting under a big santol tree (Sandoricum koetjape). The creature stood and walked toward them for a distance of twenty-five meters before they ran away. The creature was black and twice as tall as an ordinary man. The agta of the East Visayas are said to live in mangroves and swampy places. The agta was reported to have carried a rattan cane – the only Philippine creature shown by the data to be provided with this elegant appurtenance. The Agta reported most often in Leyte smoked a large cigar and it can usually be seen in a standing position. Benilda Moreno (from Barrio Gabas, Baybay, Leyte) said that an agta once ordered some night fishermen not to proceed, blocking their river route with large trees which it had knocked down to give force to its demand. Virginia Taglucop reported seeing an agta smoke, between eight in the evening and four the next morning, under a santol tree in which it resided. Although they share similar traits, the Agta should not be considered a ‘variety’ of kapre, but instead one of the many tall, black, tree dwellers that have been (mis)classified under that umbrella term.

The Agta has also been described as a supernatural man of dark complexion and extraordinary size inhabiting trees, cliffs, or empty houses. He is said to play practical jokes on people or kidnap them. He has a large cigar in his mouth. In Bacolod, people believe the Agta is human, giant and very black. He stays in a tall tree, wears a hat, and smokes a pipe. He is harmless as long as people do not harm him.

As a protection against the agta, a bottle filled with mercury (asugui) should always be carried, because they are afraid of mercury.
(source: The The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology, Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990 | The Encyclopedia of Philippine Folk Beliefs & Customs Vol. 1, Demetrio, Xavier University Press, 1991)

AKOP – (Tingguian) Akop is evil. He has a head, long slimy arms and legs, but no body. He always frequents the place of death, and seeks to embrace the spouse of the deceased. Should he succeed, death follows quickly. To defeat his plans, the widow is closely guarded by the wailers; she also sleeps under a fish net as an additional protection against his long fingers, and she wears seeds which are disliked by this being.
(source: The Tinguian: Social, Religious, and Economic Life of a Philippine Tribe, Fay-Cooper Cole, 1922)

ALALIA or ARARIA – (Ilokano) Likewise called in the Ilocano language as the spirit of the dead, which on the third or ninth day of its death visits its house and all of the places where it had stayed while alive. The howling of dogs announces the presence of this specter.
(source: DICCIONARIO MITOLÓGICO DE FILIPINAS, Ferdinand Blumentritt [1895], translated and republished by The Aswang Project, 2021)

ALAN – (Tingguian) The skin on the face of a wizened old alan is described in a Tingguian tale as having been tough like carabao hide. The alan’s long arms had fingers pointing back from the wrist, horrible to look at. Elsewhere, the alan are said to be as large as people but have wings and can fly. Their toes are at the back of their feet, and their fingers point backward from their
wrists with long nails. The alan is said to have lived in the depths of a dark forest where people seldom went. They hang upside down from a tree like a bat. In a tale “The Alan and the Hunters,” a man climbed to the top of a forest tree and saw smoke rising in the distance. He and his companion then walked toward the smoke and reached the house of a female alan. They killed her and found a jar of beads; and another jar of gold in her house.

The Lepanto tale (Benguet Province) “How a Young Man Escapes a Cannibal” tells that the alan lived in a house of pure gold in Kitlungan. They alan are rumoured to adopt children who have been lost in the jungle. This cannibalistic version of the alan in Northern Luzon should be quite a character to draw—rough skinned, long-armed, winged, but cravely afraid of crabs, his hands and feet set wrong end forward, when asleep hanging upside down from a branch like an enormous bat or bird, and yet courting and being accepted by village girls and able to trade off his green mangoes for human male babies.

They are said to procreate by collecting menstrual blood, aborted fetuses, and afterbirth from humans, which they form into Alan children.

There is a regional variant of the alan in northwestern Pangasinan and La Union. They describe these creatures as taller than most people, their complexion is a bit darker than the rest of the local community, but they have eyes that are light/fair (amber or light brown). They seem to live in tribal communities and travel during full moon or sometimes at dusk, beating drums and bells.
(source: The The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology, Maximo Ramos, 1990 Phoenix Publishing | A Study in Tinguian Folk-Lore, Fay-Cooper Cole

ALAN – (Kalinga) The aLan are cannibal or ghoul spirits that figure largely in myths and folktales as carrying away or devouring souls and as producing many kinds of transformations in men and in themselves.
(source: THE KALINGAS: Their Institutions and Customs Laws, Roy Franklin Barton, The University of Chicago Press, 1949)

ALLAWIG – (Ilokano) The allawig, also known as silew-silew (‘lighter’), is a ball of fire moving across open fields or through wooded areas at night. Unlike fire, it ignites nothing it
touches. It is commonly red but may be blue, green, orange, or yellow. Unlike a real flame, too, it is round rather than peaked. It may burn bright or just flicker. One under its spell follows it and is then led round and round until he falls down in exhaustion. The creature may also lead a man into a mudhole or swamp where he can drown. One under the spell of the allawig should take off his clothes and put them on inside out. The creature will then leave and he will find his way home, which may prove to be just around the corner after all.
(source: Philippine Demonological Legends and their Cultural Bearings, Maximo Ramos, 1990, Phoenix Publishing)

AMALANHIG – (Western Visayas, Hiligaynon) The amalanhig —or maranhig—of the Hiligaynon is said to be a dead woman who has lived on because no one inherited her vampiric state when she was dying. She lives in the woods, quietly enters villages at night, and sucks the blood of those asleep.

When about to die, a vampire asks a close relative to take over her vampirism. If no one agrees to do so, she lives on and remains a vampire.

One should climb up a crooked tree when pursued by the Hiligaynon vampire—the amalanhig—since her joints are stiff and she cannot negotiate the crook in the tree. If no crooked tree is around, one being pursued by her should follow a crooked path, for the vampire cannot follow such a path because she cannot bend her legs to turn. Or one should jump into a river or lake since an amalanhig fears bodies of water.

“An old man from a distant barrio in one of our towns is known throughout as a maranhig. This man is old and cannot die unless someone in his family inherits his power. Whenever he begs, his children to take his power, saliva comes out of his mouth and reaches down to the ground. The saliva is long like a rope and sticky. His sons married women from outside the province who did not know about their sickness. His daughters have become spinsters and cannot marry unless one of them inherits her father’s power.

Only one in the family will become a maranhig and will do as he does. The old man used to make those who talked about them sick.”
(source: Philippine Demonological Legends and their Cultural Bearings and The Aswang Complex in Philippine Folklore, Maximo Ramos, 1990, Phoenix Publishing)

AMDAG – (Ibaloy) Nature spirits that travel with the wind who carry nets to catch the souls of a person.
(source: Ethnography of the Major Ethnolinguistic Groups in the Philippines, Arsenio L. Sumeng-ang, New Day Publishers, 2003)

AMOMONGO – (Western Visayas) The term amomongo has been used to describe a gorilla in traditional Visayan folktales, such as “Amomongo and Iput-Iput (The Ape and the Firefly). In Brgy. Sag-ang, La Castellana, Negros Occidental, the same term was used to describe a man-sized creature that attacked two residents and disemboweled goats and chickens in the area. Elias Galvez and Salvador Aguilar reported to Mayor Alberto Nicor and the police that they were separately attacked by a “hairy creature with long nails,” on the nights of June 9 and 10, 2008. Brgy. Sag-ang residents described the creature to be about 5 feet and 4 inches tall, and looks like a monkey. Sag-ang Brgy. Capt. Rudy Torres has confirmed reports of the existence of such creature, called amomongo (gorilla) by residents. Brgy. Sag-ang in La Castellana is located at the foot of Mt. Kanlaon , which has many caves where the creature could live.
(source: Philippine Folk Literature: An Anthology, Eugenio, UP Press 2007 | sunstar.com.ph “Creature terrorizing residents of farms”)

AMPASIT – (Ibaloy) Nature spirits that dwell in caves and are believed to mislead people who are traveling at night or at dusk.
(source: Ethnography of the Major Ethnolinguistic Groups in the Philippines, Arsenio L. Sumeng-ang, New Day Publishers, 2003)

ANANANGGAL – (Bicol) Anananggal or manananggal is a kind of witch that with its supernatural powers is able to detach its upper torso from the rest of its body and flies with its trailing intestines in search of a victim, leaving its lower torso behind. This happens only at night. It has to come back before the rays of the sun strike any portion of the separated body.
One can kill an anananggal by putting garbage, ashes or salt on the detached lower torso so it can no longer reattach to its upper torso. The ananaggal has bat-like wings. It is a beautiful woman at day, but a monster at night. The anananggal avoids saringsing or kagingking as this will tear its wings. Its entrails may also get entangled with the thorns of the marurugi. Common belief.
(source: Bikol Beliefs and Folkways, Eden K. Nasayao, PhD, Hablong Dawani Publishing House, 2010)

ANAYO – (Tayabas) According to the folklore of Tayabas, the anayo are types of nymphs who punish, with insanity and other afflictions, those who treat the unknown (invisible spirits) without respect, or those who bathe in a river that’s not frequented.
(source: DICCIONARIO MITOLÓGICO DE FILIPINAS, Ferdinand Blumentritt [1895], translated and republished by The Aswang Project, 2021)

ANDUDUNO – (Catanduanes) In Catanduanes, the anduduno (one who visits the sick) feeds on human corpses and her cannibalism is passed on through seven generations. It is reported that when the ghoul senses that the patient smells like ripe langka (jackfruit), it means he is about to die and she stays around.
(source: The The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology, Maximo Ramos, 1990 Phoenix Publishing)

ANGAKO D NGATO – (Kalinga) The Angako d Ngato are spiritis that afflict with sickness.
(source: THE KALINGAS: Their Institutions and Customs Laws, Roy Franklin Barton, The University of Chicago Press, 1949)

ANGGITAY – (Tagalogs/ Batangas) The anggitay was reported from Santo Tomas, Batangas, by the late Aproniano G. Castillo, a lawyer and the father of Maximo Ramos’ daughter-in-law, Exaltacion C. Ramos, a psychologist. It has a peculiar anatomy. Seen from in front, it is a beautiful maiden from head to foot, and it is a haggard mare seen from behind. It sits in a tree in a wood and quietly watches wayfarers go by.
(source: Philippine Demonological Legends and their Cultural Bearings , Maximo Ramos, 1990, Phoenix Publishing)

ANGONGOLOOD – (Bicol) Through more in-depth translations of the Ibalong Epic of Bicol, this is the being that is thought to be described in stanza 31 when translated to Bicolano.

Los pongos y orangutangs
La miraban con horror,
Porque las aguas del Bicol
Con su sangre coloro.

The pongos and orangutans
Watching the fight filled with horror stung,
With color due to crocodiles blood
He tinged the Bicol River red.

Bicolano folklore says the angongolood looks like a gorilla and inhabits swamps and riverbanks. It can turn people into trees by pouncing on them as they pass. It is reported that some people passing in boats will strikes the sides to create enough noise to frighten off the angongolood.
(source: Bikols of the Philippines, Maria Lilia F. Realubit, A.M.S. Press, 1983 | Bikol Voices Anthology, Merito B. Espinas, Caesar C. Altarejos, Carlos S. Gegantoca, Bikol University, 1983)

ANGTAN – (Kalinga) The Angtan are goddesses or demons that depress men, bring worry and bad luck.
(source: THE KALINGAS: Their Institutions and Customs Laws, Roy Franklin Barton, The University of Chicago Press, 1949)

ANI-ANI – (Zambales) The ani-ani is said to stand eighteen feet tall. A man may think he is standing between two trees and then realize that he is between the lower legs of the ani-ani. The creature lumbers along because of its great size. It is dark-complexioned, hairy, and bearded. Its nose is flat and its mouth wide, and it has a rough skin. It generally appears when there is a new moon and may be seen at night smoking on the branch of a large tree beside a country road such as the bulala (Iloko) or talisay (Tagalogs). The ani-ani blocks the path of a wayfarer at night. It changes its shape from that of a tall, dark man to that of a carabao without horns, a horse, or a hog and back into a tall, dark man again.
(source: Philippine Demonological Legends and their Cultural Bearings and The Creatures of Midnight, Maximo Ramos, 1990, Phoenix Publishing)

ANIT or ANITAN – (Manobo, parts of Agúsan Valley) Anit or Anítan, is the spirit of the thunderbolt, and one of the mightier class of spirits that dwell in the upper sky world.
(source: THE MANÓBOS OF MINDANÁO, JOHN M. GARVAN, 1931)

ANNANI – (Ibanag) The annani among the Ibanag generally ate human food. When offended, they were propitiated with a fat hog, the uncooked head of a carabao, rice cakes, coconut milk, sugar, bibingka, basi, cigars, and a fee of a dozen betels.
(source: The The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology, Maximo Ramos, 1990 Phoenix Publishing)

ANSISIT – (Ilokano)The Ilokanos call him ansisit. He is an old man who is as short as a boy of three. His joints, belly, head, eyes, nose, and mouth are large. He lives underground and owns all the land. He lives in caves and anthills, too. Anthills are mounds of earth made by termites. He naps on the anthill at noon. He does not want farmers to plow the ground with tractors. He fears that plowing with heavy tractors will ruin his home. He visits people’s yards after the sun has set. He walks under our homes at noon and after dark. He doesn’t want us to sweep our yard or floor then. If we do, the dust may get into his eyes. He pinches us, and our skin becomes blue. He pulls our toes and makes them twice as long. He gives us scabies, fever, and chills.
(source: Philippine Demonological Legends and their Cultural Bearings and The Creatures of Midnight, Maximo Ramos, 1990, Phoenix Publishing)

APILA – (Manobo) Apíla is an innocuous giant whose one great pleasure is to leave his far-off forest home and, crashing down the timber in his giant strides, go in quest of a wrestling bout with Mandayáñgan. The noise of their fierce engagement can be heard, it is said, for many and many a league, and there are not wanting those who have witnessed their mighty struggle for supremacy.
(source: THE MANÓBOS OF MINDANÁO, JOHN M. GARVAN, 1931)

ARIMAONGA – (Maranao) Arimaonga is the term used for lion. It appears in traditional Maranao folktales such as “Pilandok and Arimaonga” (The Mouse-Deer and the Lion). It is also described in a Maranao myth as one of the moon-eaters.

“Up in the sky lives a huge lion named Arimaonga. The animal sometimes gets playful and it swallows the moon thus producing an eclipse of the moon. The Arimaonga is forced by the people to disgorge the moon only by making noises during an eclipse of the moon, by beating gongs and plucking their fingernails. The eclipse of the sun happens when one of the wheels of the chariot which carries it gets destroyed thus forcing it to deviate from its regular path.”
(source: Philippine Folk Literature: The Myths and Philippine Folk Literature: The Folktales, Damiana Eugenio, UP Press, 2001)

ASUÁNG – (Bagobo, Mayo Disctrict) This name is applied to a class of malevolent spirits who inhabit certain trees, cliffs and streams. They delight to trouble or injure the living, and sickness is usually caused by them. For this reason, when a person falls ill, a ballyan offers a live chicken to these spirits bidding them “to take and kill this chicken in place of this man, so that he need not die.” If the patient recovers it is understood that the asuang have agreed to the exchange and the bird is released in the jungle.

There are many spirits who are known as asuang but the five most powerful are here given according to their rank, (a) Tagbanua, (b) Tagamaling, (c) Sigbinan, (d) Lumaman, (e) Bigwa. The first two are of equal importance and are only a little less powerful than Diwata. They sometimes inhabit caves but generally reside in the bud-bud (baliti) trees. The ground beneath these trees is generally free from undergrowth and thus it is known that “a spirit who keeps his yard clean resides there.” In clearing ground for a new field it sometimes becomes necessary to cut down one of these trees, but before it is disturbed an offering of betel-nut, food, and a white chicken is carried to the plot. The throat of the fowl is cut and its blood is allowed to fall in the roots of the tree. Meanwhile one of the older men calls the attention of the spirits to the offerings and begs that they be accepted in payment for the dwelling which they are about to destroy. This food is never eaten, as is customary with offerings made to other spirits. After a lapse of two or three days it is thought that the occupant of the tree has had time to move and the plot is cleared.
(source: The Wild Tribes of the Davao District, Fay-Cooper Cole, 1913)

ASWANG – The aswang concept is most usefully understood as a congeries of beliefs about five types of mythical beings identifiable with certain creatures of the European tradition: (1) the blood-sucking vampire, (2) the self-segmenting viscera sucker, (3) the man-eating weredog, (4) the vindictive or evil-eye witch, and (5) the carrion-eating ghoul. Thus when Philippine folk speak of the aswang, they generally refer to the physical traits, habitat, or activities of these five types of mythical beings, and sometimes also of other mythical entities like the demon, dwarf, and elf. What follows is a brief description of each aspect of the aswang, a term chiefly used by the Tagalogs, Bikol, and Visayan groups in the country.

(Blood sucker Aspect: Bicol, Cebu, Visayas, Ilokano) By Philippine folk traditions, the vampire is a bloodsucking creature disguised as a beautiful maiden. It marries an unsuspecting youth and thus can sip a little of his blood each night till he dies of anemia, whereupon the monster gets itself another husband. To suck blood the vampire uses the tip of its tongue, pointed like the proboscis of a mosquito, to pierce the jugular vein.

(Viscera Sucker Aspect: Bicol, Luzon) The viscera sucker is a mythical being said to suck out the internal organs (naguneg in Iloko, laman luob in Tagalog, kasudlan in West Visayan) or to feed on the voided phlegm of the sick. This creature rarely occurs in European folklore but is widespread in Malaysia. It is reported to look like an attractive woman by day, buxom, long-haired, and light complexioned. Its tongue is extended, narrow, and tubular like a drinking straw — but not pointed like the vampire’s— and it is capable of being distended to a great length. At night the monster discards its lower body from the waist down and flies or floats or glides out.

(Were-Beast Aspects: Bicol, Cebu, Western Visayas, Luzon) The weredog is a mythical being said to be a man or woman— chiefly the former—by day, but at night to turn into a ferocious beast, principally a dog, known as aso in many Philippine languages. A werewolf is identified with the fiercest animal in a region, so that Europe has werewolves, China werefoxes, and India weretigers. Since there are no wolves in the Philippines, the term weredog is more appropriate; although the term werebeast may, in some cases, be even more applicable.
A weredog is said to reside in a village and turn into a ferocious dog, boar, or large cat at about midnight.

(Witch Aspects: Bicol, Cebu, Eastern Visayas) Another member of the cluster of mythical concepts encompassed by the term aswang is the witch, believed by the folk to be a man or woman—mostly the latter— who is extremely vindictive or who causes sickness without meaning to do so. By magically intruding various objects—shells, bone, unhusked rice, fish, and insects of various species—through the victim’s bodily orifices or by herself entering the victim’s body, the Philippine witch punishes those by whom she has been put out. Or by an innocent look or remark, she also makes an equally innocent victim ill. Unlike the European witches, however, the Philippine witch has no appetite for human flesh. She is shy and lives in abandoned houses at the outskirts of towns and villages. She will not look people straight in the eye because the image in the pupils of her eyes is said to be upside down and the pupils are thin and elongated like a cat’s or lizard’s in bright sunshine.

(Ghoul Aspect: Many areas in the Philippines) The Philippine ghoul is said to steal human corpses and devour them. For this purpose, its nails are horned, curved, and sharp and its teeth pointed. Its smell and breath are fetid, and though generally invisible, the creature is said to look like a human being when it shows itself. Some ghouls live in human communities. At night they congregate in large trees near a cemetery and then descend atid exhume the newly buried corpses. They devour their plunder, making audible noises as they do so. A ghoul is said to be able to hear, over great distances, the groans of the dying. Its greed is aroused when it catches the scent of death, and then it snatches the mourners as well as the dead.
(source: The Aswang Complex in Philippine Folklore, Maximo Ramos, 1990, Phoenix Publishing)

ASUWANG NA LAKAW – (Bicol) A classification of asuwang detailed by Francis Lynch, S.J. in his paper “An Mga Asuwang: A Bicol Belief”. This kind of asuwang, the walking species, is by far the most common. Asuwang na lakaw decides, about 6 p.m., where he or she operates that night by putting his ear to the rice mortar and listening to sounds of mourners, or listens for such sounds while standing on his head, resting in a shallow hole in the ground, or, say others, removing the cover of a specially made listening well and listening. At 8 o’clock he leaves for his operations. Some claim this asuwang uses a special concoction rubbed over its body (a premixed ointment consisting of chicken dung and coconut oil).
(source: An Mga Asuwang: A Bicol Belief, Francis X. Lynch, S.J., 1949 | The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology, Maximo Ramos, 1990 Phoenix Publishing)

ASUWANG NA LAYOG – (Bicol) A classification of asuwang detailed by Francis Lynch, S.J. in his paper “An Mga Asuwang: A Bicol Belief”. There are two kinds of flying asuwang: the simple asuwang na layog, and the anananggal. They differ in that the latter type leaves its trunk and limbs in some secluded spot while the head and entrails take to the air. The former flies with its entire body intact.

Lynch, from his compilation of Bikol asuwang studies, revealed that the anananggal goes into the hidden portion of the house or a secluded area, then, “…..dipping his right hand into the foul smelling ointment which he has prepared, applies it on the line beginning from the tip of of the little finger of the left hand, progressing the length of the arm to the armpit, thence down his left side and the outer side of his left leg, ending at the tip of the little toe. Then the left hand is dipped into the chicken dung mixture and the process is duplicated on the right side of the body. During the operations, he repeats to himself, but alone, the following formula or its equivalent: Siri siri daing Diyos kung banggi, labaw sa kahoyan, lagbas sa kasirongan! Literally translated, the formula reads, “siri, siri, there is no God at night, over trees, under houses.”

Supposedly after the application of the chicken dung mixture, an oily membrane appears on both sides of the body, more like flying skin folds. For the ordinary layog, he needs only to jump and hop for momentum before he ascends to the night sky. The anananggal reacts differently. Propping himself against a wall, if there be one, through magic he is then presumed to detach himself from his lower limbs. The cry kakak or kikik is heard in the process of flight.

The anananggal creature perches on the roof where he droolingly awaits his next meal, and it is his long thread-like tongue that passes through the roof shingles.
(source: An Mga Asuwang: A Bicol Belief, Francis X. Lynch, S.J., 1949)

ASWANG – (Kapampangan) Was a mean, dark creature who rubbed a special ointment on his armpits to fly in search of the dying instead of the already dead.
(source: Kapampangan beliefs circa 1900 can be found in accounts compiled by ethnographer H. Otley Beyer, in an unpublished volume at the HAU Center for Kapampangan Studies courtesy of Beyer’s family | compiled by Robby Tantingco)

ASWANG NA LUPAD – (Bicol) Another name used in Bicol for the flying aswang.
(source: The Aswang Complex in Philippine Folklore, Maximo Ramos, 1990, Phoenix Publishing)

AWAN-ULO-NA – (Iloko) This creature is a headless being often vaguely referred to in the Iloko region as the awan-ulo-na, ‘headless one’. It is said to be sometimes seen under large trees and to have the demon’s characteristic habit of changing its size and shape. It may be related to a being that appears in the Ifugao myth entitled “Tulud Numputul: The Self-beheaded,” a headless demon appears to the human hero, “his neck stump bubbling and frothing as he dances along his way.”
(source: The The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology, Maximo Ramos, 1990 Phoenix Publishing)

AWOK – (Waray) Similarly, the abat and awok of the Eastern Visayas have been described as extremely dangerous beings that fly with only the upper part of their body and have big, red, bulging and hungry eyes, disheveled hair, and long bony and clawed fingers. They are reported to fly with only their heads and hands. Maximo Ramos points out that the awok may simply be a different name for the abat used in other Visayan areas.
(source: The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology and The Creatures of Midnight , Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

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BACOBACO – (Zambales) In 1915, Henry Otley Beyer recorded a myth of the Ayta living in Zambales that sounds very much like a volcanic eruption of Pinatubo. The battle is between Algao, which may be northern name for the Sun (related to Aldo), and Bacobaco, a great sea turtle. In this account Algao and Bacobaco have a great battle in which the latter eventually bores into the top of Pinatubo creating a great crater and emitting great flames, huge rocks, mud, ashes, smoke and deafening noise in the process. According to the legend, Bacobaco continued to dwell in the mountain and when he comes out “woe be to us.”

BAGAT – (Central Panay) The bagat, according to the Central Panay people, are seen on a full moon, or when it is extremely dark after a slight drizzle earlier in the evening. They assume the form of domestic animals and are normally harmless. However, they are dangerous when harmed. Some of them are pets of supernatural beings. The aswang also sometimes take the form of the bagat.
(Source: The Encyclopedia of Philippine Folk Beliefs and Customs Vol. 1 , F.R. Demetrio S.J., Xavier University, 1990)

BAG-ONG YANGGAW – (Hiligaynon) The term yanggaw is an Ilonggo term that refers to infection, more specifically, of an affliction that turns normal human beings into aswangs. It was popularized with Richard Somes’ 2008 film “Yanggaw”. Bag-ong Yanggaw refers to a newly empowered or ‘infected’ aswang. A newly empowered aswáng is aggressive and dangerous, and is likely to kill people they encounter alone near rivers at night. There are no historical sources for Bag-ong Yanggaw.

BAKUNAWA – (Western Visayas) Sometimes a deity that was represented as a serpentine dragon, according to Filipino mythology. He has two sets of wings, whiskers, a red tongue, and a mouth ‘the size of a lake.’ The Filipinos once thought that the Bakunawa lived in the sea at a time when the world had seven moons that the serpents, being fascinated by their light, would rise out of the sea into the sky and consume the moons. Thus, the serpents were the cause of lunar eclipses. To prevent the world from becoming dark the people would run out of their homes, taking their pots and pans, to make the most noise they could in order to scare the Bakunawa so they would stop eating the moons, and give them the moonlight back. But in some versions, these serpents also devour the sun in which case also cause the solar eclipse. (Learn more about Bakunawa)

BAKUNAWA – (Bicol) The ancient Bikols were also nature worshippers. They stood in awe and prostrated themselves in worship before the ineffable god of nature. The halia was a feast dedicated to the full moon to prevent the bakunawa, a horrible sky serpent from devouring the moon and leaving them in perpetual darkness. The feast was performed with the wild beating of the gimbals and balalongs.
(source: Bikol Beliefs and Folkways, Eden K. Nasayao, PhD, Hablong Dawani Publishing House, 2010)

BALBAL – (Tagbunuwa) Dean C. Worcester wrote a vivid description of the balbal which the Tagbanuwa believe in: While a corpse is awaiting burial, the Tagbanua are in dread of a mythical creature called balbal, which they say comes from the Moro country. It sails through the air like a flying squirrel. In form it is manlike, with curved nails which it uses to tear up the thatch houses, and a long tongue with which it reaches down to “lick up” the bodies.”
(source: The The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology, Maximo Ramos, 1990 Phoenix Publishing)

BALBAL – (Maranao) Another specie of witch is the so-called balbal, which is said to evolve when the bird laasan (possibly a kingfisher) enters a person’s body and with its gradual growth within, enhances the bewitched person’s metamorphosis. Traditionally making a nocturnal appearance, especially during a full moon, the balbal is noted for devouring corpses as well as foetuses, making it the scourge of women in the family way. Its compulsive habit of yawning whenever faced with corpses during wakes seems to be a common means of detecting a balbal.
(Source: Witchcraft, Filipino Style, Nid Anima, Omar Publishing, 1978)

BALBALAN – (Tausog) The Tausogs have a counterpart of the Visayan aswang in the so-called balbalan as, like the former, this character has the power to transform into a cat, dog or bird. As such, it is naturally terribly feared.
(Source: Witchcraft, Filipino Style, Nid Anima, Omar Publishing, 1978)

BALENDIK – (Dumagat Aeta) Name that the Negritos Dumagats (from the northeastern coast of Luzón) give to a demon with skinny legs, of whitish color and that has the head of a horse.
(source: DICCIONARIO MITOLÓGICO DE FILIPINAS, Ferdinand Blumentritt [1895], translated and republished by The Aswang Project, 2021)

BALINONOK and BALINSOGO – (Bagobo) Balinonok and his wife Balinsogo. This couple love blood and for this reason cause men and women to fight or to run amuck.
(source: The Wild Tribes of Davao District, Mindanao, Fay-Cooper Cole, The R. F. Cummings Philippine Expedition, 1913)

BALINSUGU – (Bagobo) Balinsugu is another dangerous spirit that stirs up enmity at ceremonies, in the hope that good men may be induced to fight and kill one another in the house where many are assembled, and thus give him blood to drink. Benedict witnessed a devotional meeting when one of the anito urged the Bagobo to be on their guard against Tagareso and Balinsugu.
(source: A study of Bagobo ceremonial, magic and myth, Laura Watson Benedict, New York Academy of Sciences, 1916)

BANGUNGOT – (Tagalogs) The close link between demons and nightmares is indicated by the fact that the dream demons are quite common.The bangungot, a nightmare said to beset persons who go to sleep immediately after a heavy meal, has been blamed for some mysterious deaths in years past. It is said that when a person is attacked by the bangungot, a heavy creature suffocates him by sitting on his chest or by stuffing his mouth with its penis and his nostrils with its testicles. Deaths traced to bangungot have puzzled medical doctors in the country for some time and its tie-up with demon lore may be worth looking into. (learn more)
(source: The The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology, Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

BANIG – (Ifugao) Whenever there is a death the soul of the deceased roams about for a while as a temporary or transient ghost. Ghosts of those dead from natural causes are not much feared, but those dead from violence or childbirth are. Besides transient (disembodied) ghosts the Ifugao sees in almost everything and every place permanent ( unembodied) ones. These permanent ghosts (not individually named), aside from scaring people well nigh to death, cause sickness. If the agba, the divination stick, points to ghosts as the source of an affliction, it is necessary to sacrifice a chicken in the fields at midnight. In such a rite the priest knows, when he feels his body swell up, that the ghosts have come to partake of the offering.
(source: The Religion of the Ifugaos, R.F. Barton, American Anthropological Association Vol. 48, October 1946)

BANIG and PENTEN – (Ibaloy) The banig are spirits of an almost dying person while the penten are spirits of people who died a violent death. They live in rivers and cause the river to swell or rise when one crosses, especially during rainy season.
(source: Ethnography of the Major Ethnolinguistic Groups in the Philippines, Arsenio L. Sumeng-ang, New Day Publishers, 2003)

BANNOG – (Ilokano, Tingguian) Most Philippine giants appear to have human shape, although one, the bannog of Northern Luzon, was in the form of a huge bird. The bannog which features in the Tingguian tale “Sogsogot” was large enough to swoop down on a hunter, clutch him in its talons, and carry him to its nest on top of a large tree. The bannog in an Isneg tale, “The Negrito and the Birds,” flew off with both the hunter and the hunter’s catch, a wild boar. The young of the bannog were so large that a hunter rode out of the nest on one of them as it fluttered down in its first flight.
(source: The The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology, Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

BANTAY – (Pangansinan) An old man living in a large tree. He turns into a white rooster that grows bigger and smaller. It stops people from going near a tree, or blocks their path so they can’t pass.
(Source:The Creatures of Midnight , Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

BANWAANON – (Cebu) – “Banwaanon,” in the Cebuano tongue, means “of the jungle.” In this respect the banwaanon are therefore similar to Scandinavia’s tomtegubbar (diminutive old men) who are supposed to inhabit forest lands. A minority of the banwaanon are thought of as witches who cast their vile spell not on fellow banwaanon but on some earthlings who are so unlucky as to wander unwittingly into their habitat. Having to do with demonology and angelology is the belief common to all nationalities that supernatural beings, as delineated in folklore, are either beneficent or malevolent towards man. Even the denizens of fairyland, who are understood to be mostly helpful, are thus classified. So are the banwaanon of the Cebu-Visayan Filipinos.
(source: Philippine Folk Literature: The Legends, Damiana Eugenio,UP Press, 2002)

BARANGAN – (Samar, Leyte) The witch who pricks dolls with eyeless needles to inflict pain on a person whom their client hates and wishes ill fortune is called barangan. Another of its ritual is writing an intended victim’s name on a piece of paper and together with a cross, wraps it in a small piece of cloth. This is then buried a tiny hole in the cemetery, after which the barangan lies flat on his breast reciting Latin-sounding incantation and concluding the ritual by kissing the ground three times. At no other time is this done than at 12:00 high noon, 6.00 p.m. during angelus and 12:00 midnight. The identifying mark on a barangan is a circular black spot on her palate. This is believed to have be6n there since her birth.
(source: Witchcraft, Filipino Style, Nid Anima, Omar Publishing, 1978 & The Aswang Complex in Philippine Folklore, Maximo Ramos, 1990, Phoenix Publishing)

BARAS – (Pangansinan) Tall, dark and hideous. Lives in the deep woods. He steals women carries them off to his home. When they awaken, they are terrified and go insane.
(Source: The Creatures of Midnight , Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

BATIBAT – (Iloko) – It takes the form of an old, fat woman residing in trees, and is very vengeful. Most punishments they endure includes suffocation. They punish people who cut the tree to where they dwell. Whoever rests or sleeps on the wooden bench or bed which came from the wood of her tree, will die by sitting over that person. The only way to escape her is to press hardly the thumb toe of that human sleeping on it. (learn more)
(source: The The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology, Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

BAWA – (Antique) – The bawa are supernatural entities with wide dangling lips enough to cover their face. They can take the form of a chicken and make their presence known by a cackling sound. They can also transform themselves into a cow, a pig, a stone, or a dog. The bawa are believed to be harmless if left to themselves. Once they are harmed, however, they could be very cruel because they could wring the neck of a carabao or that of a man.
(Source: The Enduring Ma-Aram Tradition, Alicia P. Magos., New Day, 1992)

BERBALANG – (Sulu) “At the center of the island is a small village, the inhabitants of which owe allegiance to neither of the two chiefs. These people are called ‘Berbalangs’, and the Cagayans live in great fear of them. These Berbalangs are a kind of ghouls, and feed on human flesh occasionally to survive. You can always identify them, because the pupils of their eyes are not round, but just narrow slits like those of a cat. They dig open the graves and eat the entrails of the corpses; but in Cagayan the supply is limited. So when they feel the craving for a feed of human flesh they go away into the grasslands, and, having carefully hidden themselves, hold their breaths and fall into a trance. Their astral bodies are then liberated…. They fly away, and entering a house make their way into the body of one of the occupants and feed on their entrails….. The arrival of the Berbalangs may be heard from afar, as they make a moaning noise which is loud from a distance but dies away into a feeble moan as they approach. When they are near you the sound of their wings may be heard and the flashing lights of their eyes can be seen like dancing fire-flies in the dark. Should you be the happy possessor of a cocoa-nut pearl you are safe, but otherwise the only way to beat them off is to jab at them with a kris, the blade of which has been rubbed with the juice of a lime. If you see the lights and hear the moaning in front of you, wheel fast and make a cut in the opposite direction. Berbalangs always go by contraries and are never where they appear to be.”
(source:Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. LXV Part 1. Mr. Ethelbert Forbes Skertchley, 1896)

BENTOHANGIN– (Sulod, Antique, Panay) The bentohangin resemble that of a flying horse, but half of their body is that of a man. They neigh like a horse and are known to roam the village past midnight.
(Source: The Enduring Ma-Aram Tradition, Alicia P. Magos., New Day, 1992)

BERBEROKA – (Apayao) The size of Berberoka, the Apayao ogre, is indicated by the fact that the river dried up when he reclined across it, and when he suddenly got up, the people who had gone to pick up the stranded fish drowned. Berberoka “could change himself at will,” and reclined across a stream and suddenly got up each time a crab pinched him. He grew correspondingly larger in size as the water which he dammed up with his body rose, but he was killed when he swallowed a woman who had a hatchet concealed in her hair.
(source: The The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology, Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

BIANGONAN – (Batak, Palawan) The Biangonan is described as a small human with black skin, kinky dark hair, and feet pointing backwards. They can sometimes be found climbing through the tallest trees. It can transform into a human or a pig, where it will use this guise to sneak into a village and steal a pig or a human for its consumption. When villagers detect a rotting smell, they know a Biangonan is near. They will light a large fire which is believed to ward it off. The Biangonan devours every part of the human they steal from the village, but will leave the jaw bone of the victim hanging in a tree. An alternate description appears in “The Encyclopedia of Philippine Folk Beliefs and Customs Volume 1” : The Batak believe that biangonan are small people possessed of talons who hide in rocks and trees. When they attack their victims, they utter long piercing shrieks that paralyze their victims. Then they tear and claw at the throat of the helpless man.
(Source: The Encyclopedia of Philippine Folk Beliefs and Customs Vol. 1 , F.R. Demetrio S.J., Xavier University, 1990)

BINANGENAN – (Zambales, Ayta) Damian Amazona, writing about the Aeta along the eastern periphery of Luzon, defined the binangenan [sic] as “the spirits who bring down danger, sickness, and death as punishment. Their home is the balete tree.”
(source: The The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology, Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

BINANGUNAN – (Dumagat, Aeta on Luzon) The binangunan have an unmistakable physical resemblance to the tikbalang of the Tagalogs. Accounts say the binangunan “looked somewhat like a horse, but there was a fire on its back from head to tail.” The binangunan resided in the takang demonio (Sterculia foetida), a tree characterized by the foul smell of its flowers, and in the pitcher plant, respectively.
(source: The The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology, Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

BINANGUNAN – (Kapampangan) Vampirish beings that could suck the blood of children even from a distance. Thin, anemic children were thought to be victimized by a binangunan.
(source: Kapampangan beliefs circa 1900 can be found in accounts compiled by ethnographer H. Otley Beyer, in an unpublished volume at the HAU Center for Kapampangan Studies courtesy of Beyer’s family | compiled by Robby Tantingco)

BINGIL – (Kalinga, Gaddang) If a sangasang (shrine)was not erected at a new site settled by these shifting cultivators, it was said that a bingi would appear- a person covered with old wounds and pus, and smelling like rotten flesh, with his tongue hanging out, like a severed head. Illness or death would plague the settlement until a shrine was erected. The bingil could only be propitiated by a headhunt or a large animal sacrifice and a chase (dagdag) in which all the village residents took part.

For this rite, an effigy of the bingil is tied to a pole where the shrine will be erected, with a banana trunk as its body, rags hung on it for clothes, and an old raincoat. A broken pot on top represents the head. Bamboo tubes ate struck with other objects to make noise and to drive the bingil out of the village. The participants chase it out toward the effigy, then strike the banana trunk with spears of the same kind used in headhunts and run away to the village. A medium who joins them in the chase becomes possessed by the bingil and pursues them back to their houses. Her tongue hangs out like the bingil, and her touch is said to kill any person she catches. When the participants have arrived back at the house once haunted by the bingil, the bingil-medium says he will no longer molest them and leaves, to stay at the village shrine with the other guardians.
(source: Headhunting and the Social Imagination in Southeast Asia by Jules de Raedt, Janet Hoskins, 1996)

BINOBAAN – (Ifugao) The Ifugaos gave him the name of Binobaan. He has a voice as loud as thunder. He lives in a house in the farthest woods. His house is roofed with forest leaves. He stores up bundles of rice under the roof. He cooks rice in a great big pot. He invites lost hunters to enter his house.
(source: The Creatures of Midnight , Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

BIRADDALI – (Tausug, Sulu) ‘Biraddali’ is usually translated from Tausug or other Samal languages as ‘angel’ or ‘skymaiden’ They are female winged beings with the glowing beauty of the rainbow. In some legends each biraddali has a pair or silver wings that they can remove. In other myths, these maidens can change shape. They use the rainbow as a bridge to visit earth. Whenever a rainbow is seen the biraddali are usually enjoying a pleasant bath in the mountains. There are some Samal myths wherein a mortal man steals a biraddali’s wings to make her his wife. The biraddali eventually finds her silver wings and escapes the clutches of the man, with some versions ending with the man learning his lesson and becoming worthy of the biraddali through a series of tasks.
(source: Voices from Sulu. A Collection of Tausug Oral Traditions, Gerard Rixhon, Ateneo De Manila Univ Press, 2010)

BONḠAN – (Bicol) Demonic dwarves and malignant spirits of the early Bicolanos.
(source: DICCIONARIO MITOLÓGICO DE FILIPINAS, Ferdinand Blumentritt [1895], translated and republished by The Aswang Project, 2021)

BONGGO – (Bicol) Bonggo is a human-like monster whose eyes spew out fire. It burns everything it sees. It is afraid to cross rivers as when he touches water, its fire is extinguished. And when this happens, it dies. Its victims are mostly women. This is because it is in constant search for its wife, the aswang, who deserted it.
(source: Bikol Beliefs and Folkways, Eden K. Nasayao, PhD, Hablong Dawani Publishing House, 2010)

BORINGKANTADA – (Bicol) A boringkantada is a beautiful woman that closely guards a heap of untold riches and treasures. Possessed with such physical beauty, and an unbelievably beautiful voice, it whiles away its time by singing to itself. When someone, lured by the ethereal beauty of its plaintive song, draws near, the boringkantada would think that its treasure will be stolen. It then becomes vicious, and its jealousy is so that it would immediately suck the blood out of anyone who dares come near it or its treasure.
(source: Bikol Beliefs and Folkways, Eden K. Nasayao, PhD, Hablong Dawani Publishing House, 2010)

BOROKA – (Zambales) In Dean Fansler’s 1921 Filipino Popular Tales he theorized that “Boroka, (is) apparently a corruption of the Spanish bruja (“witch”).” Maximo Ramo’s entry in his 1965 dissertation The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology states: “But in the years when the present writer was a boy in Zambales, people went into hysterics every time the boroka, a viscera sucker, was thought to have made its presence felt. There a boroka in a tale “Pedro and the Witch” is reported to have “had wings like a bird . . . but a head like that of a woman,” although the present investigator’s Zambales informants described the boroka as the true viscera sucker in both appearance and habits: physical beauty, ability to detach the lower portion of her body about midnight before she went out on a raid, in the form of a bird returning with the hearts and livers of her victims before dawn, her inability to join the upper portion of her body to the lower if ashes and a mixture of salt and vinegar were sprinkled on the latter, and her being frightened off by calling out these substances when signs of her proximity were evident.”
(source: The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology and The Creatures of Midnight , Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

BUGSOK – (Bicol) Bugsok is a black fairy that walks with its feet up and its hands down. It buries objects like stones, sticks, and fish bones into people’s bodies causing victims to be seriously ill. The herbulario can cure such ailment, and can pick out a stone or fishbone or whatever from a body where the bugsok “buried” them. The Bugsok is the cruel son of the maligno. It lives in the thick forests where there are big ants and spiders. If it happens to be harmed by playing children, it causes them to swell from the knees down. This will give them so much pain, and the condition will make the children raise their legs and use their hands to walk. Eventually the victims also become bugsok, or turned upside down.
(source: Bikol Beliefs and Folkways, Eden K. Nasayao, PhD, Hablong Dawani Publishing House, 2010)

BULAIYAO – (Kalinga) The bulaiyao live in big rocks, hot springs, and volcanoes. They have a fiery appearance which they can turn on or turn off. They capture or devour souls. Gulilingob ud Tangob is the strongest of all the bulaiyao. This class is, of course, the same as the Ifugao tayaban.
(source: THE KALINGAS: Their Institutions and Customs Laws, Roy Franklin Barton, The University of Chicago Press, 1949)

BULALÁKAU – (Bukidnon of Mindanao) Another multiple spirit, often ranked as a lesser Magbabaya, is Bulalákau, the spirit or spirits of the water. They have their home in the center of the sea but they also frequent springs, streams and rivers. They are sometimes spoken of collectively as Talawahig, “dwellers in the water.” One of these spirits is responsible for drowning. He pulls a person down, takes out his spirit, and throws the body to the surface. “We know that this is true for when the body is recovered the spirit is gone.” Bulalákau properly belongs to the group of nature spirits known as Inkanto, and he is often addressed with others in that division.
(source: The Bukidnon of Mindanao. Fay-Cooper Cole. Harold C. Conklin,. Columbia University, 1957)

BULAW – (Buhid Mangyan) According to Buhid Mangyan beliefs, theBulaw are those who live in mountain peaks and are depicted as shooting stars because they fly from one peak to another and light their way with a torch made from human bone.
(source: The ties that bind: The Buhid Mangyan People of Mindoro, their Sacred Lands and Medicine Mountain, NewCAPP, 2014)

BUNGISNGIS – (Tagalogs) In a Batangas tale, the giant Bungisngis is described as “a large strong man who is always laughing.” He has but one eye. His name is said to be derived from the Tagalog word ngisi (‘to show the teeth’). He is also said to have “an upper lip so large that when it is thrown back, it completely covers [his] face.” His strength is indicated by his reportedly seizing a carabao by the horns and throwing it “knee-deep into the earth.”
(source: The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology and The Creatures of Midnight , Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

BURIKAY – (Isneg) Burikay (Buriay), the Isneg ogre, devoured men, too, perhaps by first opening them up, as can be deduced from three Isneg folk songs.”
(source: The The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology, Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

BURULAKAW – (Antique) The burulakaw appear like balls of fire with tails when viewed at a distance. Actually they are small women with long hair appearing like strands of fire covering their bodies. They resemble shooting stars except that they travel horizontally in the air in a sloping manner starting from a point of origin which is usually a stream or shallow well. Once they reach a destination, they disappear. They travel day and night, but they could only be seen in the evening when there is no more glare from the sun. Because they travel fast, they are believed to be the messengers of supernaturals in the higher order.
(Source: The Enduring Ma-Aram Tradition, Alicia P. Magos., New Day, 1992)

BÚSAU – (Manobo, parts of Agúsan Valley) The búsau, black, hideous spirits that dwell in dark, desolate places, and who are for the most part implacable enemies of man. To counteract the machinations of these spirits, the beneficent dieties[sic] are called upon by Manóbo priests and feasted with song and dance and sacrifice. Pleased with these tokens of friendship, the good spirits pursue the evil ones, and even engage in battle with them.
(source: THE MANÓBOS OF MINDANÁO, JOHN M. GARVAN, 1931)

BUSAU/ BUSAW – (Mandaya) Among the Mandaya at the north end of Davao Gulf this spirit is also known as Tuglinsau, Tagbusau, or Mandangum. He looks after the welfare of the bagani, or warriors, and is in many respects similar to Mandarangan of the Bagobo. He is described as a gigantic man who always shows his teeth and is otherwise of ferocious aspect. A warrior seeing him is at once filled with a desire to kill. By making occasional offerings of pigs and rice it is usually possible to keep him from doing injury to a settlement, but at times these gifts fail of their purpose and many people are slain by those who serve him. Among the Mandaya, the balyan (baylan) plays an important role in their rituals, religious or otherwise. Offerings and libations are common practices. Offerings may be a bagi where pigs, chickens and other animals are offered to the diwata to ward off the evil spirits or busaw.
(source: The Wild Tribes of the Davao District, Fay-Cooper Cole, 1913, The Encyclopedia of Philippine Folk Beliefs and Customs Vol. 2 , F.R. Demetrio S.J., Xavier University, 1990)

 

BUSO – (Bagobo) Mean, evil spirits who eat dead people and have some power to injure the living. A young Bagobo described his idea of a buso as follows: “He has a long body, long feet and neck, curly hair, and black face, flat nose, and one big red or yellow eye. He has big feet and fingers, but small arms, and his two big teeth are long and pointed. Like a dog he goes about eating anything, even dead persons.” As already noted, the people of Malilla are inclined to identify the gimokod of the left side with this evil class.
(source: The Wild Tribes of the Davao District, Fay-Cooper Cole, 1913)

BUTAT-TEW – (Ibaloy) Spirits who group themselves to misguide people in their paths or in their activities.
(source: Ethnography of the Major Ethnolinguistic Groups in the Philippines, Arsenio L. Sumeng-ang, New Day Publishers, 2003)

BUWAYA – (Many regions as a crocodile) It is called buwaya all over our country. The buwaya is a crocodile. But Tagalogs and Visayans thought it was a dragon. They thought it carried a big box on its back. It lived in a cave in deep water. It caught people in the water. Then it put them in the box on its back. It took them to its cave in the water. The people prayed to the buwaya. They called it nuno or “grandfather.” They gave it food when they saw it.The chiefs punished people who killed it.
(source: The Creatures of Midnight , Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

BUYAGAN – (Cebu) A buyagan is a person known to cause certain ailments by merely commenting on anyone. It is a popular belief that one who is born coincidentally with the rising of the sun (pagsilaw sa adlaw) will grow up to be a dangerous buyagan. A first class buyagan possesses a very dark tongue.”

“A real buyagan uses only his saliva to cure an ailment that may result from the comments made. . . .”

“In cases where the real buyagan could not be found, anyone who has been treated by him is considered qualified to administer the treatment. In this case bun- ga* (a fruit), mayana* leaves an ash from the hearth are chewed together and this concoction is spat on the head, on the temples, at the nape, at the spinal column, and on the joints of the limbs. Other effects of buyag are itches or scabies and pain in that part of the body commented upon.”
(source: Cebuano Sorcery: Malign Magic in the Philippines. By Richard W. Lieban. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1967)

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CALAG – (Hiligaynon)…they did not usually wait three days before burying the corpse, for it was said that if three days passed, the calag, together with several tic-tic, would touch the coffin, whereupon the belly of the deceased would burst, and a very strong and fever-bearing stench would be emitted.
(source: The The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology, Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

CALANGET – (Gaddang) A small earth spirit in the ground, in a mound, or woods and fields. Makes whizzing sound when responding to shaman’s call. Regarded as “the true owner of the land”. Inflicts harm on those who disturb its home.
(source: The The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology, Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

CAMANA – (Zambales) An evil spirit that lives in gloomy places. It can assume the form of any small animal, or can make itself invisible. If a person who comes across the camana does not propitiate it with food or something entertaining, he will become sick; and he can be cured only by an old woman who is a manganito.
(source: Types of Prose Narratives, Harriott Ely Fansler, Row, Peterson & Company, 1911)

CARANGO – (Ibanag) A small earth spirit in the ground, in a mound, or woods and fields. Makes whizzing sound when responding to shaman’s call. Regarded as “the true owner of the land”. Inflicts harm on those who disturb its home.
(source: The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology, Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

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DÁBUA DÁBUA – (Manobo) Among the Manobo giants, there are others, lesser but more human, the principal of whom is Dábau. Dábau lived on a small mountain in view of the present site of Veruéla. It is said that, before beginning his trip up the Agúsan, he sent word to the inhabitants of the Umaíam River that on a certain day he would pass through the lake region and that all rice should be carefully protected against the commotion of the waters.
(source: THE MANÓBOS OF MINDANÁO, JOHN M. GARVAN, 1931)

DÁGUA – (Manobo, parts of Agúsan Valley) A mischievous, fickle spirit that delights in stealing the rice from the granary. If aroused to anger she may cause a failure of the rice crop. She is called also Ma-ka-bún-ta-sái, i.e., “can cause hunger.”
(source: THE MANÓBOS OF MINDANÁO, JOHN M. GARVAN, 1931)

DAKES – (Ilokano ) Malignant spirits of the Ilocano mythology.
(source: DICCIONARIO MITOLÓGICO DE FILIPINAS, Ferdinand Blumentritt [1895], translated and republished by The Aswang Project, 2021)

DALAKETNON – (Waray) They are called dalakitnon by the East Visayans. Their name means ‘those who live in the balete tree’. They appear like good-looking tall men and women. Their skin is smooth and white. Their hair is wavy and brown. Their clothes have gold and silver threads. They mix with people and attend public dances. They go to college and travel in foreign lands. They drive new cars and win beauty contests. But they live deep in the wild woods. What we think are balete trees are their mansions. We hear the clink of dishes in their kitchens. We smell their cooking and hear their babies cry. An attractive city girl once came to the village. She wanted to spend a quiet summer near a forest. A good-looking youth met her at the village dance. They danced and danced, and she fell in love. She agreed to visit his folks. In his car he drove her to a beautiful city. The streets were wide and the houses were splendid. Next morning she was found weeping in the woods alone.
(source: The Creatures of Midnight , Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

DALIGMATA – (Visayan) A wizard , sorcerer or a nocturnal animal which , according to the Bisayans , is full of bright , shining eyes.* The Visayans believe that there exists a herb (daligmata), that is used to see a sorcerer that has rendered themselves invisible by the power other herbs.**
(source: *DICCIONARIO MITOLÓGICO DE FILIPINAS, Ferdinand Blumentritt [1895], translated and republished by The Aswang Project, 2021 and **Historia de Las Islas E Indios de Bisayas, 1668, Francisco Ignacio Alcina)

DANAG – (Isneg) The Isneg tale “The Danag Spirits” suggests how vampirism started in the world. The danag are said to have planted taro “in former days,” clearing the fields with their human neighbors. One day the forefinger of a woman was hurt. A danag sucked the wound and, enjoying the taste of blood, then went on to suck out all her blood, saying: “The blood of a human is sweet.”143 The tale concludes: “That is the end of the danag’s planting.” (Learn more about the Danag)
(source: The The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology, Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

DARAGÓ – (Bagobo ) A demon of the Bagobos. The name daragó means spiller of blood. Sometimes this creature is called Da-dagó, du-dagó, or mudugó. The Bagobos also call the Mandarangan, Daragó as well, if we are not misinterpreting the information found on page 120 of volume VIII from, Las Cartas; of the PP. Filipino Jesuits. It is assumed that Daragó is a titlethat the Bagobos give, not only to the Mandarangan, but also to other demons and malignant spirits.
(source: DICCIONARIO MITOLÓGICO DE FILIPINAS, Ferdinand Blumentritt [1895], translated and republished by The Aswang Project, 2021)

DARUANAK – (Bicol) Daruanak counted among the fantastic creatures of Bikol’s epic age.
(source: What Youv́e Always Wanted to Know about Mayon Volcano, Merito B. Espinas,1978)

DAYAMDAM – (Agusan) They are known as dayamdam in Agusan. They are the tiniest folk you have ever seen. Their noses are high-bridged and thin. Their hair is straight and thin, too.They hop about on fallen trees in the woods. They cover themselves with leaves. They stick out their tongue at you and hop off. They own every tree in the deep woods. We must ask their permission to gather fruit. We must get their permission to fell forest trees.
(source: The Creatures of Midnight , Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

DIDIT – (Bicol) Didit is an earth cricket, whose nocturnal chirp signifies the death of a relative.
(source: Bikol Beliefs and Folkways, Eden K. Nasayao, PhD, Hablong Dawani Publishing House, 2010)

DIAKAY DALIN – (Pangasinan) Dikay dalin are the earth or mound deities, the counterpart or version of the Ilocano ca-i-ba-an. Stepping on their habitat brings about incurable malady.
(source: Witchcraft, Filipino Style, Nid Anima, Omar Publishing, 1978 & The Aswang Complex in Philippine Folklore, Maximo Ramos, 1990, Phoenix Publishing)

DIWATA – (Many regions) Sometimes written as: Devata, dewata, divata or duiata; is the name (Sanskrit origin) that the various races of the southern archipelago give to their deities; The following are known; 1. Amongst the early Visayans they had Diwata, the same meaning as the anitos of the Tagalogs. 2. The Tinitianos or Batak of the island of Paragua (Palawan) give the name Diwata to minor spirits, good or evil. 3. The Tagbanuas, another indigenous race of the island of Paragua, called the spirits and invisible beings diwatas. 4. The Mandayas (Mindanao) called the idols that represented their ancestors Diwata or Manaug. 5. The Bagobos (Mindanao) know, more or less, a Diwata. However it is assumed that they do not give this name just to a singular spirit. 6. Also the Manobos (Mindanao) have spirit called Diwata. 7. The Subanos (Mindanao) relate, according to P. Sanchez, only in a vague meaning of the Diwata, and dark idea of god, of whom they are very afraid of. It is assumed that the Subanos know not only one, but many diwatas. 8. The Tirurayes call a superstitious fish that has eight heads and lives in Ombligo or in the middle of the sea, a Diwata. It is assumed that this is not the only monster that the Tirurayes call Diwata. Other spirits and mythical beings are also called this name. 9. The Manguindinao Moros call the idols and gods of the infidels, their neighbors, Diwata. It is noted that the name Diwata was not used and is not used in the island of Luzón.
(source: DICCIONARIO MITOLÓGICO DE FILIPINAS, Ferdinand Blumentritt [1895], translated and republished by The Aswang Project, 2021)

DAGATNON or LAWODNON – (Antique) Dagatnon or lawodnon are mischievious spirit beings who inhabit the sea. This is a belief in some areas of Panay , especially in Antique.
(source: Fishers of the Visayas, Iwao Ushijima, ‎Cynthia Neri Zayas, 1994)

DUWENDE – (Tagalogs) The duwende “is a pygmy with only one eye in the middle of the forehead and huge nose with only one nostril.” The duwende are said to give sums of money to their human friends. A bad thing about the duwendes is, however, that when one wins their friendship, it must be retained, or one meets with an untimely death. An elevated mound of earth, a seemingly innocent-looking big ant hill, is said to be one of the dwelling places of unseen evil spirits and tiny duwende.
(source: The The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology, Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

DWENDE – (Various Regions) A dwende is a short, long-bearded old man who dwells in a ponso, or a mound resembling an ant hill. Those who inhabit rivers are called water dwarves. Dwarves are classified as black or white. The white dwarves are happy and do not harm humans. They live in ceilings and attics and sometimes the owner of the house hears their laughter. The black dwarves are malevolent and could cause illness and death. When black dwarves inhabit a house, the members of the house meet all kinds of misfortune. The dwende is full of mischief—it steals money or food, or a thing that may take its fancy. Some dwendes live in a mound on the ground. If a man happens to urinate on its abode, it can cause bongao or inflammation of the man’s genitals. They are helpful and like to live with humans. Sometimes they are offended and cause illness or even death of the persons with whom they live. Clothes must be taken from the clothesline before dark lest they be stolen and worn by dwendes.
(source: Bikol Beliefs and Folkways, Eden K. Nasayao, PhD, Hablong Dawani Publishing House, 2010)

 

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EBWA – (Tinggian) The Tingguian fear Ebwa, an “evil spirit.” After the relatives have buried their dead, “all that night and the succeeding nine days and nights a fire is kept burning near the grave to keep away the evil spirit Ebwa.”
(source: The The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology, Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

ENGKANTADA – (Tagalogs) A lovely female Enchanted Being who inhabits forests and trees. She sometimes falls in love with humans. According to one theory, though these engkantadas appear like human females, there is one distinguishing characteristic: they have “no pubic hair.” Unfortunately, it is rather difficult to verify this, to say the least.

Jeannie Javelosa recalled, “Saw one really beautiful female creature at the ‘llalim’, crater of Mt. Banahaw when I went down there. She was floating, dressed in a pearlized luminescent silver-white gown with a long veil extended. Dark hair – not menacing, very beautiful. I was enthralled. Just kept saying ‘Magandang gabi’ to her but I think she just wanted me to see her.”
(source: Dwarves and Other Nature Spirits, , Jaime T. Licauco, Rex Books, 2005)

ENGKANTO – (Tagalogs) This elemental creature is seen to be as big as humans and may even look like one. Seldom seen by man. Can fall in love with humans, specially lovely maidens and sometimes sexually molest or rape them. In forests, they can be heard as talking like birds chirping. The English equivalent of this Tagalog term is “Enchanted Being.” According to Filipino traditional beliefs Engkantos do not have indentation on their upper lip (philtrum) unlike normal humans.According to some beliefs, there are two types of engkanto, namely the Engkanto de Dias and Engkanto de Diablo.

Engkanto de Dios – Baptized elemental creatures. Work with God and do only the good. Help man in many ways like preserving the balance of nature.

Engkanto de Diablo – Believed to be unbaptized creatures, devilish and work with the dark forces or evil. Can do harm to humans and even waylay them. They are also known to possess human beings and make them do criminal or immoral things. These evil creatures also exhibit extraordinary paranormal powers and can make people sick.
(source: Dwarves and Other Nature Spirits, , Jaime T. Licauco, Rex Books, 2005)

ENGKANTOS – (Bicol) An engkanto is any enchanted creature—and much like human beings, they vary in form, attitude, and powers we can never understand nor fathom. They inhabit our world, and can see us, but, more often than not, we are unable to see and mingle with them unless they allow us to do so. An engkanto is an enchanted creature that can assume an assortment of images. It may be a dog, a cat, a beggar or a beautiful woman. It does this when it wants to enchant human beings. Before bathing in the river, one needs the permission of the engkantos. An engkanto is usually invisible; if “seen by the human eye” it is said to be very white or very bright. If it gets angry or falls in love with a human, the latter falls ill or dies. Engkantos are like human beings in appearance and habits. However, they envy humans because the latter occupy and enjoy the visible world. When children are alone, engkantos take pity on them and bring them to its kingdom.
(source: Bikol Beliefs and Folkways, Eden K. Nasayao, PhD, Hablong Dawani Publishing House, 2010)

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FLAU – (Blaan) Flau is the spirit of an unborn child whose mother died in pregnancy. Its cry is often heard at night, and at times it attacks and injures people.
(source: The Wild Tribes of Davao District, Mindanao, Fay-Cooper Cole, The R. F. Cummings Philippine Expedition, 1913)This list has been researched and compiled by THE ASWANG PROJECT www.aswangproject.com

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GAB-AN – (Visayas) Refers to what the Visayans describe as a malignant spirit possessing itself of a shaman.
(source: DICCIONARIO MITOLÓGICO DE FILIPINAS, Ferdinand Blumentritt [1895], translated and republished by The Aswang Project, 2021)

GABUNAN – (Western Visayas) The gabunan is an aswang which flies in the form of a huge bat.
(source: CCP Encyclopedia of Philippine Art – Volume 5 ,Nicanor G. Tiongson, ‎Cultural Center of the Philippines, 1994 )

GAKI – (Igorot) The water overseer of Lumawig was Gaki, the giant crab. The people were nomads in the area. They hunted animals for food. Often the hunters got lost, separated from each other and their families because of the absence of landmarks. To communicate with one another, the hunters resorted to shouting which disturbed Lumawig in his slumber. Lumawig, disgusted with his noisy subjects, decided to create a new generation deserving of a more beautiful world. He ordered Gaki to plug the hole which drained water. The whole earth was flooded.
(source: Philippine Folk Literature: The Myths, Damiana Eugenio,UP Press, 2002)

GARUDA – (Maranao) The Garuda that played villain in the Maranao tale “The Bird That Stole the Sultan’s Beard” lived in an underwater realm. Three brothers pursued a small bird that had been snatching off their father’s golden beard, and it descended by a pit in the sea. The youngest went down after it by using many lengths of rope joined end to end, and he reached the region under the sea. There the garuda had imprisoned three princesses in separate mansions of increasing size and magnificence. In the form of a tiny bird, one of the princesses had been making sorties into the realm of men to attract the attention of someone who might liberate them. One princess explained, “Have you not heard about the winged monster Garuda? When he flies, his wings sound like ten thunderstorms. The sweep of his wings pulls down houses and uproots trees. He can carry six men in his talons, and I tremble to think what will happen if he finds you here.”

The garuda in Maranao story “The Tale of Diwata” lived in a cave on the summit of a mountain made inaccessible by a pathless jungle. The summit was bare, but the hero “found bones scattered about.” Entering the cave, he came to “a magnificent house.” He walked in and saw . . . in the hall a beautiful table of solid gold. A golden chair stood on one side of the table and a silver chair on the other. He sat down on one of the chairs, and to his surprise two betel-nut boxes—one of gold and the other of silver—floated into the hall and placed themselves on the table. —an occurrence which the hero understood to be a conventional sign of welcome. The garuda was subject to flattery and it revealed its life index to its captive because of her smooth words. As it lay dying from stab wounds inflicted by the hero, the garuda “looked up at [the hero] and congratulated him on his success.
(Source: The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology and The Creatures of Midnight , Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

GAWĪGAWEN – (Tingguian) A Tingguian mythical giant with six heads. It wields a spear and a head-axe the size of half the sky.
(Source: Traditions of the Tinguian: A Study in Philippine Folk-Lore, Fay-Cooper Cole, 1915)

GĪAMBŌLAN – (Tingguian) A Tinguian mythical giant with ten heads.
(Source: Traditions of the Tinguian: A Study in Philippine Folk-Lore, Fay-Cooper Cole, 1915)

GISURAB – (Isneg) Gisurab, the vindictive Isneg giant, killed all the men in a village. His Apayao counterpart, Gisorab, was “a huge man-eating giant.” A hunter tried to spear Gisurab when the giant refused to give up the man’s prize. Gisurab snatched the spear and threw it back at him, killing him. Gisurab then carried both him and the contested deer to his cave and ate them.
(source: The The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology, Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

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HIGANTE – (Tagalogs) A general term used for “giant” or a ‘huge man’ in mythical settings.

HUANANGAN or JUANANGUAN – (Tinguianes) Is a spirit or demon that, according to Tinguianes beliefs, travels swiftly in the night on horseback, killing
abandoned children that crossed his path.
(source: DICCIONARIO MITOLÓGICO DE FILIPINAS, Ferdinand Blumentritt [1895], translated and republished by The Aswang Project, 2021)

HUBOT – (Antique)The hubot and the bentohangin are engkantus which inhabit the air above the ground. Encounters with them are rare. The hubot resemble a huge umbrella in the air approaching from a distance but they are actually huge birds with wide wings.
(Source: The Enduring Ma-Aram Tradition, Alicia P. Magos., New Day, 1992)

HUKLUBAN – (Tagalogs) Juan de Placensia documented the Huklobon as such; the fifth was called HOCLOBAN, which is another kind of witch, of greater efficacy than the mangagauay. Without the use of medicine, and by simply saluting or raising the hand, they killed whom they chose. But if they desired to heal those whom they had made ill by their charms, they did so by using other charms. Moreover, if they wished to destroy the house of some Indian hostile to them, they were able to do so without instruments. This was in Catanduanes, an island off the upper part of Luzon.

Jocano notes; we think that Hukluban may have been considered the last agent of Sitan and could change herself into any form she desired. She could kill someone by simply raising her hand and could heal without any difficulty as she wished. Her name literally means “crone” or “hag.”

Today, the Hukloban is also considered a “witch” who could kill anyone simply by pointing a finger at him and without using any potion. It could destroy a house by merely saying so. The Hukloban appear as a very old, crooked woman.
(source: Customs of the Tagalogs (two relations), Juan de Plasencia, O.S.F.; Manila, October 21, 1589 and Outline of Philippine Mythology, F. Landa Jocano, Centro Escolar University, 1969)

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IANGGAM – (Maranao) A supernatural being, the so-called langgam, something white and huge and with bulging eyes. Or so attests those who claims to have seen it. Another of its characteristics is that of frothing mouth and unique groans (dugo). Bamboos and other thick foliage, seems to be its favorite haunts. It sits cross-legged at road junctions during moonlit nights, waiting for preys to manhandle — indicative of the fact that it is possibly the counterpart of the Tagalog kapre, but for a few deviations or omissions from the latter’s complete description.
(Source: Witchcraft, Filipino Style, Nid Anima, Omar Publishing, 1978)

IBABASṒ – (Bukidnon of Mindanao) Listed with the “nature spirits” are the Ibabasṓ, the spirits who live in the fields and care for the crops. A yearly ceremony is made for them and they are also closely identified with the Kaliga-ṓn. They appear to be more powerful than any of the other Inkanto, and are held in great reverence. They probably stand apart from that grouping.
(source: The Bukidnon of Mindanao. Fay-Cooper Cole. Harold C. Conklin,. Columbia University, 1957)

IBINGAN – (Bicol) A huge and venomous, many-horned red serpent with a prominent crest on its head and dorsal fin on its back. In Bicolano folklore, it is said to guard a cave occupied by water spirits and sea maids. It stations itself at the mouth of the said cave and crushes intruders with its powerful tail.
(source: Ibálong: the Bikol folk epic-fragment : English and Bikol, Merito B. Espinas, 1996)

īBWA – (Tingguian) Ībwa is an evil spirit, who once mingled with the people in human form. Due to the thoughtless act of a mourner at a funeral, he became so addicted to the taste of human flesh, that it has since then been necessary to protect the corpse from him. He fears iron, and hence a piece of that metal is always laid on the grave. Holes are burned in each garment placed on the body to keep him from stealing them.
(source: The Tinguian: Social, Religious, and Economic Life of a Philippine Tribe, Fay-Cooper Cole, 1922)

IKUGAN – (Manobo) It seems that long, long ago a ferocious horde of tailed men overran the Agúsan Valley as far south as Veruéla. They were tailed men from all accounts, the tail of the men being like a dagger, and that of the women like an adze of the kind used by Manóbos.
(source: THE MANÓBOS OF MINDANÁO, JOHN M. GARVAN, 1931)

IMPAKTO – (Tagalogs) A generic term that can refer to any malevolent creature or nature spirit. Someone once told Maximo Ramos that the impakto chased people and put their vitals in glass jars that bubbled with blood.
(source: Dwarves and Other Nature Spirits, , Jaime T. Licauco, Rex Books, 2005 & The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology , Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

INÁWEN – (Tingguian) Ináwen is a pregnant female spirit, who lives in the sea, and who demands the blood of a chicken mixed with rice to satisfy her capricious appetite. She is called in the Sangásang ceremony.
(source: The Tinguian: Social, Religious, and Economic Life of a Philippine Tribe, Fay-Cooper Cole, 1922)

INKANTO – (Bukidnon of Mindanao) A more specific name for nature spirits is Inkanto but the term busau is also used. It is said that the Inkanto have only half a face; the body is complete but many of them walk on their hands with their heads hanging down and their feet up. Some have fur on their bodies but the hairs are sharp like needles.
(source: The Bukidnon of Mindanao. Fay-Cooper Cole. Harold C. Conklin,. Columbia University, 1957)

INLABLABBUUT – (Ifugao) Inlablabbuut, the Ifugao ogre, passed himself off as a handsome youth and won the love of Bugan, a woman who had sent her husband away “because her head was hot.” Inlablabbuut then asked her to go home with him. He disappeared into the woods several times on the way and each time he returned to her, part of his body had swollen to a monstrous size. When he attained his full ogre size and shape, he told her: “Now I will eat you.” Inlablabbuut had a smithy, and in the bellows pipe he imprisoned four children who had come to ask for fire.
(source: The The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology, Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

IQUI – (Tagalogs) The “iqui” is a man who has the virtue of flying at night, leaving half his body, from the waist to his feet, in his home. It is said that the “iqui” lives only on the liver of men, and when he sallies out at night, he stations himself on the roofs of houses, whence he kills sick persons by means of a tongue of such fineness that it can hardly be distinguished, appearing like a thread of cotton, which penetrates his bowels, causing death. What is not explained is the method they employ to remove the livers.
(source: The The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology, Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

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KABABALAN – (Magindanao) One of four creatures from the Magindanao tale of INDARAPATRA AND SULAYMAN. One of these monsters haunted the hillsides of Kabalalan, eating men and other animals it could reach. It was called Kurita. It lived partly on land and partly on sea.
(Source: Tales from our Malay Past, Mela Ma. Roque, Filipinas Foundation, Inc. 1979)

KABALAN – (Catanduanes, Bicol) Stories of the Kabalan hail from the province Catanduanes in the Bicol region. They are described as horse-like (with 4 legs like a centaur). Hairy from head to toe, with an human face/human likeness to the face. They are said to live in trees and are angered when their homes are disturbed. There are some legends where humans accidentally kill kabalans by burning down their tree-homes through kaingin farming methods. The creatures are merciless though and will curse the offenders with sickness and bad luck until the end of their days.
(source: Story told by Grace Collantes, collected by Philippine Spirits, Karl Gaverza 2016)

KADONGÁYAN – (Tingguian) Kadongáyan indulges in the malicious sport of slitting the mouth of the corpse back to the ears. In order to frighten him away, a live chicken, with its mouth split to its throat, is placed by the door, during the time the body is in the house. When he sees the sufferings of the bird, he fears to enter the dwelling lest the people treat him in the same manner.
(source: The Tinguian: Social, Religious, and Economic Life of a Philippine Tribe, Fay-Cooper Cole, 1922)

KADU-KADU – (Bicol) Kadu-kadu is a small creature with pointed ears. The upper part of his body is larger than the lower part.
(source: Bikol Beliefs and Folkways, Eden K. Nasayao, PhD, Hablong Dawani Publishing House, 2010)

KAGKAG – (Romblon) The kagkag live in the woods far from villages. They hunt for corpses by night. They put their heads in the mouths of mortars. Then they listen to the other ghouls. They listen at moonrise and moonset. This is the time the ghouls all go to their feast. They tell one another where they will have a feast. They make themselves look like animals. They smell like animals, too. They are afraid of seaweeds and spices.
(source: The Creatures of Midnight , Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

KAHOYNON – (Waray) The spirits of the earth which may have caused the illness are the kahoynon ( spirits living in trees ). If someone is ill, an egg is broken open. If the yolk shows any sign in a form of a tree , a kahoynon ( enkanto who lives in trees ) is responsible for the infliction.
(source:The Tambalans of Northern Leyte, Rebecca C. Tiston, 1983)

KAIB-AN – (Tingguian/ Itneg) The spirit who protects the growing crops in the rice field. Offerings are made to him during the construction of a field, during rice planting, and harvesting time for him to continue gaurding the crops. He lives in the saloko, a small hut built in the rice fields.
(source: Ethnography of the Major Ethnolinguistic Groups in the Philippines, Arsenio L. Sumeng-ang, New Day Publishers, 2003)

KALANGET – (Ifugao) The Ifugaos call him kalanget. The Gaddangs call him karanget, the Ibanags karango. He is called taong-lupa or “man of the earth,” too. Sometimes he is called kutong-lupa or “louse of the earth He is a short old man with a large head. He lives under ant mounds in the woods and fields. He is said to be the real owner of all the land. Farmers can only rent the land from him. They pay him a rent to plant crops on the land. The rent is in the form of good food. He will take food that has no salt or spices. He hates ginger, pepper, and vinegar.
(source: The Creatures of Midnight , Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

KALAPAW – (Isneg) The Isnegs knew Kalapaw as a giant. The people of Apayao called him Sappaw. He was a very strong giant. He could pull out a coconut tree by its trunk. He could break the coconut tree on his knee. He could walk past Apayao land at one stride. He was too big to marry a human girl. So he married his own sister. His son wrecked the people’s fences. The people set bamboo traps to catch his son. But he wrecked the traps with his little finger.
(source: The Creatures of Midnight , Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

KALARIOT – (Pampangan) He is called kalariot in Pampanga. He lives in the deep woods. He is tall, dark, and hideous. He comes into the village late at night. He opens a window and gets in. He carries off the pretty maiden who is asleep. He carries her off to his house in the woods. She wakes up in his house and sees him. Then she is frightened and becomes insane.
(source: The Creatures of Midnight , Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

KAMA-KAMA – (Antique) The kama-kama are known to be both helpful and naughty. They are very small, from one to two feet in height. When kind, they can bring luck to a family by giving or showing them treasures or magical objects that will bring them luck. When naughty, they could pinch and this is known only by the appearance of some bluish-blackish spots on the skin. They are known also to put foreign objects like small stones, broken glasses, or hair on a person’s body especially when one takes a bath near a shallow well.
(Source: The Enduring Ma-Aram Tradition, Alicia P. Magos., New Day, 1992)

KAMANAN – DAPLAK – (Zambales) The kamanan-daplak are elves among the Zambals. They are tiny and cute mythical people. They smell sweet like ilang-ilang blossoms. They have long hair the color of com tassels. They live in trees over mountain brooks. They live the same way people live. They call people by name at sundown. People hear their names called and they wonder. For they see no one there at all. They are kind to infants who are left alone. They put sweet wild flowers beside them.
(source: The Creatures of Midnight , Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

KANTANOD – (Tagalogs) A kantanod is literally someone or something “who keeps watch.” The root word is tanod. In folklore, a kantanod is a creature similar to the aswang. The pregnant woman should not venture out alone at night if she does not want to expose herself to the aswang and the kantanod. Unlike the aswang , however , the kantanod keeps watch over a pregnant woman from a distance.
(source: Southeast Asian Birth Customs: Three Studies in Human, Donn Vorhis Hart, ‎Anuman Rajadhon (Phrayā), ‎Richard J. Coughlin · 1965 )

KAPAPU-AN – (Kinaray-a) The villagers also pay their respects and show love to another group of unseen spirit beings, their kapapu-an. Unlike some engkantu, their papu are not malevolent because of their kin affiliation with them. More familiar to many villagers and remembered in their lores are deceased ma-aram ancestors who died long ago and were noted for their supernatural feats.
(source: The Enduring Ma-Aram Tradition, Alicia P. Magos., New Day, 1992)

KAPEROSA – (Tagalogs) Female ghosts often seen wearing flowing white robes or gowns. Their long black hair cover their faces, which was likely borrowed during the Japanese Horror movie craze of the 90’s/ 2000’s. Some may be seen without heads or with rotting flesh. The most popular are the White Lady of Balete Drive and of Loacan Road in Baguio. common stories about the Kaperosa involve a female who commits suicide because of hatred, or being betrayed by her husband or fiance, murdered. Other ‘ghost stories’ say they are the souls who doesn’t rest because they have unfinished thing to do on Earth.
(source: Tagalog ghost stories, Urban Legends)

KAPRE – (Tagalog, Bicolano, Zambales) Kapre is often used as an umbrella term. It is believed to have replaced many local names for similar beings. The term kapre refers to a creature described by Zambales informants as …another black creature with the power of changing its size from that of a manikin to that of a giant of the proportions of a church tower… its glassy eyes large as plates. A boy in a tale entitled “The Big Man in the Tree” thought that he was looking at the trunk of a tree when it was a kapre’s leg instead. The kapre lives in that favorite home of lower mythical beings in the Philippines—the balete — as well as in other large trees. In some tales the kapre was said to “chirp like a bird.” The Zambales kapre was “most often seen sitting on a large branch and smoking a cigar as large as a man’s thigh.” (Learn more about the Kapre)
(source: The The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology, Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

KAPRI – (Kapampangan) “10 to 15 feet tall, very black and wearing a long black coat, had long arms, long beard, a long cane which he used to knock the heads of people, and always had a long cigar in his mouth.” He appeared at night during a slight drizzle, staying under a large tree or squatting on its branches or sometimes dangling his legs.”
(source: Kapampangan beliefs circa 1900 can be found in accounts compiled by ethnographer H. Otley Beyer, in an unpublished volume at the HAU Center for Kapampangan Studies courtesy of Beyer’s family | compiled by Robby Tantingco)

KAPRI – (Antique) The kapri are big supernatural beings inhabiting huge trees. They usually visit abandoned buildings. During the night they appear as big people smoking huge pipes and standing near big trees. They are seldom violent and are aggressive only when challenged. When angry, they are known to pick up people and throw them up like playthings.
(Source: The Enduring Ma-Aram Tradition, Alicia P. Magos., New Day, 1992)

KATAMBAY – (Bicol) A term used to by the early people of Bicol to refer to guardian anito.
(source: DICCIONARIO MITOLÓGICO DE FILIPINAS, Ferdinand Blumentritt [1895], translated and republished by The Aswang Project, 2021)

KATAW – (Cebuano, Hiligaynon) The Visayans call her kataw. Her name means that she looks like a person. She is a pretty woman from head to waist. She is a fish with shiny scales below the waist. Her skin is light, her hair wavy and long. She lives in a beautiful house under the sea or beside a river, a lake, or a waterfall. She sits on a rock drying her long hair. She sings a sweet, sad song as she sits there. She makes the fisherman row his boat to her. Then she sinks his boat and gets him.
(source: The Creatures of Midnight , Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

KATATAOAN (Ilocos Sur and La Union) These are elves/dwarves, according to the beliefs of the peasants of Ilocos Sur and of La Union; they usually take the human form or other forms of gigantic proportions and travel at night in an aerostatic ship, taking those found in an unpopulated place, also eating the bodies of their dead.
(source: DICCIONARIO MITOLÓGICO DE FILIPINAS, Ferdinand Blumentritt [1895], translated and republished by The Aswang Project, 2021)

KIBAAN – (Ilokano) Fair-skinned was the kibaan in two Iloko folktales collected by Maximo Ramos: “The Wee Folk” and “The Fairy’s Gifts.” Its mouth gleamed with its gold teeth. Its heels pointed before and its toes behind, thus grossly misleading people who tried to pursue it by its footprints. The kibaan’s long hair reached down to its feet and it was as “small as a child of two years.” The kibaan are said to keep house, to enjoy cooking in their kitchens after sunset, and to be generally near human habitations, especially at night. Zambales folk used to say that small trees and bushes on which fireflies habitually swarmed at night were the home of kibaan. A peculiar strong, spicy odor resembling that of crushed kakawate leaves emanating from the trees along country roads after sundown is said to come from kibaan kitchens.
(source: The The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology, Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

KīDENG – (Tingguian) Kīdeng is a tall, fat spirit with nine heads. He is the servant of Ináwen, and carries the gifts of mortals to his mistress.
(source: The Tinguian: Social, Religious, and Economic Life of a Philippine Tribe, Fay-Cooper Cole, 1922)

KIKIK – (Bicol) The kikik is a bird so called because of the sound it creates – “kikik”. It is known to be an emissary or servant of the aswang. Wherever there is a kikik sound, an aswang is around. It is also said that when the kikik hovers above, the aswang is below. When the aswang is above, the kikik is below. Some believe the kikik to be a huge owl; some believe it to be a bat with a gift of exceptional sight. Whichever, it has a definite affinity to the aswang, and knows the aswang to be its master. When a kikik is heard in a house where there is a newborn baby, someone should say loudly, “Adi an asin” (Here is the salt).
(source: Bikol Beliefs and Folkways, Eden K. Nasayao, PhD, Hablong Dawani Publishing House, 2010)

KIMAT – (Tingguian) From the skies, Makaboteng saw the tragic death of Abag. He appealed to Kadaklan, mighty ruler of the sky, to punish the cruel villagers. Kadaklan sent Kimat, his lightning dog, to burn the village.
(source: Outline of Philippine Mythology, F. Landa Jocano, Centro Escolar University, 1969)

KIRBAS – (Ilokano) He is called kirbas among the Ilokanos. He lives in the deep woods. He is tall, dark, and hideous. He comes into the village late at night. He opens a window and gets in. He carries off the pretty maiden who is asleep. He carries her off to his house in the woods. She wakes up in his house and sees him. Then she is frightened and becomes insane.
(source: The Creatures of Midnight , Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

KIWIG – (Aklan) It is called kiwig in Aklan. It looks like a stooped dog, cat, or pig. Its tail arches down and then points straight back. It has fiery eyes and tangled coarse hair. It attacks human beings by biting their neck. It kills people and eats them raw. It fears people with loose long hair.
(source: The Creatures of Midnight , Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

KOMAU – (Tingguian) Komau is a giant spirit, who, according to tradition, was killed by the hero Sayen. Among the Ilocano and some of the Tingguian, the Komau is known as a great invisible bird, which steals people and their possessions. He does not visit the people through the bodies of the mediums.
(source: The Tinguian: Social, Religious, and Economic Life of a Philippine Tribe, Fay-Cooper Cole, 1922)

KOROKOTO – (Cebu) When the korokoto walks, his feet do not touch the ground. He seeks shelter in trees and bushes. He can take the form of a dog or a cat. He wrestles with his victims, drags them home, cooks them, and eats them. He can be identified by the sound he emits—”Koro-koto.”
(source: The Aswang Complex in Philippine Folklore, Maximo Ramos, 1990, Phoenix Publishing)

KUDO-KUDO – (Bicol) Kudo-kudo, so named because of the sound it creates while walking, is an unseen creature accompanied by mosquitoes. It eats salt and always frequents the kitchen. It is dark and lives under the house, or the silong. It is always dirty and likes to stay in dark, damp and unused spaces below the floorboards of the house. From the research on Kinawitan, Daraga, Albay, by Gerome Alarcio, BCA, Journalism IV. The kudo-kudo is a tiny, round or egg-shaped creature with very small eyes. Its limbs are as small as a needle. Its body is brown and jar-like, and it loves to stay inside wet jars. It is found in grasslands and deep in the forest. The kudo-kudo can harm people when it is hurt. It causes one to shiver with high fever. The shivering is often mistaken for malaria.
(source: Bikol Beliefs and Folkways, Eden K. Nasayao, PhD, Hablong Dawani Publishing House, 2010)

KUKU – (Mandaya) The Mandayas (Mindanao) also know an anito or dwarf spirit called kuku.
(source: DICCIONARIO MITOLÓGICO DE FILIPINAS, Ferdinand Blumentritt [1895], translated and republished by The Aswang Project, 2021)

KULARIUT – (Kapampangan) A dark, elusive creature with a long white beard who lived in bamboo groves and forests, perched on branches or rooftops quietly watching people while they slept in their rooms.
(source: Kapampangan beliefs circa 1900 can be found in accounts compiled by ethnographer H. Otley Beyer, in an unpublished volume at the HAU Center for Kapampangan Studies courtesy of Beyer’s family | compiled by Robby Tantingco)

KUMAKATOK – (Luzon, Visayas) Three-hooded spirits that knocks on your door which signals that someone will die the other day after. One of them resembles that of a female, and the other two looks like old people. There’s one point in time when residents of Luzon and Visayas painted white cross or write a cross using a white chalk on their doors to scare or to ward off these trio.
(source: Tagalog ghost stories, Urban Legends)

KUMAO – (Ilokano) The early Ilocanos feared the mythical bird Kumao, which is said to take abandoned children.
(source: DICCIONARIO MITOLÓGICO DE FILIPINAS, Ferdinand Blumentritt [1895], translated and republished by The Aswang Project, 2021)

KURAKPAO – (Bicol) Kurakpao is a very untidy and dirty creature that has thick, disheveled hair and with big, piercing eyes. An irate creature, it carries a piece of wood shaped like a huge thick bat and is ready to batter the head of anyone it meets.
(source: Bikol Beliefs and Folkways, Eden K. Nasayao, PhD, Hablong Dawani Publishing House, 2010)

KURITA – (Maguindanao) The kurita, “a pernicious monster,… had many limbs.” The kurita lived long ago in Magindanao and “haunted Mount Kabalalan.” The kurita “extirpated all animal life in its vicinity,” and when met by Sulayman, the hero, it “fixed its claws in his flesh.” Monster from the epic INDARAPATRA AND SULAYMAN – “One of these monsters haunted the hillsides of Kabalalan, eating men and other animals it could reach. It was called Kurita. It lived partly on land and partly on sea.”
(source: The The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology, Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

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LABANG – (Buhid Mangyan) Evil spirits which manifests in animal forms. The Buhid Mangyan believes that their bites are fatal. The bite becomes a channel where bad spirits can enter and bring sickness to a person or even death when the spirit is not driven away. In one tale a man is wounded by a group of labang. An edu-labang, which is a labang resembling a dog, kills him by licking his wound. A group of labang gather and eat his body.
(source: The ties that bind: The Buhid Mangyan People of Mindoro, their Sacred Lands and Medicine Mountain, NewCAPP, 2014)

LAGTAW – (Sulu) To the people of Sulu, it is called lagtaw. It is tall, black, and big like other demons. Its large eyes are like fire. Its nose and ears are large. It lives in great big trees. Its legs are like ship masts. It lives inside a tree hole. It leaves its hole at night. Then it goes out to frighten boys and girls.
(source: The Creatures of Midnight , Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

LAHO – (Tagalogs/ Luzon) The Tagalog probably said: “Linamon ng laho ang buwan” (The moon has been swallowed by the laho [dragon). The good prelate’s transcription, like that of many an amateur linguist in the early days of the Spanish occupation, leaves much to be desired. Cf. Juan R. Francisco’s gloss on laho: “The cosmic phenomenon, ‘the eclipse of either the sun or moon’ but more specifically the latter, is called in Tagalog laho (Pampanga. lawo, ‘obscurity of the eclipsed moon’) which may be derived from Sanskrit, rahu, ‘monster,’ son of Diti: The deity with a serpent’s tail which in eclipses devours the sun or moon’, doubtless via the Malaysian rahu, the Hindu dragon that swallows the moon and causes eclipses.’
(source: The The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology, Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

LALAWAG – (Bukidnon of Mindanao) Lalawag are spirits who live in groves and who own deer and bees.
(source: The Bukidnon of Mindanao. Fay-Cooper Cole. Harold C. Conklin,. Columbia University, 1957)

LAMAN LUPA – (Luzon) Tagalog spirit; literally, ‘content of the earth’. “An invisible little being, the lamang-lupa lives in the earth (burrows), in fields or hills. It is territorial and only lets people use its territory under certain conditions. The lamang-lupa lives in communities and follows human trails out of hills. As territorial owners of the land, men used to give them offerings before and after planting and harvest. It then partakes in the proficiency gifts. It accepts the offering of red rooster’s blood sprinkled on rice plants. It will destroy crops if not asked permission bt farmers to use “their” land. It abhors salt and spices.
(source: Ancient Beliefs and Customs of the Tagalogs, Jean-Paul G. Potet, Lulu Press, 2017)

LAMBANA – (Tagalogs) This is what the early Tagalog people called their idol shrines. Lambana also had the same meaning as larawan. This word was widely used in the poems of the early Tagalogs*. Modern interpretations depict the lambana as a small fairy-like creature living in the forest – sometimes gruesome, and sometimes benevolent.
(*source: DICCIONARIO MITOLÓGICO DE FILIPINAS, Ferdinand Blumentritt [1895], translated and republished by The Aswang Project, 2021)

LAMPONG – (Ilongot) The Ilongots and Ilokanos call him lampong. He is a short old man of the woods and fields. He has bright eyes and a long, sparse beard. He is a shepherd of wild deer. He turns himself into a deer and stands still. Hunters shoot at him but cannot hit him. The deer run away while the hunters try to shoot him. Then he turns into an old man again. He walks away from the hunters.
(source: The Creatures of Midnight , Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

LAQUI – (Bicolano) A frightening creature believed in by the ancient Bicolanos. It has the hair and feet of a goat but the face of an ugly man. It is generally harmless, appearing at night and surprising people with its voice. A monster that lives in the mountain, its, body, feet, and hair is that of a goat and having a human face.
(source: Bikol Beliefs and Folkways, Eden K. Nasayao, PhD, Hablong Dawani Publishing House, 2010 and Bikol Maharlika, Jose Calleja Reyes, Goodwill Trading Inc., 1992)

LAYUG/ LAYAP – (Bicolano) Layug or Layap. This is a creature that can assume the form of a dog or any creature that can fly (layug) or disappear (layap) at will.
(source: Bikol Beliefs and Folkways, Eden K. Nasayao, PhD, Hablong Dawani Publishing House, 2010)

LEWENRI – (Romblon) They are tall and handsome and fair of skin. They wear clothes of violet, black, and white. They mix unseen with people in the village. They show themselves to the lonely traveler. They appear to boys and girls by moonlight. They appear to them at dawn, noon, and sunset, too. They make frightful and shrill sounds. They play sad or joyful music. They laugh and cry and sing. They help the humble and punish the proud.
(source: The Creatures of Midnight , Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

LIMÓKON – (Manobo) No arguments can shake the Manóbo’s faith in the trusty omen bird. For him it can not err, it is infallible. For every case you cite him of its errors, he quotes you numberless cases where its prophecies have come true, and ends by attributing the instance you cite to a false interpretation or to divine intervention that saved you from the evil prognosticated by the bird. Mandáyas, Mañgguáñgans, Debabáons, and Banuáons of the Agúsan Valley have practically the same beliefs as the Manóbos in regard to this omen bird. The omen bird is never killed, for to kill it would draw down unmitigated misfortune. On the contrary, it is often captured and is carefully fed and petted, especially when an inmate of the house is about to undertake a journey. The prospective traveler takes a little camote or banana and, placing it in the cage, addresses the captive bird and asks it to sing to its companions of the woods that they too in turn may sing to him the song of success and safe return.
(source: THE MANÓBOS OF MINDANÁO, JOHN M. GARVAN, 1931)

LITAO – (Ilokano) Described in Isabelo de los Reyes’ book, El Folk-lore Filipino, the litao is a male anito of the waters. In Vigan, it is a small man that lives in the branches of bamboo trees along river banks and is the husband of the sirena. The spirit sometimes goes on land disguised as a normal man and tends to the bamboo trees in his area. He curses with illness those that cuts the trees. In his human form his true nature is revealed through a strong fishy smell that emanates from his body.
(Source: El Folk-lore Filipino, Isabelo delos Reyes, UP Press, 1994)

LOLID or LULID – (Panay) The lolid live under the ground. They look like newborn puppies or piglets. White in color, they have very short legs, sometimes even reported as having no legs at all. They move about by rolling. Once unearthed under the ground, where a house is to be constructed, they may cause illness to a member of the household. They are pets of the engkantu.
(Source: The Enduring Ma-Aram Tradition, Alicia P. Magos., New Day, 1992)

LULID – (Negros Oriental)That the lulid, whose peculiarity, is a child-like cry, prowls the underbrush, ready to pounce on anybody that comes its way. Its bite causes the growth of a big boil on the lymph nodes of a person’s groin or in the hallow of the joints between the thigh and the calf, thereby causing permanent lameness.
(Source: Witchcraft, Filipino Style, Nid Anima, Omar Publishing, 1978)

LUPAD – (Visayan) In Bisaya means; flying birds, spirits, brujos; metaphorically it means the cause of death. (Compare: Lumabat and Lupa)
(source: DICCIONARIO MITOLÓGICO DE FILIPINAS, Ferdinand Blumentritt [1895], translated and republished by The Aswang Project, 2021)

LUTAO – (Mindanao) Lutao are the partially decayed bodies of evil persons whose souls are on the way to narka ( hell ) . They are said to be frightful to see as they walk around re-animated.
(source: Philippine Sociological Review – Volumes 14-16 – Page 26,1966)

LUTAO – (Samal, Mindanao) The Samals are not above believing in ghosts, which they call lutao. They seem to have a definite concept of ghosts beyond merely shadowy
apparitions. Anything frightening or smelling obnoxiously is attributed to ghosts. What becomes ghosts are the souls of notorious characters thieves, robbers, rapists, murderers, swindlers and the like. That they live in the mountains and cannot swim somehow reinforces their thinking that the lutao cannot be anything but Tausug.
(Source: Witchcraft, Filipino Style, Nid Anima, Omar Publishing, 1978)

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MAGINDARA – (Bicol)Manguindaras were underwater beings, our local concept of mythical siren. They were regarded as guardian spirits of the ancient Bikol fishermen. It was their belief that the maguindara kept them safe from disasters by forewarning them with shouts and signs on the sea of an approaching storm and aided them by leading the way to a school of fish when they were fishing. Maguindara or serena is a pretty woman from head to waist. She has a fish tail instead of legs. She lives in caves under the sea or behind water falls.
(source: Bikol Beliefs and Folkways, Eden K. Nasayao, PhD, Hablong Dawani Publishing House, 2010)

MAGKUKUTUD – (Kapampangan) The magkukutud are beings endowed with supernatural powers to separate their heads from their bodies . They can simply will their heads to disappear . When headless , they are very powerful and can inflict diseases on people.
(source: Handbook of Philippine Language Groups, Teodoro A. Llamzon , University of California, 1978)

MAGLALAGE – (Kapampangan) Was the generic term for ghosts, or spirits of the dead stranded on earth because of an unfinished business.
(source: Kapampangan beliefs circa 1900 can be found in accounts compiled by ethnographer H. Otley Beyer, in an unpublished volume at the HAU Center for Kapampangan Studies courtesy of Beyer’s family | compiled by Robby Tantingco)

MAGOMÁNAY – (Bukidnon of Mindanao) Magománay, “spirits which live in the baliti trees,” and perhaps all other large trees. These are their homes and if they are cut down the spirits must move. Such spirits are important in the ceremonies and in the everyday life of the people, as well.
(source: The Bukidnon of Mindanao. Fay-Cooper Cole. Harold C. Conklin,. Columbia University, 1957)

MAHOMANAY – (Bagabo) The tahamaling of the Bagobo is a female spirit with a red complexion, and the mahomanay, her male counterpart, has a fair skin. E. Arsenio Manuel, writing about the Bagobo, noted: E. Arsenio Manuel, writing about the Bagobo, noted: ‘The balete tree is the favorite residence of the Bagobo “spirit” tahamaling, ‘the keeper of animals,’ and… mahomanay, ‘the guardian of animals’.” He also observed that the mahomanay “lives in mountains. She lives in a particular tree.” The mahomanay, is said to be “wholly a beneficent spirit.” “She is usually offered food or betel nut chew, even leglets, the hunters placing any of these articles at the foot of the trees to gain her goodwill before hunting.”
(source: The The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology, Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

MAGTITI-LAOK NGA BILAKAK – (Licuan-Baay,Abra) A serpent whose scream sounds like a very loud and haunting rooster’s morning call. It does this to scare and prevent hunters and loggers from entering the mountain.
(source: Relayed to Jordan Clark by an informant)

MAGTITIMA – (Bukidnon of Mindanao) The magtitima of the Bukidnon lived in the balete tree. About this tree and the magtitima a Jesuit worker in the Bukidnon area toward the close of the Spanish regime made this observation, and he admitted that he was afraid of the tree: I noted in passing before a leafy tree called balete the mountaineer who accompanied me lowered his voice and was very much frightened. I asked him the reason for it, and after many urgings he considered it advisable to give me the explanation of his friend in these words: The magtitima, or an invisible being of the wood,… if he does not receive a sacrifice of white fowls, grows angry at mortals and does not allow them to cut wood, and sends them sickness. Although I do not believe in these things, I have a certain fear of passing near the trees.
(source: The The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology, Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

MALAKAT – (Waray) Richard Arens, who was for a time on the Silliman University faculty, did field work in the Eastern Visayas on the side and reported that the malakat (the walker) of Leyte could be either male or female—something unusual since the creature is said to be always male in other reports. Arens described an attacking malakat in these words: “In attacking a person, she assumes a horrible and frightful shape. Her long hair spreads all over her face. Her eyes turn fiery and her saliva flows from out of her mouth like long strings. Her nails grow long and sharp. As the fight begins, her hair crawls into the person’s nose, ears, mouth, and eyes, depriving him of his breath, voice, and sight. She grips the victim firmly on the arms and legs. With her sharp claws, she digs into the victim’s skin until it bleeds; if [she] has a weapon with her, she avoids the struggle and the victim might be killed; thereafter [she] feasts on the victim’s flesh.”
(source: The Philippine Journal of Science – Volume 85, Issue 4, Richard Arens, 1957)

MAMAMARAYA – (Marinduque) The mamamaraya’s forteis the swelling of a victim’s lips or abdomen causing a feeling of having devoured something heavy. Thiseffect can be achieved only with the placing of the worn and unwashed clothes of the intended victim, plus a piece of paper with magic phrases scribblings on it, inside a tightly sealed pot. The pot is then brought to the beach where it is buried in the sand. The victim’s stomach swells and ebbs with the tide. Note the similarity of this case with the paktol, a kind of witchcraft malady attributed to the Visayans.
(Source: Witchcraft, Filipino Style, Nid Anima, Omar Publishing, 1978)

MAMARANG – (Visayan) A sorceress who fights with travelers in lonely places and tries to kill them that she may eat them.
(source: Types of Prose Narratives, Harriott Ely Fansler, Row, Peterson & Company, 1911)

MAMBABARANG – (Bicol) The barang is a most feared form of witchcraft. So feared, in fact, that the people around which the witch circulates have no choice but to extend him due respect, if they do not want to be recipients of his dark art. In Bicol barrios Haguimit, Tambangan and Polongparang, Sta. Cruz, Marinduque, he is called mambabarang. Marinduque – though a little distant from Cebu – is one of the islands that constitute the Visayas group. A severe stomach ache, a big lump in the abdomen, an abnormal growth in the throat and windpipe and/or severe pains in the region of the heart – these are believed to be the harm caused by the mambabarang or barangan.

But the more common practice is through the use of insects. The controversial Povedano Manuscript of 1578, as written by Diego Lope Povedano, describes this more fully, to wit: The insect is called barang, and the man who can command the insect is called mambabarang. These animals (creatures) enter the body through any open places. This entry is invisible. The animals bite inside…. They may bite the liver, stomach, intestines, lungs…. The barang is kept in a bamboo tube… (Before sending an insect to attack someone) the sorcerer ties a thread to one of its rear legs. Signs of barang are discharge of blood; also, the stomach may swell and be painful.
(source: Witchcraft, Filipino Style, Nid Anima, Omar Publishing, 1978)

MAMBUBUNO – (Zambales) The Zambals call her mambubuno. She looks like a fish with a double tail. She has large, black, slimy scales. Sometimes her scales are of many bright colors. She lives in a brook with a cave under its banks. A fisherman can see her when the moon is bright. He cannot help but follow her when he sees her. He follows her into her cave and does not get wet. Her cave shines with gold and precious stones. She marries him and does not let him go. He can leave only when she lets him. He will drown if he tries to escape. His folks will find him planted stiff in the water. Or they will find him squatting stiff at the bottom. But sometimes she lets him visit his village. His folks do not believe the story he tells them. They think he has become a fool. Or he returns to find all his folks dead and gone.
(source: The Creatures of Midnight , Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

MAMELEU – (Negros Island) The mameleu of Negros Island was believed to be a “a very large serpent” living in the sea. Its body was as big as that of a carabao and was thirty fathoms long. Its eyes were like two torches, and in their orbits “gleaned two jets of fire.” Its head was as large as that of a carabao, too, and it had two white horns. It had span- long tusks “and teeth about two cuartas long.” Its scales, the size of dinner plates, were hard and “resistant.”
(source: The The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology, Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

MAMLINDAO – (Kalinga) The mamlindao are hunting spirits.
(source: THE KALINGAS: Their Institutions and Customs Laws, Roy Franklin Barton, The University of Chicago Press, 1949)

MAMUMUYAG – (Western Visayas) The West Visayans call her mamumuyag. She is cross and has a hostile glance. She does not join groups washing clothes at the river. She does not join groups chatting at the village store. Folks do not pass by her house if they can help it. They speak softly for fear of annoying her. She gives various ailments to those she hates. She gives them a twisted mouth. She gives them painful tumors.
(source: The Creatures of Midnight , Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

MANAGBATU – (Cagayan) A spirit in the form of a man, which lives in trees and at midnight throws stones and clods at the houses near his dwelling. He can cause sickness to those that try to injure him.
(source: Types of Prose Narratives, Harriott Ely Fansler, Row, Peterson & Company, 1911)

MANAGILUNOD – (Ilokano) The managilunod is not the dangerous type of witch. Possessed of no supernatural power, his specialty is to wish ill, evil or misfortune upon a person who happens to be the object of his envy. Some of his or her wishes, as the case may be, is sometimes accomplished but through no direct effort of his or hers. It’s all a matter of chance or coincidence. The most common practice of the managilunod is to offer candles in church and there request that misfortune befalls the object of his/her envy.
(Source: Witchcraft, Filipino Style, Nid Anima, Omar Publishing, 1978)

MANAGTANEM – (Ilokano) The managtanem exercises his art through a doll replica medium of the person who must be inflicted with pain by sticking pins into various parts of the body corresponding to where the pin is stuck on the doll. Sadism is probably the managtanem’s reason for being since it would seem that he usually doesn’t go to the extent of murder.
(Source: Witchcraft, Filipino Style, Nid Anima, Omar Publishing, 1978)

MANANANEM – (Pangasinan) Black magic is the manananem’s forte, as had been proved and attested by a fish vendor’s sad experience. There was a woman who offered to buy one of her dalag (mud-fish). Because the offer was low and would mean losses on her part to accept it, she decided to reject it. After the passage of a day, she felt something irritating in her stomach. Days later, the feeling became more definite: it was now something live and moving. When it reached the point that she could bear it no longer, she consulted her ailment to a doctor. They operated on her stomach and extracted a live mudfish, a case that bewildered the doctors who performed the operation no end.
(source: Witchcraft, Filipino Style, Nid Anima, Omar Publishing, 1978)

MANANANGGAL – (Tagalogs, Bikol) A creature often confused with being a type of vampire is the manananggal, a creature rare in European folklore but fairly common in Southeast Asian traditions. Instead of sucking the victim’s blood, the manananggal is thought to suck his phlegm and viscera or otherwise extract the latter. The vampire may or may not be said to use a long tubular, pointed tongue for sucking blood, whereas the viscera sucker is solely interested in sucking the phlegm of her victims or extracting their internal organs, particularly the liver and the heart. In Hiligaynon and Waray, this being is most commonly referred to as the wak-wak. One report states that the manananggal “feed only on the liver and heart” of human victims and hover after nightfall about a house where a birth is expected. The croaking of a flock of crows is said to signal its presence.

When the male manananggal of the Bikol area is ready to take off, he goes in a hidden part of the house or a secluded field and then,… dipping his right hand into the foul-smelling ointment which he has prepared, [he] applies it in a line beginning from the tip of the little finger of his left hand, progressing [along] the length of the arm to the armpit, thence down his left side and the outer side of his left leg, ending at the tip of the little toe. Then the left hand is dipped into the chicken dung mixture and the process is duplicated on the right side of body. During the operation, [he] repeats to himself, but alone, the following formula or its equivalent: Siri, siri, daing Diyos kung banggi, labaw sa kahoyan, lagbas sa kasirongan! Literally translated, the formula reads: “Siri, siri, there is no God at night; over trees, under houses.”

A Manila editor introduced some sketches of mythological creatures made by Carlos V. Francisco with this observation: against the manananggal and the aswang, he arms himself with a whip of the stingray tail or spine of sawfish, and scent of garlic, and a pinch of salt. The manananggal and the aswang are cruel and voracious. There are nights when, with a red moon shining through the trees, the peasant fancies he hears the kapre laugh, its eyes fiery and its huge cigar lit, enjoying the talking of the bats.
(source: The The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology, Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

MANANGILAW – (Bikolano)The manangilaw was a cave – dwelling black giant that wore a vine for a hagkús ( belt ) . When hungry , this creature would lower its vine belt into the sea , a river or a well ; he would catch shrimp and other small game.
(source: Ibálong: the Bikol folk epic-fragment : English and Bikol, Merito B. Espinas, 1996)

MANAUL – (Negros) The manaul is a mythical king who became a bird. He was believed to have caused the seas and the skies to fight against each other. The clash between the seas and skies resulted to the formation of the Philippine islands.
(source: Philippine Folk Literature: The Myths, Damiana Eugenio,UP Press, 2002)

MANDAYÁÑGAN – (Manobo) Mandayáñgan, on the contrary, is a good-natured, humanlike giant, who loves to attend the combats of Manóboland. He is said to have been one of the great warriors of the days of yore. His dwelling is in the great mountain forests, where live the gods of war.
(source: THE MANÓBOS OF MINDANÁO, JOHN M. GARVAN, 1931)

MANDURUGO – (Tagalogs) A precise term designating the vampire is the Tagalog word mandurugo, blood (sucker). A pretty girl in the tale “The Girl of Many Loves” proved to be a mandurugo, ‘blood sucker’. Is said to fly from Capiz between midnight and the first cockrow. Becomes powerless at dawn and can be killed with a knife.
(source: The The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology, Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

MANG-AAMULIT – (Mindoro) Releasing several of his pet bugs from their luka (bamboo container) and letting them mix in the soiled clothes of the intended victim in order to acquaint them of his smell is the idea on how the mang-aamulit carry on his evil design. Once the bugs are fully acquainted with the intended victim’s smell, they are then released in the dark in the dead of night and are expected to proceed to the sleeping intended victim to inflict itchy sores which is the first thing he feels on waking the following morning. Toughies who commit the mistake of bullying a kin are often the unsuspecting victims of the mang-aamulit’s wares, which is in the form of long-healing, if incurable, sores on the part where it counts most: the knuckles.
(Source: Witchcraft, Filipino Style, Nid Anima, Omar Publishing, 1978)

MANGALAYO aka ALLAWIG – (Sulod, Panay) Sulod natives in Panay Island tell of a flying ball of fire that appears at night and chases lone travelers. Known as Allawig in other parts of the country it is said to lead travelers astray into dangerous paths like cliffs or holes in the ground.
(source:The Remnants of the Great Ilonggo Nation, Sebastian Sta. Cruz Serag, Rex Book Store, 1997)

MANGALOK – (Palawan, Western Visayas) The Cuyonon believe that …a bedridden patient suddenly dies because a mangalok came in the night and pulled out its entrails. The people bury a banana stalk which the [mangalok] had transformed into a corpse. Should the coffin bearers complain of the weight, the mangalok is there perched on top of the casket, invisibly laughing, nibbling the liver of his victim and planning his next all-you-can-eat-for-nothing. She is called mangalok in Palawan and the Visayas. Some folks say she sleeps in forest trees by day. She hooks herself to a top branch with her wings. She drapes her long hair over her pretty face. Then she sleeps soundly till nightfall. She flies out to the villages in the dark. Her favorite food is human liver and unborn babies. Women with child fear her very much. She sucks out the intestines of little children, too. She steals the liver of a corpse on the way to the grave.
(source: The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology and The Creatures of Midnight , Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

MANGGAGAMOD – (Ilokano) In Ilocandia, the conjurer is known as the manggagamod. He has the makings of a witch, real evil. Those of their kind who are sham and cannot practice genuine black art resort to foul means in the attainment of their objectives. Some collect snake venom and put it into the food of whoever they take fancy on. They do it without apparent motivation, except probably hatred for humanity. The manggagamod is a witch who specializes in poison. Gamod, after all, is the Ilocano term for poison. It is apparent that this kind of witch possesses no supernatural power but functions within human limits.
(Source: Witchcraft, Filipino Style, Nid Anima, Omar Publishing, 1978)

MANGINGILAW – (Antique/ Iloilo) The mangingilaw are bigger than ordinary persons and have hairy bodies, big teeth and long hair. A mangingilaw can devour a man alive. They do not wear any clothing, though some informants say that they wear a tampi, a small piece of clothing to cover their lower private parts.
(Source: The Enduring Ma-Aram Tradition, Alicia P. Magos., New Day, 1992)

MANGKUKULAM – (Tagalogs, Ilokano, Pampangos etc.) The Pampangos and Tagalogs call them mangkukulam. They look plain and are mostly women. They live in tiny huts at the outskirts of villages. People are afraid to speak to them. People avoid them if they can. They cause intense headaches, tumors, and pain. They cause these by a wish or by pricking their doll. They cannot go up a ladder with a pestle across it. They fear the things viscera suckers and weredogs fear. The mangkukulam avoid people, too. They do not look people in the eye. The image is said to be upside down in their eyes. They pass on their witchcraft to their children.
(source: The Creatures of Midnight , Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

MANGKUKUSINU – (Kapampangan) The Kapampangan version of the mangkukulam, only much more evil. He could inflict pain on a person even from a great distance, magically able to put poison, a metal object or even a live chicken inside his victim’s body, causing extreme suffering.
(source: Kapampangan beliefs circa 1900 can be found in accounts compiled by ethnographer H. Otley Beyer, in an unpublished volume at the HAU Center for Kapampangan Studies courtesy of Beyer’s family | compiled by Robby Tantingco)

MANGKUKUTUD – (Kapampangan) The Kapampangan version of the manananggal, whose torso detached from the rest of the body to fly in the night in search of cadavers to eat. This is the reason we never leave our dead unattended, or the mangkukutud would steal the corpse, slice the flesh and cook it. This creature laid eggs like hens do, and people who took these eggs by mistake and cracked them open would be shocked to find a nose, fingers, eyeballs and other body parts inside. The magkukutud got its name from the ancient Kapampangan word kutud, “to cut.”
(source: Kapampangan beliefs circa 1900 can be found in accounts compiled by ethnographer H. Otley Beyer, in an unpublished volume at the HAU Center for Kapampangan Studies courtesy of Beyer’s family | compiled by Robby Tantingco)

MANGLILILI – (Kapampangan) An invisible entity who caused disorientation in solitary travelers, making them lose their way in deep forests and mountains. Poor travelers would spend hours, even days, trying to find their way back. People living at the foot of Mount Arayat have experienced being led astray by a beautiful lady for what seemed to be only hours but turn out to be actually months and years.
(source: Kapampangan beliefs circa 1900 can be found in accounts compiled by ethnographer H. Otley Beyer, in an unpublished volume at the HAU Center for Kapampangan Studies courtesy of Beyer’s family | compiled by Robby Tantingco)

MANGMANGKIK – (Ilokano) This is the name that the rural llocanos people give to spirits, according to their superstitions, live inside trees, particularly in the tigbeg tree.D. Isabelo de los Reyes writes about the mangmangkik of the Ilocana legend, his work is titled “Vida de Juan el Peresozo”.
(source: DICCIONARIO MITOLÓGICO DE FILIPINAS, Ferdinand Blumentritt [1895], translated and republished by The Aswang Project, 2021)

MANGUANG ANAK – (Kapampangan) Fast-running agents of an unseen evil person or spirit who kidnapped children off the streets and took them to a faraway place where they were bled to death and their blood sold and used in minting coins (old folks thought dipping coins in blood was part of the minting process and coins did taste like blood). When I was a kid we called them Ilonggot, and I remember seeing one apprehended by the police and tortured before a big crowd in front of the municipio.
(source: Kapampangan beliefs circa 1900 can be found in accounts compiled by ethnographer H. Otley Beyer, in an unpublished volume at the HAU Center for Kapampangan Studies courtesy of Beyer’s family | compiled by Robby Tantingco)

MANINIBLOT – (Zambales) The Zambals call her maniniblot. She goes out to harm her enemies when the moon is full. She gives chills and fever to people she hates. She keeps a tiny doll under her fireplace. She pricks the doll with a pin where she wants her victims to suffer.She picks up their footprints and roasts the earth. She roasts the earth in a clay pot. Then her victims will have a high fever.
(source: The Creatures of Midnight , Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

MANGMANGKIT – (Iloko) The mangmangkit have been called “spirits of the forest,” but the data contain no physical description of them. The Iloko mangmangkit lived in trees: “Even to this day, [a person] murmurs his invocation to the spirits of the forest, the mangmangkit, before he lays his axe to the tree he means to fell:

Bari-bari
Dika agunget, pari,
Ta pumukan kami
Iti pabakirda kada kami.

(Bari-bari
Be not angry, friend,
For we must cut down some
Of what we have been told to.)
(source: The The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology, Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

MANIOKAN – (Kulaman, Manobo) The maniokan, generally evil spirits, resemble snakes, and like them live in the ground. People are frequently made lame by simply stepping over their homes.
(source: The Wild Tribes of Davao District, Mindanao, Fay-Cooper Cole, The R. F. Cummings Philippine Expedition, 1913)

MANLALAYOG – (Cagayan de Oro) A manlalayog is usually a woman with long, scattered hair, who wrestles with a man until he dies. The woman’s hair would pass through all the openings of the man’s body, which prevents him from breathing. Wrestling usually occurs when the night is dark.
(source: The Encyclopedia of Philippine Folk Beliefs and Customs Vol. 1 , F.R. Demetrio S.J., Xavier University, 1990)

MANONOPSOP – (Bicol) Manonopsop is a witch with a strong sucking tongue that can extend meters long so it can suck blood from the stomach (usually that of a pregnant woman) of a sleeping victim. It will only stop sucking when the victim is already drained of blood. Usually the mononopsop positions itself from the roof of a house, and lets its thread-like tongue extend to the stomach of its unsuspecting victim.
(source: Bikol Beliefs and Folkways, Eden K. Nasayao, PhD, Hablong Dawani Publishing House, 2010)

MANSALAUAN – (Negros Island) The mansalauan of Negros Island was identified in the last century as …a fabulous bird of the Negritos… the size of an exceedingly large bat. Its eyes resembled carbuncles, and its head that of a lizard, while its tail had hair like that of a woman, and it had very large wings. It had a sharp tongue [pincho] in its mouth. This tongue it contracted, and by means of it introduced itself into the stomach of the woman and drew thence the spirit of the Negrito. Its feet were as large as those of a man, and its hands like those of a monkey.
(source: The The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology, Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

MANSUSOPSOP – (Pampanga) Similar to the ghoul aspect of the aswang, the Mansusopsop is a being in Philippine Folklore that preys on pregnant women. This creature hovers over the rooftop and finds any opening for its long, thread-like tongue to pass until it reaches the stomach of its victim, sucking the blood, fetus and life energy until the victim dies.
(source: undocumented Kapampangan stories)

MANTAHUNGAL– (Tagbanuwa) They are described as cowlike in body and voice but having no horns. They have shaggy coats of hair which hang to the ground and monstrous mouths with huge tusk-like incisors, two above and two below, capable of ripping a person to bits.
(source: The The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology, Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

MANTIANAK – (Tagakaulu Kalagan) Spirits of unborn children—mantianak (sometimes referred to as Busau) — wander through the forest crying “ina-a-a” (mother), and often attack human beings. The only way persons thus assailed can hope to escape is by running to a stream and throwing water on the abdomens of their pursuers.
(source: The Wild Tribes of Davao District, Mindanao, Fay-Cooper Cole, The R. F. Cummings Philippine Expedition, 1913)

MANTIANAK – (Bagobo) The Mantianak, as everywhere, is associated with childbirth, but there are local variations. Bagobo tradition says that if a woman dies during her trial her spirit is angry at the husband, since he is held responsible for the conditions that caused his wife’s death. The ghost of the woman becomes a mantianak that hovers in the air near her former home and utters peculiar cries, resembling the mewing of a cat. When the man hears that sound at night, he knows that it is the voice of the mantianak of his dead wife. This form of buso is characterized by a hole in the breast and by the long claws, and it is called “a bad thing. ” They say that the mantianak is constantly trying to kill men and boys, but that it is afraid of women and girls.
(source: A study of Bagobo ceremonial, magic and myth, Laura Watson Benedict, New York Academy of Sciences, 1916)

MANTIW – (Western Visayas) Giant spirits in Iloilo over thirty feet tall. They are usually seen roaming the fields or leaning against a coconut or Buri tree alone while whistling melodiously. People who have allegedly seen a Mantiw describe it as having a fair complexion, wide shoulders, and a tall aquiline nose. Also, a male Mantiw has an incredibly long penis and large, dangling scrotum. Although peaceful, a Mantiw is easily offended when a human whistles along with it. It will grab the nuisance human, carry him to the tallest coconut tree, and leave him on top with no means of climbing down.
(source: Philippine Folk Literature: The Legends, Damiana Eugenio,UP Press, 2002)

MARISPIS – (Hiligaynon) Beings in Western Visayas that make cricket-like sounds where their deep, sharp eerie chirps presage the coming of a ghost, sickness, or death.
(source:The Remnants of the Great Ilonggo Nation, Sebastian Sta. Cruz Serag, Rex Book Store, 1997)

MARKUPO – (Hiligaynon) It had the body of a very large snake. A red crest stood on its head. Its tongue was long and had thornlike hairs. It had two white tusks in its mouth. Its long tail was split at the tip. It lived on top of a mountain in the West Visayas. There it sang a loud song on quiet nights. People feared it, for its breath was poison. Men and beasts died if the markupo breathed on them. Trees became poisonous if it breathed on them. Birds died if they sat on the poisoned trees. (learn more)
(source: The Creatures of Midnight , Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

MARUKPUK – (Iloilo) The marukpuk is heard in bamboo groves . It is like the sound of splitting bamboo trees as though someone is cutting them ; the rustling of twigs and leaves is heard as though a strong wind is blowing and bamboo stems are being beaten. It is also said The marukpuk are spirits of the dead which haunt the bamboo groves from which the poles used for carrying the coffin to the grave.
(source: The Hiligaynon : an ethnography of family and community life in Western Bisayas region, F. Landa Jocano,University of the Philippine , 1983)

MATANDA SA PUNSO – (Tagalogs) The early Tagalogs believed that in the dirt that formed termite mounds, lived ancestor spirits and nunos. Their beliefs are reminiscent of the old beliefs of the past that the Tagalogs have conserved until now, they say that in those mountains named in the Tagolog language, punso, lives an ancient of such advanced age that can be found squatting in the punso. They offer it food without salt. This mythical ancient they call mantanda sa punso, common phrase, that means, old man of punso.
(source: DICCIONARIO MITOLÓGICO DE FILIPINAS, Ferdinand Blumentritt [1895], translated and republished by The Aswang Project, 2021)

MINOKAWA – (Bagobo) An eclipse of the moon is a sign that the mammoth bird Minokowa has swallowed her, and that the sun and all the people on the earth will be swallowed by the same bird, unless the Minokawa can be induced to open its mouth and disgorge the moon – a result which is regularly brought about by the shouting and screaming of men, and the beating of agongs.
(source: A study of Bagobo ceremonial, magic and myth, Laura Watson Benedict, New York Academy of Sciences, 1916) (learn more)

MOLIN-OLIN – (Bukidnon of Mindanao) Molin-olin, the spirit of the afterbirth. When a child is born a spirit “brother” is likewise born. When its body is buried and becomes earth the spirit goes to the sky, where it lives and watches over its living brother. It never dies. “We do not know how it lives, but its home is straight above and it swings, maybe in a cradle—for the prayer taught us by our ancestors and used by the datos when they act as judges starts with ‘Now my Molin-olin who is swinging high up in the sky.’
(source: The Bukidnon of Mindanao. Fay-Cooper Cole. Harold C. Conklin,. Columbia University, 1957)

MULTO – (Tagalogs) Ghost. Refers to spirit of the dead man appearing to the living. Many times, the activities of elementals are attributed to ghosts, which are not true.
(source: Dwarves and Other Nature Spirits, , Jaime T. Licauco, Rex Books, 2005)

MUMU – (Various) In its simplest form, the Mumu is a malevolent spirit that lurks in darkened, shadowy corners waiting to snatch children away from their families. In the National Capital Region (Metro Manila), the most common belief is that the Mumu is a ghost or spirit that has unfinished business in our world, has not been given last rites, or have not yet accepted their death. As we move northward on Luzon the belief changes into a spirit that feeds on children or takes their soul. When we move south through the Philippines towards Bicol and the Eastern Visayas, the term Mumu is used to describe a variety of mythical beings and ‘engkanto’. The same can be said for Negros and Mindanao. In Iloilo, however, the Mumu is likened to the Tamawo.
(source: The term mumu is mostly used to reference ghosts or the ‘boogey man’ to children)

MUNTIANAK – (Mandaya) Among the Mandaya at the north end of Davao Gulf this spirit is also known as Tuglinsau, Tagbusau, or Mandangum. He looks after the welfare of the bagani, or warriors, and is in many respects similar to Mandarangan of the Bagobo. He is described as a gigantic man who always shows his teeth and is otherwise of ferocious aspect. A warrior seeing him is at once filled with a desire to kill. By making occasional offerings of pigs and rice it is usually possible to keep him from doing injury to a settlement, but at times these gifts fail of their purpose and many people are slain by those who serve him. Among the Mandaya, the balyan (baylan) plays an important role in their rituals, religious or otherwise. Offerings and libations are common practices. Offerings may be a bagi where pigs, chickens and other animals are offered to the diwata to ward off the evil spirits or busaw.
(source: The Wild Tribes of the Davao District, Fay-Cooper Cole, 1913)

MUROKPOK – (Antique) The Murokpok are noted to be harmful. They are relatively small, dark- complexioned and curly-haired. They look somewhat cross-eyed. When they roam around in the farm or hills, they wear a red bandana on their head. They usually bring with them a bow and arrow which they use to inflict harm on any person they meet. If a cane is aimed at a person, this person falls unconscious and gets ill. If the person is hit by a murokpok, he would die.
(Source: The Enduring Ma-Aram Tradition, Alicia P. Magos., New Day, 1992)

MUTYA – (Various) In Pangasinan, the banana flower is pointed toward the sky when it emerges from the tree but bends earthward when its stem becomes sufficiently long. If you see a banana flower about to bend to the ground, wait under it at midnight when the moon is full. As it bends, it will simultaneously open and release a mutya, or magic jewel. Catch the mutya in your mouth as it falls and keep it there. The petioles of the banana tree will turn into human arms and its leaves into human hands and choke you into regurgitating the jewel. If you can keep it in your mouth till daylight, you will have great strength all your life.

The being that guarded the “stone,” also known as mutya among the Iloko and the Tagalog, of the banana blossom opening at midnight and facing east was said to be a particularly fierce character.

A report on beliefs about the mutya of the banana flower in Palawan which closely resemble beliefs in Zambales and Pangasinan.

It is a common practice in Bohol barrios to determine God’s will for the sick. Sickness to the Boholanos may be caused by God’s will or by people living in a gakit (balite tree), or in rivers — the kataw (mermaid) etc. Mutya (a pearl-like stone) is placed on a plate to determine the will of God. If the pearl sticks to the plate when turned upside down, then the relatives spontaneously cry because the patient generally dies.
(source: The The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology, Maximo Ramos, 1990 Phoenix Publishing, The Encyclopedia of Philippine Folk Beliefs and Customs Vol. 2 , F.R. Demetrio S.J., Xavier University, 1990)

MUWA – (Antique) The muwa are also supernatural beings that appear as old men and women. They stay in old abandoned houses and are known to hoard food provisions like palay. If a farmer fails to invite them at the pangkuyang, a pre-harvest rite, they are known to harvest the palay ahead of the farmers and store the crop for their own use.
(Source: The Enduring Ma-Aram Tradition, Alicia P. Magos., New Day, 1992)

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NAGBUAGAN – (Tingguian) This is what Tinguianes of Abra called certain demons or malignant spirits who want to destroy everything. To the Igorots and Ifugaos, it is a name of their anito.
(source: DICCIONARIO MITOLÓGICO DE FILIPINAS, Ferdinand Blumentritt [1895], translated and republished by The Aswang Project, 2021)

NAGUINED – (Visayan) Name of certain demons of the early Visayans. Presumably the Bicolanos also knew the Naguinao.
(source: DICCIONARIO MITOLÓGICO DE FILIPINAS, Ferdinand Blumentritt [1895], translated and republished by The Aswang Project, 2021)

NANGANGATOK – – (Tagalogs) The Nangangatok are usually invisible spirits that are harbingers of terrible things to come. People are advised to peek through the window first when someone knocks before opening their doors or they might let the Nangangatok inside their house.
(source: Tagalog ghost stories, Urban Legends)

NONO or NUNO – (Tagalogs) Meaning grandfather, was one of the names given by the old Tagalogs to the spirits of their ancestors and ultimately, to all anito spirits. The same name was given to alligators. It is believed that when an alligator devours a human, the soul remains inside the animal. It is also believed that the anitos or nonos reside particularly in baliti trees (Ficus indica, L.) thus it was given the name Nonok. The Tirurayes also named the baliti tree Nunuk.

The Tagalog peasants still believe in nunó. In Bulacan, nunó is a very old man who resides in forests particularly in the anthills or any mounds. Also called Matandá sa punsó.

Lastly, the Visayans also call the baliti tree Nonok and believe that the spirits who dwell in it may cause harm if they are not feared or respected.
(source: DICCIONARIO MITOLÓGICO DE FILIPINAS, Ferdinand Blumentritt [1895], translated and republished by The Aswang Project, 2021)

NUNO SA PUNSO – (Tagalogs) Nuno sa punso (literally, grandfather of the mound) are also simply called nuno. It lives inside a mound of earth, sometimes mistaken to be termites’ home, usually seen to be slightly smaller than the average dwende.
(source: Dwarves and Other Nature Spirits, , Jaime T. Licauco, Rex Books, 2005)

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OGRO – (Bicol) Ogro is an ugly dreaded monster that feeds on humans. The gigantic creature usually eats people who are selfish and cruel. The ogro is a black, horrible creature who watches children in their sleep, ready to hit their heads with its big wooden hammer if their heads reach up to the pillows of their parents. It is believed that children become disrespectful when they sleep with their heads on the same level as their parents.
(source: Bikol Beliefs and Folkways, Eden K. Nasayao, PhD, Hablong Dawani Publishing House, 2010)

OKO – (Negros Oriental) That the oko is believed to be a monkey whose eyes are in vertically-situated and do not usually roam around during the day.
(Source: Witchcraft, Filipino Style, Nid Anima, Omar Publishing, 1978)

OKOT – (Bicol) A duende of the early Bicolanos. It is a good-natured spirit that speaks by whistling.
(source: DICCIONARIO MITOLÓGICO DE FILIPINAS, Ferdinand Blumentritt [1895], translated and republished by The Aswang Project, 2021)

OMAYAN – (Bagabo) The Bagobo omayan, or kalalaoa nang omay (“spirit of omay”), was said to live “in the rice fields, and there offerings are made to him before the time of planting and reaping.”
(source: The The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology, Maximo Ramos, 1990 Phoenix Publishing)

ONGLO – (Bicol) Onglo is a creature that is about one foot tall; it is very hairy and causes any person who touches its hair to itch all over. The onglo is a human-like creature that has long straight black hair around its body from head to toe. It has clawed feet and long sharp fingernails, and long-pointy ears. Humans can detect an onglo because of the fetid smell. It feeds on the food that is left out to dry in the sun—like dried fish. The onglo is a creature whose upper body is that of a man, and the lower body is that of a horse. Its odor is so sharp that one can smell it from quite a distance. Onglo is a very black and ugly monster whose touch or mere presence causes one’s skin to itch.
(source: Bikol Beliefs and Folkways, Eden K. Nasayao, PhD, Hablong Dawani Publishing House, 2010)

ORIOL – (Bicol) Oriol is the fabulous snake daughter of Aswang, who appears and disappears at will. Her mission is to seduce men. Her beauty and influence were irresistible. A thousand fables were said about this snake- enchantress. Oriol or Irago is the serpent daughter of aswang who could transform herself into a seductive woman or appearand disappear as she pleases. In human form, she looks like a sweet, beautiful maiden with an equally sweet and beautiful voice. She has long, black, wavy, hair; and white, smooth skin. In her other form, she is a huge multi-colored serpent whose scales glisten in the sun. Oriol or Irago is the serpent daughter of aswang, who could transform herself into a seductive woman, or appear and disappear as she wants. Oriol is also a character from the Ibalong epic of Bicol.
(source: Bikol Beliefs and Folkways, Eden K. Nasayao, PhD, Hablong Dawani Publishing House, 2010)

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PAH – (Magindanao) One of four creatures from the Magindanao tale of INDARAPATRA AND SULAYMAN. The second monster was called Pah. It was a winged creature, with razor-edge claws. Its feet were covered with steel-hard scales. Whenever this monster flew, its wings covered the sun and produced darkness akin to midnight. It haunted the regions east of Mindanao. It had its abode on top of Mount Bita.
(source: Tales from our Malay Past, Mela Ma. Roque, Filipinas Foundation, Inc. 1979)

PALASEKAN – (Ilongot) The palasekan that features quite prominently in Ilongot folklore is invisible, but its whistling at night can be heard plainly and understood rather well. The palasekan in an Ilongot tale entitled “The Elves and the Phonograph” played a music box owned by an agricultural school teacher. The palasekan were offended when their house was cut down. They demanded a propitiatory feast of wine in cups laid out on benches. The aesthetic sense of the palasekan and their uncanny knowledge of human affairs. The palasekan are capable of prognostication. Each Ilongot, moreover, has a personal palasekan, and one woman’s private palasekan keeps a rice pot constantly filled with cooked rice against the time when unexpected visitors arrive.
(source: The The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology, Maximo Ramos, 1990 Phoenix Publishing)

PAMAHANDI – (Bukidnon of Mindanao) The ten protectors of horses and carabao, and senders of good fortune, although each has specific duties. They are much respected and each year a family will observe a ceremony to obtain their good will. Occasionally they cause trouble and send sickness.

Their names are Pamahándi púti, Pamahándi lansion, Pamahándi biohon, Pamahándi sīgolón, Pamahándi hagsálan, Pamahándi boñau, Pamahándi opos, Pamahándi logdangon, Pamahándi komagasgas, and Pamahándi somágda. Not all these names are recognized in the Central Valley, but there is agreement as to their number and their duties.

The Pamahándi are often generalized into a single deity.
(source: The Bukidnon of Mindanao. Fay-Cooper Cole. Harold C. Conklin,. Columbia University, 1957)

PANIGOTLO – (Aklan) The favored beast of the Aklanon god, Gamhanan. If it bleats before midnight during a full moon it means the next day will be fruitful and abundant. If the bleating is heard after midnight it is an omen that something bad will happen. “In Mount Daeogdog there were times when the people used to hear the bleating of a white panigotlo during full moon. The panigotlo was a deer with full antlers. And this deer was often seen dashing across the river stream like a shaft of light. But the people never molested this pet of the gods; neither did they permit anyone to catch it.”
(source: Philippine Folk Literature: The Legends, Damiana Eugenio,UP Press, 2002)

PANTIYANAK – (Bicol) The patiyanak is an aborted baby’s spirit in limbo as it cannot enter heaven. It cries for prayers. The patiyanak is the offspring of an aswang and the devil. It looks like an innocent happy baby but when a human being gets near it, it reverts to its original form and devours the human so fast, and so viciously. The patiyanak is an ugly creature in its true form. It has reddish brown skin with sharp and glowing eyes. Its face is that of a very old man, and its teeth are long and sharp, protruding out of its mouth. The voice of patiyanak causes miscarriage. The patiyanak is an aborted fetus that comes to life to take revenge on its mother. The cry of the patiyanak, which resembles the cry of an infant, foretells that someone in the community is going to die. Patiyanak or tiyanak is also a nocturnal bird which no one can clearly describe, but it is believed to be the soul of an aborted or an unbaptized child since the sound it creates is like that of a crying baby. It can hurt you, or even eat you up. Where a patiyanak’s voice is heard above the house, an aswang lurks under. If the patiyanak’s voice is heard under the house, an aswang hovers above.
(source: Bikol Beliefs and Folkways, Eden K. Nasayao, PhD, Hablong Dawani Publishing House, 2010)

PARADUNO – (Camarines) They are known as paraduno in Camarines. They look like human beings. But they smell like rotten flesh. They roam at midnight looking for corpses. They lie on their belly on the roof over the dead. Their tongue sticks out as they listen. They hasten the death of a sick.
(source: The Creatures of Midnight , Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

PASATSAT – (Pangasinan) A ghost of a dead person who died in a tragic way, especially those who died in Japanese Era (World War II). This kind of ghost usually shows to passersby in a solitary paths in the forest or even in cities. In order for the ghost to stop haunting, someone should stab the coffin or the reed mat where the body of this ghost was buried. It will show no sign of the body but a putrid flesh can be smelled.
(source: Pangasinan ghost stories)

PATIANAK – (Tagalog) Writing about the traditional beliefs of the Tagalog toward the end of the sixteenth century, Plasencia reported in 1589 that he believed the patianak to be a “woman and child who died in childbirth”. A Batangas census official later wrote that “the patianac was the soul of a child dying before baptism” (Census [1903]), a concept with which Cole’s later findings in Mindanao are in substantial agreement. More logical is Juan R. Francisco’s comment: “In the myths of the Filipinos, the (pa)tiyanak is a small being who brings mischief to anyone who crosses his path. He cries like a baby to attract the attention of passersby. When the unfortunate man gets lost in the woods, he can not find his way home unless he makes the (pa)tiyanak laughs by wearing his clothes inside out.”
(source: The The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology, Maximo Ramos, 1990 Phoenix Publishing)

PATIANAK – (Kapampangan) Small dark creatures that lived underground, in remote spots marked by termite mounds. Passers-by had to say “Makilabas ku pu!” or “Itábi po, puera nunu!” (“May I pass?” or “Please go away, I hope there is no old dwarf here!”) The word patianak did not come from the Tagalog tiyanak, but from the Bahasa pontianak, the ghost of a stillborn baby. Thus, Kapampangans thought them to be the souls of unbaptized children, who tormented women during childbirth and harassed immoral people (like unchaste priests and unfaithful husbands).
(source: Kapampangan beliefs circa 1900 can be found in accounts compiled by ethnographer H. Otley Beyer, in an unpublished volume at the HAU Center for Kapampangan Studies courtesy of Beyer’s family | compiled by Robby Tantingco)

PINAD-ENG – (Ibaloy) Spirits who live in the forest who own the wild pigs and chickens; hunters offer sacrifices to these spirits for a successful hunting trip.
(source: Ethnography of the Major Ethnolinguistic Groups in the Philippines, Arsenio L. Sumeng-ang, New Day Publishers, 2003)

PINADING (or BIBIO) – (Ifugao) These deities are believed to inhabit large rocks, springs, trees, banks and other natural features of every locality. Their names differ in each region, of course, but there is not much difference in conception. Their principal activities are “theft” of the souls of rice and of men, causing death, and “theft” of rice from the granary; they are also believed to be the owners of all game living in their vicinity.
(source: The Religion of the Ifugaos, R.F. Barton, American Anthropological Association Vol. 48, October 1946)

PINTEN – (Northern Kankana-eys) There exists a special kind of spirit called pinten, the spirits of men who died a terrible death (e.g., killed in warfare or accident). They are usually called upon to help for success in headhunting activities or revenge.
(source: Ethnography of the Major Ethnolinguistic Groups in the Philippines, Arsenio L. Sumeng-ang, New Day Publishers, 2003)

PISPIS – (Negros Oriental) That the unrest of the soul of the deceased is believed to be augured by the sound of the pispis, a certain nocturnal insect, when heard on the ninth night of prayer.
(Source: Witchcraft, Filipino Style, Nid Anima, Omar Publishing, 1978)

PONGO – (Bicol) An ape type being from the Ibalong Epic. “In the fight with giant crocodiles, which colored the Bikol river red, he emerged unhurt while the apes of the pongo and orangutan variety who had watched with horror were finally driven to the mountain Isarog.”

POO – (Waray) Like the wakwak he has the appearance of an ordinary person, and he does not have wings or fangs. The poo comes out only when there is a full moon. He shouts “poo” when he is still far from your house and when he comes nearer your house. When he shouts “poo” the fourth time, he is already in your house. If you are not awakened by his shouts, he will get your small child, but if you are awakened, he cannot get the child because he is afraid he might be killed by the one taking care of the child. If the poo finds out that you are alone, he will kill you.
(source: The Aswang Complex in Philippine Folklore, Maximo Ramos, 1990, Phoenix Publishing)

POPO – (Bicol) The superstitious belief in the existence of the Popo was one of the most terrifying that the wild imagination of the Bicolano could dream. When it happened, then, that some child grew rachitic,without believing as he should, he explained it by saying that that was because the Popo, imaginary and vengeful ghost, put his hand consuming his already weakened forces. For this reason they sought to appease the anger of the angry Popo with incessant prayers and offerings. In order to make the offering, thecalled the Baliana, who, after a few prayers, squeezed juice from the leaves ofthe lemon into the eyes of the child, to whose contact the Popo fled, leaving the child free of his tyrannical influence.
(source: SHORT GLIMPSE ON THE ORIGIN, RELIGION, BELIEFS AND SUPERSTITIONS OF THE ANCIENT NATIVES OF BICOL by Fray Jose Castaño, February 1895)

PUGOT – (Iloko, Pampanga) The term pugot denotes either “the black one,” “the decapitated one,” or “one with hands cut off,” and the creature is widely known by that name in Northern and Central Luzon, though less as a headless being than as “a black being that can assume varying sizes—from a man tiny as a new-born babe to a giant the size of a large acacia tree,” a gigantic Negro “terrifying but not particularly harmful.”

The pugot seems to somewhat differ from the kapre in its ability to assume a variety of shapes—human or animal, such as dogs and hogs, though to be sure, this capacity is shown by other demons and the dwarf as well. As a child in San Antonio, Zambales, Socorro P. Buenaventura heard it said that a mysterious hog would rush between the legs of a wayfarer in a deserted street bordered by large acacia trees in her town and then would suddenly assume a gigantic shape and carry the traveler off.
(source: The The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology, Maximo Ramos, 1990 Phoenix Publishing)

PUMUPUD (or KOLKOLIBAG) – (Ifugao) In these deities, who cause difficult birth by obstructing the vagina, we see an association of birth with water also noted with the Ifugao Gods of Reproduction. Pumupud living in the Upstream, dam the birth canal; Pumupud in the Downstream, is antidotal and tears the dam down. The class takes its name from Pumupud, a deity that is or becomes an upud, the large central disk of marble or mother-of-pearl that the Ifugao wears on his scabbard belt. This deity blocks the passage of the foetus.
(source: The Religion of the Ifugaos, R.F. Barton, American Anthropological Association Vol. 48, October 1946)

 

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RABOT – (Bicol) Rabot is half-man and half-beast creature that transforms its enemies into stone. A huge monster that resembles a man, and a huge lizard at the same time, it can fly and cast its power on anyone within its vision at will. This half-man and half beast has eyebrows that are so thick and so black that they protrude from its face. Its huge chin is tucked in, like that of a lizard’s, but it has really huge pointed ears that droop down. Its voice is so loud and raspy that it sounds like thunder. He was killed by Bantog using a bolo in the Ibalong Epic.
(source: Bikol Beliefs and Folkways, Eden K. Nasayao, PhD, Hablong Dawani Publishing House, 2010)

RAGIT-RAGIT – (Romblon) They are known as ragit-ragit in Romblon. They are tiny, slender, and cute. Their eyes are sharp and they cannot wink. Their complexion is fair and smooth. They live forever and never grow old. Only infants of less than a year can see them. They steal an infant left outdoors after sunset. They make the infant ill. The infant fidgets and cries. It is cured by being made to wear a black cap.
(source: The Creatures of Midnight , Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

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SAIRO – (Ilokano) This is the name used by the early Ilocano people to refer to malevolent entities or spirits; now the Ilocano people use it to refer to the demons of Christian tradition.
(source: DICCIONARIO MITOLÓGICO DE FILIPINAS, Ferdinand Blumentritt [1895], translated and republished by The Aswang Project, 2021)

SAITAN – (Tiruray)The Tiruray people in the island of Mindanao used this to refer to a kind of malevolent spirit that inflicted illnesses upon people. It is highly likely that the term has muslim origins. (compare: Sitan)
(source: DICCIONARIO MITOLÓGICO DE FILIPINAS, Ferdinand Blumentritt [1895], translated and republished by The Aswang Project, 2021)

SANGKABAGI – (Ilokano) These are spirits feared by the locals of Ilocos Norte. These seem to be the same supernatural beings that are known as katatao-an in the countrysides of Ilocos-Sur. These are elves/dwarves, according to the beliefs of the peasants of Ilocos Sur and of La Union; they usually take the human form or other forms of gigantic proportions and travel at night in an aerostatic ship, taking those found in an unpopulated place, also eating the bodies of their dead.
(source: DICCIONARIO MITOLÓGICO DE FILIPINAS, Ferdinand Blumentritt [1895], translated and republished by The Aswang Project, 2021)

SANTELMO – (Samar) Leyte Gulf and past the island of Basey, Samar, to the part entering the Pacific Ocean are known for the santelmo, a natural phenomenon to some but regarded as a supernatural occurrence by others, especially by the fishermen and the natives of Samar. In English it is called Saint Elmo, and Santo Elmo in Spanish, but Samareno’s have come to call it santelmo unto this day.
(source: Philippine Folk Literature: The Legends, Damiana Eugenio,UP Press, 2002)

SANTILMO – (Various) Tagalogs, Visayans, and other Filipinos call it santilmo. It is a ball of fire in fields and swamps. It bounces along and rolls away. It changes into a beast with fire in its mouth. Travelers and fishermen follow it at night. They walk and walk till they are tired out. Then they cannot find their way home. They walk into deep mud and thorny bushes. They get dizzy and become insane. They must reverse their clothes to send it away. Then they can find their way home.
(source: The Creatures of Midnight , Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

SARANGAY – (Ibanags) Like other demons he is tall and dark. He has a large body, too. His hair is long, coarse, and black. He wears big wooden rings on his ears.He lows like a bull and runs after boys and girls He owns a magic jewel. His jewel glows like an ember in the dark.
(source: The Creatures of Midnight , Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

SARIMAO – (Bicol) The Sarimao were avenging monsters in the Ibalong Epic that were brutally fierce, ugly, and ruinous. They went after evildoers, usually to those with hidden guilt, who could not be brought to justice. Handyong exiled the Sarimao to Mount Kulasi. Their human equivalents are believed to be those who take the law into their own hands, who have suffered injustice.
(Source: Ibalon Epic)

SARIMANOK – (Maranao) If there’s a symbol that the Maranao people in the Philippines are associated with, it’s the Sarimanok. Sarimanok is an important part of the Maranao people’s cultural heritage, it is invoked in many rituals and it showcases their unique artistic geniuses. The Sarimanok is depicted as a fowl with colorful wings and feathered tail, holding a fish on its beak or talons. With the head profusely decorated with scroll, leaf and spiral motifs (okir), it is said to be a symbol of good fortune.
(source: “Southwestern Philippine Art”. Anthropological Papers National Museum, Peralta, Jesus T., 1980)

SARINAGO – (Bagobo) Spirits who steal rice. It is best to appease them, otherwise the supply of rice will vanish rapidly.
(source: The Wild Tribes of Davao District, Mindanao, Fay-Cooper Cole, The R. F. Cummings Philippine Expedition, 1913)

SARUL or SARUT – (Ilonggo)The sarul or sarut were spirit beings that took the form of animals and insects and frequented places where there were humans.
(source:The Remnants of the Great Ilonggo Nation, Sebastian Sta. Cruz Serag, Rex Book Store, 1997)

SARUT – (Sulod) Similar to the bagat (pets of supernatural beings) are the sarut. These take the form of queer-looking animals and insects which situate themselves in places where humans are tempted to hurt them. They are harmless when left alone, but when hurt, they retaliate by inflicting sickness on the offender. The sarut may be described as a supernatural tempter.
(Source: The Encyclopedia of Philippine Folk Beliefs and Customs Vol. 1 , F.R. Demetrio S.J., Xavier University, 1990)

SASAGANGEN – (Tingguian) Sasagangen, sometimes called Ingalit, are spirits whose business it is to take heads and put them on the saga or in the saloko. Headache is caused by them.
(source: The Tinguian: Social, Religious, and Economic Life of a Philippine Tribe, Fay-Cooper Cole, 1922)

SEGBEN – (various Visayan groups) The goat like segben, otherwise not classifiable, appears to be an embodiment of the ghoul. It has the unpleasant smell characteristic of ghouls, hastens the death of sick persons, and lingers near the corpse: Segbens are goatlike animals, are hornless, and have big wide and prominent ears. They appear and are seen only in the evening. They are invisible during the day. In the evening they stay under the house of a dying person. The[y] come back for nine consecutive nights, until the accustomed novena for the dead is over. Their bodies produce a very pungent and nauseating odor and their big ears clap like two pairs of hands [sic] at the sides of their heads.

Asuncion Conde remembered hearing references made by the Agusan folk to the glowing eyes and perked-up ears of the segben. Benilda Moreno of Leyte reported that she twice saw segben come to eat the flowers of the squash vine in her father’s backyard at night and they “looked like white wild goats.” She added that she heard them bleat like ordinary goats and saw them vanish with incredible speed.
(source: The The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology, Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

SELDAY – (Tingguian/ Itneg) Selday is a malevolent spirit who lives in the forest and causes sore feet which is only relived when offerings are made to him. He is believed to cause great trouble or sickness to the community when he is not offered the blood of a small pig.
(source: Ethnography of the Major Ethnolinguistic Groups in the Philippines, Arsenio L. Sumeng-ang, New Day Publishers, 2003)

SIGBIN – (Negros Occidental) The sigbin is another nocturnal animal resembling a dog whose forelegs are constricted in the manner of the kangaroo.
(Source: Witchcraft, Filipino Style, Nid Anima, Omar Publishing, 1978)

SIGBIN – (Visayan) A designation used by the Visayan people to refer to a certain type of spirit familiar that supposedly accompanied a person, to whom the spirit was bound by contract to serve constantly. (compare: Sigbinan.)
(source: DICCIONARIO MITOLÓGICO DE FILIPINAS, Ferdinand Blumentritt [1895], translated and republished by The Aswang Project, 2021)

SIGBINAN – (Visayan) The early Visayan people believed the there was a certain type of sorcerer that was called a sigbinan who could transform into alligators,serpents, or dogs who would bite or slay many men.
(source: DICCIONARIO MITOLÓGICO DE FILIPINAS, Ferdinand Blumentritt [1895], translated and republished by The Aswang Project, 2021)

SILAGAN – (Catanduanes) An early Franciscan missionary indicated that he believed in viscera suckers, known as silagan in Catanduanes, when he wrote: [If the silagan] saw anyone clothed in white, [they] would tear out his liver and eat it thus causing his death. This… was in the island of Catanduanes. Let no one consider this a fable; because, in Calavan, they tore out in this way through the anus and all the intestines of a Spanish notary, who was buried in Calilaya by father Fray Juan de Merida.
(source: The The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology, Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

SILING – (Tagakaulu Kalagan)Siling causes much trouble by confusing travelers through the forest.
(source: The Wild Tribes of Davao District, Mindanao, Fay-Cooper Cole, The R. F. Cummings Philippine Expedition, 1913)

SIRENA – (Iloko, Ilongot, Tagalogs etc.) In an Iloko tale which Maximo Ramos recalled his mother used to tell, a boy playing at the river bank saw a beautiful woman bathing and she proved to be a sirena. He was attracted by her long hair and her charming smile and he walked to her. He then recalled a description of the sirena as a creature having a body covered with fish scales from the waist down, and he soon observed that “…like the body of a fish, her body was smaller at the end. Her tail fins flipped from side to side as they went through the water.” Later the mermaid described herself: “…half of my body is the body of a fish, and half is the body of a woman…” Informants from Zambales and elsewhere told Ramos that the sirena made the water rise quickly and engulfed her victim: “No sooner had his [the boy’s] feet touched the water than the river rose and the woman caught him in her arms.” Sirena is the Spanish equivalent of mermaid, and the term appears to have driven many of the vernacular terms out of use.(learn more)
(source: The The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology, Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

S’IRING – (Bagobo) A rustic demon well known in folklore is S’iring, who, under the guise of some relative or friend, lures a young person into the densest part of the forest, causes him to lose memory and judgment, and finally brings him to his death in some indirect manner. What we call echo is the call of S’iring, who answers in a faint voice the shout of some wanderer whom he is trying to entice from the familiar trails. The S’iring is represented as having long sharp nails and curly hair.
(source: A study of Bagobo ceremonial, magic and myth, Laura Watson Benedict, New York Academy of Sciences, 1916)

SIYAM-SIYAM – (Iloilo) In mid to late 19th century Iloilo, travelers on horseback or carriage told of encountering a restless spirit at night. The spirit at first appeared as a normal human and asked to hitch a ride. On the way it would talk casually and confess of its nine sins that it committed nine times. Then the hitchhiker will turn into a skeleton in tatters and ask for the nearest church and disappear while the travelers screamed their heads off. In one story, Siyam-Siyam finally found peace when he encountered a friar.
(source: Urban Legend from Iloilo)

SIYOKOY or SIUKOY – (Tagalogs) Some Tagalogs call the merman siukoy. A siukoy’s skin is sunburned and hairy and his head hair copper-colored and wavy but relatively short. The Tagalogs call him siukoy. He has a brown, hairy skin. His hair is short, golden, and wavy. He lives in rivers, lakes, and in the sea. He is often seen in flooded waters. He floats along on the brown water. He looks for children swimming in the water. He pulls them under by the legs. Then he takes them to his home in the water. Merfolk are said to drown those who tell them they eat meat and fish. They also drown those who say they eat greens with curly tips. This is because merfolk are half meat and half fish. It’s also because merfolk have curly hair.
(Source: The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology and The Creatures of Midnight , Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

SUMARANG – (Iloko)In the Iloko folk narrative “The Life of Lam-ang” (Biag ni Lam-ang), Sumarang encountered the hero in a battle. He was described as “a man… whose eyes were as big as a plate and whose nose was the size of two feet put together.”
(source: The The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology, Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

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TA-AWI – (Maranao) The ta-awi of Maranao folklore was “monster” whose approach created “a noise as loud as thunder coming from the forest.” The ta-awi swore to come back and eat the princess after it had devoured her parents and kin, and it came on “faster than the wind.” Dying, the ta-awi told the hero to open up its stomach and take the undigested eyes of the people it had devoured. The hero did so and found the eyes of human beings. He collected them in a jar “the height of a man,” and he eventually restored their owners to life.
(source: The The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology, Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

TAGABATO – (Bukidnon of Mindanao) Tagabato (or tao sa bato) are the possessors of all large stones.
(source: The Bukidnon of Mindanao. Fay-Cooper Cole. Harold C. Conklin,. Columbia University, 1957)

TAGADALÁMA – (Bukidnon of Mindanao) Tagadaláma are spirits living in the cliffs. Some are poor, and when men fall and are killed they steal their clothing.
(source: The Bukidnon of Mindanao. Fay-Cooper Cole. Harold C. Conklin,. Columbia University, 1957)

TAGAMALING – (Bagabo) Another supernatural being associated with the mountains is Tagamaling, who is, traditionally, a god on the alternate months only, and at other times a demon. As the special protector, too, of deer and of pigs,. Tagamaling cannot be excluded from the spirits that are closely related to the interests of the Bagobo. Primarily, there are two· chief tagamaling, a male god and his wife, but, according to folklore, there must be very many spirits by that name.
(source: A study of Bagobo ceremonial, magic and myth, Laura Watson Benedict, New York Academy of Sciences, 1916)

TAGARESO – (Bagabo) Tagareso is an ugly fiend who stimulates ill-feeling and arouses a quarrelsome spirit on festival occasions. He tries to make married men dissatisfied with their wives, so that they will want to run off and leave them.
(source: A study of Bagobo ceremonial, magic and myth, Laura Watson Benedict, New York Academy of Sciences, 1916)

TAGASORO – (Bagabo)The demon who ” makes men dizzy” is Tagasoro, and his presence at a ceremonial is greatly feared.
(source: A study of Bagobo ceremonial, magic and myth, Laura Watson Benedict, New York Academy of Sciences, 1916)

TAGO-NGIRIT (Bicol) Tago-ngirit is a creature that is said to be half-hidden behind trees and leaves as it wears a big smile. Children are afraid of the tago-ngirit whom they might find as they play hide and seek.
(source: Bikol Beliefs and Folkways, Eden K. Nasayao, PhD, Hablong Dawani Publishing House, 2010)

TAHAMALING – (Bagabo) The tahamaling of the Bagobo is a female spirit with a red complexion, and the mahomamy, her male counterpart, has a fair skin. E. Arsenio Manuel, writing about the Bagobo, noted: ‘The balete tree is the favorite residence of the Bagobo “spirit” tahamaling, ‘the keeper of animals.’ *note: Among the Manuvu, according to Manuel, Tahamaling is a goddess.
(source: The The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology, Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

TAIYABAN – (Ifugao)The name of the class may possibly be derived from an ancient form of the word taiyap, meaning wing. These are the most feared, perhaps, of all deities. The Flying Monsters prey on the souls of men, carrying them off, it would seem, as eagles do their prey. They also prey on soul-stuff: for example, they devour that of the arm-then the arm will wither-or of the ear, and the hearing will be lost.

These beings are believed to live in rocks, thickets, trees and other natural features of landscapes all over the Ifugao’s known earth. They are, therefore, largely local, but there are also general ones. This class would be the most numerous of all if there were included in it those taiyaban that are of local character. Although the taiyaban is conceived as being usually bird-like, it sometimes “turns on the fire” and appears as a flame or apparition of fire. It also frequently assumes human form. Dogs can perceive it when human eyes cannot, and if dogs bark without apparent reason, it is believed that they are barking at a flying monster that has come into the village.
(source: The Religion of the Ifugaos, R.F. Barton, American Anthropological Association Vol. 48, October 1946)

TALAHIANG – (Zamboanga) People in Zamboanga call him talahiang. He is twelve feet tall and has large muscles. He is dark and has coarse, kinky hair. He has thick lips and large teeth. He lives in big trees in the jungle. He makes travelers lose their way. But he is afraid of noise. He runs away when he hears a shout. He changes himself into a big lizard and flees.
(Source: The Creatures of Midnight , Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

TAMÁ – (Kulaman, Manobo) Tamà owns the deer and wild pigs, and no one hunts or traps in the forest until he has made an offering of betel nut to this spirit. When game is secured its tail and ears are strung on rattan and are hung in a tree, in exchange for the live animal.
(source: The Wild Tribes of Davao District, Mindanao, Fay-Cooper Cole, The R. F. Cummings Philippine Expedition, 1913)

TAMAWO – (Antique) The tamawo are described as “beautiful or handsome and fair- complexioned.” When wanting to court a villager, a tamawo appears as an ordinary person but when scrutinized closely, he is said to have no narrow groove on the upper part of the lip. One’s image is also believed to appear slanted when seen through the pupil of the tamawo’s eye. A person courted by a tamawo exhibits strange (lunatic-like) behavior. The tamawo that reside in Mariit are known by the following names:

1. Bumalabag, also a male engkantu whose job is to drive away spirit beings who bring illness to people and animals.
2. Liktin-laktud, another male engkantu, who views and visits places. He walks fast and crosses hills.
3. Manupongtupong, a male engkantu who dresses just like an ordinary man. He is a big man, fond of roaming around but he usually stays close to the hills.
4. Manla-aw-la-aw, a male engkantu who also roams around and looks out from behind a hill.
5. Manilagnilag, a female engkantu who likes to be present in all social gatherings and festivities. She attends ritual gatherings.
6. Mambukay or Kalambukay, another female engkantu who dwells near the shallow wells. She is the object of ritual offerings by ma-aram every year.
   (Source: The Enduring Ma-Aram Tradition, Alicia P. Magos., New Day, 1992)

TAMBALOSLOS (Bicol) Tambaloslos is a two-foot tall creature with a very distinctive characteristic: his upper lip and lower lip measure two inches and three inches respectively, and the whole mouth stretches from ear to ear. The tambaloslos is a black, lanky creature with wobbly legs. Its body is almost skin and bones. Its huge, fleshy and protruding lips extend from one ear to the other. To drive the tambaloslos away, one has to tickle it. This will force it to laugh and make its huge lips draw onto its face; and since. its lips are so huge, they cover its eyes when it laughs. These descriptions seem to be the ‘G’ rated versions of the being below.
(source: Bikol Beliefs and Folkways, Eden K. Nasayao, PhD, Hablong Dawani Publishing House, 2010)

TAMBALUSLOS – (Bicolano, Mindanao, Visayas) From Cebu:Overly large head and a freakish grin. Has a scary, evil laugh. Makes people who walk through the forest lost. The more lost its victim is the harder it laughs. If you put your clothes inside out the tambaloslos finds it so funny it will laugh so hard it will cover its eyes with its enormous upper lip, giving the victim a chance to escape.

Tambaloslos is a slang word in the Cebuano language. It is used to mean a useless or an inept male. It is seldom used to refer to a woman. It is a vulgar word and is not used in polite or formal conversation. Occasionally people say it to elicit a humorous effect. The suffix “loslos “is a slang term for the male genitalia.

“Tambaloslos kang daku!” is a saying in Cebuano that is similar to “You’re such a dimwit!”.

From Bikol: It got its name from the long, wrinkled penis and dangling testicles which dangles to the ground (luslus).

An awkward, lanky, wrinkled black creature, it has long, thin, wobbly legs, hooves and big joints. It has long, thin arms and fingers and a mane like that of a horse that went all the way down from the head to the buttocks. It has wide protruding lips that covers its face when it laughs.

The Tambaluslus hides under trees on moonlit nights and loves to chase people who are lost in the woods.

‘luslus’ which means ‘loose and hanging’.

Also from Bikol: A tall humanoid creature. Generally black in complexion, it has long and thin legs with big joints, hooves, long thin arms and fingers, and a mane that runs from the back of the head down to its buttocks. It also has wide protruding lips like an ape. Another strange feature of this creature are its long wrinkled penis and loose testicles which dangle near the ground.

The Tambaluslos chases people who wander in the woods. The only way to escape it is to take off your clothes and wear them upside-down. The creature finds this act very hilarious and it will laugh so much that its wide lips would cover its face, therefore preventing it from seeing the victim who in turn will have ample time to escape.

Bicol, Bisaya, Mindanao: from ‘luslos’ or to have an erection

Takes women into secluded areas. To escape ones must turn their clothes inside out so that the tambaloslos can see their breast, this will make the tambaloslos erect so much that its genitals will cover its vision.
(source: Due to the graphic nature of this being, it rarely appears in written sources)

TAMBANOKANO – (Mandaya) One of the children of the Sun and Moon, was a giant crab names “Tambanokano”. He is so powerful that every time he open and closes his eyes lightening flashes. He lives in a large hole at the bottom of the ocean. When the tide goes out, it is because he has left the hole and the water rushes in to fill it. His moving about causes great waves which crash on the shore. The crab is quarrelsome, like his father; and sometimes becomes so angry with his mother (the Moon), that he tries to swallow her.
(source: Philippine Folk Tales, Cole, Mabel Cook, London: Curtis Brown, 1916)

TAMBANAKÁUA – (Manobo, parts of Agúsan Valley) The almost universal belief regarding an eclipse of the moon is that a gigantic tarantula has attacked the moon and is slowly encompassing it in its loathsome embrace. Upon perceiving the first evidences of darkness upon the face of the moon, the men rush out from the houses, shout, shoot arrows toward the moon, slash at trees with their bolos, play the drum and gong, beat tin cans and the buttresses of trees, blow bamboo resounders and dance around wildly, at the same time giving forth yells of defiance at the monster saying, “Let loose our moon,” “You will be hit by an arrow.” The women at the same time keep sticking needles or pointed sticks in the wall in the direction of the enemy that is trying to envelop the moon. Some say that a huge scorpion is the cause of eclipses. The explanation of these curious proceedings is simple. If the moon does not become freed from the clutches of this gigantic creature, it is believed that there will be no dawn and that, in the eternal darkness that will subsequently fall upon the world, the evil spirits will reign and all human apparel will be turned into snakes. During the eclipse the priests never cease to call upon their deities for aid against the mighty tarantula that is menacing the moon.
(source: THE MANÓBOS OF MINDANÁO, JOHN M. GARVAN, 1931)

TÁME – (Manobo, parts of Agúsan Valley) A gigantic spirit, that dwells in the untraveled jungle and beguiles the traveler to his doom.
(source: THE MANÓBOS OF MINDANÁO, JOHN M. GARVAN, 1931)

TAONG-LIPOD – (Bicolano) An unseen being
(source: Bikol Maharlika, Jose Calleja Reyes, Goodwill Trading Inc., 1992)

TANDAYAG NA OPON – (Bicol) Is a huge black boar who was killed by Baltog in the Ibalong Epic. “Then one night, a monstrous, wild boar known as Tandayag saw these field and destroyed the crops. Though the Tandayag had very long fangs, he (Baltog, the hero) was able to pin down the monstrous, wild boar and break apart its very big jawbones.”
(Source: Ibalon Epic)

TARABUSAW – (Magindanao) One of four creatures from the Magindanao tale of INDARAPATRA AND SULAYMAN. The third was a huge man-like monster called Tarabusaw. It inhabited the mountain of Matutum and plagued the neighboring territory.
(Source: Tales from our Malay Past, Mela Ma. Roque, Filipinas Foundation, Inc. 1979)

TAUO SA SALUP – (Bukidnon) These are spirits that dwell inside the forest. The Bukidnon (of Mindanao) summons them in times of war, or if a disease invades their territory, or if they want to have a safe trip.
(source: DICCIONARIO MITOLÓGICO DE FILIPINAS, Ferdinand Blumentritt [1895], translated and republished by The Aswang Project, 2021)

TAUO SATOLONAN – (Bulalacaunos, Palawan) The Bulalacaunos believe that when their business(es) go wrong, the guilt lies in the tauo satolonan, a spirit that eats children and does a thousand mischievous things with mortals.
(source: DICCIONARIO MITOLÓGICO DE FILIPINAS, Ferdinand Blumentritt [1895], translated and republished by The Aswang Project, 2021)

TAWONG LIPOD – (Bicol) Some folks believe in tawong lipod ( literally , people who are covered ) who are supposed to be supernatural beings normally unseen but sometimes allow themselves to be visible.
(source: Readings on Bikol Culture, Luis General (Jr.), University of Nueva Caceres, 1972)

TAWONG LUPA – (Mindanao) In Mindoro and Marinduque, the belief is still current that there are “little earth-spirits or tawong-lupa” whose permission must be sought before one passes through the deserted place in which they reside. It is reported, “before throwing anything filthy upon the ground, you should always warn the little earth-spirits, or tawong-lupa, to get out of the way.”
(source: The The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology, Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

TÁYHÒ – (Negros Occidental) A fabulous creature, half man and half horse; centaur, hippocentaur. There is an old belief of the existence of the tayho , a grey horse with a long neck similar to that of a giraffe.
(source: Kaufmann Hiligaynon Dictionary & A History of Occidental Negros, Modesto P. Sa-onoy,Today Printers and Pub., 1992 )

THALON – (Zamboanga Del Sur) The Thalon is an obscure creature in Philippine Folklore. From its origins in Zamboanga Del Sur, its myth has not spread to the other parts of the Philippines. Unlike most monsters in Philippine folklore, the attitude of the Thalon is based on its gender, either being a simple trickster spirit if male, or a terrible man-eating beast if female. The Thamad Thalon and Mhenamad Thalon look completely identical. The female Thamad Thalon is more dangerous as it eats humans that encroach on her territory while the Mhenamad Thalon would rather scare humans away.
(source: Philippine Spirits, Karl Gaverza, http://phspirits.com/series/the-terror-of-the-thalon/)

TIBSUKAN – (Antique) The tibsukan look like small pigs with long snouts. Like the lolid they are also pets of the engkantu. Once commanded by their master, they can bore holes from underneath the house causing illness to a member of the household. A house should not be constructed in a place where there are tibsukan.
(source: The Enduring Ma-Aram Tradition, Alicia P. Magos., New Day, 1992)

TIBURONES/ Triburon – (Bicol) The Tiburon were giant flying fish (or sharks) which had slimy, scaly, and hardy flesh and saw-like teeth that could crush rocks. Handiong and his men did not stop until they vanquished every Tiburon. In the Ibalon epic, they were tamed by the warrior-hero Handyong.
(source: Ibalon: Tatlong Bayani ng Epikong Bicol. Philippines: Children’s Communication Center: Aklat Adarna, Lacson, Tomas; Gamos, Albert 1992 )

TIGABULAK – (Tagalogs) A demon who in the form of an old man entices children with candy and cakes. After he has led them far from home, he puts them in a sack and carries them to his dwelling. Then he kills them and makes money out of their blood.
(source: Types of Prose Narratives, Harriott Ely Fansler, Row, Peterson & Company, 1911)

TIGBANUA – (Bagobo) The tigbanua are representative fiends of the most dangerous sort. To them, more than to any other buso, shrines are erected, magic formulae are recited, and propitiatory offerings are made ; while numerous spells are constantly worked to frustrate their evil designs. A tigbanua is reported to live in a state of perpetual cannibalism and to be most repulsive in aspect, having one eye in the middle of the forehead, a hooked chin two spans long and upturned to catch the drops of blood that may chance to drip from the mouth, and a body covered with coarse black hair. From Mount Apo and from the deep forest the tigbanua come flying or running to every fresh-dug grave, whether it be on mountain or beside the sea ; they drink the blood from the corpse, and gnaw the flesh from the bones, and then throw away the skeleton.
(source: A study of Bagobo ceremonial, magic and myth, Laura Watson Benedict, New York Academy of Sciences, 1916)

TIGMAMANUKAN – (Tagalogs) A bird, also called tigmamanok, whose songs serve as an omen to the Tagalogs. Its scientific name is Jrena cyanogastra (according
to Doctor A. B. Meyer). The early Tagalogs called their primary God Badhala or Bathala mey-kapal, and gave the same name to the bird Tigmamanukin.
(source: DICCIONARIO MITOLÓGICO DE FILIPINAS, Ferdinand Blumentritt [1895], translated and republished by The Aswang Project, 2021)

TIKBALANG – (Tagalogs and other regions) The abundance of literature about the tikbalang indicates its firm grip on the imagination of the folk. The name itself is Tagalog and there is no other early report about it from other regions in the country except, curiously, from the Negrito around Mount Pinatubo in the Zambales range and in the Baler area in Quezon Province. In the Pinatubo area, two mythical creatures known as the tulung (or tuwung) and the binangunan have an unmistakable physical resemblance to the tikbalang of the Tagalogs. Of the tulung, Fox wrote: “This spirit is usually described as being horselike, but having clawed feet, long hair, and very large testicles.”18 The binangunan, too, “looked somewhat like a horse, but there was a fire on its back from head to tail.” Damian Amazona, writing about the Negrito along the eastern periphery of Luzon, defined the binangenan [sic] as “the spirits who bring down danger, sickness, and death as punishment. Their home is the balete tree.” A tikbalang that is said to have kidnapped and murdered one of the belles at a grand ball in Manila hundreds of years ago—on the night of April 15, 1580, to be exact—was described as a “tall, hideous creature dressed in a dark tunic… its long straight hair flowing over its shoulders and with the wrinkled yellow feet of a bird.” It wore a dark cloak that hung down to its knees, and it had horse’s legs.

An Augustinian parish priest of Parañaque, Calumpit, and Tambobong registered the following complaint about his parishioners: The tigbalang [sic] is another of the things of which they are greatly afraid. It is a kind of ghost which they say appears to them in the form of an animal or of some unknown monster and forces them to do things contrary to the laws of our religion.

Elsewhere, the tikbalang as a group have been described thus: They have bodies like those of men, but their heads are similar to those of horses. Their limbs are said to be so long that when they sit their knees reach above their heads. When they laugh, all you can see is mouth. A tikbalang could assume the form of an old man, of a horse, or of “a monster.” An investigator who gathered his data from Filipino laborers in Alaskan salmon canneries reported: “The tikbalang is… always seen as a tall, thin and black man with a horse’s head and terrible teeth.”
(source: The The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology, Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990) (Learn more about the Tikbalang)

TIKBALANG – (Bicol) Tikbalang is a tall, thin and dark creature that is half human and half horse. While it may have the entire stature of a man, its upper body and face are unmistakably akin to a horse. During full moon he goes out to take a bath and dips his long legs in the river. The tikbalang is a horse-like man. This tall creature has long bony limbs that are disproportioned. When squatting, its knees are taller than its head. It has clawed feet and long hair, with a large mouth, teeth, and huge testicles. The tikbalang is the culprit behind people who get lost in the woods or in the forest. When the tikbalang misleads people in the forest, they are, more often than not, not found again. A person who gets hold of one of the tikbalang’s spines can use it as an anting-anting and makes the tikbalang his slave.
(source: Bikol Beliefs and Folkways, Eden K. Nasayao, PhD, Hablong Dawani Publishing House, 2010)

TIKTIK – (Eastern Visayas) The viscera sucker of the Eastern Visayas is said to supplement its staple food of human viscera with discarded human phlegm and the tender flesh of small children and to work with the cooperation of its avian scout, the tictic: They [early Filipinos] assert that the bird tictic is the pander of the sorcerer called usang. Flying ahead of that being, the bird shows it the houses where infants are bom. That being takes its position on the roof of the neighboring house and thence extends its tongue in the form of a thread which it inserts through the anus of the child and by that means sucks its entrails and kills it.
(source: The The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology, Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

TIKTIK OR WAKWAK – (Bicol) Tiktik or kikik and wak-wak are birds and are pets of aswang. Their voices announce the coming of their master. The tik-tik assumes its duties at night and looks for a victim for its master, the aswang. When one hears a tik-tik within the perimeters of his house, he must make sure that all the doors are locked, and all the holes in the house must be sealed, so the tik-tik may not see into the house. This is done extra carefully if there is a baby in the house, or if someone in the house is ill.
(source: Bikol Beliefs and Folkways, Eden K. Nasayao, PhD, Hablong Dawani Publishing House, 2010)

TIMBALUNG – (Bagabo) Timbalung is a disease-bringer whose home is on the mountains, and who is said to be “a big bad animal that goes into the belly and makes the Bagobo very sick.” It is thought dangerous to speak the name of this buso, and children are so instructed ; but occasion. ally somebody will mention him in connection with the sickness he causes.
(source: A study of Bagobo ceremonial, magic and myth, Laura Watson Benedict, New York Academy of Sciences, 1916)

TINAKCHI – (Kalinga) The Tinakchi from the mountain range of Kalinga are a classic example of “unseen beings” that are often a pivotal element to staple horror stories. Called by the people from the mountain as “cha tagun ajipun maila” (people who can’t be seen), Tinakchi seems to be on par with the likes of Engkanto, Palasekan and Tahamaling who exist along side people, while hiding their presence. Often they blend mystery into the mundane life of normal people; the usual root cause of supernatural events that can’t been comprehended or explained.
(source: Indigenous Earth Wisdom: A documentation of the Cosmologies of the Indigenous People of the Cordillera, Fangloy, Dulawan, Macay, Regpala and Ruiz, 2015)

TINGOHAN – (Bicol) The terms tingohan and ting-wan come from the word tingo, which means big sharp teeth. A tingohan is a creature with plenty of big, sharp and pointed teeth. Since it is said that the tingohan stays in the dark, children are scared they might see one while playing hide and seek at night.
(source: Bikol Beliefs and Folkways, Eden K. Nasayao, PhD, Hablong Dawani Publishing House, 2010)

TINMONGAO – (Ibaloy) Malevolent spirits that live in caves, stones and trees that cause injury or sickness to a person who steps on their dwelling place.
(source: Ethnography of the Major Ethnolinguistic Groups in the Philippines, Arsenio L. Sumeng-ang, New Day Publishers, 2003)

TIRTIRIS – (Ilokano) The Ilokanos gave them the name tirtiris. They are little folk with teeth of gold. They have long noses and a light skin. They wear clothes of shimmering silk. Their clothes are embroidered with gold threads. They live in bagbagotot vines. They skip and dance in people’s yards at nightfall. They like to be watched while they skip and dance. They make friends with good people from the village. They add rice to their bins. People are afraid to hurt them. When throwing things out of the window, people say, “Go away, go away.” People who hurt them get sore eyes and skin rashes.
(Source: The Creatures of Midnight , Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

TIYANAK – (Various) Perhaps the best described dwarf in Philippine folklore is the tianak, called patianak by the Tagalogs and by the Mandaya of Eastern Mindanao, where it has been defined as: “…the spirit of a child whose mother died while pregnant, and who for this reason was born in the ground… The belief in a similar spirit known as muntianak is widespread throughout the Southern Philippines.” When first encountered, the tianak looked like “a naked newborn baby,” “a very plump baby lying on the side leaf of a banana plant. Two boys who once found a tianak “lifted him up and kissed him many times.”When fondled, the infant-seeming creature suddenly turned into a little old man with an old man’s face, wrinkled skin, long beard, and mustache. It had a flat nose, its eyes were the size of a peseta coin, and its right leg was much shorter than the other, so that the creature had to move around by leaps. The tianak are said to “take a mischievous delight in misdirecting travelers.” One of them “laughed ha-ha- ha. I fooled you. I fooled you. And disappeared.” In the tale “The Devil-Child,” a tianak cried “Uha-ah! Uha- ah!” like a human infant to attract passersby and it had “the happy voice of a baby at play.” The tianak were capable of being outwitted. If a man lost his way and turned his clothes inside out.
(source: The The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology, Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

 

TIYU-AN – (Location of belief is unclear) According to Nid Anima, the tiyu-an, is a type of aswang who stays on the ground and does not have the power to fly but can transform into a pig. They keep puppies which are usually passed on to them by their parents, and these puppies are eternal puppies because they never grow old, they never get to be dogs ever. These puppies are the principals, or masters, in the sense that it’s they who holds the power, and the tiyu-an is just their slave. When they perform the ritual of licking him, the message being sent across is for the tiyu-an to prey. This is a departure and contradiction in terms from the universal trait of witchcraft as practiced in almost all other parts of the world wherein animals are just familiars or slaves to do the bidding of the master, which is the witch.
(Source: Witchcraft, Filipino Style, Nid Anima, Omar Publishing, 1978)

TOMONGAW – (Southern Kankana-eys) Benevolent anito spirits who are believed to own the animals in the forest such as boars, deer, cats, and the wild fowls as well as the gold, silver and minerals underneath. The people are careful not to offend and offer thanksgiving to these spirits so that they shall continue to be charitable to them.
(source: Ethnography of the Major Ethnolinguistic Groups in the Philippines, Arsenio L. Sumeng-ang, New Day Publishers, 2003)

TULAYHANG – (Antique) The tulayhang like the lolid and tibsukan, are also pets of the engkantu that live underneath the ground at the mouth of the river where it bores a hole. Their form resembles that of an umang- umang, a small crab-like animal that inhabits empty seashells. Once unearthed under the ground where a house is to be constructed, it, too, can cause illness.
(Source: The Enduring Ma-Aram Tradition, Alicia P. Magos., New Day, 1992)

TULUNG/ TUWUNG – (Mt. Pinatubo Negrito) “This spirit is usually described as being horselike, but having clawed feet, long hair, and very large testicles.” The dread with which the Pinatubo Negrito regarded the tulung variety of the tikbalang is indicated by the following account by an anthropologist who lived two years with them after World War II: “Specific areas may become uninhabitable through the invasion of an evil spirit or spirits. One extensive region on the lower and eastern slopes of Mt. Liwitan, formerly good for clearing, hunting, and for gathering forest products, is now the sole property of the huge evil spirit, tulung (tuwung) in Botolan. A few years ago a group of Negritos from Villar had been gathering rattan in this area, when they noticed that many of the plants, even large trees, had been violently torn from the ground. Later, they heard loud, strange noises, and fled in terror. Today, no Negrito would wittingly enter the region.”
(source: The The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology, Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

 

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UGAW – (Pangansinan) They are known as ugaw in Pangasinan. They are as pretty as old-fashioned rag dolls. They live behind rice granaries and rice bins. They pound your rice in your kul-ong. Their pounding sounds faraway, like an echo. They move quickly and are hard to see. They follow you when you enter your granary. They steal some of the rice after you leave. They steal rice from your bin, too. They get exactly as much rice as you do. Quickly cover the bin after getting some rice. Be sure not to spill rice on the floor. The ugaw will know where you keep your rice if you do. Then they will steal from it.
(Source: The Creatures of Midnight , Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

UGKOY – (Waray) Like the crocodile, the Samar ugkoy is said to have been in the habit of “dragging down victims by the feet into the bottom.”
(source: The The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology, Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

UMANGOB – (Ifugao) There is an old custom among the Ifugao to hang their dead under the house and build fires around it. People keep vigil and keep all the fires alive, for they are afraid of the umangob. They also plant a crimson herb/ dongla, around the house, for it is believed that the umangob is afraid of it.It looks like a big black police dog that comes at night to steal the big toes and the thumbs of the corpse. It does not touch any other part of the corpse except the big toes and the thumbs. It is not afraid of any other thing except the dongla and live fire. But it can pass through these, for it moves like lightning.
(source: The Aswang Complex in Philippine Folklore, Maximo Ramos, 1990, Phoenix Publishing)

UNGLOC – (Pany, Leyte) The creatures’ master is the god Captan. He commanded them to obey his brother Maguayan. From the folk-tale “The Faithlessness of Sinogo.” In a short time the little island was crowded with these dreadful creatures. There were huge Buayas from Mindanao, fierce Tic-bolans from Luzon, savage Sigbins from Negros and Bohol, hundreds of Unglocs from Panay and Leyte, and great Uak Uaks and other frightful monsters from Samar and Cebu.
(source: PHILIPPINE FOLKLORE STORIES, John Maurice Miller, Boston, U.S.A., 1904)

UNGMANAN – (Bicol) The unseen dweller of nature is found near strange rock formations, water, and misshapen trees. If you disrespect nature, you disrespect the Ungmanan which will cause you sickness. The sickness will not be fatal, but you will need to visit an albularyo (healer) who will perform the ritual of “santigwar” to heal you.
(source: relayed to Jordan Clark by artist Alfran Marfil)

UNGO – (Waray) Typical of the kapre type, the bawo and ungo of the Eastern Visayas sat in large trees to “smoke the biggest pipes.” When a person offended the ungo and bawo, they punished him by giving him “one big latik (a quick and sudden touch with the forefinger) on the head or [stole] his firewood or basket of clothes.” Most of the demons here discussed went about in the dark terrifying people.
(source: The The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology, Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

UNGO – (Zamboanga)She is called ungo in Zamboanga. She looks like a woman and sleeps all day. She becomes a bird or a beast by night. There is a secret hole in her roof.
She gets out of the hole about midnight. She goes out to steal a human corpse. She changes the corpse into a pig or fish. She takes it home and cooks it. Then she gives some of it to the neighbors. Or she asks them to come and eat it with her. They eat the human flesh and don’t know it. After that they become ungo, too.
(Source: The Creatures of Midnight , Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

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WAKWAK – (Surigao) The wakwak of Surigao were said to “steal the baby from the body of the mother” and to “drool at the sight of a pregnant woman.”
(source: The The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology, Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

WAKWAK – (Mandaya) Another bird known as wak-wak “which looks like a crow but is larger and only calls at night” foretells ill-fortune.
(source: The Wild Tribes of the Davao District, Fay-Cooper Cole, 1913)

WAK-WAK – (Bagabo) An efficacious charm to drive away the mythical bird called wak-wak is the use of a suggestive formula. The wak-wak is a rapacious bird resembling a crow that flies headless, but having four legs, two of which are covered with claws, and it flies over the country at night, hunting for living men as its prey. The magic spell is as follows : When you hear the sound of the bird’s voice shrieking, ” Wak-wak ! wak-wak ! ” you must call to him : ” I am not fat ; I am skinny. I eat rotten wood. I eat baguiang.” Then the wakwak cannot hurt you ; but you must speak again, saying, “You go on to Bago ; there are many fat men there.” By means of this spell, such unpleasant suggestions are flung at the evil bird as to induce him to seek prey elsewhere. If the baguiang leaf is chewed, it is said to give itching lips and to leave a bad taste in the mouth.
(source: A study of Bagobo ceremonial, magic and myth, Laura Watson Benedict, New York Academy of Sciences, 1916)

WHITE LADY – (Manila) A modern kind of ghost, particularly those living in Balete Drive in Quezon City.
(source: urban legend from Manila)

WIRWIR – (Apayao)A ghoulish being among the Apayao, “went everywhere spending his time looking for the dead.” He lived on the dead bodies of people, exhuming these from the graves. Fearful that Wirwir would eat the corpses, the native priests placated him. According to an account, the house of Wirwir, an Apayao ghoulish creature, was found in a forest in Mount Anay and consisted of “a cave full of valuable properties taken from the graves of dead persons.”
(source: The The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology, Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990)

WUWUG – (Calapi, Westrn Samar)Mang Juan had two sons, Jose and Pedro. One night Pedro and Mang Juan went fishing while Jose stayed home. Pedro was talking to his father, and when he turned to him he saw his head with the intestines dangling from it, shining like a thousand fireflies just a few feet above him. And he realized that his father was the wuwug rumored to be going around at midnight. He kept it a secret but Pedro’s two friends who came from serenading saw it, too. They put crabs into the wuwug’s body. When the wuvmg joined his body, he wiggled and wiggled until he died. But before he died, he gave his wuwug-ness to Pedro, much against Pedro’s wishes. And Pedro, because of great shame and not wanting to kill anybody, drowned himself in quicksand. Jose, his brother, sells balinghoy [cassava cakes] in the market. Nobody buys his merchandise during Lent because it is the belief that during this time wuwug appear.
(source: The Aswang Complex in Philippine Folklore, Maximo Ramos, 1990, Phoenix Publishing)

Y

YASAO – (Bicol) They also had the beings of evil, and to whom they looked with the utmost terror and respect, the Yasao, a kind of horrible spirit that was presented to them on moonlit nights in the shade of the trees. When their appearance occurred, if at the same time they heard shouts or presumed to hear them, it was a sign that some of them were going to die soon, because the Asuang would be on the prowl. The Yasao that we have been talking about sometimes also becomes Laqui , a monster with goat hair and feet and the face of an ugly man. In that state he roamed wandering through the forests, as if punished by the Asuang, in pain of his indolence in persecuting men, without being able to harm anyone.
(source: SHORT GLIMPSE ON THE ORIGIN, RELIGION, BELIEFS AND SUPERSTITIONS OF THE ANCIENT NATIVES OF BICOL by Fray Jose Castaño, February 1895)

YAUA or YAWA – (Visayas) A demon of the early Visayans.
(source: DICCIONARIO MITOLÓGICO DE FILIPINAS, Ferdinand Blumentritt [1895], translated and republished by The Aswang Project, 2021)

YAUÁAN – (Bisaya) Bisaya word for possessed person or animals that have the devil or a demon in their body.
(source: DICCIONARIO MITOLÓGICO DE FILIPINAS, Ferdinand Blumentritt [1895], translated and republished by The Aswang Project, 2021)

YÚMUD – (Manobo, parts of Agúsan Valley)The water wraith, an apparently innocuous spirit, abiding in deep and rocky places, usually in pools, beneath the surface of the water.
(source: THE MANÓBOS OF MINDANÁO, JOHN M. GARVAN, 1931)

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Featured Art:

Philippine Lower Mythology Series 1 by GodOfNumbers

Creature Photography by Ian Balba