The Aswang: The Philippine Monster That Became a Weapon

For more than four centuries, Filipinos have told stories about the aswang: a monster that looks like a neighbor by day and hunts by night. In 1589, a Spanish friar listed its forerunners, and called one of them a fable. In the 1950s, by one American officer's account, soldiers fighting the Huk rebellion staged a fake aswang attack. And today, the word can still get people killed. We trace the aswang from Spanish colonial records to Cold War psychological warfare to the present, separating what is documented from what is belief and what is one man's story. Chapters 0:00 Cold open 0:42 The Neighbor 3:09 The Friar’s List 4:27 The Psywar Man 7:17 The One Next Door Main sources Juan de Plasencia, "Customs of the Tagalogs" (1589), in Blair & Robertson, The Philippine Islands, vol. 7 (1903) Tomás Ortiz (c. 1731), in Blair & Robertson, vol. 43 (1906) Fletcher Gardner, "Philippine (Tagalog) Superstitions," Journal of American Folk-Lore 19 (1906) Edward G. Lansdale, In the Midst of Wars (1972) Testimony of Thomas A. Parrott, U.S. Senate Church Committee (1975) Bliss Cua Lim, "Queer Aswang Transmedia," Kritika Kultura 24 (2015); Kentaro Azuma, Kyoto Review of Southeast Asia (2012) GMA News (2006, 2015), The Philippine Star (2003), PTV News (2018), Pew Research Center (2024 survey) Image credits Mount Arayat rising above green rice fields, Pampanga. (Judgefloro) - Public domain Boxer Codex (c. 1590) plate headed 'Naturales' / 'Tagalos': a Tagalog noble couple. (Boxer Codex) - Public domain Boxer Codex (c.1590) plate of a Visayan noble couple. (Boxer Codex) - Public domain Page 194: Plasencia's 'osuang' passage (1589, trans. 1903). (Emma Helen Blair & James Alexander Robertson (eds.), The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, vol. 7 (Cleveland: A. H. Clark, 1903); page scan via the Internet Archive) - Public domain (published 1903) Title page of Blair & Robertson, The Philippine Islands, vol. 7 (1903). (Emma Helen Blair & James Alexander Robertson (eds.), The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, vol. 7 (Cleveland: A. H. Clark, 1903); page scan via the Internet Archive) - Public domain (published 1903) A colony of Giant Golden-Crowned Flying Fox up in the sky in the Philippines.jpg: Luke Marcos Imbong, CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa..., via Wikimedia Commons Garlic bulbs on a dark surface. (Matthew Pilachowski matthewpilachowski) - CC0 2017-NHC-Ang Pagkakatatag ng HUKBALAHAP.png: Andre Ryan Maceda, CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa..., via Wikimedia Commons Official portrait of Edward G. Lansdale in US Air Force uniform (as major general). (US Air Force) - Public domain Ramon Magsaysay inspecting the signal bridge of the aircraft carrier USS Wasp (US Navy photo). (Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives) - Public domain Pedro Murillo Velarde, Carta Hydrographica y Chorographica de las Yslas Filipinas (1734), Bibliotheque nationale de France copy. (Murillo, Velarde Pedro de (1696-1753). Cartographe) - Public domain Sugar Cane Field, Barangay Haguimit, La Carlota City - panoramio (1).jpg: divina_gracia, CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), via Wikimedia Commons Fabian de la Rosa, Filipino landscape with nipa hut (1905), oil painting. (Fabián de la Rosa (1869-1937)) - Public domain Palawan Island, Tropical rainforest, Philippines.jpg: Vyacheslav Argenberg, CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), via Wikimedia Commons Roxas City from air (Capiz; 10-19-2022).jpg: Patrickroque01, CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa..., via Wikimedia Commons Panay River, Roxas City Bridge (Roxas, Capiz; 10-19-2022).jpg: Patrickroque01, CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa..., via Wikimedia Commons Prayer candles at sarrat.jpg: Angelonce, CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa..., via Wikimedia Commons Dasyatis brevicaudata 003.jpg: User:Amada44, CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), via Wikimedia Commons Narration: AI-generated voice. Music and sound effects: original, created for this video. #Aswang #PhilippineFolklore #Manananggal #Documentary #ColdWar