Since it's Halloween, or Spooky Season as they call it––we bet you'd love to know more about the Philippine regions' famous myths and folklore! 

Read on to discover more about the fascinating aswangs mostly feared (and believed) by the locals in different parts of our country. Maybe you already know some of them. 

1. AMARANHIG – Amaranhig, a mythical creature from Western Visayas, is a local version of the undead. It is defined as someone who rose from the grave because it failed to transfer its vampiric state. For an Amaranhig to be finally put to rest, one must pass on its power to a relative before it dies. If no one in its family accepts the gift, the creature will live on until someone inherits its curse.

2. BUYAGAN – Buyagan is a person known to cause certain ailments by merely commenting on anyone. It is an old belief in Eastern Visayas that one who is born coincidentally with the rising of the sun will grow up to be a dangerous Buyagan. A first-class Buyagan possesses a very dark tongue.

3. MANLALAYOG – Manlalayog is derived from the Visayan word gilayog or wrestled down. Manlalayog are women who are covered with wire-like hair from head to toe. They are believed to wrestle down their victims by forcing their hair into the orifices of the victim's body.

4. BUSAW – Busaw is a ghoul and corpse thief according to stories of the Bagobos in Mindanao. It behaves like a normal human by day and transforms into a creature with pointed teeth, hooked nails and a long tongue as they feast on stolen corpses. It uses banana tree trunks to replace the corpses it steals. They also trick their human neighbors in eating the carcass to turn them into a ghoul like itself.

5. MANGMANGKIK – Ilocano folklore described Mangmangkiks as entities that used to be human beings that were struck dead by lightning, by a caiman or by a big knife and got buried at the foot of some tree in a tomb, from whom one has to ask permission before entering the mountains to cut trees or plants.

6. SARANGAY – Sarangay is a half-human, half-bull creature, with a jewel attached to its ears. Sarangay is said to kill someone who dares to steal his jewel. It is also said in Ibanag folklores from the Cagayan Valley that when a Sarangay gets angry, its nose emits smoke.

7. BURULAKAW – Burulakaw are women barely three feet tall with hair-like flames. According to old tales from Central Panay, these fiery creatures are referred to as the flaming messengers of the encanto.

8. IQUI – Iqui is the Tagalog’s male version of 'manananggal.’ which has the ability of flying at night, leaving half his body from the waist down. It is said that the Iqui lives only on the livers of men using its long tongue to suck out the bowels.

9. TAMBANAKAWA – The people of Mandaya and Bukidnon once believed that the lunar eclipse was caused by a moon devouring, gigantic crab known as the Tambanakawa, which inhabits in the sea. The creature was believed to cause great floods in the province of Bukidnon by scuttling around the ocean floor.

10. TAMBALUSLOS – Tambaluslos is a tall humanoid creature with long and thin legs with big joints, hooves, long thin arms, fingers and mane. It also has wide protruding lips like an ape. Another strange feature of this Bicolano folklore creature is its long wrinkled male organ.

If by any chance you get to visit some of the places mentioned here, try to ask the locals about these. Maybe they'll give you a good scare or a good story about it, either way it's going to be interesting, right? 

Happy Halloween, Kapuso! 

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