No indigenous origin myth or etymology is recorded in the supplied sources. The primary narrative available is an 1896 account by E. F. Skertchly describing a small village at the centre of Cagayan Sulu whose inhabitants are called 'Berbalangs' and who, according to that report, feed on corpses and sometimes on the living. Later popular and gaming references derive from that account rather than from independently documented origin stories in the local language.
According to the principal 1896 report, Berbalangs are presented as members of a village population whose eyes have pupils "not round, but just narrow slits like those of a cat," and whose eyes may give off "flashing lights... like dancing fire‑flies in the dark." The same account mixes physical descriptions (grave‑digging, eating entrails) with an out‑of‑body component.
The primary source (E. F. Skertchly, 1896) reports that Berbalangs dig up graves and eat the entrails of corpses, and that if corpses are scarce they "go away into the grasslands" to seek living prey. Skertchly describes a procudure by which practitioners allegedly "hold their breaths and fall into a trance," liberating an "astral body" that flies away to enter the body of another and feed on its entrails. These abilities and behaviors are reported in that single ethnographic account and are the basis for later retellings and modern adaptations.
Weaknesses
- substancejuice of lime (prevents entry to graves; rubbed on kris for defence)
- otherpersonal coconut pearl (a stone found in a coconut said to protect its finder; loses power if given away or when finder dies)
Wards
- ritualdaily sprinkling of lime juice on graves
- substancecoconut pearl carried by owner as a protective talisman
- conditionkris blade rubbed with lime juice used to repel Berbalangs
- conditiontactical maneuver: wheel fast and cut opposite direction (based on belief Berbalangs "go by contraries")
Aguingay
Aguingay (also Agingay) is a legendary woman from the Bulusan epic of Sorsogon, Philippines. Presented as a mortal of exceptional beauty and tragic fate, her life and death are etiologically linked to local landscape features (Mt. Bulusan and two lakes) and commemorated in an annual festival.
Alan
A class of non‑human spirit-beings in Tinguian (Philipine) folklore associated with reproductive wastes and springs; said to transform discarded menstrual blood, afterbirth, or miscarried tissue into human children whom they rear, and to dwell in fine houses near springs. Key described features include wings and backward-pointing fingers and toes.
Amalanhig
Amalanhig are Visayan undead beings in Philippine folk belief, described as aswang who failed to transfer their monstrosity or power before death and who rise from graves to attack living humans. Accounts portray them as externally human in appearance with enlarged upper canines and as predators that bite, feed with a pointed tongue in some tellings, or — in an alternative variant — tickle victims to death.
Angalo
Angalo is a primordial culture-hero and giant in Ilocano mythology credited with shaping the landscape of Luzon and explaining natural phenomena; narratives present him as the first man and an ancestral figure whose bodily acts produced mountains, valleys, seas, and celestial features.
Anggitay
A Philippine folkloric female equid–human hybrid often described with the upper body of a woman and the lower body of a horse. Frequently compared to the Greek centauride and sometimes presented as a female counterpart to the tikbalang; traditionally associated with an attraction to gemstones and jewelry and with a local homeland in Santo Tomas, Batangas in some accounts.
Anito
Anito is a category of non‑human and post‑human spiritual beings in indigenous Philippine animistic worldviews, encompassing ancestor spirits, nature spirits/local deities, and sometimes carved effigies (taotao) that house or represent those spirits. They mediate relations between the living and the unseen world, functioning as household guardians, owners of places, intercessors, or occasional agents of harm when offended.
Aswang
The most feared supernatural being in Philippine folklore — a shape-shifting monster that appears human by day but transforms at night to prey on pregnant women and children.
Bakla
Bakla is a Philippine social and gender category—commonly an assigned‑male‑at‑birth person who adopts a feminine gender expression and is often treated as a third gender. Historically some bakla served as indigenous ritual specialists (babaylan, katalonan), but the term itself denotes a social identity, not a supernatural being.
Bakunawa
A dragon- or serpent-like mythic being from Philippine tradition associated with the moon and eclipses; its actions explain lunar eclipses and some natural phenomena and were integrated into ritual practice and calendrical knowledge.
Bal-Bal
A Philippine folkloric undead/monster that steals corpses from funerals and graves and feeds on them, noted for keen scent for dead bodies, sharp claws and teeth, foul breath, and reportedly leaving a banana‑tree trunk in the coffin as a substitute for the stolen corpse.
Bathalà
In pre‑colonial Tagalog religion Bathalà (also Maykapál) functions as the transcendent supreme creator-preserver — the originator and ruler of the universe. The lexeme also served as an honorific applied to lesser tutelary spirits and portentous phenomena, and was later syncretized with the Christian Dios after Spanish contact.
Batibat
The Batibat is a vengeful, tree-dwelling female spirit in Philippine (Ilocano and Tagalog) folklore associated with causing suffocative sleep afflictions, nightmares, and sleep paralysis when trees that house it are felled and used near human sleeping spaces.
Community Record
- [1]Berbalang — Wikipedia. Wikipedia: 'Berbalang' (summary of E. F. Skertchly's 1896 account and later references)wiki
- [2]Berbalang — Wikidata. Wikidata entry for Berbalang (identifier and linked references)other
- [3]Berbalang (Dungeons & Dragons archive reference). Archive item referencing modern D&D adaptation (derivative, not original ethnography)other
- [4]Berbalang (Pathfinder Bestiary entry). Pathfinder Bestiary entry adapting the Berbalang motif for gaming (derivative source)other
- [5]The Berbalangs: A Legend of Filipino Ghouls – Multo (blog summary). Blog summarizing Skertchly and later retellingsother
- [6]KMJS: Gabi ng Lagim — The Movie: Berbalang complete segment (archive). Contemporary media segment retelling the Berbalang legend (popular culture adaptation)other