The Vizconde massacre case was one of the true crime stories that defined the 1990s in the Philippines, leading to the trial of the century and spawning 3 movies years later. Several perpetrators were already sent to prison, yet the case is still unsolved to this day. Listener discretion is advised due to the graphic and sensitive nature of these s…

In 1995, two female overseas Filipino workers, Flor Contemplacion and Sarah Balabagan, were sentenced to death abroad for the crime of murder. Sarah managed to escape capital punishment but Flor, unfortunately, didn't. • Episode photos: instagram.com/p/CrXi6BBu8CU / References: storiesafterdark.home.blog / Facebook page: facebook.com/storiesafterda…

The "anting-anting" is a talisman, amulet or charm often heard of in Filipino folklore and mythology, in tales where the wearer is granted supernatural powers, like in "The Anting-Anting of Captain Von Tollig," a short story by Sargent Kayme. • Episode photos: instagram.com/p/Cp50COwhQPC / References: storiesafterdark.home.blog / Facebook page: fac…

The "anting-anting" is a talisman, amulet or charm often heard of in Filipino folklore and mythology, in tales where the wearer is granted supernatural powers, like in "Told at the Club," a short story by Sargent Kayme. • Episode photos: instagram.com/p/CpNYPKsvhGh / References: storiesafterdark.home.blog / Facebook page: facebook.com/storiesafterd…

In 1986, socialite, TV host and movie star Elvira Manahan was brutally murdered in her Forbes Park residence by a man rumored to be her lover. Listener discretion is advised due to the graphic and sensitive nature of these stories. • Episode photos: instagram.com/p/Co6MPMVv2n4 / References: storiesafterdark.home.blog / Facebook page: facebook.com/s…

Award-winning Filipino writer and journalist Nick Joaquin published in 1961 a short story titled "The House on Zapote Street" which was based on a tragic true crime. Jessica, host of the true crime and mystery podcast The Asian Madness Podcast, lends her voice in this episode for the second of two parts of that story. • Episode photos: instagram.co…

Award-winning Filipino writer and journalist Nick Joaquin published in 1961 a short story titled "The House on Zapote Street" which was based on a tragic true crime. Jessica, host of the true crime and mystery podcast The Asian Madness Podcast, lends her voice in this episode for the first of two parts of that story. • Episode photos: instagram.com…

In 1966, a Filipino exchange nurse was one of 9 women inside a townhouse in Chicago where Richard Speck committed mass murder. Fortunately, she was able to escape and she would later testify in court, pointing to him as the culprit. Listener discretion is advised due to the graphic and sensitive nature of these stories. • Episode photos: instagram.…

From 2017 to 2021, there were three stories of civilians being killed that were among the most shocking the country had ever seen, as they were committed by members of the Philippine National Police and two of them were even captured on video. Listener discretion is advised due to the graphic and sensitive nature of these stories. • Episode photos:…

In 1992, a promotional scheme was launched by Pepsi in the Philippines promising a chance to win 1 million pesos, but an error in the mechanics proved to be fatal. Listener discretion is advised due to the sensitive nature of this story. • Episode photos: instagram.com/p/CkynDGIB_fW / References: storiesafterdark.home.blog / Facebook page: facebook…

This is a story from the No Sleep subreddit, written by Levi who goes by the Twitter handle @nineaetharia. Jessica, host of the true crime and mystery podcast The Asian Madness Podcast, lends her voice in this episode. Listener discretion is advised due to the graphic and sensitive nature of this story. • Episode photos: instagram.com/p/CjBUDuFvJt6…

On September 9, 1995, the usually quiet neighborhood of Panorama Ville in Sta. Rosa, Laguna was disturbed by the discovery of the entire Payumo family murdered inside their own home. Listener discretion is advised due to the graphic and sensitive nature of this story. • Episode photos: instagram.com/p/CiUoQNDutdr / References: storiesafterdark.home…

Sometimes, it takes experiencing something yourself that cannot be explained by logic or science to make you consider believing in the supernatural, like in the two stories in this episode written by Reddit user Glenn (Glennn777) and published on the No Sleep subreddit. • Episode photos: instagram.com/p/ChUO0DTJoAy / References: storiesafterdark.ph…

British national Steven Alston Davis was on vacation in Angeles, Pampanga when he met a young Filipino dancer named Evelyn Bohol. He immediately fell in love with her and rescued her from poverty, marrying her two years later, not knowing that she would later conspire to have him murdered. Listener discretion is advised due to the graphic and sensi…

For almost a century since it was established in 1912, the Reserve Officers Training Corps or ROTC was mostly mandatory for male college students. It was the unfortunate murder of University of Santo Tomas sophomore Mark Welson Chua that led to the program ceasing to be a college requirement, all because he exposed the corruption and abuse within h…

In 2017, a teenage student named Kian Delos Santos was found dead with gunshot wounds to the head in a dark alley in Caloocan, Metro Manila. The suspects, three police officers who were in Kian's neighborhood for an anti-drug operation, claimed the boy was a drug runner who had fought back against them, but evidence would later surface that this wa…

On February 4, 2006, around 30,000 Filipinos waited in line outside the ULTRA (PhilSports) Stadium in Pasig City, waiting for the gates to open for the staging of the first anniversary celebration of ABS-CBN's noontime variety TV show 𝘞𝘰𝘸𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘦. They thought huge cash prizes awaited them, but tragedy was what met them instead. Listener discretion is …

In 2017, University of Santo Tomas law school freshman Horacio "Atio" Castillo III joined the Aegis Juris fraternity and shortly died at the hands of his frat brothers during his initiation rites. Listener discretion is advised due to the graphic and sensitive nature of this story. • Episode photos: instagram.com/p/CdGvDzzPY51 / References: stories…

In 1973, with martial law in effect in the country, 23-year old Communication Arts student and writer Liliosa Hilao died at the hands of the Philippine Constabulary. But as tragic as this was, she became a martyr, inspiring many other Filipinos to fight back against dictator Ferdinand Marcos' regime, eventually restoring democracy to the nation. Li…

In 1997, news of sisters Marijoy and Jacqueline Chiong’s disappearance in Cebu City sent shockwaves across the Philippines, but public sentiment against the suspects, dubbed the Chiong 7, had since wavered due to the unfair trial they received as well as the many other controversies around the case. Listener discretion is advised due to the graphic…

In 2002, a Filipino man named Victorino Chua went to the United Kingdom to work as a nurse for the elderly. Almost a decade later, he would poison more than 20 patients with insulin at Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport, Greater Manchester. Listener discretion is advised to the graphic nature of this story. • Episode photos: instagram.com/p/CY418R…

𝘈𝘴𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘨 can present themselves in different ways, like in the three stories in this episode written by Reddit users neon31, PurpleNightshadeLady and tabbs123 published on the No Sleep, Creepypasta and Paranormal subreddits, respectively.• Episode photos: instagram.com/p/CXnjjyjPmvv / References: storiesafterdark.ph / Facebook page: facebook.com/stor…

Given Grace Cebanico was a Computer Science student at the University of the Philippines Los Baños. In 2011, when she was 19 and in her third year in college, she was taken by two men while she was on her way to her dormitory, and she was subsequently raped and murdered.Listener discretion is advised to the graphic nature of this story. • Episode p…

There’s a particular tomb at the Tugatog Public Cemetery in Malabon, Metro Manila that's notorious for having a statue of Lucifer standing triumphantly over St. Michael, the exact reverse of how the archangel is usually portrayed in pictures and sculptures. And there’s a barangay in the capital city of the Philippines that bears the mark of the dev…

On January 18, 1982, the first Manila International Film Festival opened at the Manila Film Center, a 25-million-USD building erected in Pasay City by former first lady Imelda Marcos in hopes that Manila could rival Cannes as the world capital of cinema. The film festival itself that year was mostly considered a success, but legend has it that its …

In the early hours one Wednesday in 2005, a young woman was found on the pier of Subic Bay Freeport Zone, drunk, disheveled and crying. She claimed to have been raped by American serviceman Daniel Smith, resulting in a landmark case tried under the Philippines-United States Visiting Forces Agreement. Listener discretion is advised to the graphic na…

Always remember to be careful when calling on supernatural entities, like in the two stories in this episode written by Reddit users Scared-Crow7774 and Jaicoholic published on the No Sleep subreddit. Ethan, host of the Filipino mythology podcast Tabi-Tabi Podcast, lends her voice in this episode. • Episode photos: instagram.com/p/CVs0D6mhjuZ / Ref…

In 1977, student-activist Archimedes Trajano boldly asked a question at a university open forum where presidential daughter Imee Marcos was speaking. Two days later he would be found mangled and lifeless on the street. Listener discretion is advised due to the graphic nature of this story. • Episode photos: instagram.com/p/CVagMWXBv0e / References:…

Elsa Castillo was a 35-year old woman who worked and eventually had an affair with a 42-year old American named Stephen Mark Whisenhunt, at whose hands she would also unfortunately meet her end, making her the second documented "chop-chop lady" case in the Philippines after Lucila Lalu. Listener discretion is advised due to the graphic nature of th…

Repression is a defense mechanism involving the unconscious blocking of unpleasant emotions or memories, which can sometimes be related to supernatural experiences, like in this episode's story written by Reddit user pemralino and published on the No Sleep subreddit.• Episode photos: instagram.com/p/CUQUCeyBDQx / References: storiesafterdark.ph / F…

In July 2001, Filipino immigrants Teddy and Mary Gonzales, along with their daughter Clodine, were massacred inside their home in New South Wales, Australia. Twenty-year old Sef Gonzales, the family's only survivor, initially played the part of the grieving son and publicly appealed for information about his family's killer, only for evidence to re…

Michelle Rivera was a young Filipino woman from Bukidnon who became pen pals in the late 1980s with a middle-aged professor named Dr. Jonathan Nyce from North Carolina, USA. More than a decade later, they were living the American dream with their three kids in a million-dollar home in New Jersey. But their marriage was not exactly as it seemed. Lis…

There are many Filipino superstitions related to pregnancy, perhaps because it leads to a very special family milestone—the birth of another life into this world. And perhaps the most common superstition is that a pregnant woman should be very careful of "aswang" or any entity that could be after her child’s life, like in the two stories in this ep…

An Australian national running from fraud charges in his country, Peter Scully escaped to the Philippines in 2011 and ran a child sex ring and porn network called No Limits Fun. The most infamous film he ever produced was called 𝘋𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘺'𝘴 𝘋𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 and it featured three girls, one of them an infant, being tortured and sexually abused. Listener disc…

The Revilla family is notable in the Philippines due to the family patriarch Don Ramon having fathered around 81 children with at least 16 women and him and several in the family dabbling in show business and politics. In 2011, the family became the subject of newspaper headlines once again due to the murder of Ramgen Revilla, one of Don Ramon's ma…

In 1994, a 10-year old girl named Rodessa Echegaray was raped by her father Leo. His death sentence almost five years later was the subject of much debate as he was the first one executed in the Philippines in the more than 2 decades since the country's first abolition of the death penalty.Listener discretion is advised due to the graphic nature of…

The Internet is filled with supernatural stories, and one place online that's so saturated with them is Reddit. Many of those stories almost seem unbelievable, but whether real or not, some are just too good not to be shared, like the two in this episode about "aswang" written by Reddit user 7signs and published on the No Sleep subreddit. Jessica, …

Fraternities aim to provide students a brotherhood that can greatly enrich their university experience, even extending beyond school, but 22-year old Ateneo Law School freshman Lenny Villa didn't know what he was in for when he joined the Aquila Legis in 1991. Listener discretion is advised due to the graphic nature of this story. • Episode photos:…

A few days before Christmas in 1987, more than 4,000 people boarded the MV Doña Paz in Tacloban, Leyte for a 24-hour voyage to Manila. Five hours before the ship was due to arrive in the Philippine capital, it collided with an oil tanker that burst into flames. Listener discretion is advised due to the graphic nature of this story. • Episode photos…

Julie Vega was a teenage actress, singer and commercial model whose life was cut short at the age of 16 after a series of mysterious circumstances. • Episode photos: instagram.com/p/CPvkut5rbi0 / References: storiesafterdark.ph / Facebook page: facebook.com/storiesafterdarkph / Twitter: twitter.com/afterdarkph / Support the show on Patreon: patreon…

Ruby Rose Barrameda disappeared in 2007 and the primary suspect was her estranged husband Manuel "Third" Jimenez III. She remained missing until two years later when a man named Manuel Montero came forward and revealed the location of a woman's body in a steel box at the bottom of Manila Bay. Listener discretion is advised due to the graphic nature…

In 2017, the gambling operations of Resorts World Manila were temporarily suspended following a fire in its casino area that resulted in 70 injuries and 38 casualties. Listener discretion is advised due to the graphic nature of this story. • Episode photos: instagram.com/p/CPJZpYALnyF / References: storiesafterdark.ph / Facebook page: facebook.com/…

Mt. Apo in Davao is not just the Philippines' tallest mountain but also a frequent setting of supernatural stories like "The Spirit of Mt. Apo" by Sargent Kayme. Sapphire Sandalo, host of the paranormal podcast and web series Stories with Sapphire, lends her voice in this episode. • Episode photos: instagram.com/p/CO3jicVrpoE / References: storiesa…

In 1985, Norberto "Bucay" Manero, Jr. and his men murdered an Italian priest in Tulunan, Cotabato. They were all convicted and imprisoned, but because of Bucay's connections, he was able to escape prison several times until their sentences were eventually commuted and they were finally set free. Listener discretion is advised due to the graphic nat…

In 1930, a five-day riot in Watsonville, California led to hundreds of Filipinos getting injured and a young Filipino farm worker named Fermin Tobera receiving a fatal shot in the heart. Listener discretion is advised due to the graphic nature of this story. • Donate to Noel Quintana's GoFundMe: gofund.me/98ac2db9 / Donate to Juanito Falcon's GoFun…

In 1987, a girl named Rosario Baluyot died from a blood infection caused by something that was supposedly left lodged inside her by a foreign man who hired her for sex work seven months before. Listener discretion is advised due to the graphic nature of this story. • Episode photos: instagram.com/p/CNu9VdLr4hd / References: storiesafterdark.ph / Fa…

In 1970, the Moro conflict in Mindanao gave birth to the Christian extremist militia called the Ilaga. Listener discretion is advised due to the graphic nature of this story. • Episode photos: instagram.com/p/COTRqGcL_hp / References: storiesafterdark.ph / Facebook page: facebook.com/storiesafterdarkph / Twitter: twitter.com/afterdarkph / Support t…

Lilian Velez was a rising star in the 1940s whose pairing with Narding Anzures, her leading man in two films, became a hit with moviegoers. He didn't take it well when he wasn't cast in that role again in her next movie. Listener discretion is advised due to the graphic nature of this story. • Episode photos: instagram.com/p/CMt5srdrPgL / Reference…

The Momo Challenge caused a worldwide panic in 2018, spreading through WhatsApp and YouTube, making parents fear for the lives of their children. It was eventually dismissed as a hoax, with YouTube initially saying they saw no evidence of videos promoting it on the social media site. But the existence of the videos and the dangers they presented pa…

In this personal essay by listener DM Gasparillo Adil II, he shares childhood anecdotes about his late father's 𝘭𝘦𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨, a twin-spirit that's part of Maguindanaon folklore. • Episode photos: instagram.com/p/CLVeqitrEe3 / References: storiesafterdark.ph / Facebook page: facebook.com/storiesafterdarkph / Twitter: twitter.com/afterdarkph / Support the …