The Aswang in the Philippines
Written on Apr 30, 2026
The stories published by the Brothers Grimm in the 1800s may be responsible for a lot of the mythology of the Philippines and, more specifically, the aswang. In a roundabout way, at least.
According to Wikipedia, aswang is an umbrella term for various shape-shifting evil creatures in Filipino folklore, such as vampires, ghouls, witches, viscera suckers, and werebeasts (usually dogs, cats and pigs).
A Television Series Inspired by the Brothers Grimm
The creators of the Grimm television series drew inspiration from tales by the Brothers Grimm. Of course, not every one of them. We shouldn't forget the fact that most of those tales existed before the brothers got a hold of them.
The brothers rewrote many of the stories as milder versions of those published by Charles Perrault in the 1600s. I read some of his stories in "The Blue Fairy Book" by Andrew Lang, as well as other books at Project Gutenberg.
I watched the entire television series on Amazon.com's Prime Video service in 2021, while traveling in the United States. All 123 episodes. The original run was on the NBC television network from October 28, 2011, to March 31, 2017.
Only one episode involved an aswang, but it was pivotal to the character development of Sergeant Drew Wu, a Filipino-American. Reggie Lee, a celebrity born in the Philippines, played the character.
The Aswang
Although my wife, Josie, is a firm believer in aswangs, I am not. She was born in Tacloban City, which is independently administered and located on the island province of Leyte. It was also the target of a crippling typhoon in 2013.
The Visayan region of the Philippines is home to dozens of supernatural stories involving one form of aswang or another. Josie and her family moved to the island of Luzon when she was a young teenager, and the stories traveled with them.
Josie and I moved to Olongapo City, which is on Luzon, in 2006. Since that time, I have yet to see anything that would remotely cause me to believe in anything supernatural.
I asked Josie why I've never encountered anything in the Philippines or in the United States, and she told me they're only in the provinces away from cities, and only in the Philippines. Yeah, right.
The Brothers Grimm Connection
I can't blame the Brothers Grimm specifically since they published a substantial amount of folk tales that preexisted them and their sources. The vampire legend preexisted Bram Stoker and the other writers that came before him as well.
Many of the stories came from nomadic tribes traveling all over the European continent more than a millennia ago. Just like rumors, folk tales will eventually make their way to other locations, having nothing to do with the locations the stories talk about.
That's what I think happened in the Philippines. Of course, that's only my opinion, and I'll never be able to convince any Filipino who believes in aswangs to agree with me.
Image by Gian Bernal, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons