City Of Mystery in the Philippines, the most terrifying urban legends of the reg

ion
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Have you heard of the City of Biringan?
The city where people is not like us but the scenery is something that will left
you in awe but the said city needs to be avoided at all costs according to peop
le who have been there or lured to go there. We are fond of knowing stories that
tackles about fantasy, magic and anything extraordinary and we seem to believe
in its existence most especially if other people spreads the veracity of their e
xperience to that world. Is Biringan City one of those wonderful places that we
should aim to go to or should we not dare ourselves to visit the Invisible City?
First off, What and where is Biringan?
It is reportedly an undefined location in the Philippines . It is said to be som
ewhere between Calbayog City and Catarman, Northern Samar. The city is said to b
e invisible making it one of the most terrifying urban legends of the region. Th
e city has its metropolis comparison but what makes it more mysterious is that i
t is only available for viewing at nighttime and its indescribable grandeur neve
r ceases to amaze anyone who gets the privilege to see the mystic city.
But the City of Biringan doesn't only illicit pocitive feedbacks from everyone.
To some, fear and panic evokes whenever the city is being mentioned making it li
ke a rule to them NEVER EVER SPEAK OF THE CITY or even MENTION IT'S NAME. Why? B
ecause the people who gets to visit the place where being lured to the place onl
y because the city need its prey. There are also claims that if you get to visit
the invisible city, You need to be cautious and pray for yourself because you a
re currently being possessed by the demon. Making the city more mysterious and m
ore scary to anyone who have heard the stories of the people who have lost a rel
ative to the said city or who were able to survive and come back to their bodies
.
Biringan is claimed to be the legendary and mystical home of the elementals or t
he enchanted ones. They are said to be expert on changing their appearnaces for
them to lure their visitors/victims. They can transform to anything or to anyone
presentable, ideal or wonderful to the eyes of their visitors. They have their
distinguishing characteristic and that is the lack of the philtrum, Philtrum is
the indentation below the nose and above the upper lip. It is also stated that i
f an inhabitant of the city gets to be attracted to mortal to its neighboring ci
ty, They do what it takes to bring that mortal with them. And when they succeede
d, the mortal's physical appearance will be like them; No philtrum,
Up to this day, Biringan is still being debated if it is truly a city in Samar t
hat was forgotten, or a kingdom to the elementals that can be the portal to our
world to the elemental and ethereal world. The Invisible city may be a wonderful
site to see for those who have vivid imaginations, brave to experience a new wo
rld or anyone who wants to detest it's existence but one thing is for sure, The
people who have been able to share stories about it and how their stories matche
s and fit together may prove something. This may be a product of Imagination, Ha
llucination or just a mere way of asking for attention but what would you actual
ly do if you get to set foot on the invisible City filled with beautiful yet cre
epy inhabitants.
more history
Biringan (Part 1): The Land of Enchantment
In the Province of Samar, the Philippines, the mention of Biringan evokes awe, fea
r, intrigue, knocking on wood and innumerable signs of the Cross.
What is Biringan? It is reportedly an undefined location somewhere between Calba

yog City and Catarman, Northern Samar, where a mythic city(ies) of indescribable
grandeur is/are said to exist, unvisited by ordinary mortals, known only by mag
nificent folk stories that refuse to die despite the advent of television and th
e internet. Other reports extend its area to as far south as San Jorge, Samar.
Biringan s now-you-see-it, now-you-don t quality indicates it is not of the usual land
and water terrain in which we live in. It seems to exist in a different dimensi
on, which explains why its boundaries can overlap with known towns and cities of
Samar island. On moonless nights, seafarers aplenty have reported seeing a dazz
ling city of light. In a few minutes, though, the manifestation is no longer vis
ible. Obviously, Biringan is not likely to be shown on any map or atlas. But spe
cialized (infrared, ultraviolet, etc.) satellite mapping photography have report
edly turned up a shining area in the reported general location of Biringan.
They say Biringan is the legendary home of the encantos (enchanted ones) and hal
f-encanto, half-human progeny. The encantos are most likely elementals, as old a
s the mountains and rivers in the area. They are apparently shapechangers becaus
e they have been reported to appear in whatever form they wish, human or not. Bu
t in human form, their distinguishing characteristic is the lack of the philtrum
, the indentation below the nose and above the upper lip.
Biringan (Part 2): Portals
Portals to and from an ethereal city. There are places in the island of Samar th
at have been described thus.
There s one story of a bus plying the night route from Catbalogan City to Tacloban
City. Somewhere halfway, when the bus had been emptied of its passengers, the d
river and conductor stopped to pick up two young lady passengers. Their stated d
estination was quite off the main route but the driver consented because the two
had offered triple the usual fare. When the two mysterious passengers had aligh
ted, and the driver turned the bus around to get back on the highway. But, to hi
s utter bewilderment, he could no longer distinguish the dirt road they had take
n just moments ago. Conceding that they were lost, they decided to spend the nig
ht at that very spot. At dawn the next day, they were confounded when they found
themselves and the bus at a desolate mountain top. A large tow truck had to be
sent through rough mountain trails just to bring the bus back to civilization.
Then there s the
o pass the night
ext morning they
around them that

story of a bus that somehow lost its way and the driver stopped t
at some sort of depot. When he and his passengers woke up the n
were in themiddle of a clump or bamboos with no roads anywhere
would have brought them where they were.

Perhaps the most classic example of these gateways involved two motorcycle rider
s riding tandem on one bike. They were traveling the highway at night from (West
ern) Samar to Eastern Samar. It was around nine o-clock in the evening and they
were negotiating the foggy, winding passes halfway to Borongan, Eastern Samar. T
he night air was chilly and only their motorcycle headlights split the dark ahea
d. The deafening silence was only punctuated by the occasional chirping of insec
ts.
Suddenly, as they rounded a sharp curve, they were suddenly engulfed in a bedlam
of sound! It was as if they had entered a very busy freeway, invisible to them
but its sound assaulted their ears. Shrill air horns blared from every direction
and sudden gusts of wind rocked their motorcycle as if huge trailer trucks were
passing them by on all sides. The driver tried his very best to keep the motorc
ycle handlebar steady.
It was only after they had round the next curve that the noise suddenly died dow
n and the night air was deathly still once more. Still, these two motorcycle rid
ers and scores of other highways travelers will never forget their encounters wi

th Biringan s portals.
Biringan (Part 3): Supernatural Abductions
Supernatural abductions. Quite seemingly out of this world, but reportedly true.
Some of the most persistent incidents related to the Biringan phenomenon involv
e the relocation of humans from the mortal world to Biringan.
What happens is, whenever a Biringan inhabitant takes fancy on a mortal (usually
a fair maiden or attractive lad), he or she is taken away from the mortal world
by was of bugkot (a Visayan vernacular term). The transition usually takes the
form of sudden death (i.e., accidents, fatal illness lasting a few hours at most,
sudden disappearance from any physical location). In reality, the mortal never r
eally dies but his/her consciousness or spirit is taken by the Biringan entity.
The anguished kin of the victim are left with the lifeless body where in fact it i
s not the actual cadaver but a log or similar physical object configured to look
and feel like a real lifeless human body. All the while, the victim now resides
in Biringan as the wife, husband, or servant of the supernatural being which to
ok her away.
I once knew of a very beautiful lady in Catbalogan City in the province of Samar
in the Philippines who was separated from her husband and had three good-lookin
g kids. One day, in the mid-Seventies, the car she was driving suddenly turned t
urtle on the highway near San Jorge, Samar causing her sudden untimely demise . The
bereaved family held a decent wake for her and had her body properly buried. Un
til the present, however, there are persistent recurring reports of this lady be
ing seen in the reported location of Biringan City and she is reportedly now que
en of the encantos who live there.
No wonder a portion of the population of the city are half-encantos, half-human.
It is these progeny who are reportedly fond of frequenting places where mortals
abound for relaxation and entertainment (i.e. parks, beaches, nightspots). This
is a direct result of all the cases of supernatural abductions.
Biringan (Part 4): Heavy Equipment for an Invisible City
Heavy equipment for an invisible city? Uncanny but true. In the Sixties, Tacloba
n City in the province of Leyte, the Philippines was the commercial hub of the E
astern Visayas region. It was the natural port of call of passenger and cargo sh
ips plying the Visayas-Manila route. Who could ever imagine that manifestations
of Biringan s existence would take physical form?
One particular incident which is still word-of-mouth to this day involved the ar
rival of a large lot of first-class heavy equipment from the United States. The
shipment consisted of bulldozers, graders, payloaders and hauler trucks. Post of
ficials were astounded when they examined the freight documents and discovered t
he entire consignment listed the destination as Biringan City. Since the fabled
city s reputation had spread far and wide in the Eastern Visayas region, people we
re in a tumult of speculation as to who will claim the equipment.
Following prescribed port rules, the heavy equipment were unloaded and neatly pa
rked in the concrete confines of the Tacloban port under heavy guard. Months pas
sed and still no one came to claim the shipment. The elements were taking their
toll on the equipment. Conflicting reports have it that the entire lot was eithe
r sent back to the shipper or hauled to the junkyard. Was this a matter of mista
ken port of delivery of heavy equipment for an invisible city?
Biringan (Part 5): The Japanese Venture Into Biringan Territory
In the late Eighties through the Nineties, the Japanese ventured into Biringan t
erritory. They conducted rural development work focused on the town of San Jorge

, Western Samar. The implementing agency was the Japanese International cooperat
ion Agency (JICA). The entire Samareo population was perplexed as to why the Japa
nese would concentrate on San Jorge when there were a lot more towns in the prov
ince which needed the development work more. To implement the project, the Japan
ese brought in tons of equipment (vehicles and machinery) and Japanese engineers
and field personnel descended on San Jorge in full force.
One story involved a team of Japanese who went into the forest accompanied by a
Filipino guide. Inexplicably, the guide lost track of the terrain. The Japanese
promptly whipped out a very detailed satellite-generated map of the area and the
team immediately found its bearings again. A related report had it that infrare
d, ultraviolet, or similar satellite pictures of the area kept registering a shi
mmering effect right on the location where the JICA was concentrated. This led t
o further reports that an enormous deposit of uranium is embedded deep in the bo
wels of the earth beneath that particular area. Others speculate that a mother l
ode of gold has been detected in the area. The thickest deposits are reportedly
under the San Jorge area with the ends tapering as far a San Juanico Strait to t
he South and the San Bernardino Strait to the North.
Could there be a connection to the reported location of Biringan in the area? In
Philippine folklore, elementals supposedly guard vast treasures hidden deep in
the forests or deep underground.
Nevertheless, the Japanese left the area without any tangible results of their ru
ral development work. That ended the Japanese Venture Into Biringan Territory.
Biringan (Part 6) : Conclusion
What really is Biringan? Is it a city or kingdom existing in a parallel dimensio
n with ours? Do these two dimensions interpenetrate at times, causing the meetin
g of inhabitants from ours with encantos? Does this explain the ethereal now-you
-see-it, now-you don t quality of Biringan and its denizens?
To this day, Biringan remains a mysterious part of Philippine folklore. In addit
ion, everyday stories of encounters with Biringan s residents continue to be told.
If these had simply been figments of the imagination, these stories would have
died down a long time ago, what with the advent of 100+ channels cable televisio
n and the Internet. Still, fresh stories continue to crop up.
Stories such as spirit possession by Biringan s encantos over ten school children
just because their school Principal unwittingly made a bonfire next to the large
balete tree in their school yard. How was the poor teacher to know that the hug
e tree looming large near the old school building was the abode of a Biringanon?
And that she had unknowingly injured the youngest child of the invisible occupa
nts of the tree abode?
Even modern-day kids in the Philippines, well-versed on the Japanese anim sagas o
f the new century, still believe in the existence of the legendary kingdom of Bi
ringan. This is an undeniable fact. Despite all the terror attacks, all the coup
rumors, the hunger, the droughts, the floods, and everything, only one thing re
mains unshaken by it all Biringan.