So Supernatural - MYSTICAL: Witches Island (Siquijor)

Episode Date: October 9, 2026

For centuries, the tiny Philippine island of Siquijor has been shrouded in legend. It says the island rose from the sea covered in mist and lightning. And it’s since become home to generations of healers, witches, and dark magic practitioners. Whether the island's powers are rooted in ancient herbal wisdom, genuine supernatural forces, or something in between, one thing is agreed upon: Siquijor is not like anywhere else.For a full list of sources, please visit: https://sosupernaturalpodcast.com/mystical-witches-island-siquijorDid you know you can listen to So Supernatural ad-free? Join the Crime Junkie Fan Club! Visit https://crimejunkiepodcast.com/fanclub/ to view the current membership options and policies.So Supernatural is an Audiochuck and Crime House production. Find us on social!Instagram: @sosupernaturalpodTwitter: @_sosupernaturalFacebook: /sosupernaturalpod Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

There are moments in life when medicine runs out of answers. When the diagnosis is delivered, the options are exhausted, and you're left sitting in a waiting room wondering what comes next. Many of us have been there or know someone who has. I've personally had my own experiences in that department, sadly. I am a breast cancer survivor. I truly believe that our mom dying from breast cancer in 2017 saved my life. Because from the moment she was diagnosed on April 8th, 2016,

I started getting alternating mammograms, ultrasounds, and MRIs every six months until I, myself, was diagnosed eight years to the day that mom was on April 8th, 2024. I was diagnosed early and took aggressive action, and that is why I am alive and here today to tell you this story. We weren't that lucky with our mom. We threw everything we could at it from what. Western medicine to naturopathic medicine, even to the supernatural. Oh, how I wish we could have found a magical healer to save her.

And I know so many of you understand what I'm saying. But long before pharmaceutical companies and clinical trials existed, there were healers, people who understood plants, energy, the human body in ways that defied easy explanation. and some of the most powerful, according to legend, have gathered in one place, a tiny island in the Philippines called Sikyore, more commonly known as Witch's Island. People travel from all over the world to find it. They come looking for healing that Western medicine can't offer, for spiritual cleansing, for love potions, for answers to questions,

they can't even ask a doctor. And many of them leave believing they've found exactly what they came for. But Sikyore doesn't give without taking. Beneath the healing and the wonder, the island carries a darker reputation, black magic, ancient curses, and creatures that lurk in the jungle at night. Witch's island can restore you, it can transform you, but some think it can all also swallow you whole. I'm Yvette Gentile. And I'm her sister, Rasha Pecorero. This is so supernatural.

World travelers probably know this already, but the Philippines has a lot of tourist hotspots. It's made up of more than 7,000 small islands, and each of them have something unique to offer. By the way, Yvette and I are going to be saying a lot of Tagalog and Spanish words during this episode, and we want to make our Filipino family proud, so please bear with us with our pronunciations. We will do our best. Nature lovers head to Palawan, home to the Porto-Prinsessa Subterranean River,

where you can travel by boat through five miles of underground cave networks. They're so stunning they've been named a UNESCO World Heritage Site. History bus go to Manila where a walled fortress called Intramudos has been standing since the 1500s. It's still intact, still prevalent,

and it's in the center of one of Asia's most modern cities. There is no shortage of places to visit. But there's one island your travel agent might not lead with. Tucked into the Central Philippines, it's a place you have to seek out deliberately. The island has only one little tiny airport. It can also be reached by a ferry from other larger islands. and it's roughly 163 square miles a little bigger than the city of Philadelphia.

Most people who end up there are looking for something specific, something they cannot find anywhere else. It's called Sikyor, but the locals have another name for it entirely, Healing Island, or to the outsiders, it's called Witches Island. The island has a population of about 100,000, people. And while we don't know the exact numbers, we know a significant portion of the residents identify as sorcerers, faith healers, and witches. The streets are lined with shops selling potions and charms. You can pick up one for about 100 pesos, which works out to roughly

two U.S. dollars. Many of them say they can cure illnesses with their magic, including things like chronic pain, coughs, digestive problems, and fevers. In some cases, they also claim to cure diseases that can't be treated with traditional medicine. That includes mental health conditions too. The witches are known as Mananumbal, but it might be simpler to think of them as folk healers. Just like traditional Western doctors, different healers specialize in different conditions. Some are experts on plants and herbs. They gather medicinal leaves, roots or fruits, and bark and brew them into potions. It takes a lot of knowledge in studying to do this kind of work. Reportedly, there are 300 different medicinal plants that naturally grow on Sikyore. Each of them

can be used in a variety of ways to treat all sorts of ailments. Other healers practice a ritual called Balo Palo. It involves putting a magic stone into a glass of water. Then they move the glass back and forth over a customer's body while blowing air into the water through a straw. Sometimes the fluid turns cloudy, or the practitioner has a vision of an object floating in the glass. This helps them make a diagnosis. For example, if they see a pin in the water, it means someone has put a voodoo curse on the patient. Balo Balo helps the healer with the diagnoses, but it also cleanses the customer's body and soul of evil spirits. It's also common for Mananambal to perform therapeutic massages. They can soothe tense muscles and relieve tension, just like traditional massage therapists do. But they also claim they can

find packets of bad energy in your body and release it to help heal you. Others offer palm readings that help predict your future, or they say they can summon the spirits of your ancestors to help heal from generational trauma. However, you want to be careful about who you do business with on Sikyior, because there are also many witches who dabble in dark magic. They're called Mamba Barang, and for a price, they'll put a curse on your enemy. No one knows how or when witchcraft first appeared on Sikyore. And that's because the island had a reputation for magic long before the Filipinos had written historical records.

But legends suggest these energies may have been a part of Sikkior from the very beginning. The origin of Sikkiur begins before there was ever an island at all. According to Filipino legend, a massive limestone rock once rose, from the sea shrouded in mist and lightning. No one could make out what it was. They could just see this dark electric shape emerging from the water crackling with energy. Some versions of the story say the island rose from the ocean during a violent earthquake and a raging storm, and then slowly the mist cleared. And there it was a lush tropical island. The first people to settle there called themselves the Sikijadnans, and they arrived to find a place unlike anything else.

Scientists have identified hundreds of medicinal plants growing in its jungles, herbs and roots with healing properties that wouldn't be cataloged for centuries. It seemed like the island was almost designed for people who understood there was more to the natural world than meets the eye. And then the Spanish arrived. In 1565, explorers Esteban Rodriguez and Juan Aguirre sailed to the island as part of an expedition to conquer the Philippines. They came at night and what they saw stopped them dead in their tracks. The whole island seemed to be glowing. It almost looked like it was in flames.

This led them to call it Isla del Fouet. ago, Island of Fire. What they really saw was the glow of fireflies, flitting through the Molave trees in the darkness. Sikyor was home to tons of fireflies back then. Their population has declined, but at the time, they formed these huge swarms in the evenings. Still, Juan and Esteban weren't put off by the apparent flames, at least not according to local legend. Some accounts say the men docked on the shores of Fire Island, and a local king went to the beach to greet them. His name was Kiad, and when he introduced himself in his language, he said, seekiad. Except Juan and Esteban thought the king was telling them the name of the island, not introducing

himself. So in their records, they wrote that the island was called Seikior. Another legend says Juan and Esteban never landed on the island because they couldn't figure out how to navigate the currents and to get to shore. Instead, they sailed to other islands in the area and asked the locals there how to reach Fire Island. The indigenous people replied in their native languages, and depending on the telling, they said either the tide recedes or follow the waves,

but both of those phrases supposedly sound very similar to Sikyor. So once again, it's believed that Juan and Esteban misunderstood the answers and recorded that as the island's name. Either way, the accounts agreed that Juan and Esteban didn't spend much time on Sikyor, if they ever set foot there at all. And later Spanish explorers and traders mostly ignored Fire Island. Some said it was too small, didn't have anything valuable to sell, and sailors didn't think it was worth the dangers of trying to stop there.

But everything changed in the late 1500s or early 1600s. By that time, Spain was trading with the Philippines on the regular, but they were focused on other islands, not Sikyur. However, Sikyur was very centrally located. Spanish ships often sailed by it on their way to other destinations, But one day, one passing ship, had a lot of sick sailors on board. Surviving reports don't say what their illness was, but it was serious enough that they couldn't wait to arrive at the next major port.

They had to pull over at the first land they saw and asked for help. So the ship docked on Sikyor. The crewmates tried to tell the residents they needed immediate medical treatment. And the locals agreed to take care. of the sailors. I mean, supposedly that's when several witch doctors stepped up to help, and they performed a magical ritual to help them recover. And guess what? It worked. Except the Spanish explorers had mixed feelings about all of this. These were devout Catholics that were talking about. They believed all magic, even helpful healing spells, were forbidden by God.

So they said the people of Sikyor were guilty of something sinful and evil. From then on, they told everyone they met to avoid Sikyur. They said the people who lived there were wicked sorcerers and dangerous to be around. The Spanish also claimed the island glowed at night because of magic, not fireflies. And lots of people throughout the Philippines and the rest of the world believe them, which is why some insist even to this day that the island is evil. But that hasn't stopped people from visiting and encountering its magic firsthand. Sometime in the 15 or 1600s, witch doctors on the island of Sikyur healed a crew of Spanish traitors.

But instead of counting their blessings, the sailors just ended up spreading gossip that the healers were evil. These rumors were so widespread, many travelers avoided Sikyor like the plague. And we're not just talking about Spaniards. Many Filipinos also came to fear their neighbors on Witch's Island too. Even Catholic missionaries didn't set foot there for roughly a century. They say that they were convinced they'd never be able to convert the people that they believed were wicked witches of the island. So it wasn't even worth trying. But the people who lived on Sikyur didn't see it that way.

To them, magic was a tool that people could use to do helpful or harmful things. Once the Catholic missionaries did start coming to the island in the 1700s, things changed a bit. Some of the local practitioners blended their traditional beliefs about magic with Catholic teachings. Many healers started to believe that their abilities were a gift from God. and they were being good Christians by serving their neighbors with spells and enchantments. Today, many witches identify as Catholics who also perform magic. They see themselves like doctors or therapists. They used the tools God gave them to heal people, help them with their grief or trauma,

or achieve good luck in business or love. And since these healers think they're doing God's work, many of them don't even charge for their services. But of course, you know, tips are welcome because at the end of the day, they still have bills to pay. Not to mention, their work can be dangerous, so they deserve some kind of compensation. According to some practitioners, their healing work can bring them face to face with dark spirits. And the island itself is said to be home to many monsters, including one called. called an Oswong. Legend says these creatures can be found anywhere, not only on Sikyur,

but they are said to be very prevalent there. We can't tell you what they look like because they're shapeshifters. They'll become whatever they have to be in order to achieve their goals. So sometimes they look like ordinary human beings. Other times they'll take the form of animals. It's even said they can resemble strange half-human half-animal hybrids. Oswang eat human flesh to survive. If an Oswang gets you in its grasp, you won't be able to sweet talk your way out of it. Their only desire is to cause pain and heartache. So obviously, it's best to avoid them whenever you can. In fact, the Oswang are the most feared creatures in all of Filipino mythology. Some have even spoken online about their modern day encounters with them.

One social media post went viral in the spring of 2025. A Filipino man posted that he and his pregnant wife were trying to sleep one night when they heard something rustling outside of their house. The husband figured it might just be a stray dog or a cat. So he ended up grabbing his phone, started recording, opened the door, and poked his head outside. That's when he saw a glowing, human-like face peering right back at him. Up until that moment, the man had never actually believed in Oswang. He figured they were just something from a fairy tale.

But when he posted the video of the glowing face, his wife was sobbing in fear and he was visibly shaken. And when you see this online, it is very, very creepy. Well, guess what? They weren't the only ones to come face to face with a supposed Oswong. In fact, recently another tourist apparently captured one on film. His name was Petteri Paolo. In November 2025, he posted about his experience in Seikyor. Petteri was spending multiple days on the island,

except, unlike many tourists, he hadn't come to meet the witches or buy magic charms. In fact, Petteri did. didn't believe in the supernatural at all. He never heard of the island's various healers and witches. Instead, Petere was there to explore white sand beaches, sightsee, and just relax. But at one point, on the first or second day of his trip, Petteri went to see the oldest tree on the island, called the Balete Tree. The tree is over 400 years old. It's covered in long, viney branches that can wrap around other trees, then absorb them. into itself. So the Balete is massive and appears to have these creepy tentacles. Locals say this tree

is the spiritual heart of the island. Additionally, many magical spirits are said to live in it. They're very protective and you're supposed to ask them for permission before you get too close. Otherwise, they may retaliate. Unfortunately, Petteri didn't know any of this. All he wanted was a picture next to the tree. So he walked right up without asking for permission. He got someone to snap a photo of him standing near the trunk. And in the picture, he was even holding two of those long, draping branches in his hands. Fast forward to Petteri's second night on the island. He went to the beach to watch the sunset. And while he was there, he chatted with some other locals and tourists who were also gathered on the beach. After they left,

Petteri stuck around to get photos of the passing boats under the starlit skies. Since it was so dark, he had to take long exposure shots, which required him to hold the camera very still for several minutes. A little while later, he looked through his camera roll to see if anything had come out well. And one photo stood out. It showed a woman standing in the foreground with her back to the camera facing the ocean. To the left of her was a boat floating. in the water. But in front of the woman was also some kind of misty, shadowy shape. It appeared to be

emerging from the ocean. The thing was partially transparent like it was made of smoke or a small, low-lying cloud. Except the entity looked like it had two eyes, a thin, narrow mouth, and a pair of spiny arms reaching out onto the beach. In Petteri's mind, it looked like some kind of giant, half guinea pig, half human-like creature. I can totally see what he saw. To me, it almost looks like a mythical creature coming out of the water. Some even say that it looks like a frog. You guys definitely have to take a look,

and we're going to link the photo in the show notes, so you can decide for yourself. But as eerie as that picture was, Petteri figured there was a good explanation. Like maybe he wasn't holding the camera still enough, so the light had blurred, you know, in a weird way. But what strange was, everything else in the picture came out clear as day. And over time, Petteri forgot about the picture.

He didn't think of it again until sometime later when he decided to research Sikyor and learn more about its history. It's unclear if this happened during his vacation or after he got back home. All we can say is that while he was researching, Petteri finally learned Sikyor was full of witches and spirits. Then he read about the Oswang, the shapeshifting flesh-eating monster we described earlier. He couldn't help but be reminded of the thing he had photographed.

To his eyes, it sounded an awful lot like the human animal hybrids that Oswang can become. In the post, Petteri also said that maybe the Oswald swang had come after him to punish him for touching the Balati tree. In other words, Petteri admitted there could be more to seek yore than meets the eye. Well, unlike Petteri, lots of people come to the island seeking out its magical energies. And some of them have actually been healed from serious illnesses because of it, which is why many think the island really does have magic that defies scientific explanation.

Lots of people flock to Sikyore every year searching for magic that can heal the mind, body, and soul. This includes a Danish man named Johnny Carstensen. At some point in his past, Johnny had been diagnosed with chronic psoriasis. Now, most people who have psoriasis just get mild symptoms like itchy, rashy skin. But in some cases, it can cause serious problems like debilitating pain that can keep someone from moving. And unfortunately, Johnny had a very serious form of it. His doctors told him he was likely to end up in a wheelchair. And because the condition isn't well understood and is incurable, they didn't have a way.

of slowing this down either. It was a heartbreaking diagnosis. But Johnny had an idea. He knew a Filipino man named Ling, and at one point Ling told Johnny he should visit the witch doctors on Sikyor. Maybe they could help heal his psoriasis. At this point, Johnny was willing to try just about anything. So he traveled to Witches Island and found a Mananambal who was willing to perform a Balo Balo ritual. That's the ritual where the practitioner blows into a glass of water to diagnose and treat conditions. After the healer completed the Bolo Balo Balo, he told Johnny he believed he could cure his psoriasis. He just needed to drink a potion made of a particular kind of bark that was native to the island.

Then he would be healed. Johnny figured why not? It couldn't hurt. He agreed to buy the bright orange liquid and then, he drank it. And over time, Johnny said it actually seemed to work. His psoriasis symptoms became less and less severe. It's unclear if Johnny was cured all at once or if it was a more gradual process. But whatever the case was, he was convinced the potion had done the trick. Now, with a new lease on life, Johnny decided to settle on the island of Sikyor. He opened a resort with a bar, restaurant, and private sleeping quarters.

And he was more than willing to tell his customers all about the magic potion and how the island had completely saved his life. You can actually look this up on YouTube too and see them doing this, which is fascinating to me. Makes me definitely want to go there one day. One day for sure. Well, we also came across another incredible story. One about a man whose identity wasn't made public.

So we'll call him Manny. He was born and raised on Sikyior, but at one point he came to the United States. It's unclear if he was living in America or if he was just there on vacation. But we know the trip was a horrible experience. Mani was in some kind of accident while he was in the country, and he damaged his spine. Luckily, he survived, but the injury left him paralyzed from the neck down. As soon as he had recovered enough to travel, Mani went back home to Seikyore.

He knew the local Mananambal could do things Western doctors couldn't, so he sought a second opinion from them. The witch doctors told Mani he could be healed, but the treatment wouldn't be quick or easy. He would need to be buried in the sand on a particular beach up to his neck, and he'd have to stay there for hours. At a certain point, his friends could dig him up, then they could take him home for food, he could rest and he could recover,

but the next day, he'd have to go right back to the beach and be buried there again. Mani would have to do this over and over until he regained the ability to move his arms and legs. Mani was on board with the witch's advice. He went to the beach each day where the medicine man buried him in the sand for hours, and then he'd return the following day to do it again. He spent days doing this on repeat, and sure enough, the healer was right.

He even regained the ability to move his body. Then he began riding his motorbike around on a regular basis. His doctor said it was impossible, but eventually, Mani was able to live a normal life again, free of paralysis. With accounts like this, it's no wonder why so many people feel so drawn to Sikyore. There's a lot of tourism on the island, with some companies even running wellness tours. Visitors can pay a fee to see a series of

healers and receive a variety of treatments during their stay. But if you're thinking of coming to learn about magic, don't wait, because according to a blogger named Simon Irwin, the island's power is in danger of disappearing. This is partly because magical rituals are usually passed down from parents to their children. But life as a sick you are witch isn't glamorous or easy. You don't make much money, especially living on just tips alone. And a lot of young people are rejecting their magical heritage

to pursue other careers. As older witches and healers pass away or retire, there are fewer people to take their place. And if this trend continues, which is island could lose its practitioners in the very near future. Well, the governor of Sikyur has done some things to try and reverse that trend. He started a week-long annual gathering called the Folk Healing Festival or the Sikyore Healing Festival. And it takes place during Holy Week, the seven days between Palm Sunday and Easter. And during the event, the healers bruises.

special potions, give lectures on their craft, and perform public rituals. It's a way to educate people about their work, I mean, to draw more tourists to the island and boost the economy. Healers often spend weeks preparing for the festival. They go into Sikyar's jungles to gather herbs and medicinal plants, and it takes time and patience, because they need ingredients with magical properties. For example, some spells call for coconut oil, but it has to come from coconuts growing on the eastern side of the island, and it has to be the only coconut on its tree, and on top of that, it has to grow on the eastern side of the tree. So the healer will have to locate the perfect coconut, then climb the tree and carefully cut the fruit off its branches. But if they drop it or let it

bang against the trunk, it'll lose some of its magical potency. So trust us when we say, people have to work really hard to get ready for the week-long event. Will these festivals and demonstrations help save Sikyior's unique culture? Only time will tell. But we hope so, because we know what it feels like to have done everything right, followed every protocol, tried every option, and yet we still find ourselves sitting in a waiting room with no good answers, sometimes with death nearby. In those moments, something ancient stirs, the same instinct that drew the first settlers to that mysterious Isla del Fuego, the glowing island, the same impulse that has sent people across

oceans searching for a healer, a ritual, or a remedy. The healers of Sikyor have understood something for generations that modern medicine is only just beginning to accept, that the body and the soul aren't separate problems, that sometimes what needs healing isn't just a symptom, it's a person, and that the plants growing in that ancient jungle might carry something. something no laboratory has ever been able to replicate. We can't promise you the rituals there are real, but Sikyor is, and many of the people who've arrived there on this beautiful island feel broken, but have left there feeling whole. And if that isn't magic, then I don't know what is. This is So Supernatural, an Audio Chuck original produced by

crime house. You can connect with us on Instagram at So Supernatural Pod and visit our website at so supernaturalpodcast.com. Join Rasha and me next Friday for an all new episode. I think Chuck would approve.