Biringan is a

myth Myth is a folklore genre consisting of Narrative, narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or Origin myth, origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not Objectivity (philosophy), ...

ical city that is said to invisibly lie between Gandara, Tarangnan, and Pagsanghan in

Samar Samar ( ) is the third-largest and seventh-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 1,909,537 as of the 2020 census. It is located in the eastern Visayas, which are in the central Philippines. The island is divided in ...

province of the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

Legend

The city is said to be located in the province of

. It is also designated as a

barangay A barangay (; abbreviated as Brgy. or Bgy.), historically referred to as barrio (abbreviated as Bo.), is the smallest administrative division in the Philippines and is the native Filipino term for a village, district, or ward. In metropolitan ...

Pagsanghan, Samar Pagsanghan, officially the Municipality of Pagsanghan ( war, Bungto han Pagsanghan; tl, Bayan ng Pagsanghan), is a 5th class municipality in the province of Samar, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 7,959 people. ...

and Gandara, Samar. According to the local folklore, the population of Biringan comprises supernatural beings: the '' Engkantos'' ("enchanted beings"), and their progeny with the humans. The ''engkantos'' are described as shapechangers who can take human form. In their human form, they are said to lack a

philtrum The philtrum ( la, philtrum from Ancient Greek ''phíltron,'' lit. "love charm"), or medial cleft, is a vertical indentation in the middle area of the upper lip, common to therian mammals, extending in humans from the nasal septum to the tubercl ...

between their nose and lips. The city is also alleged to contain treasures of gold.

Paranormal claims

A small number of people claim to have seen the city. Some seafarers have claimed to have seen a "dazzling city of light" on moonless nights, for a few minutes. According to folk stories, most of the people who claim to have seen the city have been the victims of

demon possession Spirit possession is an unusual or altered state of consciousness and associated behaviors purportedly caused by the control of a human body by spirits, ghosts, demons, or gods. The concept of spirit possession exists in many cultures and re ...

s. There were reports of satellite images from a Japanese company that allegedly show brightly lit tracts of lands in the region, which led the Japanese to believe that there are rich deposits of gold and uranium in the suspected area. They began work immediately, setting up a large work site in the town of San Jorge, but mysterious accidents and mishaps plagued the project from the start, forcing the Japanese company to shut down operation and abandon the project completely in an effort to avoid bankruptcy and cut their losses.

References

Visayan mythology Fictional populated places Mythological populated places Urban legends {{mythology-stub