The Wildest Philippine Urban Legends of the '90s
It's unbelievable how people used to believe in Philippine urban legends from the ‘90s, which, in retrospect, seemed to be pretty silly and weird. The following are some of the legends you may have heard from your aunts, uncles, cousins, or parents in the ‘90s.
1| The Happy Horse
This Philippine urban legend is one you probably heard from your beer-drinking uncle. We all know that Red Horse is one of the stronger brands of beer in the market in terms of alcohol by volume (ABV), which is at 6.9 percent. Its sister brand, San Miguel Pale Pilsen, has an ABV of 5 percent. The legend goes that Red Horse Beer manufactures two kinds of beer: One has the standard ABV of 6.9 percent, while another has a much higher ABV that will down any drinker if he ever drank one. The only way to tell if you got the higher ABV is by checking whether the beer bottle has a smiling horse or a happy horse on its logo.
The Happy Horse (right)
The Happy Horse bottle actually exists, but it's very rare to chance upon one. The Happy Horse is simply an old logo of the brand.
2|The fragrant “kisses” give birth if you wrap them in cotton
Remember “kisses,” those tiny little colorful beads that were so fragrant? They were widely popular in the late ‘80s to early ‘90s, especially among grade-schoolers. If you owned a set of these, you may have attempted to force them to reproduce by wrapping them in cotton and leaving them overnight to give birth to more beads. The legend goes that if you put the beads in cotton and soaked it in alcohol or water, they would multiply or give birth to more “kisses” overnight.
3| A cult member will kill you if you leave your slippers outside the house
This crazy Philippine urban legend made kids paranoid about leaving their flip-flops outside the house at night. The story goes that, if you leave your slippers outside the house at night, a cult member will take the slippers and kill the person who owns them. Naturally, children who heard of this rumor became terrified of leaving their flip-flops outside the house after playing on the street in the late afternoon. Some versions of the story go as far as saying that the cult members are Satanists who are always looking for people to sacrifice. It's just weird how they choose their victims. Maybe they have a fetish?
4| Bongbong Marcos is Actually Dead
This story originated in the ‘70s but still made rounds in the ‘80s to the early ‘90s. According to the rumors, Bongbong Marcos died a long time ago when he was supposedly involved in a car crash. Other versions tell the story that he was abducted by rebels in Mindanao. According to the legend, the Marcos family pretended that Bongbong was still alive and hired someone to undergo plastic surgery and act like Bongbong. Of course, the story intrigued the nation, especially the political rivals of the Marcoses. We all know that this story is false, because why keep Bongbong alive through an impostor if he actually died?
5| Children are ‘salvaged' to be buried in concrete in bridges
Of all the Philippine urban legends you've heard, this one is among the creepier ones because it could be true. According to legend, bridges are made stronger if they are fortified with bodies of people. Hence, bridge builders would accept “salvaged” bodies of people, including children, so they could be cemented into the bridge's foundations. But of course, people's dead bodies don't make stronger bridges. What makes this story scary is that it's a good premise for covering up an actual crime. Reports of disappearances from the ‘70s through the ‘90s only fuel this urban legend.
