1 00:00:04,240 --> 00:00:06,360 Speaker 1: Hey, and welcome to the Short Stuff. I'm Josh, and 2 00:00:06,400 --> 00:00:08,800 Speaker 1: there's Chuck and Jerry's here for Dave. So this is 3 00:00:08,840 --> 00:00:10,600 Speaker 1: short Stuff gidea. 4 00:00:11,119 --> 00:00:14,560 Speaker 2: That's right, and this week we are talking about more 5 00:00:14,680 --> 00:00:19,400 Speaker 2: nefarious business by the American CIA. Yeah, during the Cold 6 00:00:19,440 --> 00:00:21,880 Speaker 2: War in this case. But first we should probably tell 7 00:00:21,880 --> 00:00:23,920 Speaker 2: you just a short bit about the Philippines. 8 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:27,520 Speaker 1: Right, Yeah, there's seven thousand islands in the Philippines, more 9 00:00:27,560 --> 00:00:29,760 Speaker 1: than I did not know that, but that's a lot 10 00:00:29,760 --> 00:00:33,880 Speaker 1: of io lots. Yeah, there's one hundred and seventy five 11 00:00:33,960 --> 00:00:39,360 Speaker 1: different languages. Tagalog is one of the larger language families 12 00:00:39,640 --> 00:00:44,200 Speaker 1: or groups are just languages, and because there's seven thousand islands, 13 00:00:44,280 --> 00:00:46,040 Speaker 1: there's a bunch of different languages. There's a lot of 14 00:00:46,080 --> 00:00:50,639 Speaker 1: cultural different cultural beliefs, but some of the ones are 15 00:00:50,680 --> 00:00:54,560 Speaker 1: spread pretty far and wide to cross the Philippines, which 16 00:00:54,560 --> 00:00:58,520 Speaker 1: would suggest they're very, very old like folk beliefs. And 17 00:00:58,600 --> 00:01:00,760 Speaker 1: one of them that we're going to talk about today 18 00:01:00,800 --> 00:01:01,440 Speaker 1: is the Oswan. 19 00:01:02,760 --> 00:01:06,640 Speaker 2: That's right. We don't have an exact correlation here in 20 00:01:06,760 --> 00:01:09,840 Speaker 2: the United States, but you might call it like a 21 00:01:09,920 --> 00:01:13,760 Speaker 2: vampire potentially because it does suck blood, but it also 22 00:01:14,080 --> 00:01:18,839 Speaker 2: feeds on organs. And it feeds on phlim, which is completely. 23 00:01:18,400 --> 00:01:20,479 Speaker 1: Disgusting, one of the worst things I've ever heard. 24 00:01:21,160 --> 00:01:26,520 Speaker 2: Yeah, feeds on flim, unborn children, pregnant women. It can 25 00:01:26,560 --> 00:01:28,720 Speaker 2: be a giant pig, it can be a giant vulture. 26 00:01:28,800 --> 00:01:32,360 Speaker 2: It can be like a dog shaped thing, and sort 27 00:01:32,400 --> 00:01:34,080 Speaker 2: of like, I can't what was the one we did 28 00:01:34,120 --> 00:01:40,400 Speaker 2: this past October about the Mexican folklore the album Yeah, 29 00:01:41,040 --> 00:01:42,840 Speaker 2: similar to that. I can't remember the name of that one. 30 00:01:42,840 --> 00:01:45,880 Speaker 2: But it's one of those deals where like any mysterious 31 00:01:45,920 --> 00:01:48,800 Speaker 2: death or unexplained illness, or any kind of misfortune that 32 00:01:48,880 --> 00:01:51,880 Speaker 2: might happen, you might blame blame on the Oswog. 33 00:01:52,080 --> 00:01:54,480 Speaker 1: Right, and you mentioned a dog. I saw somewhere that 34 00:01:54,880 --> 00:01:59,080 Speaker 1: the name comes from OsO Wong, which means a dog 35 00:01:59,200 --> 00:01:59,960 Speaker 1: I think can take. 36 00:02:00,240 --> 00:02:02,000 Speaker 2: Oh all right, So. 37 00:02:03,480 --> 00:02:06,360 Speaker 1: People are like, okay, great, what's up with the name though? 38 00:02:06,400 --> 00:02:09,840 Speaker 1: The CIA vampires thing? What are you talking about you guys, Well, 39 00:02:09,880 --> 00:02:12,320 Speaker 1: this is what we're talking about. In the Cold War 40 00:02:12,760 --> 00:02:15,960 Speaker 1: in the fifties, there was a guy whose name was 41 00:02:16,120 --> 00:02:19,800 Speaker 1: Edward Geary Lansdale, and he worked for the CIA, and 42 00:02:19,840 --> 00:02:25,520 Speaker 1: he used the tale of the Oswong to try to 43 00:02:25,560 --> 00:02:29,280 Speaker 1: manipulate people into turning against a gorilla army. 44 00:02:29,040 --> 00:02:33,600 Speaker 2: There, that's right. And you know, if you're afraid of 45 00:02:33,600 --> 00:02:36,919 Speaker 2: something like this, it's probably because it's truly horrific. Aside 46 00:02:36,919 --> 00:02:40,720 Speaker 2: from feeding on phlegm, this thing in humanoid form would 47 00:02:41,080 --> 00:02:45,000 Speaker 2: look on rooftops at night. Yeah, and had a long 48 00:02:45,280 --> 00:02:49,239 Speaker 2: tongue sort of like a proboscis that it could lower 49 00:02:49,400 --> 00:02:53,040 Speaker 2: through what's called a lick hole in the ceiling of 50 00:02:53,080 --> 00:02:58,040 Speaker 2: your home. Do you have horrible, horrible words put together, 51 00:02:58,080 --> 00:03:01,680 Speaker 2: feeding on flem and lick hole And like we said, 52 00:03:01,680 --> 00:03:05,160 Speaker 2: pregnant women, children, it would suck out their insides with 53 00:03:05,240 --> 00:03:09,320 Speaker 2: this tongue and essentially leave something you know, devoid of 54 00:03:09,520 --> 00:03:12,760 Speaker 2: organs and you know, disemboweled and devoid of blood. It 55 00:03:12,760 --> 00:03:15,920 Speaker 2: would suck, suck them from the outside end or inside 56 00:03:15,919 --> 00:03:16,680 Speaker 2: out rather right. 57 00:03:17,200 --> 00:03:21,200 Speaker 1: Yeah, And again like we don't have a good analogy 58 00:03:21,240 --> 00:03:23,040 Speaker 1: to this in the West. The best we can do 59 00:03:23,200 --> 00:03:28,280 Speaker 1: is like Dracula essentially. But that's that's really eating sucking 60 00:03:28,400 --> 00:03:31,520 Speaker 1: or eating blood or consuming blood. Is that's where the 61 00:03:31,560 --> 00:03:33,760 Speaker 1: similarities end. That's right. 62 00:03:34,360 --> 00:03:38,240 Speaker 2: So Ed Lansdale comes along. He was pre war World 63 00:03:38,280 --> 00:03:40,880 Speaker 2: War two, he was an ad guy, and so once 64 00:03:40,920 --> 00:03:44,360 Speaker 2: he got in the war, they said, all right, you're 65 00:03:44,400 --> 00:03:47,480 Speaker 2: pretty sharp tech. We're gonna move you over to the OSS, 66 00:03:47,640 --> 00:03:51,880 Speaker 2: the Office of Strategic Services, which predated the CIA, and 67 00:03:51,920 --> 00:03:53,840 Speaker 2: they said, since you're an ad guy, you know what 68 00:03:53,880 --> 00:03:57,960 Speaker 2: you'd be great at is psyops, you know, using media 69 00:03:57,960 --> 00:04:01,160 Speaker 2: and marketing and propaganda to help win the war, like 70 00:04:01,920 --> 00:04:04,800 Speaker 2: demonize the enemy, because that's basically what you do as 71 00:04:04,800 --> 00:04:06,480 Speaker 2: an advertiser. 72 00:04:05,960 --> 00:04:08,960 Speaker 1: Exactly, and he was a whiz at it. So he 73 00:04:09,040 --> 00:04:12,640 Speaker 1: excelled at psyops himself, and he took a different view 74 00:04:12,680 --> 00:04:15,720 Speaker 1: of things. He said, normally that when people think about 75 00:04:15,840 --> 00:04:20,839 Speaker 1: psyops conventionally, they're talking about dropping leaflets that try to 76 00:04:20,920 --> 00:04:25,039 Speaker 1: demoralize the enemy, maybe using like a Tokyo Rose type 77 00:04:25,040 --> 00:04:29,800 Speaker 1: to talk about how GI's girlfriends are hooking up with 78 00:04:29,880 --> 00:04:33,560 Speaker 1: other guys back home. Those are psyops and they're really 79 00:04:33,680 --> 00:04:37,479 Speaker 1: kind of a low hanging fruit. What Lansdale was doing 80 00:04:37,640 --> 00:04:40,440 Speaker 1: was really trying to dig into the local culture to 81 00:04:40,440 --> 00:04:44,200 Speaker 1: figure out how to turn that culture's beliefs and superstitions 82 00:04:44,520 --> 00:04:47,360 Speaker 1: against it to win the war. 83 00:04:48,640 --> 00:04:52,279 Speaker 2: That's right, That feels like a pretty good time for break. Yeah, yeah, 84 00:04:52,440 --> 00:04:54,200 Speaker 2: all right, we're going to come right back and talk 85 00:04:54,200 --> 00:05:22,680 Speaker 2: about what happened in nineteen fifty, right after this, all right, 86 00:05:22,720 --> 00:05:25,000 Speaker 2: so I promised talk of nineteen fifty, that is when 87 00:05:25,320 --> 00:05:28,880 Speaker 2: Lansdale came to the Philippines. He was undercover as the 88 00:05:28,920 --> 00:05:31,640 Speaker 2: CIA guy. He was officially there as an Air Force officer, 89 00:05:32,080 --> 00:05:35,560 Speaker 2: an advisor to the President of the Philippines, who was 90 00:05:35,920 --> 00:05:38,040 Speaker 2: Ramon Magsaysaw. 91 00:05:38,640 --> 00:05:41,159 Speaker 1: Mag says, I'm going with magsay say. 92 00:05:41,760 --> 00:05:43,920 Speaker 2: Mag says, I don't know why I said. They saw 93 00:05:45,400 --> 00:05:48,240 Speaker 2: so he was a sign there in the Philippines because 94 00:05:48,360 --> 00:05:52,599 Speaker 2: the US was backing that regime and they were fighting 95 00:05:52,760 --> 00:05:56,440 Speaker 2: a war against communist rebels there known as the Hooks, 96 00:05:56,480 --> 00:06:00,560 Speaker 2: it was Huks, and they were, you know, they fought. 97 00:06:00,839 --> 00:06:03,280 Speaker 2: The Hooks fought you know, pretty heroically in the Philippine 98 00:06:03,360 --> 00:06:06,960 Speaker 2: Army against the Japanese in World War Two. But after 99 00:06:07,040 --> 00:06:10,000 Speaker 2: the war, they, along with their leader, whose name was 100 00:06:10,120 --> 00:06:15,720 Speaker 2: I guess Louis Taruk, said nuts to this government to 101 00:06:15,800 --> 00:06:19,520 Speaker 2: borrow Josh Clark term because the Philippine Trade Act of 102 00:06:19,600 --> 00:06:22,679 Speaker 2: nineteen forty six basically said the American government gets equal 103 00:06:22,760 --> 00:06:25,320 Speaker 2: rights to the natural resources, and the Hawks weren't down 104 00:06:25,360 --> 00:06:25,520 Speaker 2: with that. 105 00:06:25,800 --> 00:06:28,040 Speaker 1: Yeah, And I'm not sure if the Hooks were actually 106 00:06:28,320 --> 00:06:32,160 Speaker 1: like communists or if they were just labeled as communist 107 00:06:32,240 --> 00:06:35,680 Speaker 1: insurgents to help drum up public support against them, right, 108 00:06:35,880 --> 00:06:41,080 Speaker 1: because they really were this revered like infantry that really 109 00:06:41,200 --> 00:06:44,400 Speaker 1: helped get the Japanese out of the Philippines, and the 110 00:06:44,640 --> 00:06:47,720 Speaker 1: US troops even fought alongside of them. But after they 111 00:06:47,800 --> 00:06:53,880 Speaker 1: broke with this American backed administration, they were pushed on 112 00:06:54,040 --> 00:06:56,480 Speaker 1: a non grad they had to be gotten rid of 113 00:06:56,640 --> 00:06:59,560 Speaker 1: because they weren't just like protesting, they were carrying out 114 00:07:00,080 --> 00:07:05,040 Speaker 1: real of war to try to overthrow this US backed regime. 115 00:07:05,160 --> 00:07:08,000 Speaker 2: I guess yeah, not only US back, but sort of 116 00:07:08,160 --> 00:07:11,240 Speaker 2: US elected, because those supposedly free elections in the Philippines 117 00:07:11,240 --> 00:07:14,800 Speaker 2: that brought this party into power, were totally rigged by 118 00:07:14,920 --> 00:07:18,760 Speaker 2: the CIA and US operatives. So it was all dirty 119 00:07:18,800 --> 00:07:22,680 Speaker 2: dealing going on in the CIA back then, not like these. 120 00:07:22,640 --> 00:07:26,120 Speaker 1: Dings, not like today. By the way, since we're talking 121 00:07:26,160 --> 00:07:29,600 Speaker 1: about the CIA, have another show recommendation for you. It's 122 00:07:29,680 --> 00:07:34,960 Speaker 1: called The Agency Colon Central Intelligence. It's a really stupid name, 123 00:07:35,360 --> 00:07:39,640 Speaker 1: but it is a really well done, suspenseful but also 124 00:07:39,720 --> 00:07:45,360 Speaker 1: really dramatic show. It's Michael Fossbender. Richard Deeer does it 125 00:07:45,720 --> 00:07:48,000 Speaker 1: like I've never seen him act like he is in 126 00:07:48,080 --> 00:07:52,800 Speaker 1: this one, Jeffrey Wright. It's just this really great show. 127 00:07:52,920 --> 00:07:55,920 Speaker 1: It's a great cast. Everybody does wonderfully, even the people 128 00:07:56,000 --> 00:07:58,720 Speaker 1: I've never heard of before. Everybody does great. 129 00:08:00,200 --> 00:08:01,880 Speaker 2: Do we should do a little fifteen minute show once 130 00:08:01,920 --> 00:08:03,440 Speaker 2: a week where we recommend stuff to people. 131 00:08:04,000 --> 00:08:06,000 Speaker 1: That's a great idea. Where'd you get that idea? 132 00:08:06,720 --> 00:08:09,200 Speaker 2: I don't know, let's hear from you. Do people want that? 133 00:08:09,800 --> 00:08:10,520 Speaker 1: Let's find out? 134 00:08:11,080 --> 00:08:14,760 Speaker 2: All right. So some of these cywor tactics, they got 135 00:08:14,800 --> 00:08:17,320 Speaker 2: busy doing their stuff, like kind of doing research on 136 00:08:17,360 --> 00:08:20,520 Speaker 2: the Filipinos and like what would kind of what would 137 00:08:20,600 --> 00:08:23,480 Speaker 2: sway them, what would work? They did some studies of 138 00:08:23,560 --> 00:08:26,600 Speaker 2: the people, like especially the peasants living in the Hook areas. 139 00:08:27,760 --> 00:08:29,520 Speaker 2: One of this sort of I guess sort of low 140 00:08:29,560 --> 00:08:31,400 Speaker 2: hanging fruit like you were talking about that they use 141 00:08:31,640 --> 00:08:34,880 Speaker 2: was they would fly over these areas with you know, 142 00:08:35,040 --> 00:08:39,000 Speaker 2: kind of low flying light aircraft to broadcast curses in Tagalog. 143 00:08:40,080 --> 00:08:42,080 Speaker 2: If anyone was like, if you're a villager and you're 144 00:08:42,120 --> 00:08:44,319 Speaker 2: going to help the Hook soldiers, this curse will befall you. 145 00:08:45,679 --> 00:08:48,280 Speaker 2: That sort of worked a little bit. He would also 146 00:08:49,559 --> 00:08:51,839 Speaker 2: paint the what's called the Eye of God. It was 147 00:08:52,000 --> 00:08:55,319 Speaker 2: just kind of a scary looking thing on houses of 148 00:08:55,559 --> 00:08:59,040 Speaker 2: Hook sympathizers, like on their front door, and that would 149 00:08:59,080 --> 00:09:01,760 Speaker 2: kind of scare people out, but kind of nothing like 150 00:09:01,920 --> 00:09:03,000 Speaker 2: what he did with Oswog. 151 00:09:03,200 --> 00:09:06,800 Speaker 1: Right, No, this was definitely a different level than those 152 00:09:06,840 --> 00:09:10,640 Speaker 1: other ones that you mentioned, because there was a CIA 153 00:09:10,880 --> 00:09:18,120 Speaker 1: trained that Lansdale helped oversee group of government Filipino government 154 00:09:18,200 --> 00:09:21,599 Speaker 1: military operatives. That's a really clumsy way to put it, 155 00:09:22,000 --> 00:09:25,880 Speaker 1: but they were basically set out. They were unleashed on 156 00:09:26,040 --> 00:09:30,040 Speaker 1: this village where a bunch of Hook rebels I think 157 00:09:30,080 --> 00:09:32,040 Speaker 1: one hundred to three hundred of them were in camp 158 00:09:32,160 --> 00:09:36,760 Speaker 1: nearby and they were intimidating the villagers into being quiet, 159 00:09:36,960 --> 00:09:40,320 Speaker 1: giving them supplies, that kind of stuff. So the CIA 160 00:09:40,360 --> 00:09:42,040 Speaker 1: found out about this and they really wanted to get 161 00:09:42,080 --> 00:09:46,839 Speaker 1: this Hook detachment out of this area. And this is 162 00:09:46,920 --> 00:09:51,480 Speaker 1: when they unleashed this Oswang rumor. They basically had these 163 00:09:51,760 --> 00:09:55,040 Speaker 1: Filipino commandos go into the village and start a rumor 164 00:09:55,160 --> 00:09:59,480 Speaker 1: that the Oswog was haunting this area where the Hook 165 00:09:59,640 --> 00:10:01,240 Speaker 1: rebel were camped out. 166 00:10:02,200 --> 00:10:04,280 Speaker 2: Yeah, and you think, all right, well, that doesn't sound 167 00:10:04,400 --> 00:10:06,319 Speaker 2: much different than the other thing. Like they're spreading a 168 00:10:06,400 --> 00:10:09,160 Speaker 2: rumor that might scare them into not helping these local 169 00:10:09,520 --> 00:10:13,439 Speaker 2: soldiers right there in the nearby hills. But they took 170 00:10:13,480 --> 00:10:17,959 Speaker 2: it one step further and they had these agents go 171 00:10:18,120 --> 00:10:23,480 Speaker 2: in and oswong them. Basically, they would kidnap hook fighters 172 00:10:24,120 --> 00:10:29,319 Speaker 2: and disembowel them and clean them out Oswong vampire style 173 00:10:29,400 --> 00:10:31,079 Speaker 2: and leave their bloodless corpses behind. 174 00:10:31,200 --> 00:10:33,240 Speaker 1: Well. I saw also one of the things that they 175 00:10:33,360 --> 00:10:36,520 Speaker 1: did was put puncture holes in their neck and drain 176 00:10:36,600 --> 00:10:41,880 Speaker 1: them of blood. And that is not really oswang at all. 177 00:10:42,000 --> 00:10:47,360 Speaker 1: That's Dracula stuff, and that's just shoddy research of a 178 00:10:47,480 --> 00:10:49,960 Speaker 1: poor quality if you're really trying to scare off people 179 00:10:50,040 --> 00:10:51,480 Speaker 1: based on their superstitions. 180 00:10:52,320 --> 00:10:53,760 Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean there was a guy that wrote a 181 00:10:53,800 --> 00:10:57,560 Speaker 2: book about this, in addition to Lansdale wrote his own memoir. 182 00:10:57,679 --> 00:11:00,800 Speaker 2: But there's a researcher. I think it's like, same was Clark. 183 00:11:00,880 --> 00:11:03,640 Speaker 1: What's Jordan Clark he talked to? I think he talked 184 00:11:03,640 --> 00:11:05,959 Speaker 1: to Dave Ruse who wrote this for Houstiff Works. 185 00:11:06,120 --> 00:11:09,000 Speaker 2: Oh okay, well he basically back to what you're saying 186 00:11:09,120 --> 00:11:10,679 Speaker 2: is like, if they would have done their research, they 187 00:11:10,679 --> 00:11:12,640 Speaker 2: would have believed that the true local creature they were 188 00:11:12,720 --> 00:11:17,200 Speaker 2: scared of was not oswog. It was a self segmenting 189 00:11:18,520 --> 00:11:21,120 Speaker 2: kind of oswog, but it kind of strictly fed on 190 00:11:21,200 --> 00:11:24,600 Speaker 2: the fetuses of pregnant women and was not a blood sucker. Right, 191 00:11:25,760 --> 00:11:29,959 Speaker 2: And he's also not sure that like this thing worked, 192 00:11:30,360 --> 00:11:32,320 Speaker 2: but he's not sure if it worked because they thought 193 00:11:32,360 --> 00:11:34,720 Speaker 2: it was an oswog or whatever. The local I can't 194 00:11:34,720 --> 00:11:39,920 Speaker 2: even how do you pronounce that? Mena menon angall. Yeah, 195 00:11:39,960 --> 00:11:42,880 Speaker 2: I think it was the local boogeyman. If it worked 196 00:11:42,920 --> 00:11:44,439 Speaker 2: because they thought it was that, or if it was 197 00:11:44,520 --> 00:11:48,360 Speaker 2: because they were like, holy crap, these they're so twisted. 198 00:11:48,480 --> 00:11:51,520 Speaker 2: They're sucking the blood out of and draining blood out 199 00:11:51,559 --> 00:11:53,839 Speaker 2: of people to make it seem like so like, either way, 200 00:11:54,520 --> 00:11:56,120 Speaker 2: don't mess with these guys. It's awful. 201 00:11:56,240 --> 00:11:59,800 Speaker 1: Yeah, but it worked, it didn't win the war. Jordan 202 00:12:00,160 --> 00:12:03,760 Speaker 1: Arc points out, like this worked this one time. I 203 00:12:03,800 --> 00:12:06,559 Speaker 1: think it was only used one time, and it did 204 00:12:06,640 --> 00:12:11,240 Speaker 1: dislodge those hook insurgents, but the war was run by 205 00:12:11,440 --> 00:12:15,199 Speaker 1: grinding them out. They basically fought over the years, and 206 00:12:15,600 --> 00:12:20,360 Speaker 1: Louis to Rock finally surrendered in nineteen fifty four. I 207 00:12:20,440 --> 00:12:23,400 Speaker 1: think he secured a pardon for himself and his troops. 208 00:12:23,800 --> 00:12:24,199 Speaker 2: That's right. 209 00:12:24,360 --> 00:12:26,599 Speaker 1: And he said, did you see what happened with the 210 00:12:26,720 --> 00:12:32,800 Speaker 1: ostwoan years back. Yeah, and they were just like, that's it. 211 00:12:33,720 --> 00:12:39,839 Speaker 2: Does that mean? Sure? Stuff is album? All right? Stuff 212 00:12:39,880 --> 00:12:42,679 Speaker 2: you Should Know is a production of iHeartRadio. 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