52: GREAT BALLS OF FIRE | Santelmo - Part 1: Flaming Orbs of Death?

Goodness, gracious! This week, we fire it up with a deep dive into the legend and lore behind the Santelmo, or St. Elmo’s Fire. Were these mystical balls of fire omens of death and destruction… or a sign pointing to hidden treasure?

Buckle up as we go into tangents you never expected: from old sailors tales, to physics concepts about plasma and electricity they didn’t teach us in high school, to the patron saint of abdominal pains.

Learn about the various sightings of the Santelmo in ‘rural legends’ of old and recent memory, the historical origins of the story and where the name comes from, and how the legend continues to live in popular imagination.

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The Gods Must Be Crazy is a podcast on Philippine Mythology hosted by friends Anama Dimapilis and Ice Lacsamana, avid mythology nerds and semi-professional gossips. Follow us over at @godsmustbecrazy.pod on Instagram and Facebook for more good stuff. We welcome any suggestions on future topics or episodes. You can also join us on Patreon at www.patreon.com/thegodsmustbecrazypodcast.

You can also find us on Youtube – Gods Must Be Crazy Podcast channel, where we post some of our episodes and interviews. For other inquiries, please email us at godsmustbecrazy.pod@gmail.com

The intro and outro music is by Brian O’Reilly (@dendriform on Instagram).

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References/Further Reading:

https://www.esquiremag.ph/long-reads/features/santelmo-origin-trese-a00293-20210614-lfrm

https://www.aswangproject.com/santelmo/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Elmo%27s_fire

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erasmus_of_Formia

https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2014/05/04/101292-holy-confessor-erasmus-bishop-of-formia-in-campania

https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=182

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ball_lightning

https://trese.fandom.com/wiki/Santelmo

51: PAST LIVES | The Eternal Love Story of Maruja

Buckle up, lovebirds and skeptics! This week, we're diving into the heart-stopping saga of Maruja, a love story so strong it just couldn't stay buried. From Mars Ravelo's comic genius to cinematic reboots, Maruja's undying romance with Gabriel has been making fans swoon for over a century.

We're peeling back the layers of this epic melodrama where forbidden love meets ghostly whispers. Maruja, destined for a loveless marriage, pulls the ultimate bridezilla move with a tragic twist, promising a love revival a hundred years later. Does her reincarnated self, Cristy, get a supernatural second shot at a happily ever after? Or is she just experiencing some seriously vintage déjà vu?

Tune in for a spectral analysis of love, betrayal, and the kind of romantic antics that only a century of longing can brew. Let's decode why Maruja's story keeps resurrecting in Filipino pop culture—because who doesn't like a good old-fashioned love story that refuses to die?

Correction: You CAN get divorced in the Philippines but only if you are Muslim, per the Code of Muslim Personal Laws of 1977.

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The Gods Must Be Crazy is a podcast on Philippine Mythology hosted by friends Anama Dimapilis and Ice Lacsamana, avid mythology nerds and semi-professional gossips. Follow us over at @godsmustbecrazy.pod on Instagram and Facebook for more good stuff. We welcome any suggestions on future topics or episodes. You can also join us on Patreon at www.patreon.com/thegodsmustbecrazypodcast.

You can also find us on Youtube – Gods Must Be Crazy Podcast channel, where we post some of our episodes and interviews. For other inquiries, please email us at godsmustbecrazy.pod@gmail.com

The intro and outro music is by Brian O’Reilly (@dendriform on Instagram).

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References/Further Reading:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maruja

https://www.philstar.com/entertainment/2014/02/14/1290145/enduring-appeal-maruja

https://www.balita.ca/darna-dyesebel-and-maruja/

https://www.gmanetwork.com/lifestyle/news/109250/tiktok-user-goes-viral-for-finding-her-look-alike-at-the-national-museum/story

50: O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU? | Indarapatra & Sulayman, A Maguindanao Epic

How many brothers does it take to kill five monsters & bring an entire civilization out from hiding?

In our 50th episode, we cover the epic tale of Indarapatra and Sulayman, two gallant brothers whose heroics helped the people of Maguindanao (the precursor modern-day Mindanao). This set the foundation for a civilization and culture so strong they were able to flourish and put up incredible resistance across centuries of Spanish invasion.

This epic story has everything: from self-driving boats, A.I.-powered weapons, surveillance trees to a literal man-made stove-top. Join us as we look to understand possible historical precursors to this tale, while trying to disentangle the epic figure of Raja Sulayman from his historical counterpart, one of the last great rulers of Old Manila.

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The Gods Must Be Crazy is a podcast on Philippine Mythology hosted by friends Anama Dimapilis and Ice Lacsamana, avid mythology nerds and semi-professional gossips. Follow us over at @godsmustbecrazy.pod on Instagram and Facebook for more good stuff. We welcome any suggestions on future topics or episodes. You can also join us on Patreon at www.patreon.com/thegodsmustbecrazypodcast.

You can also find us on Youtube – Gods Must Be Crazy Podcast channel, where we post some of our episodes and interviews. For other inquiries, please email us at godsmustbecrazy.pod@gmail.com

The intro and outro music is by Brian O’Reilly (@dendriform on Instagram).

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References/Further Reading:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maguindanao_people#Culture
• https://sharjahart.org/sharjah-art-foundation/people/saleeby-najeeb-m
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Najeeb_Mitry_Saleeby
• https://kahimyang.com/kauswagan/articles/1710/rajah-indara-patra-and-the-dragons-a-mindanao-legend
• https://morohistorylawandreligion.wordpress.com/chapter-01/history-of-magindanao/magindanao-history-and-genealogies/the-mythology-of-mindanao/
• https://my.christchurchcitylibraries.com/blogs/post/the-legends-of-the-sarimanok/
• https://sacred-texts.com/asia/pft/pft47.htm
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajah_Sulayman
• https://www.jstor.org/stable/1497353