E8 - S86 E8: The Priest’s Head

Proceed with caution, dear listener — the shadows we explore today are deep and unsettling. This episode contains mature themes and graphic descriptions. Listener prudence is strongly encouraged.In this episode of Stories Philippines Podcast, I tell the legend of the Headless Priest of Fort Santiago: a fictionalized composite of Father Rafael De La Vega, a Jesuit accused of aiding the resistance during the brutal 1945 battle for Intramuros. Dragged into the dungeons of Fort Santiago, tortured, and executed in a single, devastating strike, his violent end is said to have ripped his soul from rest. Decades later, night watchmen and guides st...