Pea hits the streets to interview ordinary Filipinos about their beliefs in the supernatural — ghosts, fairies, elves, witchcraft, love potions — and finds that 100% of the people she talks to believe in at least some of it. She uses the interviews to explore why magical thinking runs so deep in Filipino culture, how beliefs get passed from person to person without scrutiny, and where it crosses the line from harmless fun into genuinely dangerous territory, especially when people choose witch doctors over real medicine.
What's Covered
Pea opens by noting that while 25-50% of Westerners believe in ghosts and demons, a "vast majority" of Filipinos accept the existence of trolls, giants, fairies, witchcraft, love potions, and hundreds of other supernatural beings
- She's not there to mock beliefs but to examine what people accept as truth and why
- She notes the Philippines has "literally hundreds" of mythical creatures, from aswang (baby-eating demon) to kapre (a cigarette-smoking giant who hangs out in trees and stalks beautiful women)
Street interview: Nanai (older woman who believes in ghosts)
- Claims she saw a "white lady" — white dress, very long hair, very dry skin
- Says she has a "third eye" that lets her see spirits at random times
- Never tried to take a picture of the white lady, but says the ghost is "always following you"
- Also believes in encantos (fairies) — describes them as very small people, not like Tinker Bell, no wings
- Says she saw fairies when she was 10 and again at 13
- Claims that when she gave birth she saw the baby Santo Niño (baby Jesus), who appeared but didn't say anything — "just visited"
- Also does card readings — does a palm/card reading for Pea and predicts she'll receive a blessing she can share with others and will have five kids
Street interview: Arty (believes in fairies because her friends do)
- Believes in fairies specifically because her friends, parents, and neighbors believe
- Has never actually seen a fairy herself
- Also believes in ghosts and in kulam (witchcraft/sorcery) based on what ancestors and relatives have told her
- Does NOT believe in gayuma (love potions) — thinks they won't work
Street interview: Kuya (man who saw fairies)
- Claims he personally witnessed fairies — describes them as tall with long hair, fair/white skin, "whiter than foreigners"
- Says they don't stay long enough to photograph — they "disappear like poof in thin air"
- Pea notes she's heard fairies smell like flowers
- Believes in love potions but NOT in giants, fairies (contradicting himself), or ghosts
- Believes in love potions because he knows people who had "that kind of experience" — acquaintances and neighbors who were put under a love spell
Street interview: Another Nanai (older woman who believes in ghosts)
- Saw a male ghost floating under a tree in a dark area, couldn't see its face
- Wasn't afraid because other people were around (though nobody else saw the ghost)
- Believes in duende (elves) — describes them as tiny people — but has never seen one
- Confirms that most people around her (friends, neighbors, acquaintances) believe the same things she does
Pea's analysis of the interviews (the core argument of the video)
- Interviewed 16 people total that day; every single one believed in supernatural things
- What surprises her isn't the number of believers but the wild inconsistency among them
- One person believes in giants but laughs at elves
- Another firmly believes in witchcraft but scoffs at love potions
- Two people both believe in fairies, but one says they're tiny bird-like creatures while the other swears they're six-foot-tall "Nordic amazons"
- Calls this out as a "general lack of critical thinking skills here to determine reality from fiction"
- Wonders whether it's a cultural phenomenon or a breakdown of the educational system
- Notes that "magical thinking has deep roots in the Philippines"
Where magical thinking becomes dangerous: the witch doctor problem
- Believing in trolls or palm reading is relatively harmless
- But trusting witch doctors (albularios) instead of modern medicine to cure illness is where "Houston, we have a problem"
Interview: Man who believes he was cursed (usog)
- Was working as a factory guard when a stranger looked at him in a weird way; within five minutes he felt sick
- Believes the illness was caused by the stranger's ill will (usog)
- Did NOT go to a hospital — went to an albulario (witch doctor/faith healer/quack doctor) who cured him
Interview: Nanai whose son was a "victim of witchcraft"
- Brought her son to a faith healer
- The faith healer's process: collects the patient's name, address, and personal details on paper, then goes to an altar and prays to images of Santo Niño or Virgin Mary
- She firmly believes the faith healer cured her son
Pea's personal story about witch doctors
- As a young girl, her mother took her to a witch doctor to treat a very high fever
- The witch doctor consulted candle wax drippings, then smeared his saliva all over her stomach as the prescribed treatment
- Pea recovered but doubts it was the saliva that did it
- Notes bluntly: "if my condition had been life-threatening I wouldn't be talking to you right now"
- Says it wouldn't have happened if her mom had better critical thinking skills
- Announces she'll be filming a visit to an actual witch doctor in an upcoming video
Comedy ending: Pea asks someone if they've ever seen something strange they couldn't explain
- The person describes a terrifying creature with "big yellow teeth, hair all over even coming out of its ears, big red eyes" walking like a zombie
- Punchline: the friend identified it as "a drunken expat"