American CIA operatives actively deployed fake vampires in the Philippines during the 1950s to psychologically terrify communist rebels hiding out in the deep jungles!

A closer look

American CIA operatives actively deployed fake vampires in the Philippines during the 1950s to psychologically terrify communist rebels hiding out in the deep jungles! The Hukbalahap insurgents were incredibly superstitious and deeply feared a local mythological creature known as the aswang, a bloodsucking monster that supposedly drained the life from its victims. Intelligence officers used this folklore to their advantage by secretly kidnapping a rebel soldier, draining his body of blood by puncturing his neck, and tossing the corpse back onto the trail. When the remaining insurgents found their completely bloodless comrade with two perfect puncture wounds, they immediately abandoned their strategic stronghold in sheer supernatural terror. It is wild to think the United States government funded a tactical operation that essentially boiled down to aggressive Twilight cosplay!