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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cleon" data-source="post: 5602644" data-attributes="member: 57383">Well I read a couple of other sources, and the impression I got was the berbalang are witches/ghouls/vampires who seem human physically, although they are funny-looking in appearance or behaviour. They enter a trance and astrally project as a giant bird or winged monster, In which flying form they rob graves and kill in order to feed on human flesh. Like many alleged witches, these suspected berbalang seem to be outsider  types (unpopular minority tribe, crazy/diseased outcasts, et cetera) who the locals accuse of having supernatural powers.In the story you refer to the village of the alleged berbalang was described was an actual place the anthropologist visited  - I doubt the abandoned houses were built by purely mythical beings, so  the inhabitants could have been human beings who the locals thought were berbalang.Anyhow, I think that the odds are the berbalang is similar to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aswang" target="_blank">Aswang</a>, and might be a regional variant of that class of creature. "Aswangs are shapeshifters. Stories recount aswangs living as regular  townspeople. As regular townspeople, they are quiet, shy and elusive. At  night, they transform into creatures from cat, pig, bird and the most  common a dog. They enjoy eating unborn fetuses and small children,  favoring livers and hearts."</blockquote>