42: TRUE LIES | The Modern Myth of the Tasaday Tribe

What happens when sinister forces try their hand at modern mythmaking?  In this episode, we learn about the Tasaday tribe – the stone-age tribe that was “discovered” in the 70s that put the Philippines on the map as one of the last undiscovered ancient societies.  

Learn about what journalists, anthropologists, and gossip mongerers of the day discovered, inferred, and saw with their own eyes to reveal more than what was originally thought.  Were they really the cave men they claimed to be?  Or was something more sneaky in the mix?  

We get super philosophical and hypothesize to the high heavens in this one.  Let us know what you think – were the Tasadays a hoax all along or a complicated truth? 

Correction:  Sabah was “owned” by the North Borneo Chartered Company

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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 [email protected]

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

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References:

"Tasaday Controversy." Wikipedia. 

"The Gentle Tasaday." National Geographic, 1972. 

Nance, John. "The Gentle Tasaday: A Stone Age People in the Philippine Rain Forest." Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1975. 

"Philippine Cave Dwellers: Primitive Tribe or Elaborate Hoax?" AP News, 1988. 

"The Tribe That Never Was." The Independent, 1995. 

https://newslab.philstar.com/31-years-of-amnesia/tasaday 

https://www.esquiremag.ph/long-reads/features/tasaday-hoax-a00293-20200803-lfrm
https://www.nytimes.com/1986/05/13/science/the-tasaday-revisited-a-hoax-or-social-change-at-work.html