Hanging Coffins of Sagada

Ancestors

The hanging coffins in Sagada are not actively pushed as a tourist oddity by some of the guides because they feel that their ancestors deserve more respect than that.

Hanging Coffins in the caves of Sagada

There are dead buried in the inaccessible cliffs around Sagada. I am told they are placed there by bachelors, men who have not yet married or started a family.

They are a tourist attraction however and some of the coffins that are placed in the caves like the Sugong ones have been vandalized and broken into over the years.

The local guides that I have talked to suggest that they are placed in such precarious places so they can be at rest, not photographed by tourists fresh off the bus.

The Sugong coffins are at the entrance to the connecting cave and it really is an experience to walk past them.

Many Filipinos have a fear of ghosts so it is not something that some would prefer to avoid.

It is an amazing grave site and they don’t mind you taking a few pics as long as you show respect and treat it like the graveyard for their ancestors.

Hanging Coffins of Sagada