Everybody has a scary story to share, and what better time to reminisce urban legends and folklore of ghostly apparitions, doppelgangers, unexpected "visits" from departed loved ones, and what-have-yous than when Halloween is just around the corner.
In the Philippines, we don't collect candies on the eve of All Saints' Day. We gather up in a dimly lit room and scare ourselves to screaming and sleepless nights with good old Pinoy "kwentuhan ng tungkol sa multo".
I am sharing to you some of these horror stories that I have collected while growing up. Some of these may not have very accurate details as these are recollections from as far back as when I was 6 years old. (Fyi, I belong to that generation where parents actually allowed their kids to watch Nightmare on Elm Street and Halloween without adult supervision. We're made of tough stuff.)
My Tito Fred would always tell us about an Aunt that we never met who died in a road mishap while she and her daughter (probably, my second cousin) were visiting relatives in a nearby town. The bus that they were riding either fell into a ravine and burned/ collided with another bus then burned (I am not so sure now, I was only about 6 when I heard this story). Anyway, the bus burned and it took two days before their families were informed of the incident because the bodies were hardly recognizable after they have been taken out of the burned bus.
Before the family heard about what happened, some household members have been noticing fingerprints on the mirror that is mounted in my Aunt's aparador. You know those movable wood cabinets that was very popular in the provinces back then? Most of those have full length mirrors attached on its doors.
Apparently, the fingerprints started becoming more prominent until it looked like two pairs of hands of people trying to climb out of something. The mirror started looking really dirty with the alikabok and the hand prints outlined on the surface of the mirror. They tried to wipe it off with wet cloth, wet newspaper but to no avail. The hand prints disappeared only after the family got the sad news that the mother and daughter who traveled two days ago died in that ill-fated bus.
The Peeping Tom
Back in 2007, my mom rented a huge house in San Fernando, La Union before my Lola came home from the U.S. It was one of the most beautiful (next to our own house of course), spacious, and functional homes I have ever been to. I thought it was rather too big for my mom, my Tita, and my Lola but we didn't mind. My mom thought it was a bargain with all the furniture and appliances included in the rent. We only needed to transfer our clothes, all else were provided for.
The neighborhood was also a far cry from the ones that we had in Sevilla. Most of the people in this area kept to themselves and minded their own businesses. Everything looked alright, we were satisfied.
Until one unexpected night, when our next door neighbor came banging on our gate demanding to see my mom. He asked if we had a male companion in the house.
May anak akong lalake pero nasa office sya ngayon, bakit ba? Asked my mom.
Eh sinisilipan ng kasama nyo yung kasama naming babae dito sa bahay eh!
Kelan? Hindi gagawin ng anak ko yun! Sigurado ka ba sa sinasabi mo?
Oho! Naliligo yung kaibigan namin eh, pag tingala nya sa bintana, may lalakeng nakatayo dyan sa may bintana nyo, nakatingin sa kanya! Ngayon lang ho!
Sigurado ka ba? Wala kaming kasamang lalake dito ngayon. Kami lang ng pinsan ko.
Naka puting polo po yung lalake, nakadungaw sa bintana nyo.
The area that the neighbor was referring to was our dining room; true, there is a window in that room that looks directly down to our neighbor's house.
Question is, who is that man looking down at our neighbor's bathroom?
The Lady In The Mango Tree
We would always know that summer has arrived when the fruits of the huge mango tree at the back of our house in La Union start falling on our roof. These would make splattering noises as they fall on the hard ground. The collective smell of these smashed fruits would be something like that of vinegar and honey combined. It is a smell that I continue to look for up until this time.
Our visitors and guests would always notice that tree sitting in our backyard. Some of them would unabashedly ask for fruits, others would want to know what variety it yields, and some would ask if we would consider bringing the tree down for reasons we found too spooky for us.
We had a visitor who actually said that there was a lady living in that tree. She said that the lady liked it there because it was cool, and that we were nice house owners because we weren't rowdy.
We were never affected by these stories. Although we noticed that quite a handful of visitors would randomly ask us, May kasama pa pala kayo bukod sa mga bata?
My parents would say, Wala, kami kami lang dito. Matagal na kaming hindi nagm-maid para matuto ang mga bata sa bahay.
Hinde, may nakatayo dito kanina nung dumating ako eh. Babae, naka stripes, mahaba ang buhok. Akala ko nga katulong nyo eh.
We would just smile and shrug it off. This is our house and no one gets scared of his own house.
Until one afternoon, during the height of the impeachment trial of Estrada; my parents and I were watching news and were focused on the television that was positioned on the far end of the living room. We were seated at the opposite side so that we were facing the window that looked out to the mango tree and our backyard. Our peripheral visions point to our dining room that opens to our backyard with huge sliding wooden doors.
Out of nowhere, a white figure coming from the backyard came running through the open doors, straight into the dining room, to our kitchen. All of us saw it but no one made a comment. Apparently, all of us thought it was one of my siblings coming home from school or work.
Alas, my dad asked me to check if my sister has started the rice cooker as it was starting to get dark. I rose to check the kitchen, although at the back of my mind, I was thinking that if it were my sister who came in earlier, why didn't she come out to the living room to greet us?
Before I even got to the end of my thought, I realized that the kitchen was as dry as a leaf, and the rice cooker unplugged. I went back out to the living room to find both my parents' faces ashen with the realization that it was still just the three of us in the house!
But you saw the white figure running to the kitchen, didn't you?? My dad demanded from us. My mom and I nodded in agreement. But none of us can figure out who or what that white figure was.
There was also one afternoon when my dad was cleaning our backyard. He picked an old rag and "cleaned" it by whipping it against the trunk of the tree. He was "dusting it off", that's what he said. After his chores, he came inside the house and took off his dirty shirt. When he looked in the mirror, he was surprised to see a rather curious bruise on his tummy. It was black and blue and looked like someone pinched him hard in that area. He could not remember how he got it, but he knew it wasn't there before he went out to the backyard to clean.
Wedding Photographs
This is one story that I will never forget.
I have a Lola whose had two of her daughters die because of difficulty in giving birth to their children. The last daughter died shortly after asking her sister to please take care of her children.
On the same year, that sister got married. There is a local belief, other than the now famous sukob, that kins are not supposed to engage in merry activities until after the first death anniversary of their departed loved ones.
They were all aware of these sayings, but the sister continued with her plans of getting married anyway.
The wedding went smoothly and everyone was happy. There were lots of pictures taken from the church to the reception, especially while they were opening their gifts.
It was to everybody's horrid surprise when one of the photos developed showed the figure of the bride's sister who died that year. Her figure resembled that of the last time they saw her in her casket, arms folded on her belly, eyes closed, and lips held tight.
I have yet to muster the courage to see the photograph for myself.
Did I Just See... Me?
Do you believe in doppelgangers? Or that type of "ghost" that imitates someone you know and fools you into believing that you actually saw and talked to the person they are "imitating"? Here is one story that is sure to bring chills down your spine.
After similar incidences of unseen peeping toms and uninvited guests, my mom decided to find a new place to stay. As luck would have it, she found out that the duplex apartment we have been eyeing turned out to be up for rent. In less than a week's time, she, my brother, and my mom's aunt moved into the new house.
This was much smaller than the haunted one on the hill. It was much cooler too as it sits right by a field of rice and vegetables. This time, we hardly had any neighbors except for the couple that lived next door.
My mom and her aunt (my Lola) were left in the house for most of the day, especially when my brother is at work. My brother would come home for lunch or a quick nap every now and then, but most of the time, it's just the two ladies and our pets.
One afternoon, as expected, my brother came home. Or so my Lola thought.
He knocked on the door and asked to be let in. My Lola saw him through the screen door which she immediately opened. She asked my brother if he had eaten yet but did not really wait for his response as she was on her way to the washroom herself. She just made sure to lock the screen door again and hurried to the bathroom.
Not long after my Lola has been inside the bathroom did my mom hear someone calling for my brother's name. She checked and saw one of my brother's friends dropping by to return a jacket he borrowed from him. My Lola emerged from the bathroom and offered to call my brother whom she knew to already be in the house.
She went upstairs calling my brother's name. He wasn't there.
She came back down and told my mom to tell on my brother. That next time he leaves the house, he should at least let my Lola know.
Bakit? Dumating na ba sya? My mom asked.
Aba oo! Pinagbuksan ko pa nga ng pinto. Tinanong ko pa nga kung kumain na sya eh. Hindi ko lang naharap ipaghain dahil magbabanyo ako.
My mom sensing the strangeness of the situation immediately called my brother to find out where he was.
Nandito ako sa school.
Eh bakit hindi ka man lang nagpaalam sa Lola mo bago ka umalis? Umalis ka na lang bigla.
Ha? Kaninang umaga pa ako umalis, nagpaalam naman ako ah. Nagpaalam din ako sayo.
Hindi ba kagagaling mo lang dito ngayon?
Hindi po. Maghapon ako dito sa school. Hindi ako makakauwi dahil marami kaming ginagawa. Mamayang gabi na uwi ko.
My Lola was nearly hysterical in insisting that she saw my brother and she let him in.
We believe her.
