Ghost Stories Part 1

I do not remember if I have ever told you about my ghost encounters. If yes, skip this post, if no, read on…

First, I would like to make a statement that when I was younger I was extremely duwag of ghosts. I couldn’t watch horror stories and I kept my eyes closed when watching scary movies. Until now, I close my eyes when there are tv or movie trailers about ghosts.

Secondly, if you are like my husband who instantly discard ghost encounters as mere pigments of people’s imaginations, then skip this post and call me crazy.

Here are some of my close encounters. These are actual experiences of yours truly.

1. Carola— My brothers stayed with my mom’s relative in Carola, Sampaloc, Manila, 3 or 4 short blocks from where they studied, University of Santo Tomas. I heard many ghost stories from my brothers especially from Kuya Ben who was the most vocal among the four about his encounters. The usual stories— may naglalakad na parang naka kadena, may naghuhugas ng pinggan, may umuugong sa gabi, may white lady, etc. Since our age gap was 10 years, when the time came that I was going to live there, I was no longer conscious of Kuya Ben’s stories. Until I actually experienced them myself.

2. The ancestral house of the family of Judge Capili or Kuya Benjing, as we fondly called him, is the typical Spanish house, high ceiling, huge comedor, grand narra staircase, capiz ventanillas, tall doors, shiny “floor-waxed” wooden floors.

The sound of leather shoes na may piston, banging calderos, voice of a woman coming from a well, floating white clouds shaped like a person standing at your door na tagusan ang katawan, a floating white guy staring at your face in the middle of the night. All these were standard occurences, encountered not only by yours truly but most of my dorm-mates.

3. One afternoon at around 4 pm, I came home from school. I didn’t see anyone and it was very quiet, then I heard someone washing caldero, and the sound of running water from the faucet. I went in the kitchen because I thought maybe my friend Lourdes Faustino or Odet for short was the one there. When I entered the kitchen, there was no one. The faucet was off, and no caldero. This happened several times.

4. One night at 10 pm, while every person in the house was already inside their respective rooms including owners Kuya Benjing and Ate Salud with their young boys aleady in the master’s bedroom. All the lights in the kitchen, living room, stairwell, hallways, were off.
I was actually very scared to go to the toilet which was about 12 steps away from my bedroom. But the call of nature couldn’t be denied so I took a deep breath and walked very fast and went to the toilet. Just before reaching the toilet, there’s a big room on the right side which was forever locked. That’s was the bedroom of Kuya Benjing’s parents that have passed away long time ago. Their beds, aparador, and other personal mementoes were kept there.

While I was seated and concentrating, waiting for garbage number 1 to come out, I heard footsteps. Heavy taps of what sounded like leather shoes. Then the sounds got louder and closer, who ever that was, he was going up the stairs slowly.
tok…….tok………..tok……….tok……….
The only person in the house that wore leather shoes that time was Judge Capili. But he was already in bed and has changed into his night clothes and the last time I saw him was he was wearing pajamas and entering their bedroom barefoot. He couldn’t have gone down and wore his leather shoes again!

My goosebumps went up to my scalp. Siguro kung may salamin, matatakot ako sa sarili ko kasi parang lahat ng buhok ko nakatayo. I remembered what my mom used to tell me, na maraming ligaw na espiritu sa ating paligid, at kung meeron akong maramdaman, magdasal ng “Ave Maria Purisima” ng paulit-ulit at mag-ingay para umalis daw yung espiritu.

My pants were down, literally and figuratively. So while I was seated, I said “Ave Maria Purisima, multo, parang awa mo na huwag kang magpakita sa akin at mamamatay ako sa takot, Ave Maria Purisima”.
May isang problema- kung tatakbo ako pabalik sa kwarto, I would definitely cross paths with the leather shoes guy, kasi he was going up the stairs, at malapit na sya sa landing, eh my room’s door was right there. So bahala na…
Sabay taas ng panty, sabay tayo, inihataw ko ang tabo sa sahig para dun sa sabi ng Mama ko na mag-ingay, sabay takbo, walang tinginan, diretso sa kwarto.

So what happened? Wala, hindi lang naman ako naka -oo oo.