House of horrors
Let’s start with the “kid” in the music room. Friends na may third eye say he practically lives beside my drum set. Kaya naman pala every time I practice alone, I really feel someone watching me and I get goosebumps all over.
They say he loves music and watching us practice. He even dances. In the morning, around 6 a.m., we would hear drum sounds. E wala namang tao sa second floor.
Shadows. Imagine yung anino mo in 3D. I saw this thing while I was playing Quake. I saw it walk by twice in my peripheral vision. I thought I was imagining things. But there it was again, right outside the window. I looked slowly and there he was—he didn’t have eyes but he was staring at me. Di ako makagalaw or takbo sa takot! I closed my eyes, cried, and ran to my parents’ room.
There’s an angry woman in our balcony on the second floor. She’s always there, looking out. When someone goes to the balcony, she gets angry, para raw may binabantayan. Just like in the music room, you get an eerie feeling in our balcony. And our chimes make sounds, even when there’s no wind.
We have a lot of poltergeists, too. They turn off the lights. Minsan, somehow, napupundi nila yung bagong biling ilaw. Grabe yung nagbubukas ng kalan. My lola is usually the first to wake up at 4 a.m. She would hear the stove ignition, tapos pag-check nya, naka-open na yung kalan, may apoy. Minsan nagbubukas din sila ng ilaw.
We have a white lady, too. Almost everyone in the house has seen her. Ako na lang yata ang hindi pa. Madalas sya sa garage. We found out that my sister Cokel has been trying to hold her pee at night because she saw the white lady in the bathroom. —Sal Reyes
Duwende
When I was a kid, my mom said a duwende had developed a crush on her.
We lived in a small bungalow with a yard in Parañaque and, according to one of my mom’s friends, one of the trees had a mischievous creature who wanted to take my mom home with him.
Apparently, the only way to do this was to make her earthly life as miserable as possible; unexplained things happened to her and to me: persistent illnesses, missing items around the house, bruises would appear out of nowhere on my mom’s arms.
A paranormal expert advised us to reason out with the creature and leave peace offerings by the tree, and a priest advised an intensive prayer session. We did both.
On the night the prayer session was set, I came down with a high fever. My mom said that as she, her friend and the priest recited the rosary, a high-pitched voice would mockingly parrot the prayers they were reciting. “Hail Mary, full of grace, hee hee hee,” the voice would repeat.
We moved out shortly after that incident. —Tiny Dancer
The ghost in the bathroom
It was after 8 p.m. and I went down and sat on the stairs. My mom, my nephew Anton and my three grandkids were there.
My 11-year-old nephew Tenten walked by. I asked, “Where are you going?” He said he was going to the bathroom. I said, “Okay, my turn after.”
After 30 seconds, he walked by me again. I asked, “Tapos ka na?” But he ignored me. I spoke again, “Ang bilis mo naman!” I watched him walk back to their room. Hindi niya ako nilingon.
I went down to the bathroom and realized with dismay that someone was there. Ompong, Tenten’s brother, also went down. I asked him who was in the bathroom and he said he didn’t know. It took a while.
Then the light in the bathroom went out, and Tenten walked out. Tumayo lahat ng balahibo ko.
I asked him, “Ten, umakyat ka ba? Dumaan ka ba sa tabi ko?” Hindi daw.
So who was that who walked by me and into Tenten’s room? —Nona Vee Aquitania
The friend
This happened in our house in Baguio. My cousin had just arrived from Manila and we were in the living room when she walked in with her 8-year-old daughter.
Behind them was another girl of the same age.
Her daughter greeted us and they proceeded to their room to put their bags and rest a bit. We were wondering why she did not introduce her friend but did not think much about it.
Later that evening, at dinner, my cousin and her daughter joined us. We asked her daughter about her friend and both my cousin and her daughter got confused. “What friend?” They asked.
They said it was just the two of them, no other person came with them. —Tinggay Guidotti Ventosa
A sudden death
My husband Bernie had always wanted a son after having three girls. When his son was finally born, Hajong meant the world to him. They share a name, too.
Bernie bought him toys for big boys, as if he knew that he wouldn’t be around to see his son enjoy these things.
When Hajong turned seven, his dad passed away unexpectedly. We had to prepare for the funeral so my kind neighbors took Hajong into their home so he wouldn’t get in the way.
Mao, the son of my neighbor, who was a teenager at the time, enjoyed his company. That night, Hajong asked to go to the bathroom so Mao walked him there.
Hajong called out, “Papa!” So Mao freaked out and asked Hajong what was going on. Hajong described seeing his dad standing before him dressed in white and, as Hajong was about to hug him, he floated upward and disappeared.
Mao rushed out of the bathroom with Hajong. —Gigi Sanz Agregado
Scared dog
Growing up with my grandparents, I’ve had paranormal encounters in their house. Seeing something in the middle of the night around the house was the norm already by the time I was in my teens.
But I will never forget my creepiest experience. I was feeling weird one night and decided to let my dog Coffee sleep in my room to keep me company.
Minutes later, she started acting very weird, howling and crying. I got goosebumps when she started scratching the door, wanting to get out.
I knew at that moment that my dog had seen something terrifying in my room. —Sheena Asis
Bloody mommy
It was around 11 p.m. and we were finishing our rounds along the OB ward. The hallway was quiet and the patients and their watchers were all asleep.
I was getting a chart when I felt someone push me. I ignored it but when I reached out to get the chart, a hand appeared out of nowhere.
I dropped the chart and stood up quickly. But when I turned, a woman in bloodied hospital gown was staring at me from the hallway. When I blinked, she was gone!
As I rushed back to the ward, I heard loud whispers, “Asan ang anak ko?” “Asan si baby?” Muffled cries followed.
I ran back to the ward room and saw my nurses huddled in a corner. They heard the cries, too. But they did not see the woman. We hurriedly made our rounds and decided to go straight to the hospital chapel to pray for her.
That was my scariest duty.
I spoke to my consultant who gave me some information about that patient. She told me that since her baby was stillborn, the staff nurse brought the baby to the morgue. Around that time, the mother lay dying in the delivery room because of uncontrolled blood loss. —Clarissa B. Ferrer, MD
Bed crawler
It’s weird because it’s just the same building we’re in. We used to be on the second floor, now we’re on the third and everything seems peaceful up here.
In my old room, whenever I was studying on my bed, I could feel something crawl up the bed, but there was really nothing there. That happened quite often.
Twice, I’d wake up because my bed was shaking but when I stood up to check, it stopped.
Sometimes, when the bed-crawling thing freaked me out, I’d sprinkle holy water in the room. It did the trick, the “heavy” feeling would go away for a few days.
Almost as often as the crawling-up-the-bed thing, I’d experience sleep paralysis. The scariest was when it felt like someone was pinning me down, although I didn’t see anything.
Then one time, I went to the living room. My room faced my cousin’s room and I thought it was weird that my cousin’s yaya would be changing clothes with the door wide open. She was just standing there with clothes I’d seen on her before, and leggings pooled down to her ankles.
I shrugged it off and kept walking to our living room and on the way I glanced at the kitchen. And who did I see? The yaya, cooking, and wearing different clothes. —NopeNopeNope