Have you ever had an experience when you found yourself in a place that’s mysteriously spooky? Or have you felt something strange that send shivers down your spine when alone in an unfamiliar place? Or have you seen something out of the ordinary, eerie and sinister perhaps? 

       I for one honestly do not believe in bizarre ghost stories or in any of the tales of the uncanny encounters with the supernatural. I have heard a lot of such tales in different places, in different versions from different people, and I couldn’t tell whether they are true or just a product of one’s wild and creative mind.  Those stories whether they’re true or not, remained just a tell-tale for me, not until I experienced quite a few myself.

       Although I haven’t seen any, not even one in their own form, perhaps there’s really an existence beyond the natural world. I know it because I’ve felt them, they’ve touched me, and they’ve even put me in a near death experience. 

       I have this experience one time (I really don’t remember the exact date), all I know is that it was already very late. My boyfriend was walking me home. We’re supposed to ride a tricycle, but we decided to walk since the village is only a kilometer or two away from the highway. So we went past the bystanders, the houses, and finally we were walking along the darkest part of the road, it was all surrounded only by trees and there was not even one street light on sight. I suddenly felt strange; it’s not scary but it’s outlandish - it’s the first time I felt very unusual. I was beginning to feel dizzy. I felt there is something that’s encompassing my entire body and it really feels heavy. I am also feeling weak. I asked my boyfriend if he felt the same way, and he said yes. He asked me to be quiet and we’ll just talk about it later, and told me to look straight to where we are heading (which happens to look blurry) or else we’ll get lost. After the dark path I see houses and lights clearly. I felt that was a long walk. I felt light and normal again. Then we began conversing about the supernatural and the unknown, because that was likely what we have experienced. But still, I was in doubt with the paranormal, because there’s nothing really very extraordinary that happened that night. 

       My next encounter was around August 2005, during our out-of-town duty at Tagum, Davao del Norte. A number of transient boarding houses are lined up just in front of the hospital. All houses cost 100 pesos per night, except one. There was one house that charges only 80 pesos per night, and it has all the same features as those of the other houses – nice and clean bathroom, comfy beds, air-conditioned rooms, and cable tv. Without hesitance we chose that house, not even wondering why it is cheaper among all the houses that surrounded it.

       Our first night didn’t go well. It was actually one of my classmate’s birthday and we celebrated it with ice cream and chips. There was black out but we decided not to put up a candle since the moon is shining bright outside, just enough to see each other’s faces and not bump at anyone or any furniture. After the small party, two of my friends (Jay and Ian**) and I went to the sink to wash the utensils. Amidst our laughter and smirks, Jay saw Jenny heading towards the comfort rooms. “Isugang  Jenny  oi, di man mahadlok sa ngitngit”, (That’s very brave of Jenny to go into the dark) remarked Ian. The fact that Jenny is one of the most scaredy cats in our group, I was amazingly surprised. I looked back to see if it’s true. And there I saw her going straight to the comfort rooms showing no signs of emotion. The moon was able to give us enough light to see Jenny’s blank stares and pale face. It was pretty surprising at first, but it was even more surprising when we saw Jenny laughing and talking with my other group mates at the balcony. How can there be two Jennys at the same time? In disbelief, I stared at the first Jenny who was still walking in a slow pace along the dark corridors of the comfort rooms and I can actually see her. I wasn’t the only one to see such thing. The incident left the three of us speechless… without a word, we joined our friends’ circle.

       That wasn’t the only time we had an experience on the same boarding house. We stayed there for three nights, three long nights. Almost every one of us experienced getting locked up inside the comfort room, there’s not even a doorknob on the door. A few of the boys experienced a cold hand grabbing their feet during their sleep, at first they thought it was just a group mate who’s playing a prank and later on realized that everyone is fast asleep. All of us have witnessed the weeping wall that even soaked the bed against it. I know, we are staying in an air-conditioned room, but the fact that the wall was dripping water intensely on just one side of the room, we can’t conclude that it’s just a moist.

       After all the peculiar events that happened, we tried to ask the management about it, and all they can reply is that we might just be hallucinating or just drunk because most students tend to have a beer-drinking spree inside the house. Unconvinced by their words, we seek for the answer outside. We asked one barbecue vendor just across the street, he said that nobody attempted to bless the house because it was believed to be a portal of spirits. We also asked other people around, and they all give the same answer, “taw-an man na dira.” (Spirits dwell there) We also learned about the suicide incident of a student that happened a few years ago, inside the bathroom of the said boarding house. 

       I don’t know if I have to believe the folks’ answers, I’m still in doubt of the phenomena that happened to us, for me it’s just something that we can’t explain. And it remains inexplicable, just that. 

       I also had one encounter with my friends during a climb at Puting Bato, Samal Island. We we’re already camping out that night, we were cooking our dinner when suddenly a black shadow-like figure scurried across the campsite and jumped off at the end of the cliff. I haven’t seen it clearly because it ran so fast that my eyes weren’t able to catch the whole and clear figure, what I’ve only seen is that it’s a black silhouette of a person but the feet has no definite figure. All of us were not able to sleep a minute, thinking that there might be a lot of them surrounding us. The horror of being ambushed inside our tents kept us awake until morning.Up until now, we really don’t know what exactly that was. People said that we may be referring to an Agta*. But I highly doubt it, if it was just an ethnic person, no one in his right mind would jump off a high cliff in the dark.

       My last encounter was during the summer of 2006. My friends decided that we’ll do something different, beaches and parties aside - we’ll venture into the wild. So we trekked our way to Tudaya Waterfalls. As we were trekking, we were also laughing, shouting and goofing around. Our leader, who was on his 13^th time to trek Tudaya kept on reminding us to keep our voices low or else we’ll be disturbing others. I never thought that the others he is talking about is actually the “others” as most people perceive it.

       It was already getting dark and it was drizzling. At some point we reached a dead-end trail. Have we missed a trail? Did we fail to see there’s a trail down somewhere? A fellow climber went back and pointed down that the trail was hidden, so we went back trail.  Seeing another fellow taking the shortcut, I followed him although I’m around three meters away from the path he’s walking. Suddenly somebody slapped my back really hard that it threw me a few meters away. I landed on a fellow’s arm, who was also almost carried away because of the very strong impact. He startlingly asked, “Naunsa ka?” (What happened to you?) My heart was thumping really fast when I saw that right in front of me was a deep cliff and the rocky ground was just waiting for my fall. Good thing he was fast enough to catch me - If it wasn’t for my friend’s arm I would have gone six feet below the ground. I was so furious, so in a loud and angry voice I shouted “Gago!” because I thought that it was just a fellow who was playing around. “Sakit to ba. Pota hapit ko matagak!” (That hurts, Damnit! I almost fell) But when I looked behind, I was taken aback when I saw that no one was following me. A friend then pointed out an enormous balete tree that I failed to see where I was passing by. Although I was still reluctant for the belief of the supernatural, without a doubt I immediately asked for an apology. “Sorry, sorry wala gituyo.”  (I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to disturb you). During the entire trek, I can still feel the pain at my back and it lasted for a few days. I know I have a small physique but I am not a paperweight, not one slap can throw me away that far I couldn’t even estimate, it was indeed a very strong force that slapped me.

       I wasn’t the only one who experienced something unnatural during the trek. A lot of us have witnessed a fellow mountaineer greeting someone we don’t even see, but he assured that he really saw a lady. One by one, we were already sharing our spine-chilling experiences during the trek at the campsite, well, it’s the only place we feel safe.

       So far, those were the creepiest experiences I have in my entire life. To see is to believe they say. Will I believe there’s an existence beyond the natural world even though I haven’t seen them? Or shall I just regard my experiences as a figment of my imagination? Are my experiences out of the ordinary? Or does science have an explanation to it? If the natural and the supernatural co-exist, what is their purpose? Do they feel they same way towards us? A lot of questions still linger in my mind. Questions I know I’ll never find the answer because its nature is a mystery and it will always remain a mystery.

——

This is not a work of my imaginative mind, the events that happened are all real.
*Agta-referred as an ethnic group. They are dark-skinned, kinky-haired, pug-nosed, and thick-lipped people with a height less than five feet tall
**Names mentioned above are all fictional. I chose not to reveal my friends’ real names for confidential reasons.
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