The Glowing Night Visitor

A few months back I had one of the creepiest experiences in my entire life when I was visiting Baguio. I blogged lengthily about this on my personal blog but thought I'd just re-post the photo today since it's Halloween.

Here's what I saw on that fateful January cold evening -

Links to the full story:

Creepy Night
The Night Visitor
The Blue Glow: An Explanation

The MRT Ride

A friend of mine told me this story of a man who rode an MRT. It had happened a few months ago. For obvious reasons his name has been changed and what remains is a man's story about his ride on the MRT.

It was rush hour and Gonzales was on his way home. The traffic along Edsa was horrific ... So the MRT ride going North was bearable, not comfortable but bearable: Despite being packed like sardines it was at least fast, unlike the slower than slug movement of cars and buses going North. 

The seats inside the coach were a prized place and it was not uncommon that people often took the round trip - going to the last station and going back again via the same train towards one of the Northern stations. 

But today Gonzales was in a hurry today. So fortified with his cellphone s music player and headphones and steeled with resolve, Gonzales was able to push and shove himself into the coach. Of course his husky body made it easy for him to insert himself into the train. Just imagine a barako pig forcing his way into a group of pigs eating slop, you get the idea.

Gonzales was in a hurry.

At each station the number of people crammed inside the coach increased. Even with passengers going out, more passengers were going in. 

Gonzales was in a hurry.

The next station, the central one, was Gonzales' last station. Again he pushed and shoved his way out of the coach, people grunted and cried out.

Gonzales stepped out of coach and proceeded to the escalator. Then everything seemed to disappear in a flash. But Gonzales was not unconcious although he fell forwaed, his eyes were transfixed on the crowd that began to surround him. Gonzales was falling slowly.

Gonzales was looking at the crowd then he saw it. It began as a faint shadow inside the crowd. Then it began to form a shape. First a human shadow. Then a bigger figure more animal than man. Dark as night it was. Its eyes were red as blood and its fangs white as ivory. From its mouth came a pink forked tongue that was used to search something in the air. It then stopped. The creature had found its prey. It looked at Gonzales. The Dark Creature began to move through the crowd. Passing through one person to another. Each person seemed to shiver as the creature passed through. But the creature was looking at Gonzales. He was going to him.

Ny now Gonzales lay on the floor of the MRT station. The Dark Creature was above him and looking down. Its forked tongue moving more violently sensing it was near its prey. The creature leaned over Gonzales. Its claws forced open the mouth of Gonzales. The Dark Creature looked at Gonzales and although not speaking the creatures

spoke,"One year of your life for being rude and stepping on me."

Gonzales blacked out.

He came to his senses a few minutes later at the hospital. A few days later he was released. It was months later when he rode the MRT again. 

Gonzales was never in a hurry again.

The Calling

It has been awhile since I have seen and feel the entities that used to be my companion when I was younger. Not that I'm missing their presence it's just that I find it a bit strange that they seem to have left me...or have I lost my talent?

Until one afternoon while I was in the living room I heard a voice calling out my name. I was then standing near my Dad's altar and about to turn the tv on. I stopped to look but I felt stupid and smiled to myself when I realized that I was alone at that moment. I leaned over to plug the tv and heard it again, this time it came as a whisper. It kept on happening to me during this past long weekend.

Who was calling me...?

The Cabinet and the Other Thing

I like to collect things. In my youth I had and still do collect comic books and toys. As I grew older I expanded my collection – so th speak – to other things antiques – swords, knives, cameras and papers. Papers – old manuscripts, deeds, wills and just about anything that had been written on. Of course due to lack of finances my search collection was limited to collection of well not so famous people. Although during the time Marcos left I was able to get some of his papers but only because I was one of the first ones who were there when they left Malacanan Palace.

Anyway my fondness for such thing led me to the interesting case of a series of deaths within a community and in particular of a family in the town of Pangil, Laguna. But I get ahead of myself.

THE CABINET

If you are in search of old and probably good buys and if you are in the Philippines one of the best places to go to would be Bangkal. Makati. There, depending on the time of year, you would fine worthwhile buys. One of the shops I occasionally visit was owned by Mr Azcueta. An old man who sported a whiteside wall haircut, wore a horn rim bifocals and wore white oversized t-shirts. He would often go out of town to buy houses. Yes houses and everything in it, This he would then strip and sell of anything of the house and the house itself – bits of it,

I was in Mr Azcueta's shop one saturday and I noticed an old cabinet with a mirror. And it was flourished with rectangle and squares. At the top most part of the cabinet's door was a Chrysanthemum. Probably this was done by a Japanese craftsman in the Philippines ?

After a few minutes of haggling with the old man, he finally agreed on a price and then arranged to have it paid and delivered to the house. They delivered it the next day.

The cabinet was a perfect addition to the sala. It was to high to bring up the bed room and the room was already filled with books and other things.

As I cleaned the cabinet and preparing it for things and things to be placed there, a discovery was made. If you pulled out the drawers inside were two secret drawers. A hidden safe during those days. And in certain instances aa time capsule of sorts, awaiting its discoverer.

What item from the past would it reveal. Coins, jewelry or a rosary. None of that sort. Inside the drawers were papers and a notebook. And from the looks of it was most likely placed there during the 1930s. Neatly bundled.

On close inspection of the notebook and papers of a family living in Pangil, Laguna. It was a diary of the patriarch of the family. Written in long hand. The papers were composed of records of paryments and expenses; promissary notes; legal documents; letters and a will. It was written in Tagalog and sometimes in Spanish.There also was a key among the papers.

The writer of the diary was the son of the town's Mayor and the daughter of a Chinese Merchant. Reading the diary states that the writer's Grandfather had come from China and was Rice Merchant. The writer even mentioned that his Granndfather sported a pigtail.

One of the interesting story relates when the writer who had married a girl from the poblacion of Balian got as one of their presents a for post bed. The bed was decribed as made from an old tree near the river in the forest. It was heavily ornate with designs of flowers, deers and nearly all sorts of creatures. It was rather uncommon for beds done for the time that had followed a certain pattern (unlike my cabinet).

EXCERPTS FROM THE DIARY OF ABRAHAM (translated)

June 1

Received the diary today from Tito Julian. Corong does not like it. Will have it assembled by the end of the week.

June 4

Just went to the wake of Tito Julian. A lot of people came to the wake..Father was talking to the Mayor of Paete about some land dispute. Even the old craftsman from Paete was there and thanked him for the bed. He just smiled and said my uncle got the wood from the forest beside the farm at Sierra Madre. Tito Julian's death was unexpected he died in his sleep.

June 5

Went to Manila today. Bought some stuff for Corong and some business with the bank. Learned that the old wood carver had died during the night. His family was distraught.

Corong had the bed set-up in the guest room. But refuses to sleep in it. She says it scares her. I suppose its because of the carvings. The wood carver was very good but where did he get his ideas?

June 14

Apparently Tito Julian made me his heir. I am now running his business. I am now a proud owner of a Lanzones orchard; a coconut farm, and his farm in Sierra Madre. And a place called Polvorista.

I have to find new men for the farm. Three of Tito Julian's people died a few days ago. More funerals . According to stories the three probably ate something poisonous during a drinking session the night before and led to their death,

Corong still refuses to sleep on the damn bed. Anyway, were leaving tomorrow for Manila and from their to visit my brother-in-law in Washington. It is going to be a while till we come back to Pangil. Anyway, the family will be here to take care of things.

The rest of diary tells of the couples time in Manila and in Washington. From time to time he received news from Pangil. His cousin tells him that their house in Balian is said to be haunted. A man is seen every night by the neighbors going in and out the house. Not really a man but something in shape of a dark fat short man. One or two children have been caught sneaking inside the house's yard to see the phantom. They were dared by their friends. One actually claimed to have seen the phantom a dark short man. He had fever for a few days and complained of seeing the Dark Man. Kabesang Impong was called to cure the boy.

The couple come back to the Philiippines December. And in the next few days comes back to Pangil and the poblacion of Balian.

December 4

Back in Balian. Corong still refuses to sleep in the bed. I have to prove to her that she has nothing to fear. Talked to the neighboors as well and they seem to be of the mind that there is something inside the house and its not our katulong – Anding.

And even Anding is afraid to stay in the house alone and prefers to walk back to his house beside the town cemetery.

I have to prove Corong wrong.

December 6

I had the bed dismantled and sent to the farm in Sierra Madre.

The diary chronicles the life of Abraham and Corong during World War II, the Marcos years and the last days of their lives. In Balian. Abraham died of a heart attack and a few years later Corong died peacefully in her sleep.

And I thought this was the last of it. Until I read the last will and testament of Corong. Here are parts of it:

EXCERPTS FROM CORONG'S LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT

My father believed that a woman should not go to a University. He told of us when we got married we were not going to able to use it anyway. Abraham though was different and he encouraged me to read evey day the newspaper and books

...

I do not like the bed before and I do no like it now. It has been some years since I have seen it. And it is part of my last will and testament that it should remain where it is. And I am going to tell you why.

The night Abraham decided to sleep on the bed I was ill at ease and asked Kabesang Impong and Anding to be at the house. Abraham was stubborn and at first he did not want it but he agreed and said we looked foolish.

The three of us waited in the sala while Abraham went to bed. And from time to time one of us went to the room and checked up on Abraham. Near midnight we were startled by Anding shouting for help. And as we got to the room. We saw Abraham having a fit and for a brief time I saw this black fat short man – actually less of a man more of a dark shadow of a man, sitting on top of Abraham's chest and strangling him. And the dark shadow smiled at me as if he was aware I was aware of him.Then he was gone but Abraham was still struggling.

The three of us went to him and woke him up. Thank God Abraham woke up and when he did he told us of a bad dream where a dark shadow was killing him.

And that is why my children, whether you believe it or not I want the bed to remain where it is.

POSCTCRIPT

The story of the bed ends here. The next saturday I went to Mr Azcueta and asked whether there was a bed alonGside with the cabinet Mr Azcueta said “yes but another buyer had bought it.”

Bed Attack

Bed Attack

It's been awhile since I've had anything to share here at Tales of the Moonless Sky, but I've just had a really scary experience again in a hotel down South.

I already had a funny feeling about my hotel room. Despite the fact that it had several lamps around the room it was still dark even though it was still afternoon. I only got the chance to scrutinize my room when I came back in the evening. It was also terribly cold and thermostat wasn't working.

After watching my favorite evening shows I settled in one of the beds and exchanged text messages with my husband. I soon fell asleep. I'm a deep sleeper so I rarely wake up when it's not time to wake up. I also rarely wake up in the middle of the night to use the toilet.

I don't know what time it was but I was suddenly awakened by the feeling of someone sitting beside my right foot. I opened my eyes and looked. Nobody was there (I left one light open before I slept). I then felt whatever it was creeping under the covers and I felt its weight going up from my legs. When I felt its heavy weight on my chest I suddenly prayed the “Our Father” out loud in a hoarse voice and prayed for the soul to rest in peace. It was gone after a few lines. I continued to pray the “Hail Mary” and “Glory Be” and felt the presence leave the room entirely. Good thing I managed to go back to sleep.

Strangely enough at around 7 in the morning the radio suddenly turned on. I would've understood that it was possible somebody programmed it, but the radio was the old style, not programmable traditional one.

The presence probably knew I hate waking up early.

Happy halloween!

The Scary Story Behind the Feature

A few weeks ago Anne, Harry and I got an email message from Anthony of Qtube. He mentioned that they wanted to feature this blog on their show. I've personally shied away from media interviews for the past three years but thought maybe I'd make an exception since I'd be doing this together with my best friend and buddy. The three of us mulled over it and found ourselves in a shoot a few days later.

It was a fun and exhilirating experience since the three of us haven't gone out for the past few months. The last time we went out was when we watched Angels & Demons back in May. We also haven't shared any spooky stories so it was also a time to catch up on that. What we didn't expect though was the dreadful experience at Clover street.

My shoot and Harry's shoot went on without any disturbance. During Anne's shoot however the light they set-up behind her suddenly collapsed and sparked. It made all of us antsy and I kidded Anne not to leave any of her "friends" behind since she was in MY basement!

Later on the crew asked us to take a stroll at the park just "to see if there's anything". It was already past midnight, but I was confident that we really wouldn't see or feel anything at the park. I've lived here since birth and I used to have sleep overs at our Church sacristy. There wasn't anything extraordinary in the area.

There was a funeral at the chapel and I thought of leaving the place immediately since I didn't really want disturb my neighbors and rouse their curiosity because we had a camera crew following us around the park. I asked the crew, Anne and Harry if they wanted to take a peek at Clover street, Anne's not-so favorite place. Anne said she wasn't keen on going back there because of her past experience, but eventually changed her mind. She said she wanted to face her fear. It was just around the corner and the three of us were game and quite jovial since we knew that the shoot was almost over.

As we entered Clover street the three of us fell silent. I tried to keep the conversation going by saying that I haven't passed the street for several years already. I noticed that most of the houses were newly renovated and some were new. I tried to remember the stopovers my schoolbus used to do when I was a kid. Anne couldn't remember how the house looked, we were almost at the end of the street and I said maybe the house was renovated and the new owners might have chased away the spirits or something.

Located at the end of the street was an empty lot and the tallest house. I was walking in between Anne and Harry and I suddenly felt different when we near the tall house. I moved to Harry's right side and anchored myself on his right arm. As we passed the tall dark house we all fell silent and the hairs at the back of my neck stood out. I ignored the feeling and announced that we had reached the end of the street and asked Anne if she already saw the house.

She said that she remembers the house had two strange pillars in front and that it was located at the corner. Harry then mentioned that the tall creepy house we just passed was probably the house. I said that it was probably renovated so that it would be easier to sell. The crew asked if we felt anything. The three of us said at the same time that there was something about the tall house at the corner.

We walked back towards the house barely stopping in front of it. Anne and Harry were talking about what they felt. I tried to stifle a nervous giggle. The hairs at the back of my neck and on my arms stood out again when we passed the house. The crew asked us to stop walking and said that something went wrong with the audio as we passed the house. We had to review what we just said. The lightman said that he felt it too and that we shouldn't stay long in the area. They also said that the audio disturbance was a sign to stay out.

We then scrambled to the van. Locked the doors and closed the windows, as if doing that would keep out spirits! We immediately left the area and all noticed that the number of the house ended with 66.

I prayed for the unhappy soul in the house.

Have a blessed halloween!

(And thank you to Qtube for feature! Awesome work guys!).

The Qtube Feature