I’ve neither experienced donning on a costume nor have I attended a Halloween/costume party in my entire life… not even the kiddie ones.
We almost went to one last Sunday, but due to budgetary constraints, we decided not to follow through with our plans.
If my memory serves me right, trick-or-treating never existed here in the Philippines until some subdivision’s homeowners decided to give it a try some years ago. However, due to security reasons, the kids went around the subdivision with their parents, guardians, and yayas… moreover, many (if not most) of them went around the subdivision in their cars and in broad daylight. And they went around as a group, kinda like a caravan of trick-or-treaters.
Doesn’t sound like a lot of fun to me. But, concerning the parents of the kids who took part in it, I think it was for the better.
Anyway, my memories of what is supposed to be the “Halloween” season in this country revolve around horror movies, TV shows, and (my personal favorite) ghost stories shared by friends and family members.
The stories I like the best are those told by the supposed first-hand witnesses. Just like the story retold to me by my maternal grandmother about a year or so before she passed away. I said “retold” because my mother have told it to me countless times… and I sort of did not believe her and took her story as just one of those… well… stories. Until I heard it from grandmama.
It was about a huge tree that stood in the middle of my grandma’s uncle’s property. A mango tree I think it was.
According to my grandma, she has seen the tree “come alive” at around midnight every night she was at her uncle’s place… she mentioned of seeing the tree’s leaves glow a golden light and hearing voices of unseen merry-making beings. That is, until her uncle decided to build something on that part of his property which required the felling of the tree.
But before her uncle did anything to the tree, he gave it offerings and did some sort of incantations and, when she woke up the following morning, she saw the tree already dead, bone-dry, and not a single leaf (dry or fresh) attached to its branches.
My grandma also told me of another story, one that she only heard about. She said that there had been stories about an “aswang” living in a house in Banquerohan (Davao City). According to the story, if one would look into the “aswang’s” eyes, one would see his/her reflection upside down.
Interesting, isn’t it?
Those, however, aren’t at all scary compared to other stories I’ve heard from other supposed first-hand witnesses.
Like those told to me by my friend, Allan, who told me two stories which I consider to be among the scariest I’ve heard.
One of his stories went like this… he, together with two of his friends, were having a “drinking session” one night at one of his friends’ house (somewhere in Angat, Bulacan). Seated around a small square table drinking their nth bottles of beer and chatting, one of Allan’s companions, who was seated across him, suddenly fell silent and turned very pale. Allan called his friend’s attention asking him what was wrong.
For quite some time, his friend did not respond to his questioning. Then, when he was finally able to speak again, he asked Allan “Hindi mo ba napansin yung bata kanina diyan sa tabi mo?” (“Didn’t you notice the boy beside you a while ago?”) Upon further questioning, his friend told him that he saw a little boy who looked like a corpse standing beside Allan resting his chin on the edge of the table and that the boy was staring at him (Allan’s friend).
The second one went like this… Allan and some of his friends went to one of his friends’ uncle’s house. As soon as they arrived there, the friend’s uncle warned them, “Whatever you do, do not spit outside. And if you ever see something out there, just ignore it and pretend you’re not seeing anything.”
One of his friends must have forgotten about the warning and spat out through one of the slits of the bamboo wall. In no time, they saw a really huge dark human-like being which moved like a dog rushing towards the spit and licked it.
My parents also had stories of their own…
My father was a buy-and-seller before (ahente kumbaga) and he traveled to numerous provinces in Visayas and Mindanao because of it. I can’t remember which province his “experience” occurred, but it went like this…
He was sound asleep in his hotel room one night when he was suddenly awakened by two hands restraining his arms above his head. He also felt a weight bearing down on the rest of his body. He tried to kick whatever it was pinning him down to his bed but he couldn’t lift either of his legs. He was then reminded of a “tip” that someone had given him before… whoever that was told him that in situations like that he should use his left hand to try and punch his unknown “assailant”. He did so with all his might and was suddenly freed … he rushed to turn on the lights and saw a whirling dark matter fly out the window from the foot of his bed.
And here’s my mother’s story… her story occurred when she had just given birth to me, I think, or was it to my brother? In any case, her story took place in the hospital. My mother was awakened from her sleep feeling that her bed was being rocked. She looked under the bed and saw it was floating! Then she noticed that the room’s door was opening slowly and “white smoke” was pouring in through the opening. She tried waking my father up but he was sleeping soundly. Moments later she saw a hand appear from behind the “smoke” doing a “come hither” motion at her.
Got a really good ghost story? I’d love to hear about it.
Happy Halloween!
