My ‘Out-of-this-World’ Experience - August 2016

Have you ever had experience a phenomenon that cannot be explained no matter how you tried to understand it?  Are you familiar with the phrase ‘beyond one’s imagination or understanding’?  If you have this some sort of experience that makes you feel that hair-raising/eerie or déjà vu feeling, please share through email message to merlinagp@gmail.com.  It is my pleasure to post your experience in this Blog.  Let the circle of sharing begins.

Experiences for the Month of August, 2016

Please VOTE for your FAVORITE Experience. Select among the selected weekly entries. Enter your choice on the COMMENT Section.

Experience No. 26: The Curse Upon Her
Experience No. 27: 'Si Apo Bantay' (The Guardian)
Experience No. 28: A Love Smell

   

Thank you for your participation.

My ‘Out-of-this-World’ Experience No. 26

Have you ever had experience a phenomenon that cannot be explained no matter how you tried to understand it?  Are you familiar with the phrase ‘beyond one’s imagination or understanding’?  If you have this some sort of experience that makes you feel that hair-raising/eerie or déjà vu feeling, please share through email message to merlinagp@gmail.com.  It is my pleasure to post your experience in this Blog.  Let the circle of sharing begins.

Experience No. 26: 
“The Curse Upon Her”
(Shared by Mark Franklin M. Sanchez <markfranklin.sanchez@gmail.com>)

Mothers have always played a very big part in everyone’s life. When we are hurt, our mother hurts more. When we cry, our mothers cry deep inside. But how would you feel if your mother is hurting?? For me, the one I’m going to share will tell you how hurt I am when I found out that my mother became a victim of pangkukulam or witchcraft.

The Sharer with his Mother!

There is a different level or type of Pangkukulam. This one I’m going to share is called Pambabarang. From the Visayan word barang which means “malign sorcery or witchcraft” (1). This form usually uses and summons insects and objects. These can be transferred to a subject through a ritual which a Mambabarang performs. 
Here’s where my story begins. Two years ago, my mother suffered a very unusual and unexplainable ill. She vomits, suffers severe migraine and writhe about his stomach pain.  We had her checked by the doctor and even tried different laboratory tests. To our surprise, everything was fine in her body.  It’s then when my older sister consulted an “Albularyo” to help our mother.  They brought them there, but I refused to since I don’t believe to that supernatural phenomenon. My sister told me that the “Albularyo” saw three nails on her head and five cockroaches in her stomach which may have caused what she was feeling. This nails and cockroaches were put by a Mambabarang. The cause of this event was all envy. The person who hexed our Mother was envy of the attention she is getting.  That’s how powerful envy is. To ease the pain and reverse the hex put by the Mambabarang to my mother, my sisters were tasked by the Albularyo to light up a candle in Quirino Province which they eventually did. But then I refused to believe any of these events. I don’t believe of the nails and cockroaches. I don’t believe with the Albularyo. And certainly, I DON’T BELIEVE IN MAMBABARANG. 
After they’ve finished the task of the Albularyo, nothing was changed with my Mother. So, they’ve decided to go back to the Albularyo. The Albularyo told them that the things they’ve done was nothing if one of the family members refused to believe on this. Eventually, that was ME.  My sisters called and asked me to believe of what’s supposed to be supernatural happening to our mother.   I then stopped and thought of all the happenstance. I realized, that the things the Albularyo told were never a coincidence; the nails on her head which may have caused the severe migraine, the cockroaches on her stomach that may have inflict the severe stomach pain and certainly the normal results we got in every laboratory tests we’ve done. So, I have to believe, I should believe, just to finish the agony of my mother. 
After a day, all my mother’s ill was gone. She felt good and we were all relieved. And we then figured out that the Mambabarang which the Albularyo was talking about was the old man living in front of our house who just vanished after two days.  He was very envious of my mother because of her status in our community so he used his supernatural ability to get even with my mother. 
It is really strange that at this era of life, peculiar things such as Pambabarang and Witchcraft still exists. Impossible but it happened to me!

(1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barang_%28Visayan_word%29

My ‘Out-of-this-World’ Experience - June 2016

Have you ever had experience a phenomenon that cannot be explained no matter how you tried to understand it?  Are you familiar with the phrase ‘beyond one’s imagination or understanding’?  If you have this some sort of experience that makes you feel that hair-raising/eerie or déjà vu feeling, please share through email message to merlinagp@gmail.com.  It is my pleasure to post your experience in this Blog.  Let the circle of sharing begins.

Experiences for the Month of June, 2016

Please VOTE for your FAVORITE Experience. Select among the selected weekly entries. Enter your choice on the COMMENT Section.

Experience No. 18: The Old Man
Experience No. 19: Mere Coincidence of the Hand of Fate?
Experience No. 20: We're Lost

Experience No. 21: The Big Man Who Stole The Boy
   

Thank you for your participation.

My ‘Out-of-this-World’ Experience No. 21

Have you ever had experience a phenomenon that cannot be explained no matter how you tried to understand it?  Are you familiar with the phrase ‘beyond one’s imagination or understanding’?  If you have this some sort of experience that makes you feel that hair-raising/eerie or déjà vu feeling, please share through email message to merlinagp@gmail.com.  It is my pleasure to post your experience in this Blog.  Let the circle of sharing begins.

Experience No. 21: 
“The Big Man who Stole the Boy”
(Shared by Mark Franklin M. Sanchez <markfranklin.sanchez@gmail.com>)

Once there was this boy, who was funny and jolly.

He is Romy, my grandpa’s new baby.

He was six and I was eight.

We adopt him for his brighter fate.

We used to run and play in our house,

Because he is not allowed to be out.

His appearance was different;

A bulge between his nose was salient.

Once there was this bamboo tree;

Which filled our small garden with greenery.

It was filled with enormous eerie.

So we kept our distance from the said tree.

There were old stories about that bush,

That a big man lives inside those lush.

A “kapre” in Filipino term;

Who kept his territory firm.

Once, Romy came near the bamboo tree,

While we are playing wild and free.

We told him not to go,

But he apparently did so.

He played and cut some branches,

He even created few trenches.

We shouted for him to stop,

But our efforts were flopped.

That evening, Romy became sick.

So we covered him cloths that are thick.

But it seems that he is still ill.

We headed to the Albularyo to ask why he chills.

The Albularyo see a big man.

He got angry of Romy’s playful deed.

So as punishment to what he did,

His life was stolen by the big man.

I saw him in pain.

Like it was an ill of different strain.

Few days after, he gave up.

All the pain he felt stopped.

It came to our knowledge;

That the big man already won.

As if Romy’s life was a pledge;

We delivered him to his tomb.

The big man stole the boy.

The big man redeemed him as a toy.

This all happened at that tree.

  Impossible but it happened to me!"

My ‘Out-of-this-World’ Experience - May 2016

Have you ever had experience a phenomenon that cannot be explained no matter how you tried to understand it?  Are you familiar with the phrase ‘beyond one’s imagination or understanding’?  If you have this some sort of experience that makes you feel that hair-raising/eerie or déjà vu feeling, please share through email message to merlinagp@gmail.com.  It is my pleasure to post your experience in this Blog.  Let the circle of sharing begins.

Experiences for the Month of May, 2016

Please VOTE for your FAVORITE Experience. Select among the selected weekly entries. Enter your choice on the COMMENT Section.

    Experience No. 14: The Creepy Transect

    Experience No. 15: The Fireball

    Experience No. 16: The Paranormal Place

    Experience No. 17: Ghost Hunting turned Ghost Haunting

   

Thank you for your participation.

My ‘Out-of-this-World’ Experience No. 14

Have you ever had experience a phenomenon that cannot be explained no matter how you tried to understand it?  Are you familiar with the phrase ‘beyond one’s imagination or understanding’?  If you have this some sort of experience that makes you feel that hair-raising/eerie or déjà vu feeling, please share through email message to merlinagp@gmail.com.  It is my pleasure to post your experience in this Blog.  Let the circle of sharing begins.

Experience No. 14: “The Creepy Transect”
(Shared by Mark Franklin M. Sanchez <markfranklin.sanchez@gmail.com>)

Back in 2008, I was in my first year of college studying at UP Baguio.  It was my first time to get into Baguio City.  It was no different with Manila, the traffic, the buildings and the crowded streets.  I was new to everything.  New people, new faces, new friends I have to say.  I was able to meet a group of friends that was already familiar with the place.  One of them lives in a condominium in Pacdal Street.  We used to stay the night at his condo because of its coziness.  One night, me and my two other friends dared to walk around the vicinity of Pacdal Street.  Just out of curiosity, I found out that the area was just few blocks away to the eerie-ruins of the Hyatt Terraces Hotel.  One of us dared to still stroll in that area.  It was already 11 o’ clock in the evening.  So here’s what happened and how that stroll ended up scary.

Map 1: The Creepy Transect

(Cognitive Map on how our midnight stroll was divided into zones 

based from our experience)

The Starting Trail (Yellow Line)
The start of our long walk.  We had fun seeing how Wright Park looks like when it’s already evening.  It’s very cold. We are still at the verge of excitement on what is install for us during the stroll.
The Twilight Zone (Blue Line)
We are now heading the Park Road leading to the gates of the Baguio Country Club and South Drive.  We can still see the towering heights of the condominium where my friend is staying.  It was a full moon then. We heard a loud bark of a dog as if it’s a hungry werewolf. It’s just like the sound of Jacob when he transformed into a werewolf in the Twilight Saga.  The eeriness of the place started to go to our mind.  But we still manage to continue.
The Dreading Stretch (Pink Line)
The streets were already equipped with silence.  The cold wind of the city blew through our thin sweatshirts.  One of us who had his third eye opened told “Balik na tayo.  Ang bigat na ng pakiramdam ko. (Let’s go back. I feel uncomfortable.)”.  It was no joke, we saw him sweating and pale but we still managed to laugh and tease him. We disregarded it.  Deep inside, my body’s already chilling because of the scary atmosphere the area has. 
The Daunting Section (Violet Line)
We continued walking on the cold paved road.  My friend with third eye said “Sabi sa inyo! Huwag na tayo tumuloy (I told you that we shouldn’t continue walking.)”.  We were just in front of the gate of the Hyatt Hotel and as if there is someone screaming inside the compund.  This is the shortest section on the transect, but it left us with the most number of unexplainable feelings.  We saw a light struck from the inside of the abandoned lot.  No one was there and no car was on the road.  The light from the few street lamps ignited our way.  It gave us goosebumps as we watched the light.  It was heading towards us.
The Long and Winding Road (Orange Line)
As we saw the light coming our way, we ran very fast as much as we can but it seems the road is endless.  It’s like we are travelling on a very long and winding road.  When we reached the corner of the road where the light of the City and the darkness of the street meets, one of my friend said “Wag na natin ulitin yun ah (Let’s not do this again.)”.

Ending
The next morning, we told our friend who have lived in Baguio for a long time about our experience.  He told us that the reason why that stretch of the City has few lights and few houses unlike any other place in Baguio, was because unprecedented souls still roam in the area. My heart pumped very hard as I listened to every story he had shared.

This is the first creepy experience in my one year stay. Certainly, Baguio City is haunted by its history. Many unexplainable experiences had been recorded.  Some may have been very strange that even science cannot elucidate it. I had even experienced it.  Impossible but it happened to me!"

My ‘Out-of-this-World’ Experience No. 13

Have you ever had experience a phenomenon that cannot be explained no matter how you tried to understand it?  Are you familiar with the phrase ‘beyond one’s imagination or understanding’?  If you have this some sort of experience that makes you feel that hair-raising/eerie or déjà vu feeling, please share through email message to merlinagp@gmail.com.  It is my pleasure to post your experience in this Blog.  Let the circle of sharing begins.

Experience No. 13: “The Unexpected Turn”
(Shared by Mark Franklin M. Sanchez <markfranklin.sanchez@gmail.com>)

Baguio City’s tourism has boomed through the years. Because of this, numerous activities were developed to further entice visitors of the City.  Back in 2011, the first ever Ghost Tour in Baguio was introduced.  The itinerary of the said trip includes Laperal House, Hyatt Hotel Ruins, Camp John Hay, Teacher’s Camp, Nevada Square and the century-old Diplomat Hotel.  But before it has been a trend to tourists, we have already done a trip to eerie-ruins of the Diplomat Hotel as students.

One of my subject in my First Semester as a student of Communication majoring in Journalism was Komunikasyon 1.  It was a subject intended for creative writing in Filipino.  Our professor (Sir Junji if I’m remembering it right) gave us a week to create a paper on a place in Baguio that has unnerving image.  For us to be able to write a good material, we have to experience it ourselves. Me, along with 5 other classmates from the said class, decided to try the Diplomat Hotel.  Two in our group have been living in Baguio but haven’t been to Diplomat Hotel.  Based from its history, it used to be a seminary and a hospital for soldiers during the World War II before it was converted to a hotel in 1973.  For all of us, that was our first time.  First time to visit the place, no one of us realized that writing a good paper was the only thing we can get from the place but also an ethereal experience no one of us could ever imagined. 

We headed to Dominican Hill where the ruins of the Diplomat Hotel lies.  It is around 45 minutes to 1 hour away by jeepney from the City center.    It was already around 8’o clock in the evening when we got off the jeep.  The darkness of the night was already surrounding the area when we reached the vicinity of the Hotel. The deafening silence was getting strange as we were approaching the gated hotel.  The breezing coldness of Baguio wind touched our body.  The abandoned hotel has two guards manning the entry of people.  Luckily, we were the only group that had approached them to enter the ruins.  It was not allowed for anyone to enter the hotel but through our charming friend, we were able to sway the guard’s mind.  As we were entering the compound, we could feel the nerve-wracking ambience of the area as if many eyes were looking towards us.  Those stares were like pinching our hearts out.  We were about to enter when a strange, very cold wind blew our way.  The only source of light was our mobile device. Upon entering, we felt the enormity of all the things that happened.  

Before we started walking around the area, the guard told us “Kung may maramdaman man kayo, wag kayo magpahalatang takot. Mas magagalit sila (If you will feel something, don’t get scared.  Souls will get angry.).”  We kept that in mind.  We split into group of three.  Our group decided to head upstairs to explore it. There were a lot of rooms.  One room startled us. The room was furnished with a damaged bed and the fountain downstairs can be seen from there.  We entered it.  All of a sudden, the wind blew hard and a cry-like sound from the said room filled the quiet atmosphere.  We tried ignoring it.  In an unexpected turn of event, we were left shocked.   A shadow running in front of the fountain caught our attention.  Again, we controlled ourselves not to be scared.  Then, as if there were slamming doors happening in the area, we all decided to leave the vicinity of the building.  We hurriedly headed in front of the entrance.  We tried catching our breath as if we ran kilometers.  

We all decided not to talk about the scene for the other group not to worry about it.  As we headed outside, the other group asked “Kamusta? Wala ba kayong naramdaman? (How’s the trip? Didn’t you feel anything?)”.  That’s when we started talking about what we’ve felt.  At our surprise, they also have a spooky encounter almost similar from us.  That was when we smiled and all thought that “Hay, nagtagumpay tayong makaranas ng nakakatakot (We achieved our goal to have a spooky experience)” which is certainly the idea of the class’ exercise.  

No one of us ever anticipated that we’d experienced that.  Supernatural, unnerving situation that we will remember for the rest of our lives. Impossible but it happened to me!"

My ‘Out-of-this-World’ Experience No. 8

Have you ever had experience a phenomenon that cannot be explained no matter how you tried to understand it?  Are you familiar with the phrase ‘beyond one’s imagination or understanding’?  If you have this some sort of experience that makes you feel that hair-raising/eerie or déjà vu feeling, please share through email message to merlinagp@gmail.com.  It is my pleasure to post your experience in this Blog.  Let the circle of sharing begins.

Experience No. 8: “The INCITED SOUL”
(Shared by Mark Franklin M. Sanchez <markfranklin.sanchez@gmail.com>)

You may have known Casper, the Friendly Ghost or Samara from the movie The Ring.  So it’s really a mainstream on different films are the incited souls.  These are dead people who still continue to live with us in the mortal world.  They are the souls that still have things to do in this world, referred to as unfinished business.  All of us may have heard one or two stories about souls with unfinished business.  It’s a classic horror stories every one of us might have heard or experience.  There are a lot of reasons for a soul who have yet to go to the other world.  The general theory for this is that they cannot move over since they have been attached to the physical world; it may be in places, events, things or even people.  So this one I’m going to share is no different.  
It was in 2013.  Another busy month for all of us.  We are working on a presentation late in the evening.  Totally fed up of what we are doing, we all decided to sit down and relaxed for a while.  One of our officemate is already sleeping so we turned off the lights.  Just the lights of our two laptops which are in front of us gave luminosity to the darkness within.  All other source of light was closed.  We are busy talking about numerous things and laughing out all our tiredness.  I knew that we are very noisy and suddenly I remembered that our building was known to be spooky.  Rumors says that the Makati City Hall Old Building is known to be lived with incited souls and numerous sightings were already recorded.   But it didn’t stop us from talking.  When all of a sudden, a light just behind us struck my attention.  No one was sitting there.  I asked my colleagues “Umilaw yung computer sa likod natin, napansin nyo ba?”.  They answered “Oo”.  We tried to ignore it.  But deep inside, we are all scared.  The breezing coldness of the air-conditioner adds up to what I’am feeling right now. Then all of a sudden, the light from the computer closed and turned on again.  Then the sound of keyboard and mouse moving creeped all of us.  And then, the chair just in front of it move away from the table.  Of the eeriness we felt, we all rushed out of our area going to the sofa lounge.  We stayed there for a while.  We watched the light if it will turn off again.  We all tried to sleep out all the scary feeling.
The next morning, we checked the computer which has scared us.  It was the area of our former officemate who died.  Nico was his name who died from Leukemia.  In fright, the tabs that were opened was a folder of his pictures and a screen shots of all visual basic program he was working at before he died.   This is so spooky since no one was already using that computer.  Maybe, his soul was just checking out on his unfinished project.  He was trying to complete all his unfinished business.  Or maybe he was fed up with our noise and became irritated of us.  That moment was certainly the time I realized that there are incited souls who still roam around with us. 
Uncanny it may seem?  Impossible but it happened to me!"

My ‘Out-of-this-World’ Experience No. 5

Have you ever had experience a phenomenon that cannot be explained no matter how you tried to understand it?  Are you familiar with the phrase ‘beyond one’s imagination or understanding’?  If you have this some sort of experience that makes you feel that hair-raising/eerie or déjà vu feeling, please share through email message to merlinagp@gmail.com.  It is my pleasure to post your experience in this Blog.  Let the circle of sharing begins.

Experience No. 5: “The UNKNOWN”
(Shared by Mark Franklin M. Sanchez <markfranklin.sanchez@gmail.com>)

Ever experience seeing someone unknown to you and then eventually, you’ll found out that he is already dead? Let me share this creepy experience which happened almost 4 years ago.
June 2012.  It’s my first month on my first job. I was new to all the people. 
One afternoon, I was busy doing my stuff at the office.  All of a sudden, a tall, thin guy wearing white uniform passed through my area going to the cubicle of my boss.  My table was just along the way going to my boss’ cubicle.  I certainly saw him and asked him “Ano po gagawin nyo dyan?”.  He didn’t respond.  I heard the printer being opened.  So then I assumed that he was fixing it.  I then thought of checking on him.  I was shocked.  No one was there.  My boss’ cubicle was all bare and no one was fixing the printer.  I didn’t saw anyone leave the area.  It gave me goosebumps.
I stepped out our area to ask the people from the Admin Division if they saw someone entering our area.  No one noticed anyone entering or leaving the area.  I described the guy I saw to them.  They started giving names of MIS personnel and I started looking for the unknown guy.  Of all the names and people from MIS, no one matched the guy I described.  Then, one of my officemates, out of curiosity showed a picture of a former employee. And I told them “Siya yung nakita ko, Asan na ba sya?”.  His name was CJ.  I was shocked to find out that he died already for more than two years on the same month I saw him.  My knees started shaking. I started thinking, maybe CJ just wanted his former officemates to remember him, remember the day he died.
Absolutely, this moment was one of my creepiest close encounter.  Sounds odd? Impossible but it happened to me!"