The Dog’s Head
by Joyce Navarro
Ing balu ku inyang mumuli ya i Daddy ku ibat ya Menila inyang 1960's. Lumakad ya pa kasi king pigulut ibat king main road where he got off the bus in the middle of the night. Obat ating tutuking asu kaya. Kalawe na ing buntuk ning asu yapin itang mete rabies a pasyenti na. Mengilabut ya kanu i meangubie Daddy ku at memalagwa ya at mengadi kabang lalakad ya. Daig ne pa siguru ing makipag walkathon. Karas na king bale mi, ene melikid pota akit na ne naman pasibayu, nune memalagwa yang linub king gate at sera ne at diniretsu king kilub bale.
In the early 1960’s, my Dad went to post grad school at the University of the Philippines in Manila. He used to come home late at night on the last bus from Manila. Our house was at the end of the block from the main road. As he got off the bus at midnight, he realized how dark it was and remembered all the stories he used to hear about the “white lady” who used to haunt the yard where he would pass. It turned out it was not the “white lady” whom he saw that night.
Instead, a dog followed him. When my Dad turned to look at the dog, it had the head of his patient who died of rabies. My Dad walked faster as if trying to win the Boston Marathon and when he finally reached our house at the end of the block, he quickly entered the gate, locked it and opened our front door with his key. He did not look back at the dog. He was not that curious. His hair stood on end and he felt goosebumps on his foreams and back though it was a warm night.
The Boy That Was Not There
by Jon Navarro
My brother was in grade 4 and I was in grade 3. It was around 2 p.m., very bright and sunny. We were walking through Gabaldon elem school when we saw a person (perhaps a boy our age) duck behind the old flagpole platform in front of the building. This flagpole platform, right in front of the grade three classroom was not being used anymore because a new one was erected farther away from the building. My brother and I pretended not to notice but we had the same thing in mind - to surprise the person as soon as we reached the platform which was only around a dozen steps away.
As soon as we reached the platform, we immediately jumped towards the back of it to surprise the boy. Surprise! It was not a boy but rather a huge white pig that was there! We looked at each other and ran as fast as our feet could carry us.
When we reached the other end of the school, I realized that I lost my sandals in my haste to flee. Being more afraid of my father's rod of discipline than the supernatural, I hesitantly went back after several minutes to find the sandals. The pig was nowhere to be seen anymore, not that I wanted to encounter it again.
The Lady in White
by Luz Dayrit Navarro
Well into the 20th century, the townspeople spoke of seeing a young lady in white walking around the Sibal gardens. However, the Sibal clan never saw the specter, even if they also walked there on some evenings. It seemed, if ever it was true, that the Lady in White appeared only to non-relatives. Here are two stories of two people who saw the White lady on two different occasions:
1.) In 1948, a fifty-year old man, Pedro Vital, was walking on the side road adjoining the Sibal compound. It was a moonlit night, and very late in the evening. The Sibal compound was fenced by a barbed wire so that everything inside was visible to passers-by. Under the moonlight, Pedro Vital saw a woman, dressed in white, with shiny, long black hair cascading down her back to her hips.
The woman’s back was turned to Pedro, who never took off his eyes from her so that he could see her face should she turn around, but she did not.
When Pedro came closer as he walked, he looked at the figure closely, but he saw that it was a banana plant! Pedro said that what happened was that, without any movement, the woman became a banana plant on closer examination, about six feet away.
2.) In 1964, Fausta Sibal’s son, Eduardo, was newly married. Eduardo and his wife, Corona Revelo, a pretty coed who had recently became Miss Misamis Oriental before her marriage, spent a few weeks honeymoon in Bamban. One night, when Eduardo and Corona were sleeping on their bed in one of the bedrooms of the old Sibal ancestral home, Corona dreamed she awoke, as if someone woke her up. The moon was in full splendor and moonlight filtered in through the Spanish-type jalousies of the windows. Quite a strong breeze rustled the guava leaves in the garden. Corona looked at the clock on the bedside table. It was exactly twelve midnight! Like some strange force, Corona got up from bed and peeped out of the jalousies of the closed window shutters.
Lo and behold! A young lady dressed in white with luxuriant long black hair blowing in the breeze was standing near the gate of the front yard! The lady was facing the street and her back was turned to Corona. Corona became frightened, so, in her dream, she rushed back to bed and covered herself with her blanket.
But then she woke up from her dream. She looked at the bedside clock whose hands pointed to twelve o’clock midnight! Everything was the same as it was in her dream, although now she was wide awake! Like a repetition of her dream, a strong wind was shaking the leaves outside her window, the moonlight splashed through the window shutters. She knew that all she had to do was get up to see the apparition. Goose pimples were all over her arms. Her hair stood on end. Like an automaton, like some unseen compulsion urging her on, Corona got up, tiptoed to the window and peeped outside. Did she see the White Lady? Corona saw the locked gate as was in her dream. But try as she would, she did not see the White lady. Feeling the lady was there at the gate, although she preferred to be invisible, Corona rushed back to her bed, covered herself with her blanket, and snuggled against her sleeping husband.
Reminders from the writer: All these stories about the Lady in White were told by townspeople, passers-by, and guests. Many legends seem to spring up when it comes to very old houses like this ninety six-year old Spanish- type ancestral home of the Pedro Sibal II family. But the Sibal family who grew up and lived there, never saw even the shadow of a ghost. That is why when we speak of the Lady in White, we do not say that she is the family member, Andrea. We can never presume of things we cannot prove. But one thing that surely happened- the Sibal family have been awakened many times in their sleep in the old house by passers-by who shout, “There she is!” And then the noisy sound of running feet and sounds of laughter and shrieks. Most of these people were teen-agers coming home, late at night, from a dance party, a wake or a serenade (“harana”).
Who is the "Lady in White?" Curious and would like to read more? Click here.
Falling Objects in Grade 3 Room
by Jon Navarro
It was around 3:45 p.m. and Mrs. Tiglao was lecturing the grade 3 class. There was a ledge above the blackboard where figurine decorations were sitting. The windows were to the left of the classroom and to the right there was no window. There was a door on the right but it was far from the blackboard, so if there was any wind coming from the windows on the left, it would not pass through the front of the class but go towards the rear right side of the room where the door was. In any case, it was not a windy day at all.
While the teacher was doing her lecture, somebody shouted that the figurines were shaking. Everybody looked and they were, in fact, moving forward and backwards (actually swaying was more like it, instead of shaking). Now, the figures had a flat bottom so they were supposed to be stable and not sway, even if there was some wind. The swaying continued as if they were being moved by an unseen hand. It became stronger and stronger until they fell. The members of the class went into a panic, trying to reach the door to the right and escape from whatever spirit it was that made the figures move. I did not really believe in the existence of ghosts at that time so I did not run with the class. I did not stay either, however. I got up and, not wanting to be alone with the fallen objects and whatever made them fall, went out of the classroom. The classes on either side of our room were also disrupted and the students asked why we all ran out.
After several minutes, the teacher gathered enough courage to tell the class to go back to the classroom. Just a few moments after we were all seated however, the same thing happened again! This time we all left and did not come back to class for the rest of the afternoon.
