By Dino Ray V. Directo III
It was a scene straight out of an episode from the twilight zone. Or perhaps a chapter from one of Bram Stoker's spine chilling novels.
Before my eerie encounter with the supernatural, I was a skeptic, oftentimes shrugging off these stories as "make believe" or bedtime tales that grandmas sometimes tell their apos.
That was, until I experienced a ghostly tale of my own.
My encounter occurred during the mid-90s, when I was still a cub reporter for the Manila Bulletin.
My editor, who edited the features and lifestyle section, was given an invitation to the opening night of a play being staged at the ruins of Fort Santiago by a group of stage artists.
Although I don't remember the title of the play, I remember distinctly it topbilled sexy actress Tetchie Agbayani and was directed by comedian Soxy Topacio.
Because my editor had a previous engagement, she decided to give me the tickets so I could cover it for the paper.
The invitation was for Saturday, at 7:00 pm at the ruins of the Fort, directly across the building that housed Jose Rizal's memorabilia.
I decided to turn the assignment into a date and took my then-girlfriend to watch the play with me. It was a glamorous event, with tinseltown's best, not to mention top politicians and socialites, in attendance. The opening night alone was a story in itself!
At around 9:20 pm, during a lull in the play, my girlfriend whispered that she had to go to the comfort room. But there was a long queue at the comfort room behind the stage, so we opted to look for one outside.
After asking directions from the security guard, we finally found a comfort room, at the side of the Fort's main entrance. These restrooms were newly built, constructed in the area that used to showcase the cars of Emilio Aguinaldo.
Since everybody was at the play, the only person in the vicinity was the security guard at the main gate. Nobody else was around.
The chamber going inside the restroom was cold, damp and pitch dark. Apparently, nobody was expected to use the facilities at that time of the night, so the maintenance man probably turned off the lights. I had to grope for the light switches. The first door on the left was the ladies' room and the door down at the hallway was for men's room.
Out of habit, I peeked inside the cubicles to see if anyone was there. As expected, no one was in the restroom.
So I went about my business. As I was taking a leak, the air inside the restroom plummeted several degrees---like the airfrom a refrigerator when the door is opened. That's weird, I said to myself, but didn't think it was anything to worry about.
All of a sudden, I felt something caressing my neck. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. And then I felt something caressing both my shoulders, down to my feet. Goosebumps popped up all over my arms.
I didn't know what to do. I did not want to turn around, for fear of what I might see behind me. There I was in the middle of answering the call of Nature, and some invisible... entity... was giving me a back rub!
To keep from screaming my lungs out in panic, I began humming out some unintelligible song to break the heavy silence. It was like something was about to happen. After what seemed like an eternity, halfway through my act of nature, all five toilet bowls in the restroom flushed at the same time.
This was all I needed to hear. Galvanized by fear, I zipped up my pants, even though I was not yet through doing my thing, and fled to the corridor, trying hard not to scream.
When I got to the corridor, I heard my girlfriend scream from the inside of the ladies room. I rushed inside, grabbed her, and we both scampered out the door.
Later, when we'd both calmed down she told me that something weird happened to her too in the restroom.
As she was answering the call of nature, a person in military boots walked by her cubicle three times. At the same time, the tiles in front of her got hit by some inexplicable force and flew outside the cubicle. That was when she decided enough was enough, and she screamed her head off.
Hearing the commotion, the security guard came over to check on us. We told him about what we experienced and he immediately radioed for assistance.
The following day, I relayed my experience to the stage director. He merely laughed at what I told him. Apparently he and the other members of the play had gotten used to such bizarre happenings that hardly anything scares them anymore.
Once, he said, during a rehearsal, a spectre walked across the stage in one of the scenes. Those who saw him said he was Caucasian and dressed in colonial attire. The rehearsals were cancelled for the day.
More than a decade after that incident, I still find it hard to go inside Fort Santiago after dark.
Taken from True Philippine Ghost Stories
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