Ghost Magnet

Ghost Story #1

It was in 1985; the place was at a certain street in the metro, at the back of a major hospital. (Whew! The hair at the back of my neck is standing upright now as I type this!)

I was a young and relatively new engineer then, and my job was to supervise the pouring of concrete on the 4th floor of a certain building in the area. I had an old beater then, a Ford Cortina, that was, unfortunately, in a shop for repair. So, I had to commute going home to my parents' house in the province.

The concrete pour was done by 2 in the morning, and instead of staying somewhere in the city for the night, I decided to still go home. It was drizzling that time and I had to walk towards the vehicle terminal, where I could ride a bus going to another part of the metro and transfer to another bus going to the province.

So, I was walking on the right side of that street and I had to pass by the back of the hospital. During that time, there was a parking lot that was fenced by cyclone wire and it was elevated maybe about six to eight feet above the sidewalk.

I was about 50 meters away from the empty parking lot when I noticed two children about 6 to 8 years old playing in that parking lot! They were mestiza types, and they were wearing white dresses, socks and shoes with ribbons on their head. I saw them running around in a small circle, just like how ordinary children would.

As I walked closer to them, I realized they were not making any sounds, and not even their shoes made any noise! I also realized that they were very pale and their skin was almost white!

This was the time the realization hit me! Why would these kids be playing in this empty parking lot at 2 AM, alone, and while it's drizzling?! I suddenly became so nervous that I crossed the street speed walking, almost running.

When I was directly across the street just opposite from where I saw them, I heard them giggling!

I took a quick glance to my right, and I saw them laughing at me. They were standing close to the fence and looking directly at me.

The scary part was that I could see the faint light of a bulb somewhere beyond the lot through their bodies!

This time I had to look straight and do a quick run until I reached the next street! I was so scared I was trembling!

The next day I told my coworkers about it and we even went to the place again to see that exact spot. Of course, this time it was five in the afternoon!

Nothing was there.

Ghost Story #2

Let's fast forward to around 20 years later. The year was 2005, and I was working somewhere in the US.

It was the early morning in late autumn and I was on my way home after working late in our field office. It was very chilly, and I had to drive through this long and straight road with empty open fields on either side. It's the first time that I had to pass through this path at night, but I thought it was okay since I could see the red taillights of two cars ahead of me.

One was about a mile ahead and the closer one to me was about halfway ahead of me. I was trying to go within the speed limit of 50 mph since I just had a speeding ticket a month before. And since the road went down in elevation, I could clearly see the two cars ahead of me.

On this road, we had to pass a bridge over a river. There were a lot of trees beside the road before and after this bridge. When the first car reached the bridge, I could clearly see its brake lights, and it had stopped. Then all of a sudden, it sped away, and I even saw the tail lights wiggle as the back of the car swayed.

That was strange, I thought.

Then the second car ahead of me did exactly the same thing! It stopped, then drove away! I was a bit confused since I knew there were no potholes on this part of the road and neither on the bridge.

When I got near the bridge, I realized why the two cars before me stopped!

There was a woman on the left side of the bridge near the railings. She was looking sadly down at the water below with a bowed head. She was dressed in white with flowing white hair! The scariest part was when I realized that she seemed to be floating and her feet were not touching the sidewalk on the bridge!

Oh, my God! It was as if my heart suddenly got caught in my throat and I couldn't breathe!

I thought white ladies only appeared in the Philippines! In Balete Drive in particular… but never in the US!

I had to quickly drive out of there too, and I tried to catch up with the other cars. I didn't mind if I was 20 miles over the speed limit! I was also too afraid to look at the rear-view mirror because I imagined she might be sitting in the back seat of the car!

My head and my heart were pounding when I reached our house. My teenage son was still awake, watching TV, and I had to shout at him to give me a glass of water.

I only managed to reach the sofa and lie down before I felt the dizziness and darkness take over me.

Ghost Story #3

Three years later, in 2008, my 19-year-old son and I were driving home from another state after we attended a gathering with our relatives. It was a late winter night, and it snowed lightly. We were driving on this dark country road with snow-covered fields on either side.

Since there were very few cars, I had full headlights on, but my son kept bugging me to just use the low beams. He said that the snow flying towards the car scared him when I had the high beams on.

When we reached this place with dark bushes and leafless trees at the end of a big open field, we thought we saw a deer running by the side of the road. My son told me to slow down because he thought we were going to hit it. I tried to slow down before we reached what we thought was a deer when suddenly the thing suddenly crossed the road.

To my horror, it was a man who I believe was wearing a leather jacket and pants! I tried to brake on the snowy road, but I still hit him. We thought he was crouching down when he suddenly crossed the road and I hit him square on his side.

There was a loud sickening scream and both of us were speechless for a while. Since it was cold outside, it took us some time to get out because we had to put on hats and scarves. My son tried to dial 911 on his cellphone, but the signal was on and off!

When we got out to try looking for him, we could NOT find the man we just hit!

We tried to search the area for as long as we could, braving the cold, but we really couldn't find him! My son tried to dial 911 again, but he couldn't reach it. We were there for maybe half an hour when an old farmer (at least I thought he was) with a pickup truck stopped and asked us what was wrong.

We told him about what we thought was an accident, but then he asked us if the man was wearing clothes that were exactly what we thought we saw. He also pointed at the front of my car, asking me if there was any damage or even a dent.

My son and I looked at my car and I was very surprised to find that there were none! I could have sworn that at least the grill would be broken.

He later told us just to drive home… and to forget about it. He said it was a ghost of an Indian brave.

Oh, my God! Here we go again!

He added that it was usual for that time of the year for the ghost to make his presence known to strangers, and that it was a very famous ghost in that place.

Here we go again… what the hell! Of course, we never ever passed by that lonely road again… winter or summer!

I don't know what's wrong with me, but I think I attract ghosts wherever I go! I have lots of stories to tell, like when I was growing up in the country during my younger days. I was known in my province as the vernacular as "sarabaton" or roughly translated - one who attracts ghosts!

Well, to those who have experiences like these, I hope it's a comfort for you to know that you're not alone in this. Ghost magnets unite!