THE CONCEPTS of ghosts and spirits have long been a part of Filipino culture; they were, after all, animistic before the country was colonized.

This meant that they believed that everything, even objects like rocks or trees or whatever else, had spirits. Animism was known as the worship of the spirits of ancestors, as per a paper from the Journal of Critical Perspectives on Asia. 

Who’s to say, then, that human spirits are the only ones lurking around the earth? What if there is something more supernatural at work? 

In other places, people might laugh if you were to say that you believe in ghosts, but not here in the Philippines. It seems that every place and every event in history has a ghost story attached to it; what spooky tales have you heard about your old high school building, for example? Surely there have been plenty. 

While some Filipino beliefs are slowly fading into obscurity, the belief that the unknown is living amongst humans continues to stay strong, as proven by three individuals interviewed by Republicasia who are proud to say that yes, they do believe in ghosts, and yes, they always have.

Believer from day one

24-year-old Dayne Entila has believed in ghosts since he was a child; his grandfather would always talk to him about aswangs and spirits when he was younger, and these stories became a staple in their household. 

Entila claims, however, that these aren’t just stories. Back in November of 2023, he had a supernatural encounter himself.

“I woke up late around 1 PM all alone in my lola’s house; [my family] went to the cemetery to visit the wake of my lolo,” he shared.

“The moment I woke up, I felt this very cold shiver on my nape, [but] just ignored [it] thinking it was just a breeze since the window [was] wide open.”

During that time, he’d gone upstairs to get his towel, only to find white mist clouding the room; when he looked closer, he realized that it was in the shape of a man. 

He found himself frozen, even as the figure started moving closer and closer toward him. Then, in a flash, the figure passed through him and disappeared. 

At that moment, he felt the same cold breeze from when he’d woken up earlier. 

For him, this mist was his lolo. He even found himself telling the figure: “Dad naman, wait lang po… mag-gagayak lang ako, pupuntahan naman po kita sa sementeryo eh.”

23-year-old Sasha Daclitan’s experience, on the other hand, happened while she was in the province. Though these supernatural events would occur more than once.

One encounter she shares is when while her cousins were leaving and she was looking out at them from the front porch of her house, her eyes wandered to a large piece of plywood out by their terrace fence. 

She was then shocked to see an old man start walking toward their entrance; instead of going in, however, he just vanished behind the piece of plywood Daclitan had been staring at earlier.

Another experience she shares happened during the pandemic; she and her cousin felt a presence in their house – one that was mimicking them. 

Days before the encounter, Daclitan’s cousin saw her niece walk up the stairs and go into Daclitan’s room. When her cousin followed the figure up to Daclitan’s room, however, she found that there was no one there.

She would later find that her niece was downstairs, sleeping soundly. 

Only moments after that, Daclitan went down the stairs and suddenly saw a pair of bare feet on their landing – even though she knew that she was the last to go down, and there was no one else that could’ve been behind her.

She’d also experienced numerous episodes of sleep paralysis wherein, during them, she’d see horrifying aswangs or people, though, in those moments, she convinced herself that it was all just happening in her head.

Like Daclitan, 21-year-old Alf Gabriel Saril has had numerous supernatural encounters in his life. 

One happened while he was still in high school, while he was watching his younger sibling. 

He explains that she’d been playing in their living room, and at one point he found her playing hide-and-seek despite her being the only one there.

“Sabi ko, “Baket ka nagtatago?,” and she said, “May kalaro ako eh.””

At the time, he and his sister were the only ones at home; Saril felt his body go cold after hearing that.

The other occurred more recently; while driving back home, he passed by a diversion road to Carmona in Cavite. The road he’d been driving on was known to be rather sketchy given that the area was dark, and was notorious as a place for people to dump dead bodies in. Once, a body was found there with its head cut off.

“Habang nagda-drive ako, tumunog yung sensor ng passenger seat ko, and natunog lang siya if may nakaupo don,” he recalled.

“Sobrang takot ko; tumaas balahibo ko non. Nagpalakas nalang ako ng tugtog, ayaw ko na lumingon.”

The sensor only turned off when he reached his subdivision, leaving that dark road behind.

He adds that if ever you find yourself in a situation like that, just think of God to help you get through it. 

Believe what you will

At the end of the day, the decision of whether or not you believe in ghosts is up to you. 

However, it can’t be denied that thousands of people from all over the world have had at least one supernatural encounter occur in their lives.

To those who don’t believe, Daclitan said: “It’s not that big of a deal if you don’t believe in the supernatural, but when you’ve witnessed something and you’re in a group of people who witnessed the same thing or had the same experience, I think it would spark some curiosity in you.”

While Entila understands that some may be skeptical of the supernatural, he feels that perhaps they do not believe in it simply because they haven’t experienced it firsthand. 

“Give them time to explore and experience it,” he advised.