My Father's Hometown

We also lived in my father's hometown at San Carlos City, Pangasinan from 1998-2000. The first house that we move in was demolished in 1998 because the government of Marikina have a project to make a road connecting Marcos Highway and C-5 road. They will build the highway on the riverside and have to remove the houses near the river because of the project. So my parents decided to stay in province shortly.

It was an old modern 2-storeys Spanish style house. Old modern because that was the style of the house after World War 2. Two floors which the first floor was made of stone/cemented and the second floor was made of wood. Spanish style because of the type of window at the second floor which was two sliding window that made of capiz. It was also creepy because of the oldness and the history of the house.

The house was facing east. On front was a vacant lot which also our garage with a big Jackfruit tree. After the vacant lot was the road and the river. The both side of the house were our neighbors' houses. At the back was a vacant lot with lot of trees such as Star fruit tree, Guava tree, a young Santol (cottonfruit) tree, Kamansi (breadnut) tree, Sugar Apple tree, Mango tree, Annatto tree, Plum/jocote tree, and my father and I also planted Banana tree.

The door was placed in the middle so upon entering the door, on your left was the staircase going up and on your right was the living and receiving area. Under the stair was our altar and next to it was a room which my aunt told us that our grandfather had died in that room. That room has no wall to separate the living room and we used curtain as a divider. That room was under the terrace. Near that room was a door connecting to the dining and kitchen. At your left was an old glass shelf used to put our plates and glasses. The right part was the round dining table and next to the shelf was a door connecting outside. Next was the sink with a jar of water then the stove which composed of gas stove on the right and charcoal stove on the left.

From the stair, the first part of the second floor was an open terrace and the first tree that you would see when you're at the terrace was the star fruit tree. From the terrace on your right was a door to enter the room. The room at the second floor was divided into two parts and there was a wood divider that have open in the middle to connect the two rooms.

That house have full of window for ventilation purposes. On the first floor, there's a window next to the door on the right. The next wall have two windows that was synchronize position. Those windows was jalousie made of wood. The kitchen have stone window in all side, like the hollow blocks with hole as the designs. The wall on the stair and the room under the terrace had the same window with the kitchen. At the second floor have two types of window. The wall facing the front have two glass jalousie windows and the other three sides of the room have the sliding window that made of capiz. The creepy thing here at the second floor was the big old mirror in the middle of the two glass jalousie windows. That mirror was facing the door or opening of the divider of the room and the window that facing the back part of the house which you could see the trees.

The occupants of the house before we arrived were my two old single aunts. They moved to another house because that old house was inherited by my father to his parents. My eldest sister and my brother left in Marikina because they already have work. The 4 siblings, 3rd (next eldest), 4th (elder sister), 5th (it's me), and 6th (younger sister), were the only occupants of the house. My mother and my father will accompany us simultaneously. Sometimes they will stay 2-3 months and they will go back to Marikina.

On our first month in the house one night, we have a noisy evening before going to sleep. The domestic animals of our neighbors were so very noisy. Dogs were barking, cats meowing, ducks were quacking, and cows were blowing their nose strong.

We still sleep at the second floor even though noises were surrounds us. And in the morning when we were awake our neighbors have their morning chitchat beside of the house. They telling us that the two ducks of our neighbor were flew in the rooftop of the second floor. We're clueless and wondering why the ducks were there. Suddenly, one of our neighbor which was also our first cousin told us that last night he tried to look outside to see what's happening. He noticed a man was on our roof standing and when the man moved he observed that the head of that man was like that of a horse. He saw a "tikbalang" or werehorse (a creature that have a man body but head of a horse - reverse figure of a centaur). My cousin also added that maybe "They" were welcoming us in the community. I tried to interfere to confirm but my mother told me that do not engaged in conversation with adults. It's not a child business.

Why the ducks on the roof? I learned from our neighbor that one of entities enemies were our domestic animals like dogs, cats, ducks and cows. The two ducks maybe tried to drive out the creature.

On my next post I will tell you some more about that house and the experiences my family have when we stayed there in two years.

Source:  www.yourghoststories.com