I grew up in an old, three-generation house in the city. We didnāt own it but lived there as housemaids for a wealthy family. In the beginning, the house was bustling with peopleāthe owners, us, and a few employees who also stayed in. It wasnāt just a home for the family but a place where some of their workers found shelter, too.
Then things began to change. The family patriarch passed away under unfortunate circumstances, and the family business shut down. Most of the workers left, and eventually, even the family moved to the US. My mother and I stayed behind, left as caretakers of the house.
The house itself had a haunting character, with brick walls on the outside and a dim, antique-filled interior. The dark wood walls seemed to hold shadows in their corners, and sometimes, the air felt thick and heavy.
I spent most of my life there, often left alone as a child. Yet, for years, I never experienced anything frightening. That all changed in my teens. I never saw actual ghosts, but I had my share of eerie experiences. Here are some of them:
The Whistling Outside
The first unsettling experience I remember happened one night. My mother and I shared a room with a window facing the garden, which bordered the street. Our bed was up against the wall with that window, so if you sat up, you could look outside. One night, I was woken up by a faint sitsitāa hissing or whistling sound, like someone calling for attention. It seemed to come from the street. I sat up, listening, and heard it again, this time closer, as if it were in the garden, near the window. Feeling uneasy, I lay back down, but then I heard it one last time, right by my ear. I woke my mother and told her, but she didnāt believe me yet.
The Black Figure with Red Eyes
I had a close friend in high school, and weād often have sleepovers at each otherās houses. One night, she stayed over in the same room where Iād heard the whistling. She claimed she could see ghosts, though I never believed her, being a bit of a skeptic. She woke me up that night to tell me there was a black figure with red eyes standing in the corner by the built-in cabinet. I asked her what it was doing, and she said it was just watching us. I offered to move to another room, but she told me not to worryāit wouldnāt harm us, it was justā¦ watching.
Once, my nephew came to stay with us over the summer. We were sleeping in the master bedroom when he suddenly woke up screaming. When we asked him what he dreamed about, he said the bedroom door had swung open, and a tall, black figure with red, fiery eyes stood in the doorway. His description sent chills down my spine because it was exactly how my friend had described that figure.
My cousin was living with us to help run our sari-sari store. One night, I was woken up by her screaming my name. She told us sheād had a terrible dream: the bedroom door had opened, and the black figure with red eyes entered the room and stood by me. In her dream, it climbed onto the bed, coming toward me. She was so frightened that she screamed my name, hoping it would wake me up.
The Cliff
One night, I had a nightmare that felt disturbingly real. In my dream, I was walking along a cliff edge with powerful winds whipping around me. Below, the sea was rough and loud. I could hear strange whispers that guided me to the cliffās edge. There, I saw the same dark figure partially submerged in the sea, holding a black rosary and striking the waves with it. Suddenly, it looked up at me, and I felt terror grip me. I tried to back away, but something pulled me toward the edge, and I felt paralysed, unable to breathe or scream. Struggling, I tried to call on my faith, whispering, āIn Jesusā nameā¦ā until I finally woke up, heart pounding.
The Giggling Girl
After attending a workshop at my church where we were encouraged to let go of past hurts and grudges, I had another strange dream. I was in a dark room with a young girl who had wild, curly hair that covered her face. She wore a black dress and had a creepy giggle. She took my hands, and we began to spin around, dancing. She kept laughing, but I felt only fear.
There were other strange occurrences, too, but they mostly happened to my relatives, so I canāt recall the details well. Eventually, the house was bought by the matriarchās daughter, who decided to renovate it. She even had it blessed by a priest. After that, the eerie experiences stopped.