WHY DO ghosts or spirits have such a hard time getting to, or staying in, the afterlife? Ghost believers often cite “unfinished business” in a dead person’s life.
Meet Ray, a 29-year-old registered nurse and resident of Barangay Calumpang, Molo, Iloilo City. He does not have the answer to the question but he can – or used to – see ghosts.
It was in 1993 when he started seeing them, says Ray. He was around five years old then.
Ray and his family were then living in an old three-storey house on De Leon Street, City Proper (the place is now occupied by a mall).
Every night, says Ray, he slept on third floor bedroom of their house. He shared the room with a brother and an aunt.
One night, according to Ray, he was awakened from a deep slumber by something strange – a woman in a white dress was floating over the foot of the bed.
The woman had a long, black hair but had no face, recalls Ray.
She did not talk or move; she was just there, suspended in mid-air.
Scared, the then five-year-old Ray closed his eyes and forced himself to sleep.
The woman appeared to him several more times, says Ray.
Sometimes she would sit by the window of the room as if waiting or looking for someone.
Strangely, the woman in white made herself visible to Ray only; his brother and aunt never felt or noticed any strange intrusion in the room.
Ray did not tell his parents or siblings about the mysterious, faceless woman in a white dress. He was too scared to even talk about it, he says, and so decided to keep it to himself for a long, long time.
In 1996, Ray’s family transferred to Barangay Calumpang. He says he was somewhat relieved. He would no longer see the “white lady” or any other ghost for that matter. Until Ray’s grandfather died.
Ray’s grandfather lived in Guimbal, Iloilo. On one of the nights of vigil for his grandpa, he was so tired that he decided to go upstairs – to the second floor of the house – to rest.
His grandfather’s house was built in such a way that, from the second floor’s interior balcony, one could have a good view of the ground floor.
Between 9 p.m. to 10 p.m., Ray recalls, he got curious with that’s going on downstairs and so he took a look below. From where he was standing on the second floor, Ray says he saw his grandfather looking up to him.
Grandpa was smiling, remembers Ray.
A little bit doubtful of his own vision, Ray says he closed his eyes for a while. Was he just dreaming while wide awake?
Was he so tired that he was imagining things?
Was he hungry perhaps that his eyes were playing tricks on him?
Ray opened his eyes expecting not to see his Lolo anymore. But no! Grandpa was still there, standing on the groundfloor looking up to him, and still smiling at his apo as if teasing him.
“Wala ko nahadlukan kay nagakadlaw si Lolo,” says Ray.
The weary grandson, sure his grandpa was wishing him well, went back to sleep.
One day, says Ray, his father casually told their family he used to see a woman in white every morning while he was preparing to go to “Super” or the Iloilo Terminal Market (when they were still living in their old three-storey house on De Leon Street, Iloilo City).
That was when he decided to tell them about the floating white lady he saw in his room as a young boy.
Who was that woman? Why was she making her presence felt?
Ray says he does not have the answer.
Is the woman still in the area where a mall now stands?/PN
