MY NEW friend, Azli Khairi Abdul Hamid, of Santal Travel Magazine based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia was here in Negros last week together with his photographer to feature important places and events. This could be the best prelude for “One Island, One Region.”
Among the so many things in our excursus is paranormal tourism. It is a kind of tourism that focuses on what is beyond normal occurrences. It could be about mystic places, world of psi phenomena, metaphysical incident, and mundane experiences. He told me that in Malaysia visitors would like to stay overnight in castles to have the eerie adventure. Tourists regroup after an hour to share what was funny and horrible.
Here in Silay, we tried a night tour of ancestral houses with some friends from the industry. We shared in telling stories of our encounters (or the other way around) with the known and the unknown. Some had goose bumps (probably psychological) or some opened their third eye (or third horn). That was just for fun to see before midnight the prettiest in the wall mirror.
We tried also having a pajama party. There was more fun and many were spirited but some lost their pajamas. The victims could always write a short story on how the pajamas were lost. Nocturnal tour in Bacolod could be fun. Going around the entertainment district of Bacolod after midnight could be spooky. One can always disappear in that Bermuda Triangle. Alien encounter is always possible.
Our island offers fantastic possibilities for paranormal tourism. Our Mt. Kanla-on is a host to “herbolarios” and psychic healers. In the past, I was even told by Inday Fe (popular healer) if I want to interview President Ramon Magsaysay. “He is not dead. He is just with the Sota of Kanla-on.” I did not agree. I am afraid to go with Inday Fe in her astral travel.
The forest in Sitio Sibato in Silay is believed to be a hive of “bulalakaw” (fire birds). Bukidnon tribe chieftain Ben Acsi said, “The natives of Sitio Sibato have a different New Year experience. We don’t have fireworks there but we have seen flying objects like falling stars hovering in our forest.” Well, this is beyond the physical realm.
Our Tinagong Dagat in the North Negros Forest Park is one mystic place. It is not only a home to flora and fauna but it could be a landing site for flying objects from the outer space. Some campers who came from Mt. Banahaw told me also their incredible experiences in Tinagong Dagat. Nearby, we have “Pandong Bato” (Sulfatara Daku area). This is our version of the Stonehenge. How come that there are stone boulders there?
We have strange cases of spirit photography in some old houses. I don’t want to mention the places but I have seen some pictures with additional characters in group photo ops. Fr. Dan Paderna and Fr. Marcos Pilar have even warned me to evade spirits who dwell in houses and interfere with the activities of the living just like what you see in the movie, “The Others”. Even my good friend Ed Locsin is telling me not to entertain even white fairies.
I am a witness to “babaylan” rites wherein the “serohano” mediates in the affair of the earthlings and the spirit world to find solution to a problem that could not be solved by secret agents. This does not hold water but it could be fun. We don’t even discount the firewalkers of SalBen and the fortune telling of the sidewalk “manughimalad” (fortune teller).
Even our Catholic Churches feature the “Palapak ni San Vicente” in Sagay City (Vito) and in Talisay City every Friday. The Holy Bible does not believe in the power of the wood or stone but devotees keep on flocking to the “palapak” ritual. My mother, when I was a child, brought me to a “palapak” ritual. “I feel good!”
What could not be removed by a doctor could always be subjected to chance in the “butbut” rite. This is entertaining the impossible but I saw sand particles in the “dagmay” leaves after the healing session. The list could go on: hiwit, pakot, luy-a, pukao, santermo, murto, palhi, tuyaw, etc.
The paranormal tourism field is vast. We only need to conspire with our belief. There are mysterious places in Negros and strange events. Our participation will make or unmake urban legends. Some people have presented facts and they are witnesses to the prairies of the upper realms. We do not know that we could even be aliens in our own planet. Our ancestors came from a distant past. We are very much a part of paranormal tourism.