GHOSTS are manifestation of the dead. They may appear as solid and real, transparent and insubstantial… or in some barely recognizable form, such as wisps of smoke, strange smell, ghoulish sounds or spooky atmosphere.
Few years ago, I was requested by a tour operator to conduct a guided tour on architectural designs. One of the old houses identified in Negros was a villa that is almost 100 years old. The members of the family no longer live there and there is just a “criado” (servant) assigned to look after the house. This “balay na bato” was constructed during the late Spanish Colonial Period. It has neoclassic trimmings and brackets with grilled windows and a discreet main entrance.
The group was composed of businessmen, teachers and tour operators. In a corner of a living room, there was a “mueble” (piece of furniture) known as “mesa altar” (altar table). (This was famous in Batangas in the 17th century.) This altar table with the lion mask on the legs is always mistaken by the antique dealers as “la mesa de diablo” (devil’s table).
I was in the middle of my explanation, when I found out that one lady was not listening to my explanation. I called her attention but she cautioned me, “Don’t disturb me because right now, I am attending a party. The gentlemen are in their tuxedo (esmoquin) and the ladies are in their gown (vestido largo). There is a long table overflowing with food and at the corner there is an orchestra playing sentimental music.”
The lady was able to explain the party as if she was in the opening scene of Peque Gallaga’s movie, “Oro, Plata, Mata.” She said that there was a huge garden in front of the house and there were black cars (coche), carriages, and coaches parking outside. She was telling us with joy as if she was just attending a “Cinderella” party.
Later, the lady fainted and when she recovered… she could not remember anything. The lady was present in my dimension (with other guests) but she was also present in the turn-of-the-century dimension having a party with ghosts. Quantum physics and modern-day cosmology have presented new, sensational models of how the universe and life itself came into existence.
Those that become ghosts are maladjusted, unable or unwilling to leave this existence entirely for a reason. I believe these ghosts continually replay events from their lives together, caught in some ghastly time warp.
The lady I have in my guided tour has the gift of being a medium. That could be the reason why she was able to make contact with the dead in the hereafter.
I attribute further studies on this to parapsychology, a science that deals with those phenomena that, from a scientific point of view, belong more to the nebulous borderline areas of human thought and experience. I am reminded of a haunting story in one old house that is associated with an unatoned murder wherein the victim has to return as a ghost to remind the living of his gruesome fate.
The goodwill of the ghosts could be won by offerings and rituals of praise. That could be the reason why we have “Fiesta Minatay duso-duso” ritual (food offering) and a novena for the souls in purgatory. This is out of the Holy Bible but this could be part of our Filipino culture. No one wants to feel guilty by not paying attention to the souls of the departed.
Ghosts are spirits trapped between this life and the next, craving one or both and denied either. Naughty ghosts (like the ghosts in my former office) would shake the beds to awaken the occupants. I am giving substance to the thought that a ghost can manifest also in a form of sound just like the “mystery boy” who would give me a call by just laughing using the party line.
Ghosts can be in “solid creations.” My two girls saw a beautiful lady getting inside our bathroom to take a bath and went out later with a towel wrapped around her body. That happened in the house we were renting before. That lady appeared to be very normal except that her feet were not touching the floor. That experience could not be forgotten by my daughters, Rina and Jezsa.
The skeptics may say that people who see or experience the presence of ghosts are having a form of personal hallucination or temporary derangement. I don’t agree. I believe that living creatures emit “psychons.” These are psychic particles which remain in a house… a shape of an important scene which can be picked up by certain people in certain circumstance… just like a dramatization.