This year, a few paranormal things happened in my presence but not necessarily involved me—except for my last story which happened a few days ago. This year was a little more interesting than last as I have new material to share.
Playful Elemental
The event happened this year on my mom's 75th birthday. It was supposed to be a surprise for our mom, but we decided not to after she started planning the event, hence the start of the venue-hunting. She found the place online as a sponsored ad that popped up on her feed, and she showed it to me out of interest. I made the arrangements for an ocular visit after seeing the photos online. We went there a week after and were immediately enamored with the view and the place as it was still new; all guests unfamiliar with the place. My parents loved it so much that I booked the reservation immediately after the tour.
It's an exclusive resort with Balinese-themed detail located in a high-altitude area with a view of rolling sugarcane plantations. It sits on the foot of a mountain and was a private plantation until they decided to build their vacation home along with an events place where they allow one party to rent out at a time. The vibe felt relaxing at the same time secluded as it was a chunk of land in the middle of their farm with no neighboring residents, so you will feel that sense of exclusivity.
On the day of my mom's birthday celebration, our family went in two cars, my elder brother and his wife went ahead to the venue to welcome guests who might arrive early, while we followed about 20 minutes later after we finished preparing the food to be served. When we got to the venue, we were the second party to arrive, as my brother and sister-in-law were already enjoying lounging in the pool area by then. The party was at 12 noon, we arrived before 11:30 while they arrived a little past 11am. It was enough time for the caterers to set up the buffet area before guests slowly arrived at noon.
The guests were all amazed at the venue we chose and they had a lovely time taking photos at every Instagrammable corner they could pose at. As I was winding down after all the eating and games a cousin came up to me and asked, "Have you seen the pictures on Maricel's phone?" referring to my sister-in-law. I shook my head before she added, "She captured an anomaly on her phone and we've been trying to figure it out but couldn't. It's so creepy that it's cool." That of course made me want to see the said photo. I made my way to Maricel where a couple of my cousins huddled around her phone, bemused and engrossed at what they were seeing.
I took the phone and scrolled through the photos and got goosebumps at what I saw. It didn't take much for me to see that an entity the shape of a tall man with an elongated head and a tail was playfully posing with Maricel by the pool. There were a lot of shots taken, and we could see the figure move from the pool and stand right next to her as the shots progressed. As she changed her position, so did the humanoid figure. My initial thought was that it could be a filter or an app, but then I knew my sister-in-law was oblivious to such things especially since she is not the pranking type that it ruled out the possibility of a hoax. The thing that stood out was how defined the shape of the entity was as it clearly had a head, shoulders, arms, a torso, and a tail (the leg part wasn't as clear as the other parts)...but 80% who saw the photos could make out the outline. It's the old folks who could not tell the clear from the blurred, but the younger ones with a sharp eyesight all saw it. It wasn't a shadow, it was a shape that blurred out everything, including Maricel's face. That was the first time I had encountered this type of captured image wherein it isn't a shadow or a blurred mist...it was the only clear figure and blurred those that its body did not touch.
I asked Maricel how was this possible? She explained since they were the first to arrive at the venue at around 11am, it gave them time to take pictures of the place. The spot they chose was by the pool. At first a staff took their photo as a couple, then my brother proceeded to take her photo after a few shots. It was so uneventful that they didn't even bother to review the photos immediately after, only in the afternoon when the excitement had subsided that she checked and saw the bizarreness that it was.
With this, we asked the staff of the place for any shared experiences they have with the paranormal within the premises. At first, they were hesitant to say anything, but then one revealed that one of the carpenters saw an old man with a long beard smoking one evening. "They say he's a guardian of the place," the staff added, "Even the owners don't stay here because they're scared." They say it's a kapre since it looks like 7-feet tall based on the image alone, but something tells me it's more of a white duwende based on its playful nature.
This was later confirmed by a Balinese friend who had an extremely open third eye because we forwarded the image without saying anything. He simply replied "That's an old man".
Below are a few of the actual photos that we took. You be the judge of what you see: