Here we go, another year has passed and most of everything being featured on TV and online is either horror or anything related to it. Time for some scary stories from my real-life experiences or first-hand stories of friends who experienced the paranormal. This year, I'll share three stories, two of which happened to me this year while one was told by an officemate years back that I never shook off from my memory because it was a good-horrible experience to share.
Here are links to the first two parts of this annual series I started in 2015.
Scary Stuff: Part 1
Scary Stuff: Part 2
Tracing the Scent of Cigarette
I'll start with my most recent experience, one so fresh that I can still distinctly remember the smell as a went out of my room one morning. It actually happened a few days ago, just last week. I'm off from work on Mondays, so I usually wake up twice, first from my routine waking time that takes less than five minutes for me to use the toilet then go back to sleep, then wake up the second time at a more reasonable hour. The first was at 7am; I got up to use the bathroom and saw that my brother has already left for work, so, alone again. Meh. I went back to bed, closed the door and just before I could go back to sleep felt like someone entered the the condo as I heard some movements from behind the door. I assumed it was our friend who stays over to sleep with us arriving from an evening shift. So, I slept again and woke up two hours after. I got up and opened the door and could just smell that burning scent of a newly puffed up smoke from a strong cigarette wafting the whole unit. I thought our friend decided to smoke inside and throw the cigarette butt in our bathroom trash because I traced the smell coming from the bathroom, but the smell filled the air from my brother's room all the way to the dining area.
I rolled my eyes; not cool. We don't allow smoking inside as my brother and I don't smoke, so I immediately assumed it was our friend who dropped by to pick up his things that morning and puffing a stick and throwing it in the trash before heading out because no one was there when I went out of my room. I waited the rest of the day to tell our friend off about smoking inside, but he didn't arrive until the next day. The moment he opened the door, I had to ask, "Did you drop by yesterday and lit a cigarette inside?" To which he was quick to answer with a perplexed expression, "No, I didn't go here yesterday." My eyes sort-of widened saying, "Really? Because the unit smelled like cigarette smoke when I woke up yesterday." Well...he really didn't know what to say after my claim. I do believe him, because he recently quit smoking and shifted his habit to vaping, using only watermelon and strawberry juices to his puffing habits. After a few seconds he said, "Maybe it came from outside, someone might have passed by while smoking." I wearily replied with a, "Yeah, maybe." But of course, the doors and windows are closed and locked that time, and we live on the fourth floor.
New Building Elevator Nightmare
This story was actually told by an ex-officemate during my advertising agency days. Now, to those not aware, ad agencies have one of the most toxic working hours that usually ends between 10pm - 2am, some even until 5am due to very tight ungodly deadlines. This happened back in 2011, when our company decided to vacate our old office to transfer to the newly constructed One Corporate Center building in Ortigas. The building was so new, we were one of the first few companies to occupy one of the the floors. Several of the floors were still under construction. I know this for a fact because there are days when I'd stop by an uninhabited floor, whenever I need some time and space outside of my cubicle. These floors were usually just a pile of hollow blocks and construction materials, and never did I spot construction workers in any of these unfinished floors at one time.
One morning I saw some of my officemates huddle in a circle with one of the account executives looking flustered. I didn't really bother at first but decided to ask him what happened when the crowed dispersed. He stared at me with gaping eyes and said, "I went down for a smoke break last night because we were trying to finish a presentation for a pitch. I think it was around 11pm, and as I went back up to the office my elevator suddenly stopped on the 14th floor, when the doors opened it was pitch black. I was alone in the elevator and I repeatedly pressed close as I stood in one corner, but the door wouldn't close. I can't go out of the floor because there was nothing there, so I just faced the wall and waited for the door to close. After what seemed like forever, it did close and was able to reach the office." That sent chills down my spine knowing that I was usually one of the last to leave the office, so much so that I get to lock the office at times. I said, "Maybe you pressed the floor why it stopped or something." He answered, "No, I'm pretty sure I only pressed our floor because I was alone on the ground floor when I entered. It had to be pressed from the fourteenth floor elevator button outside for it to stop there." I kept on, "Maybe someone was playing a prank on you on that floor. You know, they'd press the floor then hide to scare you." But he insisted, "Not possible. I went to the fourteenth floor this morning and found the place to be bare and empty, no construction going on, nothing. And here's the twist...we don't have a 13th floor in this building, so 14th is considered the 13th."
I couldn't stop myself and dared him that we go check it out. He took me there and I found his words to be true. No 13th floor, and the 14th floor was just an empty unfinished space. No construction on going for and workers to work on. It was just a bare floor with unpainted cement walls and exposed wiring with no bulbs whatsoever. I turned to him and asked one last time, "So what did you do in the elevator while this was happening?" He replied with a flustered expression, "Nothing! There was nothing I could do. The doors weren't closing and I'd rather stay inside the elevator than exit to this floor. I just pretended to be brave and wished the doors would shut at every press. That really shook me." Yeah, I'd be shaken too if that happened to me. I'm glad it didn't, up to the day I packed my stuff out of that building. As another officemate with a third eye would attest, there are spirits roaming in our floor. We'd know when she's seeing them because she would suddenly stress out or fall quietly uneasy. So a new building does not guarantee a paranormal-free experience, not even on the 29th floor.
Seeing My Brother's Doppelganger
This is probably the ultimate dream of a curious soul, seeing a full bodied apparition in front of your face, just to validate that the stories are true. For years and years, from my childhood down to this day, I have always wondered what spirits look like, and if those who describe them are accurate in their telling. This year...about three months ago, I finally saw one, and it confirmed so much of the details being told by friends.
I woke up at 8am that morning with a bladder that's about to burst. I opened my door and immediately saw my brother pass in front of my face in a rush going to his room. A second after I saw our friend right behind him also about to head into my brother's room. He stopped and was shocked at my expression, we stared at each other and turned our heads to see the door of my brother's room swing as if someone had just entered as it was pushed then pulled back. I saw my brother go behind the door. I thought he forgot something and was rushing to pick it up before heading to the office as he was wearing his white polo. I turned back to our friend Andrew and asked, "You and my brother arrived together?" He gave me a most baffled expression, "No...I arrived alone. Your brother's not here." I was just as baffled, "But I saw you walking in a rush right after him. You arrived with a friend then?" He said, "No, seriously I didn't arrive with anyone, I came alone." I interrogated pointing to my brother's room, "Then who's behind that door?" He went to the room to check behind the door, "There's no one here!" I blurted, "But you did see the door move, right?" He agreed, "Yeah, but I didn't see anyone." I also agreed, but differently, "I also saw the door move, but I saw someone go behind it." Well...at this point we both got scared of our conversation, but I really had to pee.
I took my thoughts inside the bathroom, figuring out what might have just happened. I kept repeating in my head what I saw...only to realize that maybe it wasn't really my brother that I saw. I took to detail what I saw...I saw a figure of what I thought was my brother. He had the same haircut, and my brother had the same crisp white polo. I saw his side profile, the ears I could remember...but the face had no distinction...it was smudged out as most have described when seeing ghosts. I could see the partition between his polo and his black slacks...but I didn't see his feet, and his movement in that split second of seeing him rushing, there was no striding action of the legs...it was like he just glided pass me. And that last frame when I saw him go behind the door, there was no actual pulling and pushing of the door, it's like he just moved to the side and went behind it without turning in any other direction. All that, plus the fact that several of my friends have experienced seeing other friends who are actually not present here at that given time, three of them actually also claiming to have seen me crouching out of my room and moving to the refrigerator while I was asleep sort of proves that maybe there is a doppelganger in our midst.
So, what does it feel like to finally see a full bodied apparition? More than scared, I was amazed and curious at what I saw. Especially now that I experienced first-hand seeing what they describe as "ghosts" is actually what I saw is nothing less than extraordinary. So when people ask me, "Do you believe in ghosts?" I can easily claim, "Yes, even before I saw one myself, I already believed."
