SUPERNATURAL STORY: HAMOK

I'm a sucker for supernatural stories...ungo-ungo (witch), abat (specter), white ladies and what not. What I'll try to write are stories that I often heard from my father...most were his own first hand experiences. I considered him a very level headed man, articulate, and not prone to hysteria, so I assumed that his stories were real. No matter...real or not, when I heard him tell stories like this growing up, my hankering for scary stories are always fixed and more . At best take this story as entertainment...nothing more.

As it is, my father was what I called “abtanon” (prone to experienced/see supernatural things/beings). Maybe his third eye was opened or what. I often wish that “naliwat ko niya” (I'm like him) in having to experienced things that are out of this world…but maybe not, as I’m a nervous nelly myself . Oh, I have some experiences, but more of an auditory kind and dreams...haven't seen/experienced anything that would make me passed out (yet) hehe.

Well (rubbing hands ), this story was experienced by my father and my older brother who was five or six years old at that time. I must be two then and I didn’t remember when this happened, I only heard the story being repeated:

Our place in Lapu-Lapu is very close to Mactan Air Base (some of the land that the base is on was owned by my grandparents). When this story happened, the Base didn’t have the fence/gate put up yet and was mostly “kalibunan” (overgrowth), neigbors were not that close (distance) and like most of the places at that time, our place has no electricity.

One evening, my brother wanted to go to the toilet, so Papa went with him. Instead of going to the outhouse, they decided to find a clearing by the “kalibunan” which was not far from our house as it was a nice, bright night…”pa presko kuno ” (to have some fresh air, literally ;)).

An old photo of MAB...our house is under those coconut trees.



So there they were, my brother doing his business, Papa whistling. At first, they heard galloping hoves in the distance and didn’t think much about it, then realized that the sound was coming towards them. They were confused as they haven’t seen a thing, only sounds. My brother run to my father and hugging each other, they waited of what would happen next. What they heard was what sounded like a herd of carabaos…snorting, fighting and galloping around them, they can also feel the breeze created by the "herd". My brother was yelling to Papa asking what's going on while my father was shushing him. Then, silence…the whole thing lasted just a few seconds.

Carabao/water buffalo.



When my brother came to the house (ahead of my father), my mother asked him “naunsa ka Dong, mora man ka ug gigukod ug abat ” (What happened, you looked like you've been chased by a specter). It seems that the only ones who heard the "commotion" was my father and brother, (we) didn’t even hear my brother’s yell. Later, our relatives said that what they experienced was a “hamok” (haunting).