Are you Scared?
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Lotus Feet, Nuno sa Punso, Kapre, Babae sa Balete drive, Manananggal, Tyanak… if you’re a TRUE BLOODED Filipino I’m pretty sure you know these.
I don’t know about you guys but in my 23 years of existence, I have noticed that most of Pinoys love horror movies, listening to old scary folklore our Grannies tell us and even creepy urban legends. The fact is, though it gives us goosebumps and unimaginable fear, it increases our interest in figuring out the story as long we have the comfy blanket to cover our eyes during the scariest part of the movie or a companion to hug when we are startled. I guess it’s more than enough.
Here in Bacolod, since we are living a bit far from the downtown area, some of our neighbors especially the old ones are believers of the supernaturals. They would always warn us that whenever we passed by lumps of soil, which is actually a large ant hill, we have to say “TABI-TABI” or else the Nuno sa Punso will pinch us or cast sickness to us. When night fall comes, we should stay at home or else we could bump in to an Aswang or the shape shifters that would eat our internal organs and so on and so forth. Since we were young then, we followed what the elders told us dahil na rin siguro we are scared.
The best time to tell a scary story? During brown outs. The candle would be the only source of light makes the ambiance more conducive for telling a scary story. We would gather around very close to each other or cover ourselves with the blanket. At times, we would laugh to cover up the shivers that we feel.
If you’re a 90′s kid, watching Are You Afraid of the Dark? every Friday night at ABS-CBN or Oka Tokat every Tuesday night became a hobby.
These are some stories that gave me friggin creeps and I wanted to share here:
*RED CAR* (a local urban legend)
When I was in grade school, my parents always reminded me to never talk to strangers as well as never accept anything from them. It just so happened that during those days, there was this feared children abductors who drive a red car and bribe children with candies just to come with them. Ginagawa daw nilang vetsin ang mga kids na kinukuha nila and the internal organs would be sold to hospitals. So whenever I see a red car, I would always run away fearing that it might be the abductors.
*This is not that scary but everytime I remember this incident, I can’t help but feel the shivers in my spine. I was on a vacation with my aunt in my grand mother’s farm in Baguio City. I can’t recall when did this happen but I was like 7 or 8 years old at that time. The people from that area were shocked when they spotted the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary on a eucalyptus tree across the wide irrigation. Gabi yun eh some are praying, nagvi-vigil kumbaga. We were there that night and suddenly the air smelled like flowers ang bango talaga. Hindi ma explain eh bigla na lang nag amoy bulaklak ang paligid.
*ANCESTRAL HOUSE*
I was in 2nd year high school when my family decided to move to Sara, Iloilo. It’s my Tatay’s hometown. We were living at my tatay’s family ancestral house. At first, it was really okay since my grandmother and my aunt’s family is living with us but since they moved out, creepy stuff started to occur. We have boarders that time but they didn’t usually stay there so it was always me and my brothers. One night, when I was sleeping, I was awaken by a baby’s cry. It’s weird because in the first place, the youngest person in the house was my brother who was 10 years old at that time. It happened every night and it started to scare me. I would put a rosary to my wrist so whatever happens I have God as my shield. When I brought some of my classmates in our house, one of them have a third eye and saw a pair of bright red eyes that seemed to be angry, glaring at us and a long haired girl from the mirror of my room. My uncles said that in the bed where I sleep, there were like 2 or 3 persons who died on it. DANG! Good thing we moved back to Bacolod or I would end up crazy.
Movies/ TV shows that didn’t made me sleep:
Feng Sui- dude I can’t even looked at a Bagua until today.
Sukob- that freaky black flower girl errr.
The Exorcism of Emily Rose- for 2 weeks I’ve been waking up at 3am. It’s more of a psychological thrill, I guess, but it’s really scary.
Shutter- I didn’t touched my camera for a week because of this movie.
Vanishing at 7th. Street- made me afraid of the dark
Are you Afraid of the Dark?- ntro pa lang nagtatago na ako.
This definitely added spice to our lives. May this be true or not at least those scary stories made us obedient when were still young. Ironically it strengthens the faith that we have for the Lord. We have a rich folklore that flourishes as time passes by. Indeed Filipinos Love the Scare.
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we do love to scare ourselves. as a matter of fact, it’s a fascination. i love horror, suspense and thriller movies.. and my friends, not quite. i can’t even invite them to watch scary movies. it just scares them silly… it gives them nightmares. I just know that God is bigger than anything and it will take away my fear.
movies / shows that scares me:
* The ring (japanese)
* The grudge (japanese)
* Nightmare on elm street (the 80′s version)
* pinoy thriller – 80s
* the outer limits (although not that scary)
* twilight zone (you should watch it)
* tales from the crypt (this is more funny than scary)