Ghost appearances

One muggy day in November two years ago, the whole country was shocked to hear on the news that veteran actress Nida Blanca had been coldbloodedly stabbed to death. Among the first to rush to Nida’s side was bosom friend and colleague Caridad Sanchez. "I was there when her body was being transferred from Annapolis, Greenhills (where Nida’s body was recovered inside her car parked at the MTRCB parking lot) to the PNP laboratory in Camp Crame for dissection by a medico legal," recalls Caridad, Tita Caring to showbiz denizens. "What made me cry was when I saw her soiled feet. Madumi, parang she was dragged. It still disturbs me when I think about it because it was far from the image of the Dory (the nickname of Nida, who was Dorothy Jones in real life) I knew. Dory was such a neat and organized person. She always carried with her a to-do list that included bills to pay, etc. But days before her death, I noticed that she was not the usual chatty Dory. She was indifferent."

Truly a caring friend, Caring took care of the nitty-gritty of funeral arrangements while waiting for Nida’s only child Kaye Torres to arrive from the States. Caring hastens to explain, "No, Dory’s face was not disfigured but we thought it best to seal the coffin so the picture that people would retain in their minds was how Dory looked when she was alive. But when Kaye came, she wanted the coffin opened, saying, ‘Ang ganda ng Mommy!’"

Two nights before Nida’s burial and with Kaye having taken over, Caring had a heart-to-heart talk with her friend one last time. "I told her, ‘Dory, I will no longer go to your burial. Anway, there are so many people who will be going, especially those who want to be seen on TV. I’ve been serving you for days. Magra-racket naman ako."

After bidding her friend goodbye, Caring suddenly saw a bright yellow butterfly perched on top of Nida’s coffin. It was close to midnight and Caring was in a daze as to how the butterfly got there. She remembers how she’d always see a yellow butterfly after the death of her husband, military man Vicente Babao. She relates, "For two years after the death of my husband, we would often see a yellow butterfly inside our house. It became a fixture in the house and the yaya, who has served us for a long time, would greet the butterfly with a salute and say, ‘Hello, Sir, good morning!’ One day, the cat played with the butterfly and smashed it. But minutes later, there was another yellow butterfly in the house to replace the one the cat had killed."

Caring would see a yellow butterfly on special occasions in her life. "One Aug. 1 at midnight, I was taping for Gulong ng Palad and dressing up backstage when I saw a yellow butterfly in the blue telon (curtain). Then I remembered it was my birthday and I told the butterfly, ‘Hello, darling, thank you for remembering my birthday!’ I remember telling Nida the next day, ‘Dinalaw na naman ako.’"

A voracious reader, Caring remembers coming across an article written by the late Celso Carunungan in a magazine. "He said that butterflies represent the soul."

Fly, pretty butterfly! Leaving behind many a fragrant memory, Nida, so Caring’s daughter Cathy Babao-Guballa believes, came to visit Cathy. "I came home from her wake at 2 a.m., went to bed at 4 a.m. and was half-asleep when I smelled a very strong perfume," Cathy relates. "At first, I didn’t mind it and went back to sleep. And then it came back. I opened my eyes and said to myself, ‘Hindi na ’yan funny!’ I know it was Tita Dory. She probably came to thank me for the article I wrote in the Philippine Daily Inquirer where I gave the chronology of events leading to her death."

On the eve of Nida’s burial, Caring drove home from the wake at 4 a.m. "I opened the gate, drove in and turned off the car engine," she recounts. "As I got down, nangilabot ako, my hair stood on end when suddenly, I felt something so strong, so overpowering. It was as if somebody had embraced my whole being. I said, ‘Thank you, Dory, for bringing me home.’"

A very spiritual person, Caring explains, "Through thought transference, I’m able to communicate with Dory, even without saying a word."

Is there any chance Nida would communicate with Caring and reveal her killer?

"Dory became a Christian before she died," says Caring. "Her case will be solved by God."

Meanwhile, a pretty yellow butterfly flutters restlessly.

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Post-Mortem Breakfast

It was an ordinary day in September, 1983 and a houseboy was going about his chores, serving his masters their breakfast at 7 a.m. What was extraordinary was that the houseboy didn’t know that the couple he was serving breakfast to in their Manila residence had been murdered the night before in their Pampanga home.

"My sister Evita (Ocampo-Florendo), who now lives in the States, would dream of my parents (Ricardo Ma. Ocampo and Evansuida Ocampo) for years after their death," says Finina Ocampo-Galang. "The dreams appeared so real Evita didn’t want to sleep anymore."

Finina distinctly remembers three of Evita’s dreams. One, she kept dreaming of a small alarm clock, which looked like the clock beside their father’s bed. The Ocampo children looked for the clock and found it at a watch repair shop where their father had taken it for repair. The hands of the clock had stopped at 2:30, the exact time the Ocampo couple were killed by the Ocampos’ former houseboy who was on drugs. Second, Evita dreamt of a telephone number which they later found out was the number of an insurance company. Third, Evita saw a lamp in her dream. They saw this lamp in their basement. When they opened it, they saw some documents inside. The late Ricardo Ma. Ocampo was in the appliance/financing/ jewelry business.

"I guess our parents wanted to tell us some things they were not able to," Finina rationalizes. "Evita even dreamt of a house address but we were not able to find it. She no longer has these dreams. And I now live in that house where us four children and our families have dinner on All Saints’ Day."

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An Encounter With A White Lady

Lorenzo Ong, 45, a travel agent and a firm believer of the occult and UFOs, has had a lot of encounters of the ghostly kind. Of these, he particularly remembers the time when he used to sleep in his father’s warehouse in Tondo. "I would sleep there in a small room with my younger brother," he says. "One night, I woke up because I felt somebody touch my back. When I turned back, I saw a lady in white gown with long, black hair. I couldn’t see her face. I got scared and pulled my blanket over my face. I was told that the place used to be a hospital."

Lorenzo shares another scary tale: "We had another warehouse in Sto. Cristo, Binondo. There we would hear footsteps on the stairs. But the place was deserted. We checked out the place and found out that somebody committed suicide there. One time, a Meralco guy came to check the meter and he came out running."

One of Lorenzo’s friends who had died showed himself in Lorenzo’s dreams at least twice. "The first time, he was in a barong, holding a cell phone and looking at me," Lorenzo describes. "Another time, he hinted that he wanted some clothes, so I told his sister to burn some clothes. Based on what I’ve read, some spirits are still earth-bound because they have some unfinished business they need to settle. Some want us to know that they are as alive as we are and they can help us."

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St. Elmo’s Fire

PR man Mario Tan grew up remembering the old folks’ story about St. Elmo’s fire on Alabat Island in southern Quezon. "They call it San Tilmo," he points out. "It’s a ball of fire that resembles the head of a person, who represents the spirits of those who have perished in sea mishaps. People who travel at night are warned of this. When they see it, they have to reprimand it so the spirits would go away and they’d arrive safely at their destination."

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Five-Star Ghosts

The security guard in one five-star hotel in Manila claims to frequently a black lady passing through the corridors of the basement at an ungodly hour. In the same hotel, an in-house maintenance man was fixing something in the toilet when somebody called his attention. He knew he was the only person there.

In another five-star hotel, a Chinese guest was in the CR retouching her makeup when she heard somebody ask, "Am I beautiful?" When she looked in the mirror, she saw the reflection of a lady with a charred face. The Chinese guest was in shock for a week. The upper floors of the hotel burned down in the 1990s and 200 hotel guests died in the fire.

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Ghost Employees

There have been many attempts to exorcize the "ghost employees" at the Manila Film Center where construction workers had died while it was being built. But the apparently stubborn spirits have allegedly stayed on. One report has it that a PR lady went to the CR and met a lady as she was going in. The lady said hi and she said hi back. Each went inside a cubicle. When the PR lady took a peep at the next cubicle where the other lady was, she could not see any feet.

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The Return Of The Mommy Jojo Acosta was 16 and a seminarian at San Carlos Seminary on Guadalupe, Edsa when his mother, Tessie Alonso Acosta, died of breast cancer. One of only two children, Jojo was particularly close to his mom. Three days after her burial, at 3 a.m., Jojo suddenly stirred from his bed. He felt like somebody was stroking his feet, they felt cold. Then he saw sitting on the side of his bed a lady in white dress with shoulder-length hair. He wanted to embrace it, but it just disappeared into the thin air. His mom wanted him to be a priest but after her death, he decided not to go back to the seminary.

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Hotline To Heaven

Alice Ditching lost her dear brother to cancer in 1980. Ever the solicitous older sister, she so wanted to know if he was okay where he was. So she asked him for a sign. For two consecutive days, Alice’s phone would ring at odd hours of the night and when she’d pick it up, nobody would answer.

"Everytime my dad wanted to tell us something or to check on us if we were okay, like if there was a typhoon, he would call everyone," says Louie Reyes. "WhenTita Alice got those mysterious nocturnal calls, she took it to mean that Daddy is okay, wherever he is now."

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Soul Brothers

Tong and Vicente Lo were inseparable. But they love to argue – you could say they always agreed to disagree. Their arguments always focused on the soul – if there really was one. Tong, a Buddhist, didn’t believe in the soul. Vicente was a devout Catholic.

Vicente died, leaving his brother Tong and family behind. Three days after his death, Tong was sleeping in Vicente and his wife’s matrimonial bed in their home in Samar when something roused him. He felt his bed sinking. He sat up and from his parted mosquito net, he saw his brother Vicente sitting on the side of the bed, smiling at him. He was wearing a white long-sleeved shirt with tie – the same one he was buried in, minus the black suit.

"I guess my dad won the argument," says Ricky Lo, entertainment editor of The Philippine STAR.