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Spooky stories from Maria’s sanctuary

By Stephanie Maureen F. Asi, Staff Writer

10/31/2008

Anyone who loves the outdoors and appreciates nature is beguiled by the sight of Mount Makiling. Its lush, rolling peaks surrounded by Laguna’s clear, blue skies depict nature’s harmony and tranquility. Occasionally, when it rains, water from the mountain cascades through its slopes, forming waterfalls that can be seen by neighboring towns. Both flora and fauna abound as well, making it an environmental sanctuary, and an ideal destination for nature enthusiasts. That is why for the students and professors of the University of the Philippines in Los Baños (UPLB), located at the foot of this very mountain, the setting can’t be more apt for learning and immersing oneself in the world of the sciences and the arts.

Beyond the locale’s captivating beauty, however, lies something eerie and mysterious. It is said that aside from students and professors, UPLB is the home of spirits that have long inhabited the mountain and ghosts of those who met their ill fate inside the campus. Many accounts have been told about UPLB’s other inhabitants — lost souls that wander the campus grounds. Here are some of those accounts as told to this writer.

Night watchmen’s tales

Perhaps the most dreadful duty to be assigned to a UPLB employee is as night patroller. Guarding old buildings surrounded by a canopy of towering trees isn’t exactly a comforting thought, specially when you’re doing it alone. The deafening silence, except for the sound of crickets and animals scurrying on the ground doesn’t help either because one unfamiliar sound, say, heavy breathing or the banging of doors, can easily scare you out of your wits, knowing that no one can possibly be there with you in the dead of the night. But for Nilo* of the UPLB police, this is just something he has done every night — for 20 years. Nothing could scare him, not even the dark streets he has to pass by and the decades-old building (a museum at that) said to contain skulls among its “artifacts” that he has to guard.

One fateful night, however, Nilo had an experience that couldn’t be deemed ordinary. With his owner-type jeep, Nilo sped from the UPLB police headquarters all the way from the lower campus up to the upper campus to get to the Museum of Natural History, where he was stationed for the night. The chilly evening gave him the shivers as he went past the winding road leading to the College of Forestry where the museum was located. He could only hear the rustling of the leaves from the huge trees beside the road and the crickets that were to accompany him that night. After making his rounds past the dormitory and the nearby buildings, he decided to head to the museum where he would make his last inspection. He went around the building, making sure that everything was in place and that no one was there to vandalize the area. After a few minutes, he decided to call it a night, oblivious to the mosquitoes that kept on biting him while he tried to get some sleep in his jeep.

Halfway through his slumber though, he was awakened by a loud banging from the roof. With his gun in his right hand and a flashlight on the other, he looked up the museum roof to see what he thought was a robber trying to steal the museum’s valuables. But there was nothing. The thundering on the roof continued for some time as the poor night watchman struggled to get his bearings. And then suddenly, it stopped. Thinking that he had scared off the robber, he went around to check the premises, until he heard the banging again, this time inside the museum. Believing that there was more than one robber, he quickly went in his jeep and drove back to the headquaters to call for backup. But when he got to the headquarters at the lower campus, the police officers who used to stand guard at the same site told him that the kind of incident that had happened to him happens often to the other night watchmen, saying that there are ghosts that scare them and chase them away. Still unconvinced that there are these so-called ghosts, Nilo prodded for them to check on the musuem. He somehow convinced his reluctant colleagues to go with him to the upper campus. And when they checked if there was anything missing or destroyed in the museum, there was none; it was as if nothing happened. They say that perhaps those were the spirits of the students who drowned during the early 1970s at Flat Rocks (an attraction inside the campus featuring waterfalls) when there was a flash flood from the mountain.

A similar event happened to another watchman just like Nilo. This time, it was at the lower campus by the Vet Med building. Joaquin* was then a new guard, and like any job, when you’re the new guy, you have to do the dirty work like patrolling at night. On his first night, he was stationed at the far end of the lower campus by the College of Veterinary Medicine. Unlike Nilo, who was a veteran night guard already, Joaquin was nervous on his first day on the job. But he mustered enough courage to do his rounds, passing by the barely lit buildings and dark hallways. Diligently he checked building upon building, occasionally looking behind his back to see if there was another one of those couples sneaking to the back of the building to get some privacy (as his superior warned him there would be). Just as he was getting comfortable in his new environment, he heard a faint creak. Initially he thought it was just a twig he had stepped on or somebody playing a prank on him. He looked around to check where the sound was coming from. As he got closer to one of the buildings, he noticed that the sound was getting louder. So he ran towards the noise. He realized that it was not a prank, it was the sound of a knob turning. Nervously, he shone his light on the door, and he was right. Someone was trying to get out from the locked door, a thief, he thought. Nervously he pulled out his gun and called out to the thief. He tried to yank the door open, but he couldn’t find his keys because he was panicking. Finally, after struggling to open the door, he succeeded. To his surprise, no one was there. Darkness met his gaze. Only then did he realize that it must have been something else, and he ran like crazy.

Amazingly, after that haunting evening, Joaquin stayed on the job, and he’s been guarding the building for eight years now. It hasn’t happened again to him since. He thinks that it was just the spirit’s way of welcoming him.

If you think that employees are the only one who are terrorized by these spirits, think again. Even UPLB students have their own share of scary stories to tell.

Don’t take a peek from your blanket

UPLB students often take a breather from their demanding studies by partying and watching concerts. Plinky* was one of those students who enjoyed these concerts as much as the next student. And since it was a popular band who was having a concert at the Freedom Park that night, she decided to join in the fun. She was not about to let the chance to watch this famous band pass her by. She was having so much fun in the concert, but because she had so much to do the past nights, she felt her energy waning so she decided to call it a night. She went back to her dorm, which was only a few meters away from Freedom Park, to sleep. Normally when she goes home, she finds her roommates inside the room by the time she gets there. But since there was a concert, nobody was home yet.

After a quick shower she turned off the lights and sank into the sheets, happy to be able to get some sleep at last. She put the blanket over her head, just as she has always done when she sleeps. She could hear the faint sounds coming from the concert, but she didn’t mind. After all, it was sleep she needed. She turned to her side and closed her eyes, when suddenly she heard a sound that made her hair stand. Somebody was breathing heavily from Nelly’s* (her roommate) bed, the one next to her. It couldn’t be Nelly or Sheena* (her other roommate) because nobody had gotten inside the room since she came in. Trembling, she just closed her eyes and fought hard to get some sleep. But the heaving didn’t stop. Somebody or something was breathing inside the room and it was next to her! She didn’t dare take a peek from her blanket for she feared that she wouldn’t like what she would see. She could hear the breathing clearly now as her senses were focused on what was happening. Still, she kept here eyes closed and her blanket over her head. Somehow, she managed to sleep. She made it through the night. The following morning, she told her roommates about her experience and they all confirmed that they heard the same thing. They were only too afraid to talk to someone about it. To this day, other students say that they hear someone breathing in room 2208 even if no one is there.

While most frightening stories are about someone that the terrorized doesn’t know, there is one about an important pillar of UPLB education who can’t seem to leave the campus.

Chancy refuses to leave his home

Chancellor Diaz* loved his tobacco. He was often seen smoking what was considered to be the gentlemen’s cigar all the time, even at his home in UPLB, the executive house.

Diaz was the first to live in this abode during his term as UPLB chancellor. When the esteemed pillar of UPLB education passed away, his successor, Chancellor Samson, took on living the executive house, together with his wife, Constance.*

The Samsons oftentimes see their rocking chair moving even if no one was sitting there. They have also chanced upon seeing water boiling from the kitchen when in fact, no one took out the kettle to boil water. But perhaps the most distinct sign of the deceased Chancy’s presence in the executive house is the smell of tobacco lingering in the air, as felt by the Samsons and the guests who have stayed in it. They say that the hardworking chancellor has never left this home, even after he passed away.

Lost in Maria’s forest

Another familiar persona behind UPLB history is also that of Mariang Makiling, the mythical creature that is believed to be the guardian of the mountain. Stories are also told about Maria’s presence in UPLB, just like the time Lola Rita*, a 75-year-old woman who lives in the campus premises, almost didn’t make it out of the forest.

Lola Rita earns her living by making decors out of wild flowers she picks in the mountain. She has lived in the campus premises long before it developed into what that it is today so she was well aware of her surroundings. One day, however, she was picking wild flowers when she lost her way. To her disbelief, she couldn’t find her way back even if she knew the forest like the back of her hand. She stumbled upon a cave wherein she claims, she saw heaps of gold in jars. She said it must be Mariang Makiling’s treasures.

Not everyone would believe her that she actually saw Maria’s trove of treasures, but the weird thing is, the old woman, did go missing for three days, and managed to survive without so much of a memory of having food or water, just getting back home to her children.

This close to nature setting isn’t just for students yearning to get the most out of their education or for weary urbanites who embark on a much needed sojourn. Perhaps UPLB and Maria’s abode is a home for the spirits, fairies, souls and ghosts from the other world, as well.

*Not their real names