The Engineering Building

Somewhere in the Philippines, there is this engineering building I've spent most of my college life in. Now, I get to see it twice a week for my part-time teaching classes. During the day, the halls of the building are brimming with life, but at night, when everyone has left the building, the cold, the dark and the quiet that would greet you would send chills down your spine. Through the years I've known the building I've heard of many spooky stories, but for now, I am sharing with you some of my stories - those that I've personally experienced as a student, and as an instructor.

Story Number 1: Candle Scent

We just successfully defended our research paper. Our team aced the defense and we were beyond joyful. Finally, we could release the stress and most importantly, get off of our (then) best corporate get-ups. We loved our outfits but as Engineering students who were about to get dinner and head home, we opted for comfort over style - it was 9PM on a weeknight after all. Since we were all girls, we all went to the same rest room (public with cubicles). There were a lot of chitchat and a lot of laughing and goofing around that we didn't notice we were the only ones left, but since we were "residents" of that building, we paid no attention to the cold and dark, plus we were there so it wasn't quiet. When we were walking down the hallway of the fourth floor, I caught the scent of a burning candle. I tried shrugging it off owing to the fact that there are several Chemical laboratories on the fifth floor and there may be people conducting experiments there, but then, my group mate stopped in her tracks and said, "Can you smell that?" My brain went into overdrive and in a span of two seconds, I have put two and two together - No way should a smell of a burning candle reach the fourth floor at that hour.

First, there were no classes nor experiments held because it was already 9PM on an exam week, and all the lights of the building were off. Second, the next building is so far and we can actually see it from a distance and there's no burning candle anywhere. Third, in between these buildings, there's an empty canteen and an empty space and there really is no one there. Fourth, all classrooms were open, all lights were off, there's no sight or sign of a burning candle anywhere. And so, before I could think of the 5th reason, we ran like crazy to the ground floor. And believe it or not, the smell of the burning candle followed us all the way to the ground floor. We got out of the building, and the school entirely in record time.

Then we of course posted our encounter online. The comment of one of our professors got our attention.

He said, "He just wanted to say Hi. He doesn't harm people."

We were definitely spooked.

Story Number 2: Bridge

Back in college, almost all of our major subjects required research papers. And so, this story took place after another successful defense of one of the many research papers I submitted.

It was 7PM, I just successfully defended my research paper and then I realized, I still haven't submitted the final requirement for my Sociology class. I decided to submit it then since the drop box was only two buildings away, and all these buildings were connected with footbridges so I thought I'd just stretch and walk it out. I was approaching the bridge of the Engineering building to the next building when I felt weird chills, but grades > chills so I just kept walking.

Right in the middle of both buildings, I heard a loud but low sound - kind of like the sound of a very heavy object being dragged across the floor. I didn't mind it, thinking it was just the store restocking. But the sound grew louder and louder, the wind picked up its pace too, until the sound felt like it was surrounding me. I was scared out of my wits of course, but I tried to act strong thinking that it might bother me more if I had shown how scared I actually was. The closer I get to the next building, the louder and closer the sound got - it was making me dizzy. I counted the steps...three, two, one, I crossed the bridge and then the weird sound was gone. Of course, I crossed the bridge again going back but that time, I made sure there were a lot of people.

Story Number 3: Moan/Cry

This happened very recently. I was quite busy discussing about our lesson for that day when suddenly, me and my class felt a gust of wind, followed by a "moan" or "cry". It was loud, loud enough to stop me from discussing, and loud enough to bother my students. We all looked at each other in the eye, and they asked me, "Ma'am, did you hear that? What was that?" The next building was visibly empty and there was no way that sound came from there. It was very clear and very loud, kind of like it just came from outside the room - but again, there was no one there. I just told them to shrug it off and continued with the lesson.

I don't know if all I've experienced are truly paranormal but I can't explain them either.