I'm back with yet another story. I never realized until recently that I did have a lot of odd things that happened to me in the past!
I'm not sure how other countries perceive Elementals to be, but here in the Philippines, they are called "Engkantos", "Anitos" and so on. These Engkantos and Anitos used to be worshipped by ancient Filipinos until Spain decided to force Christianity on us a few hundred years ago, and only then were they thought of as evil entities.
Personally, I think Elementals are a part of nature, too; but were made differently - just like when someone would be born with an extra toe, no arms, no legs, etc. To me, they're like nature's "special" brothers and sisters. But of course, please do enlighten me if my understanding is wrong - because that was just an uneducated opinion formed based on what I have seen.
The first story was when my family and I were on a 3-day vacation in Baguio City. I was around 16 or 17 at the time.
Baguio City is famous for its many hauntings, especially after the 1990 (or was it 1991?) earthquake that pretty much reduced the city to rubble.
But I honestly don't think what I saw was a ghost - somehow it had a different "feel" to it.
The house that we stayed in was a vacation home owned by my mom's boss, and she was nice enough to let us use the place for free. The house was situated at the middle of the mountain, so you would need to drive up from the foot and you can drive all the way up to the top as well.
The house only had one private room, and two semi-private rooms; because the rooms on the second floor may be separated by walls and two different doors, but both rooms are mezzanine types, so I can see the living room from where I was.
On the first night, we were still tired as hell because of the eight-hour drive to the city and spending the rest of the day shopping for trinkets to bring home to our friends. But since I just ate, I cannot go to sleep yet because of my acid reflux - so I decided to grab the book I brought from my bag.
While I was reading, I noticed something flicker, like a quick flash of light in my peripheral vision. I looked up from the book and to the window where I think I saw the light, but nothing was there. So I went on reading, and it happened again - but this time, when I looked up, I was in for a surprise.
There was a bluish-white ball of light. It wasn't very bright, but luminescent. I'm guessing it's as big as a volleyball, or maybe slightly smaller. And if I were to estimate my distance from it, I'd say around ten feet--far enough to see it clearly. I was scared at first, but for a person who's easily attracted to shiny things and sometimes too curious for my own good, I continued to watch in awe.
It looked almost magical. It bobbed up and down very slightly as it glided, and it left some sort of translucent, almost transparent "tail" like a comet as it moved. Then it passed behind a tree. Again, to my surprise, it emerged on the other side of the tree, but no longer as one white ball, but hundreds of tiny little swirling balls of light. It was awesome! I admit I still felt a little scared, but it was too pretty to ignore. I had this feeling that whatever it was, it was playing with me. Then, it passed behind another tree, and then when it emerged, it was one big ball again.
By the third time it emerged, the window only had enough space so I had to stand up and walk towards the window to continue watching it. It kept doing the same thing - compressed into a ball, scattering, then compressing every time it passes behind a tree - until it got so far up the mountain that I couldn't see it anymore.
I don't know, but to me it was awesome. I've never seen something so unnaturally pretty in my life.
Of course, just like any person would do, I told everyone about it. My sister was asking why I wasn't scared, and I admitted I was at first, but when I looked at it long enough it looked so pretty and it didn't seem to mean any harm.
My stepfather said it might have been "St. Elmo's Fire", but after researching about it, St. Elmo's Fire behaved differently, so I didn't really think it was what he said it might be.
Then I learned about swamp lights. Of course, there isn't a swamp anywhere near there, but I needed to find out what it was. But swamp lights are chemical reactions in the swamp that causes it to light (like methane mixing with something and it burns a white, sometimes blue light) but again, it didn't look like fire. Besides, fire doesn't glide the way the mysterious white light did. Not to mention the shape, then scattering, then reshaping again.
I left the city without any answers, but memories of the pretty lights. I even remember making a painting of it (it was sold already) because it just looked so pretty and mysterious that I needed to show everyone how it looked like.
I have friends with different beliefs - Christians, Muslims, Satanists, Atheists, Wiccans - and when my Wiccan friend saw the painting she asked me what it was. I told her the story, and she said I might have encountered an Elemental; and it might have been the Wind - a manifestation of the Sylph.
I researched online right after she said it, but none of the images I saw were the same. However, what made me think that it really was an Elemental was what she said that they are neither alive nor dead; that they have taken a different evolutionary turn from most things, and the wind elemental is most commonly seen as a white or yellow light.
To be honest, I am really not sure what it was, but all I know is that I didn't feel the same fear I did when I experienced ghostly stuff. Of course, I was afraid at first, but after a while I just felt like I was drawn to it. I could just imagine how the ancient Filipinos would see this as, and no wonder they worshipped them.
What are your thoughts about this? I'd love to know what you think.
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