The Second Floor Occupant

It was on a particular long weekend when my husband and I went home to visit his family in Capiz. The province was popularly known to have been the place of paranormal entities and supernatural folklore.

Their house is just meters away from the shorelines which I deeply fell in love with the waters. The lot was so wide that it can fit 15 motorcycles. The family business is trawl fishing and everyday is a busy day for them. I have 12 in-laws. 6 boys (1 died in a vehicular accident) and 6 girls (1 died when still a baby. It was said that a stranger passed by the house and greeted the baby. And at night, she never stopped crying until she passed out. She was affected by "usog", considered to be a Filipino superstition where an affliction is attributed to a greeting by a stranger with an evil eye.) I did not believe at first but my husband was a witness and clearly recalls the face of the stranger which happened to be an Aswang.

Since I became part of their family, I've heard stories of Aswang (shape shifter monsters), Engkanto (fairies) and other paranormal entities that happened in their place, their house, specifically the second floor. The second floor has 1 bedroom and a wide living room that overlooked the whole garage of the house. Since most of my in-laws have their own families, the second floor remained vacant and was only occupied during reunions. That time, we were the occupants. I remembered my husband telling me one time that there's one particular spot on the second floor that has "someone" in it. A lady, to be exact. She has long hair, dressed in white and has no face. When my husband was a teenager, he has been choked by the lady in his sleep and tried dragging him towards the window to fall. But then, that was years ago.

One night, after dinner, his nieces dropped by the house for a sleepover. All of us were gathered in the living room located in the ground floor. We were watching TV but my husband started to goof around, tickling and chasing his nieces. All of them went giggling and screaming. Suddenly we heard a very loud bang from upstairs. It sounded like something has been lifted and dropped on the floor. It was so loud that we all stopped, looked up and looked at each other. Tatay, my father in-law and my husband went upstairs first and we followed behind their backs. It was dark. When the lights were switched on, I can't believe my eyes... The pillows were scattered everywhere on the living room of the second floor! Like who the hell will lift those big and heavy pillows (which were stuffed by Java cotton) all at the same time?! No one was up here and no one can lift those pillows from the bedroom to the living room without help.

Tatay and my husband checked the whole place hoping to find the intruder, but no one was there. The girls freaked out, scared and wanted to go home. Tatay said, "Don't go home. It's too dark outside. Let's all sleep in the living room downstairs." Then my husband turned to Tatay and asked, "Is she still here, 'Tay?" His father answered, "Yes. She appeared in my dream the other day, screaming at me to leave this house because it belongs to her." Upon hearing this, I promised myself never to set foot on the second floor again. That was the time I experienced horror. Though it may not be as super demonic as what I see in the movies but it's real and it's scaring the hell out of me.

Just a year after that incident, the province of Capiz was struck by the super typhoon Yolanda (Typhoon Haiyan). The second floor was blown off and was rebuilt. Since then, we never heard any disturbing sounds upstairs. Probably, she was blown off too.