A Father's Last Farewell

This is another story that involves my first-hand encounter with the paranormal.

My story occurred in 1970 when I was still in the 4th Grade. I was a student in this coed elementary school in Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines that was located within a vast sprawling university campus known for its beautiful, acacia-lined avenues. I recall being a member of Section Makiling (named after a famous mountain in the island of Luzon) since all fourth grade sections where named after famous mountains in the country.

It was in the middle of the school year when one of the students in my grade level experienced a terrible tragedy. The student's name was Joyce M. (i.e., this is her true first name but I prefer to keep her surname confidential; upon request, I could email the surname to anyone who wants to know her true full name) and I believe she was a member of Section Sinukuan. Joyce's father encountered a terrible accident while he was attempting to board a jeepney somewhere in Quiapo, Manila while he was on his way to fetch his daughter after school. Her father slipped on the running board at the back of the vehicle causing him to fall and hit the pavement head-first. He was rushed to the hospital, fell into a deep coma but eventually died after a few days without recovering consciousness. He was laid in wake at the university's local chapel and it was during this period when this unusual incident occurred.

While her father was still lying in wake, Joyce still continued to attend her classes. Though still distraught with the death of her father I can still recall that she would still manage to respond with a faint smile to acknowledge the condolences from the teachers, her classmates, and other students. Our section's homeroom was just beside the room occupied by Joyce's section.

It was shortly before noon when a series of loud screams emanated from Joyce's homeroom. Our teacher immediately told everyone in our class to remain quiet and seated while she went next door to investigate what was going on. True to the nature of fourth-graders, curiosity got the best of us and a number of students from our section (myself included) decided to follow our teacher to find out what was happening.

The screams emanated from a girl that was seated immediately behind Joyce. This student and Joyce were seated on the left side of a table near the front of the class with the room's windows to their left (a small aisle separated their chairs from the windows). According to this girl, she witnessed a faint mist appeared slowly near Joyce's left shoulder along the left aisle and she claimed that she was suddenly overwhelmed by this feeling of coldness that enveloped her entire body causing her to shout out in fright.

When I arrived next door, I saw this throng of 4th graders huddled around that part of the room where the mist alleged appeared (the hysterical girl was already being consoled by the teachers and her friends). After much jostling I was able to see what they were looking at --- it was a circular spot of condensation on the red-tiled floor that has the diameter of a typical family-sized pizza. Students were putting their hands on the condensation and those who did were exclaiming that it was very cold. I managed to slip my own right hand on the spot and I swear to this day that the area on that floor was extremely cold. It was like putting your hands on the walls of your refrigerator's freezer. The funny thing was, after a person has touched the spot and removed the condensation on the floor, a new layer of condensation would suddenly reappear. This lasted for around 5 to 10 minutes before the condensation finally disappeared. I never managed to talk to Joyce personally after this incident but her friends said that she felt nothing unusual when the alleged mist appeared beside her.

A lot of stories floated around after this incident, the most famous of which was that the mist and the cold spot of condensation on the floor were manifestations of the ghost of Joyce's father who visited his daughter for the last time before moving on. I was already in high school when I got to know about this paranormal phenomenon called cold spot that is known to be a possible indicator of ghostly presences. I believe it was a genuine cold spot that I witnessed back then --- a ghostly phenomenon that I personally saw with my own eyes and even felt the freezing coldness of its condensation on the floor with my own hand.

This is just one of my personal experiences that I would like to share that made me truly believe in the paranormal, in ghosts especially.