Lola Sabel and a couple of ghost stories

(excerpt from my journal entry dated November 13, 2011, a Sunday)

It was Lola Isabel’s birthday pala on November 11. Noong buhay pa si Nanay, lagi niya ipinaghahanda ang birthday ni Lola Sabel kahit patay na si Lola. Tapos noon ngang namatay na rin si Nanay, ayun, pati birthday ni Lola nakalimutan na rin namin.


Ganun naman talaga ata e. When you die, people tend to forget about you. Gradually, of course. Kasi nga people have to get on with their lives. And living is definitely not mostly about the dead, right? I mean, at least, if you’re not a spirit questor or a medium. Or if you’re not a filmmaker obsessed with zombies—hehe. But even if you are, I don’t think you’d bother with names, dates and places regarding the dead, right? I mean, in zombie movies, most ghouls are just cardboard characters—they have no character development, whatsoever. They’re just mindless, voracious flesh-eating die-hard recently dead corpses. Okay, maybe some are not recently dead. By some voodoo magic, there are some corpses who rise up with “the funk of 40,000 years,” sabi nga ni Vincent Price. Anyway, that’s that about Lola Sabel’s birthday. From her birthday to zombies—what a connection! Hehe.

Lola succumbed to diabetes complications also, just like Nanay, Lolo Doro and Tio Efren. I remember the morning she died. She had been staying with us for several years already. Nanay was taking care of her because she had developed gangrene on a foot (I forget which foot). Hindi naman siya nasugatan e, unlike Nanay na nakalmot ng pusa yung binti kaya nagkasugat and nagka-gangrene. Basta ang alam ko, namula lang yung talampakan niya, tapos yun pala namumuo or may naiipong dugo na pala dun sa area na yun ng talampakan niya, hanggang sa namaga na iyon na parang may nana underneath. So, nung “napunit” yung balat niya on that area, 'yun na. Did I have to go into details? Hehe.

She was wailing the whole night long, seeing dead relatives at her bedside, out her window, etc. Yung mga taong dumadaan sa bahay namin that night, I can only imagine their reaction as they passed by and heard her cries. Baka kumaripas ng takbo. Hehe. I know this so, because I had insomnia around that time. Nanay was attending to her the whole night long, and she didn’t get to sleep much either.


Tapos, nung umaga na, ayun—graduate na sya. Inutusan ako ni Nanay na pumunta sa payphone sa kanto (sa may labasan sa highway pa) para tawagan sila Tito Meng and Tito Turo sa Pasay to tell them na yun nga, there’s death in the family. Wala pa kasing telepono sa lugar namin noon e. When I got home, naabutan ko sila Nanay and her kumara praying with lighted candles. Dito na din siya sa bahay binihisan e, sa may kwarto niya.

For several nights na kulang sa tulog si Nanay, she finally got the chance to sleep. Tapos nang natutulog na daw siya, meron daw babae na umupo sa may ulunan sa gilid ng kama niya, and the lady was caressing her hair. Syempre, hinala ni Nanay, momo yun. But then, she was too tired to get scared and be bothered. Bahala ka maghihihimas dyan, isip daw niya, matutulog ako.

There was one incident that I find very strange. Since insomniac nga ako then, dumating yung time na inantok din ako, and the only place I could sleep in was Lola’s bedroom. So dun nga ako natulog. The next day, my cousin Myrna said to me that they (she and our other cousins) were calling me when they saw me emerge from Lola’s bedroom. Apparently, I had awakened daw and went out to the living room and out on the streets, barefooted.  They were calling me, but I didn’t seem to hear them. I had a “look-around” the house, out on the street (where a tolda was set up) and then went back to sleep again. I don’t remember doing any of those things. Was I sleepwalking? Probably. But I don’t sleepwalk. I got possessed? Ahehe. Perhaps I could be a medium? Hmm…pwedeng sideline. Hehe. What else?

Ah, yes. Another strange thing. Months before Lola died, my father, my sisters and Lola Sabel were in the living room, watching TV. My father and one of my sisters (Tina) happened to look in the direction of the window, and may nakita daw silang matandang lalaki with stooped shoulders wearing a white shirt na naglakad nang mabilis across the window. Akala ni Tatay, magnanakaw, kasi nakapasok sa likod ng bahay e. So, pinaabangan niya kay Tina sa bintana kung dadaan daw uli sa bintana yung mama and aabangan naman ni Tatay sa labas ng bahay. E wala naman tao dun. So yun na yun—may umepal na momo sa bintana namin. Ahehe.

Now, noong burol ni Lola sa bahay, the same thing happened to my cousins. Bantay sila sa ataol ni Lola, kasi nga kaugalian or paniniwala nating mga Pinoy na bawal iwanan ang patay. The basis for this belief is that there are “creatures of the night” in Pinoy myths that are body snatchers daw. I read somewhere na kung meron daw patay somewhere near, nag-aamoy langka daw sa “bango” yung bangkay and it whets their appetite. Yum-yum! Hehe. So, they “snatch” the bodies and replace it with the “bark” of a banana tree (or plant, whichever you prefer), which by some voodoo magic, they “transform” into a resemblance of the dead person in the eyes of ordinary mortals. They can’t do this if there’s at least one person guarding the corpse. So that’s that.

So, yun nga, bantay sila pinsan kay Lola. There were three of them, I think. Then bigla daw may kaluskos silang naririnig sa bintana ng living room, as if someone was scratching against the window screen. At first, they didn’t pay attention to it. They couldn’t see it anyway kasi may kurtina yung bintana. Pero persistent daw yung ingay and lalo pang lumakas. So, nagdecide sila na silipin kung ano yun. Usapan nila, sabay-sabay daw nilang hahawiin yung kurtina and sisilip sa bintana. Yun nga ang ginawa nila and pagsilip nila—ayun! Dumaan uli si old man “with the Hanes t-shirt” daw. Sa sobrang takot daw nila, napahangos daw sila sa kusina. It’s funny kasi yung isa daw pinsan namin was on all fours, so gumapang siya hanggang kusina on all fours—ahehe.

Finally, after a few minutes, they went back to the living room, they had to anyway. Nakiusap na lang daw sila sa aming phantom Hanes endorser. “Huwag nyo naman kami takutin,” sabi daw nila. After nun, ayun, okay na ulit. Those were the days! I haven’t seen ghosts yet. Yung nakita ko dati, duda pa ako e kung totoo ngang multo yun e. Kasi parang tao lang din. Anyway, laban pala nila Pacquiao–Marquez ngayon. Go, Manny! Yeah! Chapter.