Undas: Philippine Ghost Stories

Last Trip

The Philippines is rife with superstitious beliefs and older people loved them-whether to scare little kids into obedience or just to mess with them, it didn't matter. It was fun. I'd completely forgotten about one certain belief until my friend told me her story.

We were students at the University of the Philippines-Diliman, a pretty big campus, even for university standards. I loved walking the many paths through fields and miniature forests to get to classes. It was one of those campuses that let the flora grow however it wanted, the nature just as part of the architecture as the buildings.

But sometimes walking just isn't practical, especially when you have class on one side of the campus and another immediately after on the opposite end. Even the most lenient of professors wouldn't forgive being tardy for over half an hour.

To help its students, the administration allowed jeepneys to roam the campus as a kind of localized public transport system. They came in several flavors, each with its own winding route it was allowed to traverse. They ran all day and most of the night, which was good news for a lot of us who had to burn the midnight oil to keep up with our professors' demanding curricula.

One night, my friend was one of these students.

Okay, not really.

She fell asleep in the library and didn't notice the time. Now, the main library stays open until midnight so the librarians are used to having students pounding their heads against thick textbooks and worn notebooks until closing, so they didn't bother waking up my friend until it was lights-out time.

She'd been the only student left.

My friend's parents were very strict with her, and this was the time before mobile phones were commonplace so she couldn't just call ahead to reassure them she was fine or ask for her dad to come pick her up. Scared that her punishment would just get worse the later she was out, she got on the first jeepney that passed by. No one else was on-just her and the driver. It was late at night after all.

A few minutes into the ride, she noticed how the driver kept glancing at her through the rearview mirror. Occasionally, he'd even turn away from the road to look at her directly. She'd squirmed in her seat, refusing meet his gaze. Our elders always warned us to never stay out too late. The night is a dangerous time for everyone, but women always have more to fear, especially alone.

Just when she thought she couldn't get any more frightened, it got worse.

My friend was familiar with all the jeepneys' routes, so she noticed when the driver started taking turns he wasn't supposed to be taking, making the trip longer and longer, sometimes moving into roads that didn't even have street lamps. My friend held her breath each time they were plunged into darkness, certain that someone would hop into the jeepney's gaping door and pull a knife on her.

My friend feared for her life. She wanted to jump off right there and then, but grew too scared. What if she was in the middle of nowhere? What if someone was out there waiting for her to do just that? What if jumping would just hasten whatever the driver's plans were?.

So, she kept quiet, silently praying. She wouldn't be the first victim on campus. Just the month before, they'd found the body of a woman-naked, tied, and gagged-stuffed into a black trash bag and tossed into one of the many fields on campus where the grass had been allowed to grow up to people's chest. She kept praying. Eventually, her prayers were answered.

Relief flooded through her when the driver veered into a familiar road, and kept going until they reached her stop.

She was getting ready to jump off and sprint, wanting to leave the whole mess behind her and forget it had ever happened, when the driver turned to her and...apologized.

"I'm really sorry if I scared you, miss," he said.

My friend just stared unsure of what to say, and also not wanting to provoke him. They were still alone.

The driver had paled, she'd noticed, and seemed to be struggling for words. "You... you have to burn your clothes. I know it sounds crazy, but please."

"Why?" my friend asked, curiosity getting the best of her.

"Hija, have you heard of the superstition: If you see a headless reflection, your death draws near?"

My friend shook her head.

"The reason I kept looking at you was because whenever I looked at your reflection... you didn't have a head. That's also why I took different roads. I was hoping to shake off the negative energy that was following us. I think it's still with you. You need to burn your clothes when you get home, miss. For both our sakes."

My friend went home that night shaking, barely registering her parents' scolding. When they finally went to sleep, satisfied at all their shouting, she immediately went to the back of their house, tossed her clothes into a metal trash can and set fire to them.

She thought that'd be the end of it, but a few days later, the jeepney she'd ridden appeared on the news. The driver had crashed into a tree on campus, immediately killing him. It turned out, the omen hadn't been for my friend.

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Disclaimer: Story isn't an original. It's an urban legend that's been circulating around campus for years now. I took a few liberties at the storytelling.

Pictured: A jeepney in the Philippines. Really popular form of public transport in the country, for anyone who isn't familiar with it. (Source: https://pilipinongbata.wordpress.com/)