I feel like I owe notsovictor an explanation as to why he's been abandoned. But all in good time. At the moment what I really feel like doing is celebrate All Hallows' Eve and share some of the scariest stories I've heard recently.

Her more junior officemates saw this as a good time to badger her with questions about their own cases. Needless to say, when they saw her enter the firm's main entrance, they immediately followed her to her personal office where, of course, she disappeared into thin air. Calling her cellphone, her co-workers were able to confirm that she was still stuck in traffic at the North Luzon Expressway.




There are many scary stories and urban legends out there. Just ask the folks at Psicom who've made an industry out of "True Philippine Ghost Stories" volumes 1 through 2339039403. But personally, even with this deluge, what becomes salient to me are those stories which are firsthand experiences of people I know or of people they trust. Because in my frail reasoning, if a good friend of a good friend says it's true, then it must be legit.
And so, submitted for the approval of the Midnight Society, I bring you The Stories of The Undead.
1. BODY SNATCHERS

My sister is a busybody so it came as no surprise to anyone that when she was supposed to be handling a case outside Manila, she was spotted back in the office much earlier than expected. She had perhaps wrapped up her court appearance quickly, and made it back to the firm to work on pleadings for her other cases.
Her more junior officemates saw this as a good time to badger her with questions about their own cases. Needless to say, when they saw her enter the firm's main entrance, they immediately followed her to her personal office where, of course, she disappeared into thin air. Calling her cellphone, her co-workers were able to confirm that she was still stuck in traffic at the North Luzon Expressway.
My sister has never had the power of apparition or disillusionment. But it appears that something in their office is a very good shapeshifter. Two weeks later, my sister, being the bosses' pet, was working late in the firm. She and one of her bosses were the last two people there. Through with her work, and catching sight of her boss walking to his office, she followed him to have her work checked. She entered her boss' office. It was of course empty. Her boss had never entered his office. He was absent that day.
It's a simple story, true. But what I find absolutely unsettling is the fact that there are things scrutinizing you all the time, studying how best to mimic you in your everyday life. And as soon as you turn a corner, there you are, only with someone very different running the show.
2. AN ANSWERED DOOR

The bedroom I had when I was smaller was on the second floor, overlooking the garage and the doors between the garage and the kitchen. The gate to the garage is never oiled so it's always creaked and moaned like the undead having sex. From the garage, there is an old rattly door that was never varnished or finished. It doesn't fit the door frame properly so when it's opened, it has to be pushed hard, which if course makes the door rattle loudly once pried off the frame. This door leads to the dirty kitchen which has another door into the main house and the dining room.
From my room, I used to listen for the sounds of the moany gate, the rattly unfinished door and the opening of the kitchen door because it meant mom or dad were home. They usually had pasalubong - something which only reinforced my behavior of listening for them and rushing down the stairs to greet them in their arrival.
One night, just like any other, I was on my bed, listening for the sounds of the gate and the doors. Sure enough, the large iron gates moaned open and close. The door from the garage to the dirty kitchens rattled open and rattled shut. I rushed downstairs right in time to see the doorknob of the kitchen door locked but twisting. Maybe mom or dad lost the keys. I opened the door to find no one there. My parents wouldn't arrive until hours later.
Since then I had been wary of rushing to greet my parents when they came home. And rightfully so. Several more times, I had lain on my bed listening to the gate and the two doors, but not hearing the subsequent footsteps or voices of my parents shuffling about in the kitchen or coming up to their room.
I have since moved to my sister's old room on the first floor of the house adjacent to the kitchen. Sometimes when I study late into the night in the kitchen, the familiar noises of the gate and the doors creak out of nowhere. I see the familiar twisting of the locked kitchen doorknob. And even more familiarly, no one enters or calls for the door to open.
I've never told this to anyone because our family's not big on the otherwordly and I'm not a big fan of having my facts belittled. However, a couple of months ago, my sister and I found ourselves working in the kitchen. She was reading a book, I was making notes for an exam. She asked me, "Do you ever hear noises here at night?"
I had a sneaking suspicion that I knew what she was hinting at, but decided to play it cool, in case I was wrong. "Noises like what?"
"Well, when I used to study here late at night, I'd hear the gate open and close, and then that ratty door, and then sometimes someone would try to open the kitchen door, but when I look out the window, there would be no one there."
"Well, when I used to study here late at night, I'd hear the gate open and close, and then that ratty door, and then sometimes someone would try to open the kitchen door, but when I look out the window, there would be no one there."
3. HOUSE BLESSING

Most of the time, blessing a house is a good thing. Sometimes, it makes matters worse.
My mom's friend used to spend his Friday nights with his drinking buddies playing poker at a friend's townhouse basement somewhere along Balete Drive. Recently, the friend who owned the house confessed to him that they were looking for a priest to bless the house. My mom's friend was perplexed because his friend's family had been living in that house for years, and blessings usually take place the first couple of months after a family moves in.
The friend explained that for the longest time, their maid had complained about ghosts walking about in the house's basement and that sometimes when she ironed clothes there, they would just watch her from the minute she stepped in to the minute she stepped out. She endured this of course because her employers did not believe her, and dismissed her claims as vestiges of her rural upbringing. They were forced to believe her, however, when a high chair (complete with a baby sitting on it) was sent levitating back into a wall right before their very eyes during dinner.
My mom's friend caught up with his friend again a few weeks later. They had finally had the house blessed. He explained that the priest was careful to bless the perimeters of the house so that no malignant entities could enter it. Ever since, the maid has reported that the basement has been free of any ghostly sightings, and nary a piece of furniture has been thrown against a wall.
"But we're still moving out," the friend added.
"But I thought the blessing worked? No more ghosts in the basement?"
"No more ghosts within the entire perimeter, actually. But it's still disturbing when you're trying to sleep at night and all the ghosts you cast out are just staring at you from outside the window."
4. JOANNE

My sister's friend went to one of the old law schools in Manila. For one particular class, their room was on the building's top floor where no one usually went. Wishing to go unnoticed in the professor's class, she chose a seat by the window.
The class was progressing normally enough. Until she heard someone calling her name. She looked around the classroom, thinking that a classmate was trying to get her attention. The voice kept calling "Joanne, Joanne!" but no one's mouth was moving - everyone seemed intent on the lecture, and no one seemed to be hearing the voice apart from her.
Becoming more and more anxious, she decided to block the voice out and pay really close attention to the lecture. The voice continued to call her name for ten more minutes. And then it ceased. The class ended, with no one at all telling her that they had heard someone calling her name. Outside the room, however, one of her classmates spoke to her.
"Did you feel anything strange during class?"
"Why?"
"Why?"
"It's just that in the middle of the lecture, someone sat beside you."
"Who?"
"All I could see was a shadow, but it moved towards you and sat with you throughout class."
"Who?"
"All I could see was a shadow, but it moved towards you and sat with you throughout class."
On the day of the next class, Joanne chose a different seat, but as her bad luck would have it, the seat beside her was empty. This time before she heard anything, she saw a figure which, according to her, almost looked like a man, but was too heavily obscured by shadow. It walked towards her and sat beside her. It again proceeded to call her "Joanne, Joanne. . ."
Trying to employ the same strength of will she had used the other day, she blocked out the now-embodied voice and paid as much attention to the lecture as she could.
The thing sitting beside her merely leaned in closer to her, pressed his head so close to her face they were almost touching and continued, "Joanne, Joanne . . ."
5. HUNGRY

My mother called me for dinner. As I sat down on the table, she was slicing a green mango into strips. As she finished, I took one strip, ate it, and then proceeded to pile food onto my plate. She on the other hand, turned around to get some rice from the rice cooker. As she set down the rice on the table, she accosted me:
"You finished the entire green mango?"
By this time, I was slicing through my tough porkchop and had already forgotten about the green mango.
By this time, I was slicing through my tough porkchop and had already forgotten about the green mango.
"Huh?"
"The green mango, you ate it all."
"No I didn't."
"No I didn't."
"Then where is it?"
That was a good question. But I had an even better answer to prove my innocence: The green mango seed was missing as well - even I couldn't have eaten that, or hidden it within the time she turned around to take some rice from the rice cooker and then turned back to set it on the table.
That was a good question. But I had an even better answer to prove my innocence: The green mango seed was missing as well - even I couldn't have eaten that, or hidden it within the time she turned around to take some rice from the rice cooker and then turned back to set it on the table.
Even more proof of my innocence: the plate itself where the green mango slices were placed was gone. We searched the entire house, all our cupboards and trahsbins for the wandering plate of green mango. Up to this day we are short one plate and one green mango.


