It was quarter to eleven in the evening. I was on my way to the resort’s reception area when I stumbled upon my friends taking pictures in front of the resort’s signage. When they saw me they immediately showed me captured pictures of spirit orbs. It’s not uncommon to capture these mysterious spheres in pictures specially at night. Some say it could be dust particles, some even argued perhaps pollens coming from nearby plants or trees. Whatever the case is, a thought flashed on my mind then to explore my old campus in Los Banos, UP. Everyone was excited about it so here comes the adventure...
It was a little bit past eleven when we got at my old campus. On my way, I was excited to see how much have changed since I last been in this area. It was after all more than six years when I last laid my eyes on this place. For the most part I like how easy it was to enter the campus and how very much lighted our University was that night. On my mind I was drawing a map of what would be the stops we’ll explore. From the gate the jeepney driver turned left, unlike before when jeeps used to turn on the right road. Okay, I said this would be perfect timing to be a tour guide while on board the jeepney. Needless to say we past by the Sunken Garden. One of my friends even said, “Are all UP Campuses have sunken gardens?”, well most tend to have one but I’m not really sure. But what’s the significance of this? One of my interviewees in my previous post, Jude told me a lot about sunken places. These mean areas a little bit lower than the ground. According to him the significance of sunken places really hit him hard back in his High School days. There’s more to that story so I will not elaborate more, watch out for a separate post on his experience. Anyway, sunken places like houses, gardens, creeks, etc. would always attract elemental creatures. He said they prefer to linger here, when I said they, picture five to six creatures per square foot not to mention those who prefer tree branches and other dark & moist corners. Well as for my experience I used to see them when I was little but as I grew I can only feel their presence. When we past by the Sunken Garden, it was very much lighted. It was a happy feeling passing this area, I didn’t get any negative vibes. I didn’t tell my friends though. Moving on, we continued to past by the Agronomy building, then the Animal Husbandry gate, the Fertility Tree (though only me noticed it), the grounds and finally we stopped by the Women’s dormitory. From here we decided to explore on foot...
I have a map in my mind to past by the mysterious endless bridge continuing on the library then circling back the Humanities area, cross the bridge near the lady holding a clay pot then go back the College of Arts passing Oblation then continue walking until we reach the gate again. From the dormitories area there was a strange feeling that someone may be looking at us. I then took a couple of pictures luckily they did not materialize there. I took a group pic when we past by the Thai temple. I thought it was still okay until I saw a small apparition of a face materializing on one of the guys’ head in the group. It was a face but I can’t really distinguish if it’s a man or a woman.
On our way to the endless bridge, I knew I would see again the giant Boabab trees. They surround the curved road near the bridge. When I was in college I thought these trees where giant sentinels who’ve been silent witnesses of dark accidents in the area. I also noticed that it was almost twelve midnight when we reached the gate. I told my friends the drill, do not panic, stay calm, do not look down the bridge, if voices are heard just ignore them. I knew the story of a woman who jumped on this bridge. I never have felt her or seen her but on my first day in the campus, my mom & I had a strange experience. I was a Freshman so I didn’t know yet the jeepneys back then like where are the stops and where can we ride one. So from the library, my mom and I saw this bridge and crossed it to get to the clinic. It was very early in the morning and we just realize we’ve been walking for ages. My mom even said, “Wala atang katapusan itong tulay na to.” I looked back and saw that we were half way through. So we just continued on. Several days after at the Men’s dormitory my roommate who was 3 years ahead of me told me I’ve just been tricked by the lady in that bridge. He said she always does that to new comers. I got scared actually and from then on I never crossed that bridge alone. Now is a different story, I have nine friends with me and it was midnight. I thought we could just take pictures and cross it quickly. So I then again took group pics and we continued on the back of the library. It was a weird sensation, I suddenly looked back to see one of my friends running behind. I immediately stopped and probe. I pretended to be the last one on our line. There it was a small presence. How can I tell? Perhaps it depends on each person who has third eye. In my case I would feel heaviness like someone’s riding you on your back. If the presence was strong it can even hurt. So I ushered him to get in front of me in our pile. When I got back home and looking at the pictures in that area, I saw a somewhat unclear presence. It looked like a shoulder of a lady right behind my friend in the left most part of the picture, he was the same guy running behind. She appeared to be wearing a blouse with gold and black pattern. Perhaps just optical illusion, you can also say it was just the trunk of the old tree in that bridge. Whatever it was, I still can’t deny the presence I felt upon crossing the bridge.
Continuing in the library, I told my friends that this building has a weird shape. From afar it will resemble a coffin on a stand. We went in the front steps and took pictures. Different feelings were observed. Some of them said, “Feeling ko meron nakatingin satin mula sa loob.” I had the same feeling too but not really any mere presence. So we walked towards the Pegaraw, the winged tamaraw and took group pics. Some of them has heard about the story of the statue of this lady holding a clay pot who tends to shift positions so we decided to head towards her. On our way down from the library, to the left I saw the old Balite tree right beside the Biological Sciences building. As always this tree would give me the creeps. I then took several pictures.
When we reached the statue of the lady, I had this weird feeling that I saw her before holding the pot on her head, well at least that’s how I remember her. But now she’s holding it right beside her thigh. Perhaps it was another of those optical illusions. I never felt any presence though in this area perhaps due to that fact that it was very well lighted right now unlike before when she would be just standing on top of the domed temple shadowed by the trees. We then went back on the Humanities area to see the campus’ replica of the Oblation. He was still the same old Oble as we call him back then, dark, serene and forever looking up. We finished our small adventure by taking group pictures behind the UP Los Banos signage in the gate. We all went back to the resort and slept. I haven’t had the chance to interview them yet one by one, perhaps I’ve missed something during our night tour or maybe not. But then again, it was a relaxing feeling to go back and see your campus on a different point of view with new set of friends.
