HAPPY HALLOWEEN

During my years of living in the Philippines, I learned a great deal about their society, their folklore and their myths. I am about to share with you three stories of the strange and unusual. If you scare easily, DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER, these stories are real!

ATTACK OF THE LITTLE PEOPLE
Most societies around the world have stories of little people. They are sometimes called Gnomes, Trolls, Gremlins or Leprechauns. In the Philippines, they are called Little People. This story was told to me by a Philippine Air Force officer while we worked together on a post. This story happened to some of his relatives in the province of Cebu.

One day a little girl was playing ball outside her house. The ball would bounce around and she would chase it and then bounce it again. During her fun, the ball hit a mound of dirt in the backyard of the house. The mound was crushed slightly from the impact of the ball. As the girl fetched her ball, she started to feel ill. She went inside and told her Mother what had happened and went to bed. During the next few hours, the girl developed a high fever and fell into a comatose state. She could not awakened and all indications were that she was getting worse.

The mother called the local family doctor to the house. The doctor checked over the child but could find nothing medically wrong with her. The doctor suggested calling for a local faith healer to help the stricken girl. The faith healers are called Witch Doctors!

The Witch Doctor showed and checked the girl over. The witch doctor concluded that the girl was under an evil curse. The witch doctor asked the mother what the child had been doing that day and the mother replied with the ball playing story. The witch doctor went into the backyard and found the mound of dirt that was damaged from the ball.

The healer returned inside to inform the mother that Little People live in mounds of dirt. When the girl's ball hit the mound of dirt, it angered the Little People who live there and they put a curse on the child.

The witch doctor told the mother to fix a plate of rice mixed with sugar. The mother did so and the witch doctor took the offering toward the mound of the Little People. The witch doctor laid the plate down and prayed over it. When the small ceremony was completed, the witch doctor told the mother that if the Little People accepted the gift they would release the child from their curse.

The next morning, the little girl woke up and acted as if nothing had happened. The men of the house went into the backyard to find the empty plate and tiny human footprints leading from the dirt mound to the plate. The footprints surrounded the plate and not a drop of rice was to be found. They inspected the dirt mound and found that the impact area from the ball was no longer there!

THE BIG BLACK DOG

This story took place on Perimeter Road which went around the entire perimeter on the inside of the base wall at Clark Air Base. Perimeter Road was very desolate and most who lived on the base did not know of its existence as it was off limits to everybody except the security police.

Many stories surround evil spirits in the Philippines. There are ground spirits and sky spirits and many other ghost and monster stories. This one is about a big black dog. The big black dog was believed to be an evil spirit that would do no good to anybody who came into contact with it. The big black dog lived in fields and empty areas away from people. The big black dog was said to be enormous and have shaggy black fur. Its eyes glowed red.

I was on patrol one night with my partner, at the time, and we were in a jeep on Perimeter Road. The moon was bright and the air was warm but not hot. As we turned a corner, the temperature dropped drastically giving us both the chills. Traveling just a little further we both saw it at the same time. Off to the side of the road was a big black form sitting in the field next to the roadway. The moon lit up around it just enough to see the shape of a sitting animal or something resembling that. In the middle were two glowing red orbs that looked like fire! The jeep headlights swept across the figure and it moved. Shaggy black fur shimmered in the moonlight as the thing moved.

My partner was driving and slammed on the brakes. As we questioned each other as to what we saw it disappeared. We took flashlights and lit up the area and nothing was there. We looked at each other and decided it was time to leave.

Was it the Big Black Dog of folklore we saw? That's exactly what it looked like to us.

THE VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED

This next story is more legend than fact. I have never been able to verify the story and I tried. The closest I came to proof was a conversation I had with a DOD guard while on post. He claimed that a friend of his family had traveled to this village and was never heard from again.

The story is short and goes like this: Nearly fifty miles north of Clark Air Base was a small village. The village was believed to be abandoned. Nobody was ever seen during the daytime. People who traveled through the town mysteriously turned up dead shortly after. Two puncture holes were found in the neck and all of the blood was gone! People who traveled through the town at night were never heard from again. The village was believed to be inhabited by VAMPIRES! The people who traveled through the town during the day, the vampires would get that persons scent and at night would track them down for a midnight snack.

I know for a fact that the village is there. But, are the towns folk really vampires? I'll leave that for you to decide and as Robert Ripley used to say,"Believe it or not!"

Happy Halloween!!!
Dave