Residual Haunting

I think the earliest recollection I have of a haunting was in the house that may paternal great andfather built and it is now 104 years old in a town south of Manila, Philippines.

It happened so many times during my childhood, I did not even give it much though. Until we moved and now I'm an adult, I now realize that it was a residual haunting.

It happens during the day. I'm in our living room playing or something and the staircase is right next to the living room. I would first hear the creak of the wooden stairs like someone stepped into the landing upstairs. Then I would look up automatically and I would always see a pair of bare feet on top and then I would see the right foot lift and descend the next step but it would disappear. I saw a pair of feet to midcalf the rest of the body was cut off by the ceiling.

So often at night after everyone is upstairs in their bedroom, I would hear the clatter and the tinkling of plates, forks and spoons. I remember saying it to a hired helper as we share the same room if she can hear it to make sure I wasn't imagining it. She heard it too alright but said it was just huge rats making all the noise.

As recently as last month, I brought the nocturnal utensil-tinkling phenomenon to my Mom in conversation - we haven't lived in that house in 20 years. She said she heard it too, all the time but just ignored it. It was an old house with alot of memories.

What happens to us ...

When our brain signals are null? When our physical bodies decompose? Will our consciousness survive? Will our soul, under the pretext of being eternal, survive?

It all started off as a fascination. I love hearing about ghost stories and has had a few experiences myself (but we'll save that for later).

I don't claim to know the latest theories or equipment in the ghost hunting world. I'm still learning. I am in training.

So when I was given the opportunity to join a paranormal investigations group, I was so happy that I have been considered. This was 2 years ago.

Now fifty-plus investigations later, I'm still not tired of it. I burn gas money taking trips to our client's location but I enjoy doing it. I love the people I work with. It is rewarding to me to know that I have helped somebody make sense of their experiences or offer an alternative/logical explanation to their experiences. I am sleep-deprived the next day but when I listen to my recorder and finds that nugget of an EVP from all that white noise - it makes it all worth it.

I wish I have documented the previous investigations that I've been to. This is an attempt to recapture those memories - spotty as they may be.

Our most recent one (and I am hoping not the last one, can't get into the details at this time) was done at an animal hospital. Employees experiences include being scratched and pinched. We were even shown a photograph that was shot on one of the hallways and it showed a blurry see-thru image of a tall man. You can see his forehead and heairline, his pants and jacket and even his chuck taylors in the blur. It was a succession of photos of the same hallway taken from the outside. Each photo showed the same image but it was getting closer and closer to the camera. I don't know what to make of it. The dreamer in me hopes it truly is a ghost but the skeptic in me says it's inconclusive and if further testing can be done to rule out the possibilities of exposure etc, then maybe , just maybe it is paranormal. I tried to recreate the photograph but couldn't quite recreate it - but it doesn't prove that it was a indeed a ghost.