Seeing a Ghost

As we pray for our dear departed, we acknowledge the existence of God and life hereafter. So it is silly to ask the question, “Do you believe in ghosts?”

People of faith take the words of the Holy Bible as Truth, and we know that we transcend from our earthly life to either the eternal company of God or in the burning flames of Hell.

Ghosts do exist, but many people, luckily, do not encounter them. There are some who do – and I can say that I belong to that exception.

In 1998, my family and I were invited by a friend to spend our vacation in their palatial home in Dumaguete City. We then went dolphin watching in Bais City, and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

After dinner, we were ushered into two rooms located at the second floor of the house.

Since our three little children were with us, my wife slept with two of them in the inner room while the youngest stayed with me in the adjacent room with a window.

All dead tired from the trip, we easily fell asleep. It must have been about 12 midnight when I thought I was dreaming: I saw a woman in white standing at the foot of the bed where I was lying.

I opened my eyes, and shook my head. I realized that I was awake and that there was a ghost in the room. I called my wife, but she remained sleeping.

I closed my eyes and prayed the “Our Father.” When I opened my eyes again, the ghost

was no longer there.

Immediately, I stood up carrying our youngest son with me, and slept with my entire family on the bed in the other room. In the morning, I told my wife about it, but not our host, afraid that I might be laughed at.

About two years later, while attending to a case in Dumaguete, I had a chance meeting with my friend. He invited me for lunch, so I joined him in his home. He said that he usually took a short afternoon nap, and as the boat back to Cebu was yet to leave in the evening, he convinced me to take a rest as well.

He then ushered me to the same room where I encountered the ghost. This time though, I narrated my experience with my host. He then responded that while he had not seen a ghost, he was told by their house help about seeing a woman in white in the room while she was cleaning it.

The house help then pointed to a woman in a family portrait, who was a departed aunt of my friend and who used to live in the house. She was buried in the family cemetery a few meters from the house.

Knowing that, I then offered a prayer for her.

There had been other times that I had felt the presence of a ghost, but that experience in Dumaguete was the most vivid encounter.