You are here: Real Ghost Stories :: Apparitions / Voices / Touches :: Light Feet

Real Ghost Stories

Light Feet

 

This happened when I was around 13-14 living in a house-for-rent in Malabon. Upstairs were three bedrooms; one for me and my sister to share, one for my parents and one for my aunt. It had several rooms on the main floor, a couple of which our landlady used as storage units. The narrow walkway to the storage units did not have proper roofing, and plastic corrugated sheets were used as a makeshift roof. They were quite thin and translucent, so the walkway is always dimly lit with natural light. Our street was very cramped, with houses built almost right next to each other. It was easy to overhear the bustle in neighboring houses. I used to be able to hear classes being held at a school two streets over lol.

Our bedroom is small, so our wardrobe is kept in our parents' bedroom. We don't have a mirror either; we use the ones in our parents' or aunt's rooms. That being said, I loved using the full-length mirror in my aunt's room even when it's for non-lakwatsa purposes lol.

On this particular night, something on my shirt was poking my shoulder. I felt around for it but couldn't find the cause of it so I headed for my aunt's mirror to get a better look. Her windows were left open to let the breeze in, and there was enough light coming in from our neighbor's windows so I didn't bother turning on the ceiling light (The pros of a cramped neighborhood lol). The mirror is positioned in a way that you could always look out her window from the reflection.

As I'm inspecting my shirt, I start seeing movement behind me. At first I thought it was just the leaves swaying around, but then noticed the movements were very precise. I froze; instinct told me it was a burglar. I started focusing on the movement, not turning around in case they haven't seen me. Our house was old and was still fitted with jalousie windows--with the lights off, they might not have seen me yet. It was about 10 feet from the window when I made out the silhouette of a fairly muscular man. I started to panic, screaming internally, "Puteeek, may akyat bahay! (Friiick, it is a burglar!) " I stayed where I was, thinking he couldn't possibly have a way in from where he was. Regaining some form of composure I started to remember where we were and I started to panic again. Right beneath my aunt's window was the corrugated sheeting. Someone that muscular walking on them should have made a sound. They had next to no support so realistically, the sheets should have bent under the weight. It was completely silent, save for the leaves rustling in the wind outside. I kept staring at this silhouette sneaking its way towards the window and noticed it was unnaturally dark. There was plenty of light from the neighbor's house which should have reflected off of their hair and clothing, but didn't. My breathing got shallower and shallower the closer it moved towards the window; the wind seemed to be picking up at this point as well. Then it slowly turned to the right and melted into the tree's shadow.

I stood there frozen as I realized the wind stopped blowing the same time the silhouette disappeared.

An elemental maybe? I would love to hear your opinions. Thanks for reading!

Other hauntings by en_chuu

Hauntings with similar titles

Find ghost hunters and paranormal investigators from Philippines

Comments about this paranormal experience

The following comments are submitted by users of this site and are not official positions by yourghoststories.com. Please read our guidelines and the previous posts before posting. The author, en_chuu, has the following expectation about your feedback: I will read the comments but I won't participate in the discussion.

en_chuu (4 stories) (27 posts)
+1
4 years ago (2020-03-18)
[at] silverthane, If we were to follow Aswang lore, we're unfortunately too well populated for its liking. I appreciate you pondering on possibilities though!

[at] LFrog, thanks for reading! I think the majority of input here is that it is a ghost. Maybe the same one my sister saw in sleepy stupor. Beyond that, we have not had any other experiences with this particular spirit, so maybe it got bored with us hehe.
LFrog1386 (1 stories) (73 posts)
+4
4 years ago (2020-02-24)
Yikes that was a scary story, En Chuu! I don't startle easily but if I thought someone was about to break into my home then realized no HUMAN BEING could possibly do so from that position, I would have had ice coursing through my veins.

Fight or flight indeed, Daz! What does one bring as a weapon to a ghost fight?! LOL

Lady-glow, that link to Pepper's Ghost is awesome. I *knew* that the key to the illusion was a mirror but that article clarified how it works beautifully. Thanks for that.

My personal opinion is it was a ghost. I am not sure elementals can really be seen by humans (again,just my opinion). Aswang can fly but tend to be montrous in appearance and usually are women from what I've read about them. I hope it doesn't come back!
silverthane61 (4 stories) (344 posts)
+3
4 years ago (2020-02-24)
Wow! At first I thought this may have been a Wok-Wok or even some manifestation of am Aswang. But now, I am not too sure. Some of those specific beasts often appear concurrently with a strong odor, but you did not report that. Maybe what you saw was either a shadow being or a regular "ghost". I do not know.
en_chuu (4 stories) (27 posts)
+2
4 years ago (2020-02-19)
Lady-glow,
That could have been the case in this spirit's backstory. The Philippines has only recently started implementing safety measures, but only in company/government funded projects.

I'd upvote all of your comments, but I sadly don't have enough posts under my belt yet!
lady-glow (16 stories) (3149 posts)
+2
4 years ago (2020-02-18)
en_chuu

Thanks for your feedback, the new information helps to see your experience from a new perspective.

I suggested the Pepper's ghost possibility thinking that, perhaps, the image could have been a reflection from one of the neighboring buildings, but since your sister has seen a stranger in a different spot of the house, that theory can be discarded.

"The buildings around us are all residential, built with concrete with corrugated roofs"

If Filipino masons and their way of working are similar to the ones from Mexico, I would consider the possibility of a man dying during the construction of one of the buildings... Some times they work under minimal or non existent safety conditions.

If a ghost, it doesn't seem to be a negative presence, perhaps saying a little prayer every time he is around could help him to find peace.

Thanks.
en_chuu (4 stories) (27 posts)
+3
4 years ago (2020-02-18)
(cont'd from my last comment on Tweed's feedback) of bringing a change of clothes to work.

Hi Leahleigh! It was already pitch black outside, around 8PM.

Hi Daz! Your story gave me chills! I think I would have teared up seeing it so close without a barrier to separate us. It's very brave of you to run out and confront it. That's interesting-- what if shadow people are astral travelers/lucid dreamers travelling into parallel universes? Perhaps my shadow person is a traveler that unwittingly wound up on someone's roof!

Hey Biblio! Thanks for your explanation. I'm not well-versed with elementals to be honest, and as most of my personal experiences of spiritual beings have never looked tangible, it was just a wild guess. I wasn't sure if the large tree between our houses (hence me thinking the movement were from leaves swaying) may have had an inhabitant. I had a notion that elementals possessed other powers; stories I've read from the Philippines were of shape-shifting so why not lightness of feet as well?
I have more belief now that is is a spirit, especially if it's the same one that my sister saw upon waking up.
en_chuu (4 stories) (27 posts)
+2
4 years ago (2020-02-18)
Hey everyone, thank your for your feedback! Sorry, I meant to click the other option to show "participating in the discussion" but I guess wound up clicking the other option instead.

Lady-glow made me laugh though with her first comment-- brought to mind a picture that the entity's wearing Air Jordan's on our roof, since I'm not familiar with the ethereal air man. 😭 That is interesting, thank your for sharing the link on pepper's ghost.
At this point I'm not skeptical about anything-- scientific or supernatural causes-- although the silhouette looked very solid, unlike the wispy effect resulting from this optical illusion.
The buildings around us are all residential, built with concrete with corrugated roofs. As a privacy thing our windows are usually made so it's hard to see into if they're closed. Some have textured, frosted, full-pane windows; some still have jalousie windows. A Google search of "Simon Street Malabon" will bring up a good visual of what our neighborhood was like.

Hi Tweed-- that may be a good insight about a burglar's ghost. My sister woke up one morning to a silhouette of a man standing in our bedroom doorway wearing a black shirt and dark jeans. She assumed it was our dad (only male in the household) and went right back to sleep. Dad came home from work that day wearing a beige shirt and lighter denim pants. He's not in the habit of
Bibliothecarius (9 stories) (1091 posts)
+4
4 years ago (2020-02-17)
Greetings, en_chuu.

You have been commenting on others' narratives on YGS, so I do hope that you take some time to respond to our questions on your story. I'd like to address your final question: "An elemental maybe?"

Why in the world would you think that? First, you're in an overcrowded urban setting: "Our street was very cramped, with houses built almost right next to each other." Second, your neighborhood has been this way for some time: "Our house was old..." There's a limited natural environment for an elemental to protect in an old, overcrowded residential area; it sounds like the sort of location that an elemental would *avoid* not visit.

The corrugated roofing would have reacted to the presence of an elemental entity: "Someone that muscular walking on them should have made a sound. They had next to no support so realistically, the sheets should have bent under the weight." Elementals are nature spirits that seldom look 100% human; more often they have a distinctly inhuman characteristics, proportions, or forms. When they take a form, that form has mass in order to interact with the environment or to provoke a reaction; your entity did not interact with the roof it was standing on.

You may have seen a spirit (e.g.: ghost, shadow person), but you did not see an elemental.

Best,
Biblio.
aussiedaz (19 stories) (1565 posts)
+2
4 years ago (2020-02-15)
En_Chuu

''unnaturally dark''...a few years back I was walking down my driveway in the early hour of the morning on my way to work when I saw this shadow that I too would call ''unnaturally dark''.We both saw each other around the same time because it ducked down to hide behind a gate in what I assumed was an act of guilt, so like yourself I thought it was either a peeping Tom or a burglar or maybe both?

We usually have two choices when we are confronted in this situation. Fight or Flight, the fact that my wife and children were still sleeping in our home... Just like any man would do I went into fight mode and charged down my driveway (as quick as I could possibly run).

Back in the day I was quick enough to run under 12 seconds over a 100 metres, granted the old legs are probably not as quick as they used to be however, I still arrived at the gate thinking this coward is going to stand up to fight me face to face.

However, no one was there, I soon realised what I had seen was something else not natural to the earth Matrix.

Apparently there is a world inside a parallel universe somewhere in the greater consciousness system where we can exist as shadow people, it may be possible these shadow people have lived previous lives in the earth Matrix and they do visit earth from time to time, maybe they don't have the cosmic amnesia we have so it's an easier assignment for them to astral travel to our home as it is for us to do the opposite.

Once I had a lucid dream that felt like astral travelling, I found myself flying to a water world where I could breath underwater, sounds crazy right? Again based on my own research there are water worlds out in the greater consciousness systems... It may have been a dream, perhaps it felt like a dream for this shadow person who turned up in my world?

Regards Daz
Lealeigh (5 stories) (512 posts)
+2
4 years ago (2020-02-15)
Lady-glow,

When I saw your comment, I was trying to read too much into the alphabet part. I noticed that there are two lowercase "l's" and no lowercase "i". I thought that I was being slow in the head because I couldn't figure out the joke. Tough week.

Filling the character minimum usually ends up with things that are funny.
***
Hello en_chuu,

What time of night was it, if you can remember? Was it pitch black outside or was it early evening?

- Maria
lady-glow (16 stories) (3149 posts)
+4
4 years ago (2020-02-15)
Tweed.

Ha ha... You are right, my comment looks childish, and Melda hit the nail on its head.

By air man I mean someone ethereal in nature, the alphabet is for the need of a minimum of 50 characters for my comment to get posted.

En_chuu.

Could you describe to more detail the buildings surrounding your house?

Even if you don't answer my question, It would be a good idea to read about Pepper's ghost, an optical illusion that has been used by magicians for a long time. You might have seen only the image of one of your neighbours.

Https://cosmosmagazine.com/physics/the-science-behind-the-pepper-s-ghost-illusion

Https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcqyoYfHIFM

Thanks for sharing... Double-thanks for your feedback.
Melda (10 stories) (1363 posts)
+3
4 years ago (2020-02-15)
en_chuu - Please reconsider your decision not to participate. You will get more feedback from readers if you do. Many people will skip your story if you choose not to participate.

Tweed, I think that answers your question to lady-glow.

Regards, Melda
Tweed (33 stories) (2475 posts)
+4
4 years ago (2020-02-15)
Hi En Chuu,

You had a very atmospheric and chilling experience. I would wonder if it was an elemental too, because of the wind. But I don't know if they're known for taking a human form. If you live in a rough neighbourhood I'd also wonder if it was the ghost of a former bugler, so often our first impressions are right.

Thanks for sharing. I know it was scary but it made a suspenseful read.

Also, Lady Glow, are you okay?...maybe someone's posting stuff while you're away from the computer?
lady-glow (16 stories) (3149 posts)
+2
4 years ago (2020-02-14)
Air man?

A,b,c,d,e,f,g,h,I,j,k,l,m,n,o,p,q,r,s,t,u,v,w,x,y,z.

To publish a comment or vote, you need to be logged in (use the login form at the top of the page). If you don't have an account, sign up, it's free!

Search this site: