Filipinos are a really superstitious bunch. Our folklore is rich with stories of ghosts, goblins and giants. I remember when my grandmother died, there were whispers of many strange occurances after her death, and even I experienced something strange.

So when my mother passed away, I was waiting for something to happen. I think we all were. And, in a way, something did. You can chalk it up to coincidence, you can say it's paranoia, you can say we're making these things more than they are, but all in all, it makes for a pretty good story. Well, a couple good stories.

- When we got home from the hospital, the phone rang. I looked at Claudine and said, 'Here we go...', referring to the onslaught of phone calls that we would be getting. I picked up the phone, and no answer. Since then, we've gotten about 6 calls a day that were just hang-ups.

- At around 3 in the morning for the last couple days (since my mom's death), my mother's brother would get phone calls. His wife, who was very close to my mom would pick it up and there would be no one on the other end of the line. But in the background she could hear the sounds of a hospital (my aunt works in a hospital). Caller ID would say 'unknown number'.

- My godfather had come home to call my cousin (his daughter) in Brazil to tell her the news. After a tearful goodbye, he got up to go back to my house. As he was almost out the door, the phone rang again. He picked it up and said, 'Hello'. There was a moment of silence on the other end of the line. He said 'Hello' again, and on the other end of the line he heard a quiet, scratchy, 'Hello? Hello?' The voice to him was an all too familiar voice - my mom's. He knew that because my mom's voice was unmistakable - her vocal cords were damaged so she had this faint scratchy quality to her voice that made it difficult for her to talk. He went immediately back to the house and told the story, shaking and definitely spooked.

- Before she passed away, my father took off my mom's glasses, wrapped them in a paper towel and stuck it in his pocket. After she passed, when we came home, my father was putting all my mom's things together. He couldn't find the glasses. We looked all around, asked everyone, but no one knew where it was. The next day, we were about to eat lunch. We heard the doorbell. My dad and my sisters went to see who it was, but there was no one there. We then ate lunch. After lunch, Claudine went to Ewok's box to get his food. She saw something wrapped in a paper towel in the box where we keep his food and toys. She pulled it out, and there were my mom's glasses. No one put them there, and Ewok isn't tall enough to reach the box.

- As I said, we have people over all the time. Sunday night, the family came over again. Fatima went into the bathroom. She came out, and asked my dad, 'Who put Mommy's toothbrush on the sink?' He didn't know. He asked around. Her toothbrush had been kept in a plastic bag with the rest of her belongings, which were in my dad's bedroom. There was no explanation for how the toothbrush got onto the sink. Claudine had cleaned out the bathroom earlier that day and never saw it.

- Remember my cousin Marilyn - the one who saw ghosts when she was a kid? Well, after we got home from the hospital, we were so physically and emotionally exhausted that many of us took a group map in the living room of my house. When Marilyn woke up, she came up to me and Fatima and asked, 'Do you still have the jewelry box in the basement?' Fatima said yes. Marilyn then told us that she had a dream where she was talking to my mother, and my mother took her to the jewelry box. When Marilyn was little, she loved a pair of earrings that were in that box, and the matching ring. My mother gave her the earrings, but said that the ring was too big to fit her, but when she got older she could have it. Marilyn had forgotten about it, but was reminded in her dream. In the dream, my mother said that she could have the ring now, because it fits her. Marilyn and Fatima went down to the basement and looked at the jewelry box. No ring. Marilyn was relieved. Then Fatima mentioned that my mom had an identical jewelry box in her bedroom. She took Marilyn up to my mom's room and opened the jewelry box. They opened the ring drawer, and there was the ring, right on top. Marilyn has officially been renamed 'Creepy Cousin Marilyn'.

- I've always been superstitious about the third day after someone's death. I think that's because my aunts and uncles always told stories of weird things happening on the third day - just like how Jesus rose on the third day. It's a Filipino thing, I guess. Anyway, I was at work yesterday, and I was thinking, 'This is the third day...wonder if anything is going to happen.' But to me, nothing did. But when I got home, Claudine told Fatima to tell me her story. Fatima had gone out to lunch with a friend, while the rest of the family was shopping for supplies. She came home at around 11am, and as she was unlocking the door, she could hear the answering machine going off. Once she came in, all she heard was classical music coming out of the answering machine. She thought that it was someone who put the phone on hold and went around the house putting things away, waiting for someone to speak. But no one ever did. The music went on for about 3 minutes before Fatima picked up the phone and said 'Hello'. And the music kept on going on. Creeped out, Fatima hung up the phone. When she told me that story, I realized that at 11am that morning was almost exactly 3 days after my mom died.

Kinda sends shivers up your spine, no? They're just stories and coincidences, I know, but even though it's a little creepy, it's nice to know that maybe, just maybe, my mom is sending us little signals from beyond.

Posted by Yano at November 25, 2003 09:14 AM

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