Ghost Hunting Trashy Finds and Almost Real Gems by Prospero Pulma Jr.

Ghost Hunting Trashy Finds and Almost Real Gems

I’ve just watched my 20th (or 30th?) ghost video on Youtube. The playlist was a good combination of punks in white sheets and bed sheets (definitely ruined a cyber ghost hunter’s day), ghouls made up like the characters in Asian horror flicks (freaking copycats), victims of poltergeists trying hard to look scared out of their pants (potential B movie talents), and yes, the real deal, or the real dead.

Out of the paranormal trash that I’ve wasted precious bandwidth on, one thing stood out. It wasn’t even a video but a picture taken of three nurses of Tacloban City’s Bethany Hospital (that’s what the caption claims). The nurses looked like they still had pulses and beating hearts, that’s for sure, but the real code status of the apparition behind them was doubtful. It could be a white lady (maybe she’s the first lady of the kapre that why she’s called the white lady) of Philippine ghost folklore or the fourth nurse who was tardy for the photo shoot (why the different scrub suit then?) or their supervisor, but with a getup like that, a super wouldn't need to issue memos. But if you know the place well, like many Warays, you’ll know that there can be an iota of truth in the image.

I’m from Tacloban, our school was Bethany’s neighbor, and I’ve been to the hospital a number of times (not as a patient, thank you, and definitely not as a ghost hunter). There was something about the hospital, maybe it’s the gloomy ambience (but it’s a hospital not Disneyland) or the fact that it’s older than most of today’s senior citizens (meaning more people have lived and died in it), or both that goosebumps easily erupt when things start bumping at night.

Now, on to my 40th video. Hope it’s not punks again.


Prospero E. Pulma Jr.