The Haunting of Mary Rose | A SWC Entry

There I was on a cold Saturday evening waiting for the rest of the folks to arrive and was drinking hot chocolate while looking at her as she chatted with some of her classmates.

She was the main reason why I was here. Raging teenage hormones and a promise of hooking up was enough incentive for me to be part of this mad quest. You see this was not just an ordinary night of going out, getting drunk and hooking up with a girl. Tonight was a night for spirits to come out, demons to arise and chants to be said. Tonight would be to see a possessed girl.

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Ateneo de Manila had this unique class ran by Tony Perez who was dubbed the Philippines Ghostbuster. He and five of his students created the SPIRIT QUESTORS The organization grew and they were to go to a small town in Cavite, a few hours drive south of Manila.

Tony Perez

As we loaded up the van they began talking about what to expect and how to steel themselves to avoid being possessed. A lot of what they were saying was flying over my head as I was more intent in watching her white neck with an almost predatory glance.

I remember being startled when someone ribbed me and told me to pay attention because I was the most susceptible out of all of them. They were empaths, sensitives and psychics and I was the proverbial noob who did not have an ounce of psychic energy. I knew they were already judging me for my reasons why I was here.

They told me to wear a consecrated medal and keep it touching my skin. I showed them my very own St. Benedict Medal that until this day is still with me as part of my keychain.

The medal is a prayer of exorcism against Satan, a prayer for strength in time of temptation, a prayer for peace among ourselves and among the nations of the world, a prayer that the Cross of Christ be our light and guide, a prayer of firm rejection of all that is evil, a prayer of petition that we may with Christian courage "walk in God's ways, with the Gospel as our guide," as St. Benedict urges us.
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Off into the dark night we go. As the city lights dimmed and to be replaced by a long dark road occasionally lit by a single bulb. The darkness spreads as if infinite and the shadow of the trees can make your imagination play tricks of seeing monsters and demons.

I try to drown out their stories of the last possession that they went and how they need to be careful. I was among people that truly believed the unknown. I was still a skeptic as I have been raised from childhood by a devoutly Catholic Matriarch . We always had Angelus prayers at 6:00 PM sharp and if you are late you get to kneel on mung beans or salt while praying. Sundays were for Church and she would have us all go to retreats and seminars to make us model Catholic children.

The van stopped at a nondescript shack by the road. A lot of people were gathered around the house. Tony was sort of a celebrity and had at one point been featured in a Television show that specializes on occult topics. He shook hands with several people and they cleared the way.

In the inner grounds I saw a tangle of people who looked the same as if they were relatives. They each had a haunted look of someone who had seen something bizarre and had not slept for days. Here Tony did not shake hands nor give smiles but clasped the shoulder of one elderly man.

We entered the shack to see the immediate family around a woman. More of a girl because of her diminutive size. She was lying down, slowly mumbling words that I can barely hear. A woman beside her, the mother I assume, was silent crying, eyes red from crying constantly. The father sitting stoically beside her, attempting to look strong amidst an unfathomable occurrence in their lives.

Tony started to walk and the eyes of the girl twitched and in time with his every step. Stopping above her head. He knelt down almost reverently and touched her forehead. The eyes glazed and then took a particularly malicious glint and she started talking in tongues.

I studied Philosophy and I still had my Latin language class fresh from my mind and I could catch a word or two said in Latin. I really don't know how she knew these Latin words, maybe she’d overheard the priest in her town speaking Latin prayers over mass. Or was some other force was doing this?’

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Then she started to keen. An unearthly keen that I could not believe to be emanating from her small body. Two brawly men from the Spirit Questors attempted to hold her down and were promptly thrown to the wall. I paled as those two were large Football(Soccer) players and to swat them like straw men was something my mind could not comprehend. They promptly went back and used their knees to clamp down her arms with their entire weight.

I remember holding her hand not of lust but of fear for the unknown. Tony was still uttering something and I don't even remember who placed a basin of water and candle wax beside him. She was straining to get up and I remember looking down at her gaping maw. I was horrified and I told myself that this shit was straight out The Exorcist!!

I was traumatized as a child when I saw my parents watching The Exorcist. I still count it as one of the scariest thing that I have ever seen and I was apparently in it now. I was silently praying that she will not start violently puking all over us and I closed my eyes.

The keening started dropping off as she started talking to what I would guess as either threatening or pleading Tony to stop. My money is on threatening as there was venom in her voice.

It might have been a trick of the light, or my mind was impressionable because of the events prior but his rings looked like it glowed. I never asked anyone what I saw.

The girl settled down and Tony stood up to talk to the father. I was still looking at the girl. Her chest rising and falling with a steady rhythm. I caught the psychics talking about seeing a spirit leave the host and into one of the jars one of them was holding.

She told me that it could have been very bad if the spirit was able to escape and possess another person but they were prepared. Some of these exorcisms don't go too well she says matter of fact.

We made our way outside and the relatives were still deadly silent, their faces ashen and still retaining that haunted look. It tells me that this is not the first time that they have seen this nor the last time.

As we boarded the van and drove away I gave one last look at the nondescript shack that scared the crap out of me. People were too agitated and even if they have seemingly won no once was in a celebratory mood. It was apparently a very strong entity and what was captured was but an essence of it. As they say there was no rest for the wicked.

As the city lights came in to view each one of us were left brooding on our thoughts. I was half expecting debriefings or something but each one knew the terror that they faced and it could have turned out very badly. Oh well I don't think I will be able to hook up tonight then as I looked out to the darkness.

The Philippines is a predominantly Catholic country. Possessions and exorcism is treated with a certain disbelief even if children are taught that there are angels and demons. Filipino Folklore are full of monsters having the head of a horse and a man's body, or swamp monsters, evil spirits, faeries and dwarfs. Folklore and religion intertwined to create a very superstitious belief system in each and everyone.

Credits to National Geographic Channel

Do I believe in what I saw? I don't know because I never saw the entity yet I saw the physical and linguistic manifestations. Was it enough to make me a true believer of the unknown. Not completely but I don't shrug it off as bullshit either. Still I hope that I will never have the chance to see more than meets the eye.

This post was created for a Supernatural Writing Contest! by @jerrybanfield

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