Mga Kwentong Kababalaghan on the Road

By: Ricardo S. Lazo for Automart.PH

Stories that some roads are fortified with spirits of the unknown are told everywhere. In truth, narratives about ghosts can send shivers down the spine. Unexplainable road crashes are usually attributed to ghosts,  spirits, or creatures of the underworld. The stories and reports we hear are shrouded in fright and mystery. While many of the stories are products of folklore, there are reasons to be convinced that phenomenal events transpire on haunted roads. Based on community ghostlore, here are three of the eerie and terrifying roads to pass.

1. Loakan Road

Baguio City is no stranger to the unnatural as evidenced by the aftermath of the July 1990 deadly earthquake. The City of Pines is known as a home to some of the most haunted places and when it comes to ghostlore there is much to share. Loakan Road is haunted by a Lady Ghost hitchhiker, believed to be a rape victim. She makes sudden apparitions mostly to taxi drivers during nighttime.  Reports said she would ask to be driven to a place only to disappear afterward. The Lady sighting on the unlit road is bizarre, she manifests even during daylight when the rain starts to pour. If fears get into the nerve, the drive results in a crash.

There is an American cemetery along the road. It's a bit strange that most crosses on the graves were removed for undetermined reasons. As the Lady took her ride along the cemetery she tended to make an impactful presence. When she alighted to her destination, the vehicle would experience sudden jerking for seconds only then would the driver realise the Lady had already left.

Another story revealed that as the driver would abruptly look up in the rear mirror, he caught with a lady in the backseat but couldn't make out her face.  In extreme fear, he would rush to reach the city proper. When the light penetrated inside, the Lady just disappeared. Loakan Road is also famous for other ghost ladies that reveal other thrilling stories.

2. Balete Drive

A short but infamous road in Quezon City, Balete Drive is regarded as the most fearful street in the metropolis, hovered with a White Lady tale. In rural mythology, Balete trees are inhabited by kapres or manignos, thereby fearsome anecdotes are a common belief that draws more passersby frightened at night when crossing the road. The Lady sighting is believed to be a rape teenager victim in the 1950s. Decades have passed but the apparition has gained in the telling.

Balete street is poorly lit at night, while houses along the street are populated mostly by rich families. Lights are concealed by high concrete residential walls and by Balete trees lining up the road, thus, rendering it unusually dark, lonely, and uncanny.  Due to its tale of notoriety, two movies were made in local cinema about the Balete White Lady. It can be concluded that such a story is not a concoction of fright as one police officer, a captain, had a first-hand encounter with the Lady ghost. He recounted while driving in a patrol car, he stopped to give her a ride but when she was to alight into the corner of Espana Extension, she vanished into thin air.

3. "Bitukang Manok in Atimonan Quezon

The road is a zigzag and likened by travelers to a chicken intestines route. It's a twisty sketch of a highway. "Bitukang Manok" connects the Southern provinces to the Bicol region of Luzon. Due to an increasing number of accidents or crashes along this road, many drivers are afraid of passing through it. Local legend believed that the way is haunted as you can encounter paranormal activity in some instances. Everything could turn eerie as elemental spirits can manifest anytime. Some road crashes are precipitated by ghosts and elemental apparitions. Accidents are argued as associated with the "reckless soul of a princess." GMA reports " a Blackman is said to be signaling a premonition to the victims while some ghosts are felt by the motorists when they shake the vehicles." Other reports claimed the Lady Ghost and other spirits lurking around in many instances were captured in cameras.

The "Bitukang Manok"  is shrouded in stories of hitchhiking ghosts, a White Lady crossing the street, elementals roaming the surroundings, and a road with a "magnetic field that pulls cars on Kilometer 155." To warn the spirits and unknown creatures, residents advised travelers" to throw lighted matchsticks" for earthly protection while trekking the zigzag.

Meanwhile, there's also a story of a long dark road trip at night where vehicles at a steady pace/speed are overtaken repetitively and successively by a black car with the same plate number. Quite eerie, the overtaking will only cease as the car enters a new town. The name of the road, however, was not mentioned, just a provincial highway. Residents had a theory that the mystery vehicle, which refused to leave the place, was a drag racing car that met its fate in a crash.

Aside from natural causes of road mishaps, there occurred unfortunate crashes and deaths that are unexplainable and lack scientific conclusions to determine the cause.  They remain puzzling and always mysterious. Regardless of the efforts of the authorities to prevent car crashes along these driveways; they do happen. Thus, events like these will continue to vex our imagination.

Final Thoughts

Stories like these may sound both odd and strange but not weird.  These roads and their surroundings are cloaked in unusual folktales and are too esoteric that only a few philosophical and psychological experts can understand. It is not possible to prove the existence of what is essentially spiritual and therefore non physical reality. Listening to these stories is one thing, and believing in them is another.

Many unfortunate road crashes leading to death are unexplainable, lacking natural or scientific conclusions to determine the cause.  No matter how the authorities would prevent mishaps; they do happen. Thus, events like these will continue to haunt our imagination. Believing is a matter of choice but heeding the warning is nothing harmful.