THE FLOATING LADY IN WHITE

THE FLOATING LADY IN WHITE
by
mimi illenberger mapa



It always had a reputation of being haunted, this old hacienda house somewhere in La Carlota, Negros Occidental. And so when I heard this story from two octogenarian aunts, I knew they were dead serious:

Tita Inday and Tita Nena spent their long school holidays with their grandparents in an ancient Spanish colonial mansion in the center of a lush sugar cane plantation. The room they occupied during those holidays was the breeziest, the sunniest and the one which had the best view of the orchard with its ripening fruit trees. It was the guest room where two oldsters from Spanish descent, Lolo Jose and Lola Miling, reserved for special guests. This room was at the end of a long corridor to which three other large bedrooms opened. Anybody passing through this corridor could not avoid calling the attention of whoever were in the other rooms because of two reasons - the occupants habitually kept their doors ajar to keep the cool breezes from the vast plantation circulating and because of the eerie sounds and echo from one’’s footsteps when he or she passed by. A huge window at the end of this dark passage was the only source of light during daytime.

The door occupied by the children opened to an altar that was just right across it on the dark corridor. The ornate altar housed a century old life-size ivory statue of the Blessed Virgin with two tiny oil lamps at her feet. A servant was in charge of lighting them a few minutes before angelus an putting them out again at dawn.… the lamps being the only source of illumination at night. It was before this altar the pious oldsters said their prayers..

One afternoon, the girls lost track of time. They were still up a guava tree gathering the ripe, succulent fruits when they heard the church bells toll the end of day. From the distance they could hear their Yaya Duliang screaming for them to hurry up ”Dali na kamo kay nagumpisa na si Lola mangadi (Hurry up because your grandma has started with the prayers)!. They knew they were up for a scolding. Lola Miling did not like to be kept waiting.

“Lola Miling, we are here now!” Tita Inday, the older of the two girls announced. “Shall we pray?” The two girls assumed their Lola was just somewhere in the darkened parts of the house.

From somewhere farthest from the doorway, a figure emerged, coming towards them. It was an old woman in white garment and long, flowing grayish hair. At first the youngsters thought it was their grandma until they discerned her better by the light of the burning lamps. Her head was poised fixedly towards one direction beyond the girls. She passed in front of them, barely a meter away, neither glancing nor speaking to them. She slowly floated towards the opposite side of the room where there was the open window with a ten meter drop to the ground and…and… just melted into the darkness beyond, to the horror of the girls.

The girls were speechless and immobile for a few seconds as they stared wide-eye with horror at one another. As their senses returned, they began to shriek in panic as they rushed down to the sala. They found their grandfather drowsing in a rocking chair smoking his pipe. The frightened sisters dropped to the floor beside him, panting and unable to speak.

"¿Qué hay con ustedes, chicas? Parecen haber visto un fantasma, ¿no estaban arriba orando con su Lola? ( What’s up girls? You look like you’ve seen a ghost. Were you not upstairs praying with you lola?) he teased them in Spanish Nena, the younger girl started sobbing aloud, hysterically.

“ There is a strange woman in our room, Lolo, and we think she may have jumped out the window!” the older sister explained in a loud, shrill voice. Lola Miling who had rushed down from the bathroom upstairs after hearing all the commotion, overheard what Inday said and automatically, the began screaming in her native tongue too..

¡Cada cuerpo rápido! Llama a los hombres y haz que traigan a los perros. Un ladrón ha entrado en nuestra casa.! ( Every body quick! Call the men and have them bring out the dogs. A burglar has entered our house ). Pandemonium broke.

At once the houseboys were called in and directed to summon the hacienda security men who came armed and leading hunting dogs. A thorough search was made of the entire premises, house and grounds. No trace was ever found of the mysterious,” floating lady in white.”

After a week, when everything was back to normal Lola Miling and Lolo Jose decided to consider the incident as a simple case of hallucination brought about by the girls over active imagination. New house rules were immediately set up - Yaya Duliang was ordered to put a stop to her bedtime stories of ghosts, witches and goblins; Tiya Pinang, the cook, was also warned not to overfeed the girls with stuff hard to digest. Their Lola felt the hallucination case was perhaps the result of too much story telling about the supernatural and indigestion caused by non-stop eating of two hyper active and greedy youngsters..

From then on, Lola Miling and Lolo Jose kept the guest room padlocked and the big window at the end of the corridor also closed. The sisters now spent the remaining days of their vacation in their grandparents bedroom, refusing to go near the guest room even during day time. Inday and Nena also developed a fear for dimly lit places and large open windows. And all through their lives they never wavered from their story … it was a ghost they insisted. And besides, was it possible for two separate people to see and imagine the same thing at the same time.




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