The Ghost at villa 17

Saturday, November 19, 2004- in a luxurious resort in Tagaytay-- I was then a creative director for pre-production in one of the noontime show of channel 13- "Chow Time" and was invited by Bhevs, a former colleague to collaborate with the other 2 stations and form a group that will handle events, I agreed because it will be easier for us to plug our events in 3 major stations if it happens. So the venue for the meeting was set in a resort somewhere in Tagaytay. I will not say the name as it may give a negative effect to their business but it is near Fantasy World (hew hew hew).

So from Manila I took a bus to nasugbu and a short jeepney ride to the venue, i reached the area around 6:30 and met the two other guys, Edwin from channel 2 and Joey from channel 7 and we were escorted to our villa to have a short rest and freshen up. Around 8:30 pm, one of the staff picked us up and brought us to a nearby villa and met Bhevs a former colleague from channel 13 and now working as a marketing manager of the resort. There we ate our dinner as they prepared some grilled fish and chicken then coffee after meal while discussing and brainstorming the nitty-gritty of the event and the schedule and possible sponsors.

The meeting was so smooth and we came up with a positive figures and lists of people that will be invited, then off we go back to our villa happy and contented with the result of the meeting. I still can remember the set up of the villa, as you enter the main door you will see the receiving area , in your left is a door with a toilet sign, around 4 steps before you reach the sofa is a stair going to mezzanine where the kitchen is located as well as the room with 2 beds where the two other guys shared and before entering their room is a stairway to the master's bedroom where earlier i put all my clothes on top of the bed before going to the meeting.

i stayed outside to smoke while the guy from channel 7 went up to the kitchen to prepare coffee and Edwin took the sofa near the stair. Then after smoking i went inside and saw joey carrying a tray with coffee and confusingly asked me "O, andyan ka?" (oh, you are there?) I told him where would i be? And he told me "and who was that going upstairs to your room? I just smiled as i thought he was joking. then as we sat and recapping the meeting edwin stood up and went to the toilet near the main door and after a couple of minutes heard a flushing sound like swoosshhh - blog, blog, blog then another one swoosh- blog, blog, blog and he went out of the toilet. We made a joke that he ate so much that a single flush is not enough but he said he just tried it again to check why it has a sound while refilling the tank. After maybe 5 minutes and we are still discussing, another flush and swoosh- blog, blog, blog made us 3 look at each other and then edwin asked "Do you guys believe in ghost? Joey did not answer and i told him yeah it is what the bible said but i am not afraid.

Then when i was talking to them about my work at Chow time, and that time I was sitting in the 3 seater sofa and as I looked at them from the corner of my eyes saw this silhouette of a man without a face standing behind them at the mezzanine floor as if looking at us and i was so horrified but trying not to show that i was frightened so i continued talking even nonsense and blink 3 times and check-- but it is really there standing and looking at us so immediately i lay down and pretend to watch the television but my mind is trying to digest what was that image that i saw. Then after few minutes I sit again and try to check and it is not there anymore so I continued with my story.

Then Edwin said let's call it a day and he turn off the lights and went upstairs while Joey said he will stay for a while and turn the lights on again. I went outside to smoke and tried to figure out what to do as I cannot sleep in the 3rd floor alone because Joey said he saw someone going up to my room and I cannot stay or sleep in the sofa because it is there where i saw that black image of a man. Then Joey went out to me and started making stories and then asked me if I want to go to the clubhouse and as if i was relieved by his plan I checked my self if there is still some goosebumps and when i feel nothing i ran to the 3rd floor and just grab my things and run down and Edwin saw me and ask where i am going and told him i am going to the clubhouse with Joey and he said he will come along so i told him ok and we went outside and gabe them the door key to lock the door as i don't want to lock it myseld as the top part is glass and you can see the inside of the villa.

It's freezing cold and we are walking upwards to the clubhouse and joey said he cannot stay in that villa as he really saw a man going upstairs and it was black and i almost collapsed when i heard that it was the same black image that i saw so i told them what has happend while we were talking at the sofa and we walk as fast as we could catching our breath until we reached the clubhouse. We saw the light at the reception area but no one is there until the office door opens and startled the receptionist as she did not expect to see anyone and asked us why we are there and told her the story, she told us that they were there inside the office as they were also scared because one of the night shift staff got a miscarriage when she saw headless man at the stairway just in front of the reception area.

7:30 am and we were told that Ms. Bhevs is already in her office so we went down and told her what has happened and she shouted "it's confirmed, there is ghost in villa 17!". She told us some guest tried to refund and some did not continue their reservation because they complained they see and feel something from that villa. Up till now whenever i think of that experience i always have goosebumps.