The Island Where Witches, Ghosts, and Sorcerers Meet

In between the Philippine and South China Sea, there are a group of islands. These islands are the Visayas region of the Philippines. But one island wasn't always there. According to legend, many years ago, there was a great storm. The storm engulfed the region and caused a strong earthquake, and this earthquake caused the land and water to shake, and lightning and thunder emerged. As earth and water shook, an island rose from the sea. This island became known as Siquio Island, the island of Fire. When the Spanish first arrived in the Philippines, says exactly what they called it Isla de fuego because the whole island gave off a mystical glow. And to this day, this island in the Philippines is known for its ghostly legends, witchcraft, and mythical creatures. My name is Edwin, and here it's a horror story. I've always heard of legends and myths from the Philippines, but I didn't know much about them. When it began looking up more information, one name kept popping up. Sequior Island even among Filipinos, that is known for all of its stories. Filipinos from big cities like Manila grow up hearing the scary stories of Sekior. It's a bit of a distance to get there, and it rains a lot, but it doesn't rate as much from March to June, so it's kind of the visitor time. No matter when you go, though, the magic of the island will be there. Sikiyor is home of the oldest ballete which in Filipino folklore, Valletta trees are believed to be the home for spirits and creatures like the wind this Tiki balang or demon horse, and the bearded capre, the tree giant. These trees are epphites, a type of plant that belongs to the fig family, find a host tree attached themselves to it at the route, and then encircle the host tree, suffocating it. This gives Balleti trees a haunting look. They are known for. It's customary to say tabi tabi Pope when passing a Balthi tree. This means excuse me, and it's like asking the spirits that inhabit the trees for permission to walk by. There's even an entire road of Balleta trees in Manila called Balleti Drive, which most drivers avoid at night, afraid they might run into a ghost. Neil H. Cruz, a journalist from the ILAW Coalition, interviewed the police captain of the local station years ago. The police captain told him that he was driving on Balleti Drive when he encountered a young woman in a white dress. It was late at night and she was alone. The captain asked her if she needed a ride, and she got in the back of the squad car. She closed the door and asked to be dropped off at the corner of Espana Extension. He turned around and asked her something else, but when he did, she was nowhere to be seen. The captain told Neil that there was nowhere she could have gone. The doors to the back were always locked. Stories like these near Balletti trees exist all over the Philippines. The Baletti tree in Sikihor is in the town of Lasi and is over four hundred years old, and aside from the many legends that surround the tree, a natural spring of water flows underneath it. To this day, no one knows where the water comes from. The spring water flows to a man made pool at the base of the tree and is used to swim or for a quick foot spot. The water that runs below the tree is believed to have healing powers, and many who bathe feel spiritually refreshed after they leave. Just past the old Balletti Tree on that same road there's an abandoned church known as a Lassie Church. It was built in eighteen eighty four, and though there are no paranormal stories about the church, the original coral stones and hardwood give it a haunting look. Not very far from the Balleta Tree, there is a beautiful waterfall called Kambuga High Falls. The waterfall is one of the most visited locations in Lasi, but according to locals, it is haunted. For hundreds of years now, there have been tales of a spirit that dwells in Kambuka high One travel blogger, actually known as Making It Happen on YouTube, Mike, recorded his trip to the waterfall. At first, everything was fun, but towards the end of their time at the waterfall, the person with Mike has sudden welts all over her skin. Now, this could have been some sort of reaction to a plant or something in the water, but many people told Mike and his friend that if a spirit feels unwelcome, it can cause welts like these. He also tells his viewers that he's had a bad feeling like they were being watched by something unnatural. Once they left the waterfall, the vaults were gone. The Valetti Tree and the waterfall are probably the most visited in Lazi, but there's also another very famous tale of a ghost ship. Legend tells that a man was on his fishing boat just off the coast of Lazi when he heard a loud sound. The man looked up and was surprised to see a large ship. Just moments ago, he had been the only one in the ocean. The longer he looked, the more he realized that something was wrong with the ship. It appeared to glow, and as he was looking, he saw movements on the deck. Only this was not your normal crew. He's were in Ganthos spirits that are peer in human form. The man paddled as fast as he could. He did not stop until he made it back to shore. Then he looked again, but there was no trace of the ship he had just seen it. Ever since then, residents of Lazi have either heard or seen the supposed ghost ship. Every night from midnight to two am, there are loud sounds from the sea, and those that live right by the coast claim to feel the ground shape. This is why the ship is called da yog da yog, which means shaking of the ground and desire. The ship is said to vanish just as it appears. Locals have heard the ship and its story since their childhood. One man, Richard, a tour guide in Lazi, had seen the ship. He has made a living out of hunting the tayog Da Jog, and during one of his searches he found what he was searching for. Richard lives two kilometers from the seaside, and one night at midnight, the sound of the ship woke come up. He quickly got up and ran toward the sound from the shore. He watched as one ship approached the lighthouse and one more ship joined. They seemed to meet halfway and then vanished before his eyes. Non believers join his tour and many end up seeing the ship disappear in front of them. But Richard and his customers are not the only ones that have tried to follow the ship. In Kailua, a paranormal investigator flew from his home to Lazi to find the ship. He joined the local coast guard, and when they thought they saw the ghost ship, they moved after it, but it vanished as they followed. They were in a speedboat, and just as it seemed like they would catch up, it sped up. It went past the lighthouse and could no longer be seen. The town of Maria is also home to several ghost stories. When the Spanish first arrived in the Philippines, it began building temporary perishes for worship. One of these placeholder churches was built in eighteen sixty seven in Maria. In eighteen seventy seven it became official and was dedicated to the patronage of Our Lady of Divine Providence. The building that stands there today wasn't built for another three years. The church is as solid as a day construction finished, but exposure to weather and time have gotten to it. The stone exterior looks weathered and cracked, adding the weeds growing out of those cracks, and it gives a church a very eerie look. Inside the church, the walls look much newer and it's pretty big. If you look to the left side, you can find a statue encased in glass, and the statue matches the outside of the church. It's creepy. It's a statue of a woman in a black dress and a black veil. She's holding a human skull in one hand and an inverted cross in the other. Her hands are just below waist level and her again, it is pale. She has a sad look on her face and her eyes are big and dark. This isn't just any statue. This is Santa Rita de Gazzia, an Italian saint. She's a patroness of hardships, the abused and mourning women. Her story is pretty tragic. She was born in Margharita, Lothi in thirteen eighty one, but everyone called her Rita. When she turned twelve, she was married to an older man, David Paolo Mancini. This was normal back then, though it's not what Rita wanted. She begged her parents to let her join the local convent of nuns, but they didn't listen. Her husband was known for his quick temper and for being an immoral man. The marriage lasted eighteen years, and during those eighteen years, she put up with Paolo's insult, his repeated cheating and his physical abuse. She was known for her kindness, patience, and humility. She had two sons with Paolo, but Paolo was murdered by his enemies. She was so kind she forgave her husband for his treatment and his murderers for their sin. Her children died of dysentery and she tried to join the monastery of Saint Mary Magdalene, but was denied. She was told she would be allowed to join if she was able to get her family to forgive her husband's murderers, and eventually she did. She remained in the monastery until she died from tuberculosis in fourteen fifty seven. When Rita was sixty, she would regularly meditate in front of an image of Jesus Christ being crucified. Suddenly, a small wound appeared on her forehead, just like the thorn from the crown around Jesus Christ. It was believed to be partial stigmata. Stigmata are bodily wounds that match the wounds Jesus received when he was crucified. At the time of her death, her fellow sister's bathe and dressed her body for burial. They noticed that her forehead wound remained the same. There were fresh drops of blood. When her body was later exhumed, her forehead wombs still remained the same. Her body showed no signs of deterioration, and over several years, her body was exhumed two more times, and each time her forehead wound did not change. Toward the end of her life, she was bedridden and one day her cousin was visiting her and asked if she wanted anything from home. She asked for a rose from her garden, but it was January and there were no roses growing in her garden at that time. Her cousin looked, and to his surprise, he did find a single rose. It was a miracle. And these are just a couple of reasons. She was considered for sainthood, and she was officially canonized in nineteen hundred. Those that have visited her statue in Maria have described her as an icy stare. Many people feel fear when looking at her for too long. This fear makes a little more sense when you learn the urban legend about the statue. Locals call her the Black Maria of Sikihor, and she is said to come to life after midnight. And she's always back by sunrise. Somehow, her feet and black robe are found muddy and grass stained every single morning, further fueling the urban legend. These are all well known spooky locations at Sikihor Islands, but the most visited is a healing festival in Lasi. It takes place during Holy Week every year in mounts Bandilan National Park. I'll tell you more about the festival right after this stay with me. In two thousand and seven, a video uploaded by mijorda I received almost one million views. In the video, you can see a man sitting on the floor. He's holding a stick on one hand and has no shirt door shoes on. As he sits down, he picks something up and it looks like a paper figure. He looks at a man that is off camera but probably sitting in front of him, and a guitar maybe a ukulet starts playing. The man starts to sing. They exchange some words and the tune changes a little bit. The man continues to sing and then starts tapping his stick on the floor, and as he's singing, he throws a figure he was holding onto the floor and continues to tap his stick. That's when suddenly the figure, this paperlike human figure, starts to stand on its own and moves back and forth. The other man, still singing, reaches behind him and throws another figure on the floor, this time it's blue. The man on camera continues to sing and taps the floor with a stick and rests his other hand on his leg. The figures move back and forth like they are dancing. This goes on for a bit. Sometimes the man puts his hand above the dancing figures, and sometimes it leaves it resting on his leg. Almost three and a half minutes into the video, the man picks up the white figure and the blue one continues. Then he picks up the blue figure and throws both toward the person playing the instrument. He turns around and leaves The camera pans to the man playing the guitar as he sets it down, and then picks up the figures. There's no string attached to them. They looked like they could be made out of cloth. How are they dancing? The man in the video is a sorcerer from Sikihor. Once a year, during Holy Week, thousands of tourists head to the islands to seek people like the man in the video, sorcerers, witchers and healers. For centuries, black or dark magic was associated with the island, but since the nineteen sixties only white magic is allowed during the healing festival. Most refer to the healers as Mananamboss. They believed their powers are strongest on the Saturday between Good Friday and Easter. Many of the rituals performed during the healing festival combine elements of Catholicism and believes that pre date Spanish missionaries. Many of the healers believe that their powers are a gift from God. Like Bulanan, a very sought out to Manananba. He received his powers when he turned eleven after he saw the Virgin Mary and a rosary in the sky. One of his patients, Neolito Eich, was brought to Sikioor by his family. They traveled thirty six hours to treat Neolito's anxiety, and they were specifically looking to take him to Bulanan. Bulanan placed Neolito on a stool in front of an altar. The altar contained a picture of Jesus, flowers and a cross. He massaged Neolito's arms and legs and then wrote God of healing on different pieces of paper and soak them in water. Nolito was to drink this water. Half an hour after Bolanan's treatments. Jolito seemed more alert and even began responding to sound, which he had not done before this. Another healer, Drahino Maliinao, has been a manananbo since he was fifteen years old. He was eighty two years old when CBS News interviewed him in twenty fourteen. He discovered he had a gift when he revived a girl who had fainted, and that girl's mother later approached him to help her husband. He had a sore throat that would not go away, and after Rahino gave him a potion, he got better. Rahilo Maliinao told CBS he didn't consider himself a healer, but those that sought his help always felt better after seeing him. Another famous ritual performed during the week is the Bolo Bolo. The treatment consists of moving a hand over the patient in the shape of a cross, chanting in Latin, and dropping a magic stone into a glass of water. The healer then blows air bubbles into the water through a bamboo straw, rubbing the glass on the patient and rinsing out the glass. If it becomes murky, the healer repeats the steps with the water until it stays clear. The bolobolo removes evil, spirits and illness from the body. Of course, these are not the only services that can be found during that week. Different mananam balls can be found offering herbal medicines, amulets, love potions, and massages. Some also perform the duob which is a flamigation ritual that combines ashes collected on Black Saturday and herbs secure sickness and neutralize evil spells. Healers that offer potions and herbs can only collect their supplies during the seven fridays after Ash Wednesday. Some healers consult spirits, saints, or even God to diagnose a patient. Others use older methods. One of these older practices involve the mananam ball inserting the tip of a large pair of scissors in a winner called nico. The healer then secures the scissors with a string. Then they are joined by another person that stands on either side of the winner. Each holds a finger under one of the handle loops of the scissors so that the winner is suspended on their fingers. The mananamba then ask questions about his patient's illness, such as is an illness natural. The answer is no, the winner remains in the same position, and if the answer is yes, the winnower returns. Mananamba aren't supposed to profit from healing and are granted medical knowledge and powers from God only if they agree not to profit from it. Patients are supposed to give the mananambal money or food and gratitude or risk not being healed from their illments. Still, this doesn't stop some from selling potions or charging for their services. Living in powers, rituals, witches, sorcerers, and even spirits may seem outdated to some, but the mananambala part of the folk medicine system in the region, especially because for the longest time there were no nearby hospitals. Although today less locals believe in magic and sorcery, over one hundred and eighty thousand people visit the festival every year. Stories of the scary Sekira Islands are still told, and hundreds continue to visit in the hopes of experiencing the magic themselves. You find yourself in front of the mystico Balete tree or the magical waterfalls. Don't forget to say tab tabipo, excuse me, please let me pass, or else who knows what spirits will follow you home. This episode was produced by Christina Lumaggi, with research by Tess Redman, narration and sound by me Edwin Kovarowins. If you know of something creepy about your town and want us to find out more about it, let me know via email. Details are over on our website horror story dot com. To listen at free, join us over on Scary Plus, where you get the episodes early and bonus episodes as they are made. Anyway, Thank you very much for listening so soon,