“I myself saw the ghost of my grandfather when I was a two-year-old toddler – if I were to believe narrations of my elders”
Ghosts – apparitions of dead people believed to appear or become manifest to the living as indistinct or faint images — are real.
I myself saw the ghost of my grandfather when I was a two-year-old toddler – if I were to believe narrations of my elders two years after the specter.
His ghost apparently came into sight from a huge wooden post inside our house in Tagbilaran in Bohol one evening during the nine-day prayer for the eternal repose of his soul.
His sudden emergence sent the noveva crowd, including my maternal grandmother, Magdalena Clarin Bautista, my parents, Pedro Cal and Milagros Bautista, as well as relatives hastily darting to different directions, leaving my lonesome me.
When I was four years old, I remember my grandma and my parents asked me whether I saw the spirit of my grandfather, Dr. Andres Bautista, that night on All Souls Day, Nov. 2, 1947. He died eight days earlier.
They related to me in detail what transpired that evening when suddenly – from their memory – they quoted me as shouting, “Lolo, Lolo, Lolo,” (Grandpa, Grandpa, Grandpa), pointing to a huge wooden post in the receiving room of our house.
I told them I could not recall anything, but their dash for their lives when I shouted “Lolo, Lolo, Lolo” suggested sufficient confirmation I must have seen his ghost, apparently to make his presence felt.
Ghosts are real, indeed (Old Testament: Isaiah 19:3, 1 Samuel 28; as well as the New Testament: Matthew 14:6, Luke 24:37, Mark 6:49).
(Editor’s Note: In Isaiah 19:3 the Egyptians talk about the spirits of the dead; in 1 Samuel 28, Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?” In Matthew 14:6, the text is about Herod’s birthday; Luke 24:37, the people were startled and frightened, thinking they were seeing a ghost and were scared half to death. And Mark 6:49, but when they saw him walking on the sea they thought it was a ghost, and cried out.)
To some extent I remember Lolo Andres propping me up on his chest while he lay in his bed, giving me “broa” (cookies) which they said I relished.
I presumed he was fond of me as his eldest grandson, considering he had his first grandchild at age 65, having married late.
As a physician, he was considered the best doctor with thousands of patients in town, having graduated from a medical school in the United States in the early 1900s.
He returned to Manila where he practiced his profession then sailed on to Bohol where he met my grandmother, Magdalena Clarin, whom he eventually married.
My grandmother recalled when my Lolo was gravely ill, he apparently knew death was soon, and called her and their other children – Milagros, my mother, Jose and Antonio. my uncles – to say good-bye.
Before he breathed his last, he finally acceded to call a priest to confess his sins.
Fluent in Spanish, his last words were: “Adios, Magdalena (good-bye Magdalena).”
My grandfather died a happy death. Thank God!
As we observe with solemnity All Souls Day, I pray to God for the eternal repose of the souls of my departed parents, grandparents and other relatives and friends.
(The Bohol-born author started out as an agriculture and defense reporter of the government-run Philippines News Agency in Manila where he retired years later as executive editor.)