Community, People, Villages

Pilar’s Very Own Haunted House

For as long as I can remember, I’ve never worn a Halloween costume or gone trick-or-treating (unless the gowns I’ve worn at Santacruzan count). But gory, bloody, ugly masks and figures have always fascinated me no end. I guess it’s the sadomasochist, the Jeckyl and Hyde in me, that makes me look forward to Halloween or Undas; the creepy thrill of the inhuman that we all-too-human beings enjoy.

Over the years, one particular house has never failed to catch my attention, especially during holidays. The house, one of the last along Diamond street in Pilar (near the Teresa Park gate along the Friendship route), is always decorated lavishly for whatever season. Christmas yields an interplay of lanterns, Christmas lights, Christmas trees, and a Belen. Valentines Day brings out hearts and flowers. But the best, and most morbidly fascinating, season, is Halloween, when all the gremlins, skeletons, vampires, bats, ghouls, and white ladies come out.

Early this month, my interest was drawn by the fiery lights of the jack-’o-lanterns that lined this house’s gate. Spooky blood curdling sounds—a cacophony of werewolf howls, rolling thunder, and high-pitched shrieks—wafted through the car windows every time I passed that stretch of road. Closer inspection revealed a manananggal guarding a corpse rising from a wooden coffin, beckoning passers-by with her red eyes and arthritic fingers. There were creatures of Hades cooking chopped feet on a barbeque. Above them bats with flapping wings flew about in circles as if paying homage to the newly-wed demon and his skeleton bride standing on the porch, holding court above their creepy constituents.

Inside the creepy crawlies abound, since the show isn’t just for the public, after all. A kapre guards the way to the second floor; an ornamental dog has been transmogrified into a werewolf; and a witch watches over the dolphin swimming around in the pool. Candles and curtains are wreathed in spider webs, and every surface seems to have a bat, a spider, or some other ghastly beast crawling on it.

It’s hard to capture the whole scenario with mere words, harder still to explain the magnetic pull the whole set-up seems to have—every night people flock to the house to gawk at its ghastly display. The whole exhibit has gone beyond mere decoration: it has grown from a creative idea into a show that has come alive to make people happy.

It was inspiring to discover that the whole thing was an unconscious attempt of a concerned individual—known to her friends and neighbors as Tita Mila—to bring together community members and transcend social barriers. Amazing! Since the house is on a main road, people in cars, tricycles, and jeepneys slow down for a glimpse of the show. After an hour or two, the “audience” would be back with their families in tow. The spot has become “the place to be” at night in Pilar.

People in batches flock there just to watch the mechanical movement of the underworld creatures, standing there along the street enjoying the free thrill of getting scared and startled. Even the jaded will be amazed at the extent of effort that has been lavished on a temporary set-up that will be dismantled in a few weeks’ time. Surprisingly, this year even the TV Networks jumped on the bandwagon: the now-infamous house has already been featured on Unang Hirit and has made it to the front page of the Manila Standard.

It’s heartwarming to know that in this cynical world of ours, there are still people like Tita Mila and her family who find satisfaction in just seeing other people—particularly the young, wide-eyed, ever-enthusiastic children—happy with simple things in life. When her neighbors ask if she’s earned anything from all the fuss, she just smiles and says, “Hindi mababayaran ng kahit anong halaga ang kasiyahang nadadama ko pag nakakapagpaligaya ako ng kapwa.” (“No amount can pay for the joy I feel when I make others happy.”) All that from a few well-planned effects and some feet on the barby.

Tita Mila’s Haunted House
Diamond Street, Pilar Village, Las Piñas City

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