MYS Universe

An afternoon in Intramuros (Or: Any tour can be a ghost tour if you ask the right questions)

This was to be a regular historical walking tour. But since I’m me and I know that our tour guide does not shy away from dark tourism (a real moneymaker in other parts of the world), I knew that I could get a few ghost stories out of the adventure.

TRUE WEIRD

Where does the Filipino urban legend of elementary schools being former cemeteries come from?

If you went to grade school in the Philippines, chances are you’ve encountered the urban legend that your school—yes, your school—used to be a WWII hospital (it doesn’t matter if historically, there was nothing in the area during WWII), but before that, it used to be a church and a cemetery as well. The order […]

TRAVEL

What we will lose if we don’t take care of the Pasig River

Went on a Pasig River Heritage Walk organized by Renacimiento Manila. We started at Plaza Lawton in front of the Manila Post Office, crossed part of the Jones Bridge, and ended up at the First United Building along Escolta. The walk showed me how small Manila can be on foot, even for someone disabled like […]

TRUE WEIRD

Exorcism in the Philippines

The first time Gabriel Cabaltera* noticed that her mother was different was when she was four. She had awoken at three in the morning to find her mother gone from the bed. She searched the house, then wandered outside, where she found her mother Tina” standing on the roof of their house. “I don’t know […]

BLOG

NFT story “The Last Moon” drops at Frankfurt Book Fair 2021

“The Last Moon” is the first NFT book ever to be dropped at the Frankfurt Book Fair—the world’s largest and oldest trade fair for books. It is a graphic story from the Philippines written by acclaimed Filipino horror writer Yvette Tan and with visuals by design studio Team Manila.

TRUE WEIRD

5 Philippine plants used for space clearing

I spoke to a a local practitioner who is called “Mananabas” (literally “cutter,” as in one who cuts with a panabas or forward-curved sword) because of their ability to walk grey areas, to find out what local plants are traditionally used to cleanse one’s space. This is their answer.

TRAVEL, TRUE WEIRD

WanderManila’s One Night in Intramuros tour shows the history of the Walled City through the eyes of its deceased

Last Halloween 2020, 24,000 people tuned in to WanderManila’s Facebook Page to watch as host and head tour guide Benjamin Canapi, “B” for short, took everyone through a virtual tour of Intramuros, the walled city that was considered the entire Manila during the Spanish era. What made this tour different from other Old Manila tours is that first, it happened in the evening, and second, it was a historical tour told from the angle of the Walled City’s long dead.

I got to interview Canapi on how WanderManila started, why he decided to start ghost tours, what WanderManila is up to during the pandemic, and if he has any plans for Halloween this 2021.

TRUE WEIRD

Netflix’s City of Ghosts uses spirits as a gateway to a city’s history

City of Ghosts is a children’s animated TV show created for Netflix by Los Angeles-born Elizabeth Ito. The show centers around a bunch of kids who form a Ghost club to solve supernatural mysteries that lead them to learn about the history of their city, LA. The show is presented in a documentary style. Serious […]

TRAVEL

Farmer says there are no spirits in the fields

In the middle of last year, I had to travel to the CALABARZON provinces for work. In the middle of this, I was invited to take a side trip to Candelaria, Quezon to visit Radel Matibag, a young farmer who had just returned from an exposure program in Japan. I wrote about his journey in […]

TRAVEL

Children’s playground and urban garden at Rizal Park

Rizal Park in Ermita, Manila, isn’t just a beautiful public green space, it played a big part in Philippine history as well. Formerly called Luneta National Park, his was where not only National Hero Jose Rizal was executed by firing squad in 1896, but also where, 24 years earlier, Mariano Gomez, José Burgos, and Jacinto […]