I’m breaking my “work must be influenced by the dark” rule for this one.

Ige Ramos is a book designer and magazine editor and an expert in just about everything from food to folklore. I met him when we were panelists together on the TV show Ang Pinaka. True, his work tends to be bright and shiny, but get into a conversation with him and you’ll find out that he knows a lot about, well, everything. You’ll also find out that he has a lot of ghost stories to tell, and can even tell you where some urban legends come from. So, even if he doesn’t draw on the dark for his work, he’s certainly an expert in it!

Do you believe in ghosts/ elementals? If yes, have you seen one (or more)? Can you tell us about it?

My father and brother who have since left us manage to visit me in my dreams and sometimes when I’m alone contemplating.

What’s the scariest place you’ve been to? Why was it scary? Did you end up experiencing anything supernatural there? Do you plan to go back?

I don’t normally get scared, in fact I like to terrify my nieces and nephews by bringing them to scary places or what is perceived to be scary places like cemeteries, abandoned churches and old, derelict buildings.

I think the scariest place I’ve been to is being in a middle of the desert. It wasn’t horror scary but rather, overwhelming scary, desolate at the same time it is wide open. If you sit down, close your eyes and meditate, things just happen inside your mind, you hear sounds you haven’t heard before, your mind plays tricks on you. You can’t distinguish what is real and what is supernatural anymore. Just looking at the vastness of the desert makes you realize so many things.

What’s the scariest ghost story you’ve heard?

The Exorcist and the The Blair Witch Project. It really scared the shit out of me. Any book that explores the Catholic church and the goriness of Satan. Satan scares me shitless.

What advice would you give someone who comes face to face with a ghost/elemental?

Just feel the sensation. Don’t be afraid.