Have you ever read through a compilation of Pinoy horror stories online and thought they were too good to be true?
Urban legends and Filipino folklore are hard to believe when told through a third party.
It’s much more terrifying when someone personally recounts a horrifying experience in complete detail. You can find many of these types of stories on social media platforms such as Facebook, X, and especially Reddit.
Reddit is a platform for forums (also called subreddits) where users discuss, share, and debate about a variety of topics. It’s completely free, with millions of submissions from around the world every day.
Scary stories are pretty prevalent here too, especially with subreddits like r/nosleep and r/horror where users share their personal paranormal encounters.
With Halloween fast approaching, you can bet that there will be dozens of people logging in to read them.
There are threads for specific regions, with some posting about Cebu. With a rich history as one of the oldest settlements in the Philippines, it is bound to have its fair share of paranormal tales.
This article compiles several creepy Pinoy horror stories that were posted on Reddit, from comments on threads to actual posts that have been archived.
These may not be for the faint of heart, and you probably wouldn’t want to read them at night.
- What’s the dog barking at? by Dazzling_Tell2507
One user recalled a creepy exchange with a classmate during her high school retreat in 2011 at a retreat house nestled in the mountains of Banawa.
During their last activity of the day at around 7 to 8 in the evening, she saw a dog barking aggressively at a dark area near the convent on the open grounds.
With a good view from where she was sitting, she faintly saw two feet approach the dog from the dimly lit area, concluding it could have been the house’s caretaker.
One of her classmates (who the user claims is a clairvoyant) also saw it. This was when user Dazzling_Tell2507 made a shocking discovery.
USER:
“Did you see the dog outside? It was barking towards that dark area there.”
CLASSMATE:
“I saw that, too. I saw two feet approach it.”
U:
“I saw that too!”
C:
“You did? They were dismembered…”
- The ICT Room by konstantine
Another user recalls when she was working at a public high school night class. This happened after the pandemic, wherein a sudden surge of students caused teachers to use makeshift rooms in classrooms.
She was assigned to one of the school’s ICT (Information and Communication Technology) rooms at the end of a corridor of the school’s older building. Everything went well, until one night on the first week of class during one of her lectures.
While discussing her lesson and joking around with her students, she heard a woman’s cry from inside the room. It was faint, as if it was coming from the back of the classroom. One of her students said she heard it too.
The teacher continued on with her lesson so as not to scare her students, but the scream grew even louder, as if it was now in the middle of the room. This time, half of the class heard it.
She continued with her class even though she was shaken up from what was happening, until the sound grew much, much louder, like it was already in front of the class.
In fear, she frantically dismissed the class.
She later confirmed with her subordinates that there were previous instances of teachers seeing or being told that an entity was lurking inside the ICT room. One paranormal encounter even caused one student to transfer to another school abruptly.
This student went out to excuse herself from class, then heard little children running along the floor below at night. When she went to check it out, a kid with a bloodied face abruptly appeared next to her.
- The Janitor’s End of Shift by rjmyson
Another horror story relating to schools in the Philippines comes from a private school teacher who stayed inside her classroom until 7:00 PM to prepare her teaching materials.
Around that time, she could still hear people cleaning and arranging the chairs upstairs while students were playing basketball outside. This went on for around four months.
One night was especially different, as the noise from upstairs suddenly stopped. Kids weren’t playing basketball outside anymore, and it was eerily quiet.
The temperature suddenly changed, and the teacher was becoming extremely uncomfortable. Luckily, a security guard came into her room, asking her why she was still in school when there was no one left around that time.
She shared how for the past few months she could still hear janitors working upstairs, so she stayed there a bit longer. The security guard then made a shocking revelation.
Janitors at their school only work until 5:00 PM. It was 6:30. In a panic, she frantically left the classroom with all her teaching materials lying on her table.
What were those sounds she heard all those months from the floor above her?
- Orange Tag by JoeFox After Dark
Found on the r/nosleep subreddit, this story is based on an old urban legend that reportedly happened inside one of the most prestigious hospitals in Cebu.
Joe Fox After Dark recalls one of the busiest times of his career as a nurse, where he spent hours trying to resuscitate a man. Unfortunately, the man succumbed to his disease at around a quarter before 3:00 in the morning.
The tiring procedure exhausted him, so he decided to go out and get some fresh air. As he was approaching the elevator to go downstairs, he saw that a man and a woman in hospital gowns were inside. The man was standing, while the woman was lying down on the floor.
His instincts kicked into high gear, so he pressed the emergency elevator hold button and checked up on the woman. She was unconscious, so he called on the hospital staff to help her.
She later regained consciousness, but still seemed unresponsive and fatigued.
NURSE:
What happened, maam?
PATIENT:
(in a whisper) Orange tag.
The user notes that orange tags are placed on the wrists of dead bodies to be sent to the morgue. The nurse knew exactly what the woman meant, but he just shrugged it off, thinking she was just in shock.
The nurse left the woman to the care of the other hospital attendants and went back to the elevator. The doors remained open, and the man in the hospital gown was still inside.
MAN:
What happened to the woman?
NURSE:
She’s stable, but she keeps mentioning “orange tag”.
M:
You mean like this?
After showing the orange tag, the nurse slowly looked up to the man’s face. It was pale and discolored. It was the man he had tried to resuscitate.
- Sanctissima by Naetharia
(Trigger warning: This post mentions self-harm. Proceed with caution.)
This last story was also submitted to r/nosleep, and was featured in a podcast called “Stories after Dark”. While the exact location is not mentioned, the user claimed that it happened in his hometown in the rural parts of Cebu province.
He coined his hometown the “murder capital of the south” due to the reported vigilante killings within the town, which had affected the mental health of many of its residents.
The user, who names himself Ryan on the post, recalls a story about his friend, Magdalena (not her real name). She was one of his neighbors that let him and his friends play around her simple home in the forest.
One day, Magdalena got pregnant, which was an exciting moment for Ryan and his neighbors. Unfortunately, during her third trimester, her husband was shot and killed during an altercation with the police.
When Magdalena finally gave birth, Ryan was thrilled, but he was told not to visit her. For several days, his mother insisted not to visit since she may still be tired from the procedure.
On the way home from errands, Ryan passed by a nearby chapel where he saw Magdalena praying and lighting candles in front of the image of Mother Mary. He approached her, but then he noticed something completely odd about her.
Her lips were pale, and her eyes showed that she lacked some sleep. When Ryan spoke to her, she said the image had given her some good news, that she was going to have a miracle.
Ryan grew even more suspicious, noting that she seemed sick or had a fever. He asked if he could see the baby, to which Magdalena asked him to come the next day.
Excited, Ryan skipped on over to her house inside the forest. When he arrived, he noticed a rotting smell as if a rat had died there. The house was quiet, but the front door was left open.
RYAN:
Ate Magdalena? You here?
As he entered the house, he saw Magdalena’s bedroom door was open. Dirt was all over the floor, with blood flowing from the corner of the room. There, Ryan saw his friend, profusely sweating, with a kitchen knife in one hand and a staple gun in the other.
MAGDALENA:
Hello Ryan. Don’t worry. I’m only doing what the birhen told me to do.
R:
What did she tell you to do?
M:
For one to live again, one has to be born again, yes?
R:
Ate, where is your baby?
M:
(Patting her stomach) Here. She’s giving me such a marvelous gift, Ryan. She’s giving me my baby boy back…
Ryan later learned that Magdalena’s baby boy was stillborn. In grief, she visited the town’s chapel, where she claims the image of Mother Mary promised a “miracle”.
Allegedly, she was told to dig up her child, shove him back into her womb, then staple it closed.
***
The authenticity of these stories is debatable, but you have to admit they sure give you the creeps. They’re the type of stories to read late at night, when a single movement or sound will shake you to your core.
There are dozens of stories on the platform to scour through, creating a rabbit hole full of questions and mysteries. You may even have your own stories you would like to share, so definitely find the appropriate subreddit.
What do you think?
Are these Pinoy horror stories scary enough?