the jeepny ride you wouldn't want to take

there is one story i have heard in baguio that up until now, i still can't forget. it was about a UP college student who took a last jeepny trip one night and created a legend throughout the city the next day.

if UP diliman has their UP ikot and toki, UP baguio has PNR-engineer's hill. if you are coming from session road and needs to go to UP baguio, the best option to take is the jeepny going for this route. because it is the only jeepny route that stops infront of the university's gate.

usually, the route takes the magsaysay road to sunshine park. then, from the end of the park, it turns left going to engineer's hill.

but if their are people dropping off in UP, passengers usually inform the driver by the time they reach sunshine park. from there, the jeepny will make a right turn instead of a left, drop those passengers infront of the university's gate and then make a U turn through the road island and goes straight to engineer's hill.

this was actually the same route that college student took from session road around 8:30 in the evening. well, you'll be surprised that most of the jeepny trips in baguio are only until 7 up to 9 in the evening. fortunately, the said route is until 9.

Anyhow, when the girl stepped inside the jeepny, she noticed that there were just 6 of them inside. so she decided to occupy the seat nearest from the entrance. after 30 minutes of waiting with no passengers stepping in, the driver decided to call it a night and hit the road.

somewhere along the ride, the girl decided to fix her groceries and put it on the seat beside her. then by the time she looked outside to check where they were, she was surprised to know that they were already along sunshine park. so she immediately shouted, "manong UP po."

fortunately, the driver heard it and managed to make a right turn in time. then stopped infront of UP. the girl immediately took her groceries and was about to stepped off, when the the jeepny started moving. it made a quick U turn through the road island, that outbalanced and forced her to sit back on the same seat. the girl was surprised. she almost fell out of the vehicle. but after regaining herself back, she then immediately knocked the jeepny's ceiling violently and shouted, "manong UP po!"

the driver turned around and stopped infront of the university's gate again. but the girl haven't stood up yet when the vehicle started moving again. from there, the girl started to freak out. even the passengers inside got alarmed about what was going on. some of the passengers were already helping the girl in knocking the ceiling and exclaiming, "manong UP daw!".

the driver made the same cycle: he did a U turn and stopped infront of UP again. this time, the girl has successfully stepped off the jeepney. she was waiting for the vehicle to move away. but surprisingly, it didn't. she realized that the driver was actually waiting for her to pass by the passenger's window. she was now furious and really considering slapping the driver's face or atleast scream at him and ask what his problem was? she almost died from that trip. but when the girl walked and reached it, the driver said to her, "ineng, pag uwi mo sa bahay niyo, sunugin mo o kaya baliktarin mo ang damit mo." [miss, please burn or wear your clothings in reverse by the time you reach home.]

the girl asked, "bakit naman po?" [why?]

"nakita ko kasi sa rear mirror ko na wala ka'ng ulo. hinintay ko lang lumitaw siya ulit bago kita ibaba."[because i saw you in my rear mirror headless. i just waited for your head to reappear again before i drop you off.]

the girl almost collapsed from what she have heard. the chill ran across her entire body. but she knew it was the kind of chill, not brought about by the typical baguio december nights. but something else. goosebumps were all over her and it continued until she reached her place. the next morning, the story spread like smoke inside the campus and eventually throughout the entire city.

source

it is actually a local superstition that when a person is seen without a head, s/he is believe to die out of a sudden death. most of the time, through accidents. but there are several ways to counter it, as our elders in our province used to say. some of these are either tapping the person's shoulder, keep him/her on one place until his/her head shows up, and/or burn the clothings that the person have worn.

well, i don't have anything to say explain why this happens or if its true. but regardless of these, this story really creeps me off. hopefully, after reading this, you would still have the courage to look at mirrors inside a car, taxi, or jeepny. unlike me, who is still being haunted by the pictures of the entire story up until now--- as i am writing this post. ooohhh, goosebumps!

*i just thought of writing an early haloween entry. enjoy!