Blog post 5: Balete Drive

Ever since the '50s there had been a lot of stories about a haunted street at Quezon City. Even up to now, people still fear travelling through that street, especially during the night because that is when a lot of mysteries happen. When someone mention that street, you couldn't help but shudder in fear. The name of that street is none other than the famous "Balete Drive". A few years back that street had a lot of balete trees growing beside it and because of that people believed that there are a lot of spirits living within that street.


There were stories about the sightings of a "white lady" ( a female ghost or an apparition) claimed by a lot of people. Most of the people who claimed they were haunted by the white ladies were taxi cab drivers. An article entitled "The Story Behind the White Lady in Balete Drive" by Shaina Sanchez at the site called magandafilipino.com stated that people in 1950's tried to avoid that street because of the white lady. After reading this article I recalled that there were stories about that street. During the night, whenever a cab pass by the balete drive, the white lady will enter the cab and sit at the back seat. When the driver look at his rear view mirror, he would see a white woman staring at him with a lot of anger in her eyes. Of course the driver would panic that will cause him to crash. People believed that the white lady is seeking revenge because she was raped by a cab driver and that is why her victims are mostly cab drivers.

I was surprised after reading the article above because there was another version of the story about the white lady where in it was living in a mansion located in the Balete drive. The story was about a white lady seeking for help from cab drivers who happens to pass by in that street. It's weird that the white lady also posses the same power of the tikbalang where in the driver would pass the same street for hours and the only way to get out was to pray and wear their shirt inside and out. That is why they would blow their horns and say "Pasintabi po, makikiraan lang po" translated in english "Excuse me, I am just passing by".

I found another article about the Balete drive. The title of that article is "Have you met the ghost of Balete Drive" by Butch Francisco on a site called www.philstar.com. The article talked about a movie about the Balete Drive and about his own experience. The thing that caught my attention was about his experience. He walked on the street alone around 1 am but he didn't encounter the white lady who is said to be haunting that street. Maybe it's because he is not a cab driver? Anyway he passed that street several times and still didn't saw the white lady. He asked some people who are experts about the supernatural and he was told that there are a lot of spirits roaming not only at the Balete Drive but also to the other streets near it. I added a picture from google for you guys to see what the Balete Drive looks like at night. For me it sure looks like an ordinary street.

As for my conclusion, I think that the white lady of the Balete Drive really exist because there are a lot of people, specifically the people who are experts about the supernatural, says that spirits really do exist. We might not see them but I know we can feel them. I for one believe that ghosts, not only in the Philippines, are real because I had an experience when I was child wherein I saw the same ghost twice for two consecutive days.