These local haunted mansions once contained astonishing builds with dark histories in its halls. These may be worth adding to your travel bucket list this Halloween season.
Filipinos are known for embracing our homegrown culture, including being observant in otherworldly events like haunted encounters. People particularly enjoy hearing horror stories from each other, usually taking place in haunted places in our country. Our local haunted mansions for one provide once-spectacular fixtures and builds, with dark histories embedded in their halls.
We Filipinos enjoy a good scare from time to time, especially when Halloween comes around. Philippine media know just what to do when the spooky season arrives. People listen to horror stories; most watch eerie, gory, or thrilling films; and adventurous ones embark on spooky tours of haunted spots.
Halloween is among us, so we rounded up local haunted houses you can add to add chills and thrills on your travel bucket list.
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Laperal White House gets a makeover, now a restaurant
The Laperal clan owned Baguio City’s Laperal White House, wherein Don Roberto and Doña Victorina once piloted. The house stands on a four-hectare land built in the 1920s, and is popular among locals and visitors. It features a Victorian style structure, original yakal and wood construction, and contains a fireplace.
Its beautiful facade became laced with tales of horror as it experienced a traumatic past in the hands of the Japanese.
Japanese soldiers conquered the property during World War II and used it as a “temporary garrison” or a military post.
CNN Philippines reported that the caretakers of the house also revealed that apparitions were sighted in the house. These apparitions take the form of a lot of otherworldly spirits, most particularly a woman in white and a little girl. Business tycoon Lucio Tan owns the spooky house yet reportedly never stayed in it.
The Laperal White House retained its hauntingly beautiful stature and what was once a house full of scary apparitions has turned into a restaurant, named Joseph’s, established in 2022.
People from the past partying in Balay Negrense’s ballroom
One Victor Fernandez Gaston owned Balay Negrense, located in Negros Occidental. Gaston pioneered the sugar industry in Negros town. The house bears the name Victor Fernandez Gaston Ancestral House as apart from Balay Negrense.
In the 1890s, they had the house built for him and his 12 children. Balay Negrense is considered one of the largest abodes on the island.
The house exhibited an aura that it’s prone to paranormal encounters, despite its traditional, classy structures. Visitors reported that whenever they were in the house, they had a feeling as though they were being watched.
The house ballroom looks ordinary, but tourists claim seeing people in antiquated clothing, partying and dancing. Rooms with mirrors inside felt so creepy that it felt like someone may appear behind a person at any time, even in the day. At night, people hear a kalesa at the back of the house even if it’s not there.
Tourists continue coming and going, though, despite the spooky ambiance of the home. The house turned into a museum in later years.
This August, the Negros Cultural Foundation Inc. turned over the house’s care and preservation to the provincial government. This makes way for its rehabilitation and renovation.
Ghosts ‘refuse’ the Herrera Mansion or Tiaong Stone House’s demolition or sale
Illustrious architect Tomas Mapua designed the Tiaong Stone House, or the Herrera Mansion, in the late 1920s. It’s dubbed as the oldest house in Quezon.
A sculptural fountain greets visitors upon arrival in the stone house. The sculpture is of El Filibusterismo’s Elias battling a crocodile. It paid homage to Rizal’s work, serving as a metaphor for Filipinos’ fight against Spanish rule.
The Japanese conquerors damaged the house with bombs that saw the destruction of its rear part. The house underwent repair but ghostly encounters began to hound the area.
Locals claimed that they saw ghosts of an elderly couple walking around the property. Some witnessed headless Japanese soldiers wander to and from the house’s gates. Visitors say that they kept hearing chains being dragged around the house. Some believed that the ghosts stayed in the property to prevent its demolition or sale.
The Herrera Mansion still stands to this day. It still continues terrorizing travelers who take peaks of the house, yet it’s one of Tiaong, Quezon’s cultural heritage. The house is an architectural masterpiece with an exciting yet sinister past.
Be sure to pay these homes a visit once you get the chance this coming Halloween!
Banner photo via Instagram @frencellouie.
