MY GRANDFATHER VS. THE GRIM REAPER

A True Story by Arsenio Macanas

edited by VCostes

Around 1930's, Cabingcolan was still a remote area with nothing around but the wilderness. Electricity came to Asingan only in the late '50s. My vivid impression of remote places at that time was dread. I mean you know, to reach and visit your neighbor you have to walk through thick bushes and trees. Now imagine nights with no source of light except the stars and moon, and you have to walk using a lamp or a flashlight. Spooky huh?

People said my grand father was a respectable man. He was brave and courteous toward strangers. He was a man who doesn’t believe in superstitious stuff. He and my grandmother inherited from my great grandparents(Escorpiso on my mother side) a huge piece of property. It is too bad we never saw those properties in our time. My grandmother was pregnant to my mother then.

At twillight, he would be outside their house with his machete cutting bushes and trees. Everyone at that time would already be home except him. One day, he was socializing with his friends when an old man approached them asking for help. The old man looked filthy, bone-skinny and sick ( no elaboration where he came from). The sun has gone down, and my grandfather was still with the old man. They talked and my grandfather accepted the old man’s plea for help. My grandmother was surprised when an unexpected guest came home with her husband. She was more surprised the next day when my grandfather was building a bahay kubo ( a nipa hut ) in the back yard to shelter the old man. I learned my grandfather was also a great philanthropist.

Then two months later, in the middle of a dark night, everybody's expectation came true.The old man was dying, hollering like a beast, screaming and crying for help. My grand father hastened to get up from bed, grabbed his machete, and entered the bahay kubo to help the old man. While he was inside with the old man dying, he was hearing people outside and murmuring, he told them to come inside, he said ( a sinno kayo? Umoneg kayo ). Nobody answered him back. The indistinct sounds became louder. When he went up to call them the voices stopped, So he grabbed a lamp and went outside. He saw nobody. So he stepped back inside but he sensed something or somebody in his back and as he turned his head, he saw a tall man in black with a scythe (That sounded like the grim reaper to me). He drew his machete and he asked him desperately to go leave.He even swunghis machete toward him many times until the man in black disappeared in the dark. He went back inside and the old man appeared calm.

Then it was the turn for my grandfather to feel sick.He decided to go home and wake up my grandmother. He said, "I feel weak and my head hurts." My grand mother asked "How’s the old man?" He answered, "he is in there quite OK after all." They went to bed but he couldn't sleep. Since he can’t sleep, he managed to tell the whole story to my grandmother. She noticed he looked paranoid and he kept repeating his story. Eventually, he fell asleep.

Next morning they found the old man dead in his shelter but my grandfather was still in bed. He was still sick, vomiting, head aches, the whole works. After three days they buried the old man. My grandfather, meanwhile was getting worse, so they called a local Medicine Man(albulario). They found out that he doesn’t have a shadow from his head. He never got better from "albulario."treatment. Eventually, they called a doctor but he remained the same. Three months later, he passed away.

I heard this story from my laki Ilas when I was in college and it was confirmed by my mother. My mom said, "You can ask anybody in Cabingcolan especially the old folks if they are still alive". My Mom and Laki Ilas story are identical, but Laki Ilas' story was rich in details. -----#

Epilogue:My Lolo Ilas  told me that the reason why my granpa died, ( he heard it from the albularyo that he read it from the chicken blood reading called atang)... the grim reaper(kamatayan) got hurt so bad. My grandpa cut his head from his machete.So instead the ghost is  headless...it's my granpa! The albularyo said, "Imbales da keniya na". I thought ghost & Kamatayan are the same, because when lolo Ilas was telling me the story he always said ghost and my mom too. When I learned from the description of their story "a tall man wearing black hood and with scythe." that's kamatayan ( death looks like, in popular art anyway ). God Bless us all and may He always protect us from these evil spirits! ---#