Boy With A Lantern

Boy With A Lantern

A man recounts of ghostly apparition in his old childhood house.

Miguel, 11 years at that time, his parents and siblings stay in the old bungalow in Mindanao, Philippine. The old bungalow was made up of timber and concrete and it was on a large piece of land.

One night, everybody was asleep except for Miguel who was busy with his Rubik’s cube and he had a torchlight on his bed with a blanket covering his body. The only light was a sole lamp in the corridor leading to the bedrooms and the wooo! sound from the heavy wind. Jose, Miguel’s younger brother was fast asleep opposite from Miguel’s bed. Miguel was so busy trying to figure out the Rubik’s cube when he noticed a weird bluish transparent light coming in the bedroom doorway. He was kindna shock and then he saw a young boy walking with a lantern with the bluish light surrounding him. The young boy with the blue light just walk passed the corridor to Miguel’s room.

The next morning, Miguel was so excited and told his family about the bluish light and the young boy holding a lantern. Instead his parents were so angry and his father threatened to beat him with a ‘rotan’  (cane) for making up that ridiculous story.

Miguel saw the ghostly apparition several times over the years and he was with Jose when they both saw the bluish boy with the lantern. Miguel together with Jose made to tell his parents what they saw but they did not fully believe the boys. However their mother started to put a candle and say prayers in their family altar.

They moved to Manila after Miguel’s father was transferred and they did not hear about their old family house. One day after many years, Miguel had a meeting after his old place in Mindanao. Miguel taught about his old house in Mindanao and was wondering whether it was there.

When he went to his old house, he saw the house was a bit rundown and he met with a lady from that house. Miguel starting to speak that their family used to stay there and there were so many strange incidents.

The lady then asked, “….did you see the boy with the lantern?”.