Ghost hunting still popular at Clark

From ABS CBN News: Ghost hunting still popular at Clark
CLARK FREEPORT, Philippines —For the past several years, ghost hunters from as far as the United States have visited this free port to pursue their hobby.

American students belonging to one club recently stayed at the Stonsenberg Hotel here for a few days to “ghost hunt.” They wore black shirts and printed on them is “Ghosts we pursue.”

But they declined an interview with the BusinessMirror. “Our uniforms say it all why we are here at Clark,” they said.

Guy Hilbero, tourism chief of Mabalacat, Pampanga, said there is nothing wrong with ghost hunting at Clark. “Ghost tourism” could be packaged in the tourism plan of the state-owned Clark Development Corp. (CDC), which runs the 2,100-hectare area, he said.

Ghost hunters could start their visit at the CDC tourism office itself. The CDC tourism office on Quirino Avenue and E. Aguinaldo Avenue is haunted, according to CDC workers and Hilbero.

“We hear sounds at night. No one dares stay late without companion at the office,” they said.

Nicanor Targa of the CDC Public Safety Department said he has neither seen ghosts nor heard noises, although he had been asked several times by local and foreign journalists on the reported presence of ghosts in the former US military base. He has been the head of the CDC-PSD for five years.

In same area where most of the CDC corporate offices are, helpers claimed hearing strange sounds at night, which, for them was proof that “there are ghosts here.” One of these offices is the recently inaugurated CDC Press Center on Cardinal Santos Avenue.

Hilbero also cited the former Fort Stotsenberg cemetery within the Mimosa Leisure Estate as being one of the most haunted places there. Clark Freeport used to be known as Fort Stotsenburg when the Americans moved here at the turn of the 20th century.

Golf caddies at the 36-hole golf course of the 215-hectare Mimosa said they had heard of a “black lady” appearing under a huge acacia tree at Hole No. 8 of the course’s Lake View.

“Not one or two caddies but many heard about the black lady just standing near the tree,” said a caddie of the Mimosa Golf and Country Club. She added that their locker room near the Mimosa Convention Center was also haunted.

“We often hear sounds of a a woman crying as we prepare to go home, especially at night,” she said. “Sometimes, the faucets would suddenly open even if no one is around in our locker room.”

Hilbero said the Mimosa property also has an unfinished clubhouse in an area that used to be the Fort Stotsenberg cemetery.

“They say the area brings bad luck; ghosts are reportedly heard and seen in the area,” Hilbero said.

The abandoned Clark hospital used to contain a morgue for American victims of the Vietnam War in the 1960s before their bodies where flown to the US or laid to rest at the new cemetery on M.A. Roxas Avenue.

“The Clark hospital is the most popular area for ghost hunters. It’s always on their list,” a security guard stationed at the hospital said. “I, myself, hear voices at night—sounding like Americans arguing with each other—when the place is supposedly totally abandoned.”

The Clark cemetery, which was established in the late 1940s, reportedly contains the remains and headstones from at least four other US cemeteries in the Philippines.

The 12,000-plot cemetery which sprawls over 23 acres, is a lonely place during All Saints’ Day because the relatives of the dead soldiers have long left Clark. But the cemetery remains well maintained.

“Most of the dead soldiers’ relatives are no longer in Clark. So these dearly departed are probably seeking some attention and prayers, hence, they appear in the cemetery,” said Marvin Gonzales, who worked here when the Americans still occupied it.

“They are reports and stories that white ladies and headless soldiers often appear,” he said.

The ghost stories at Clark have gained more attention over the years, thanks to modern technology, particularly the video-sharing site YouTube. Just search “Clark ghosts” after reading this.