Philippines is a home to many mythical creatures and ghost stories such as the aswang (half human, half monster that allegedly hunts down pregnant women to consume the babies from the expecting momma’s womb), tikbalang (half human, half horse), kapre (a huge creature smoking tobacco from behind the trees), and many more.

All these stories – although they remain unclear whether they are true or not – surely scared lots of people in the Philippines especially children. Every October 31^st or November 1^st, TV shows about these folklore creatures that have been made popular in the Philippines are on air – some even with testimonies from people who claim that they have seen these mythical beings.

What an aswang allegedly looks like. Source: Cryptid Wiki (Link: http://cryptidz.wikia.com/wiki/Aswang)

An artwork by Kitt Lapeña showing a tikbalang. (Link: https://cindylapena.com/2013/05/19/tikbalang/)

Photo credit: WOW Paradise Philippines (Link: http://www.wowparadisephilippines.com/legend-kapre.html)

However, there are underrated ghost stories and eerie phenomenon that does not get featured in TV shows or writings that has happened in many places all over the world. One of these stories is the white lady in Loakan Road, Baguio City in the Philippines. Baguio City is known as the summer capital of the tropical country and the temperatures could drop to 8 degrees that it gets foggy in the afternoons, evenings, and at dawn. This natural phenomenon makes it even creepier to pass by Loakan Road during evening and dawn because there are no street lights and drivers only rely on their fog lights.

Where the tree used to stand. Photo Credit: Lakbay Baguio (Link: https://lakbaybaguio.com/2012/10/baguio-city-white-lady/)

Loakan Road is a stretch of wooded areas with really tall pine trees and it is one of the main roads in the city because it connects two towns to the central business district. It is also the route that one takes if he or she wants to go to the Philippine Military Academy or the Philippine Economic Zone, where lots of establishments such as Sitel (a call center company), Texas Instruments (a global semiconductor design & manufacturing company), and more.

According to reports, the white lady is the soul of the woman who was raped and murdered along Loakan Road. Some motorists claimed that they saw a woman cross the street at the exact area where the pine tree stood but when they stopped to look again, the woman was gone. The huge pine tree was in the middle of the road and it was believed to be where the white lady lived. Many people tried to remove it from where it stood but anyone who tried ended up getting hurt or worse, died. Baguio City is rich in culture and because of this, some elderly Cordillerans had rituals called “Canao” to appease the spirit allegedly living in the tree so as to cut it down without causing injuries or deaths.

Eventually, the Department of Public Works and Highways sometime in 2002 cut the tree down. The tree reportedly died after being hit by a car sometime in 2001. The driver also died when he hit the tree. Since then, the leaves of the tree turned brown and months later, the department decided to take it down since it was already a dead tree.

Stories From Those Who Had Encounters With The White Lady

What the white lady is believed to look like. Photo Credit: Grimerica (Link: http://www.grimerica.ca/the-lady-in-white/)

Many motorists claimed that whenever they passed through Loakan Road, especially cab drivers, they looked at their rear view mirror and saw the white lady as their passenger in the backseat of the car.

One chilling story was when the cab was hailed by a lady in white. The woman told the driver to take her to the Filipino-American cemetery where many soldiers were buried in the past. Just a few meters from where the woman was supposed to be taken to, the woman vanished and the driver knew that it was the White Lady of Loakan Road.

The entrance of the Filipino-American cemetery in Loakan Road. Photo Credit: Baguio City Guide (Link: https://www.baguiocityguide.com/scary-stories-5-haunted-places-baguio-city/)

Another story was that of a jeepney driver who was already on his last trip. He had three passengers with him. Somewhere along Loakan Road was a shed and a woman hailed the jeepney. The passengers noticed that the woman’s face was covered with her long, black hair and her feet was not touching the jeepney’s floor. They all started screaming but the driver continued to drive in an attempt to bring the passengers home safely.

Another driver said that he never believed in ghosts so he never thought that he would have a real-life encounter with the white lady. According to the man, he braved Loakan Road one night and he saw the woman, who was trying to hitch a ride with him. The man did not stop and he thought to himself that what he was seeing was not true. He then checked his rearview mirror and was frightened to see the woman in the backseat looking at him angrily. He again denied that the white lady was in the backseat. He checked his rearview mirror once again and did not see anyone. When he turned to look at the road, the woman was on top of his hood with an evil smile.

The driver was reportedly found somewhere near Loakan Road muttering to himself, “It is true.” He was taken to a mental hospital after.