Barely braving Baguio City's ‘Pine City Fright Tour’

Yes, last week I could have done the basic Baguio tour: Burnham Park, the ukay-ukay and La Trinidad.

Instead, I decided to put on a brave face and signed up for the Pine City Fright Tours – a visit of Baguio spots that are allegedly haunted.

Having convinced myself the tour was an adrenaline junky's dream ride, sans the heights and the water, I braced myself for heart-attack city.

Setting off at around 6 p.m., we headed for the first stop, the Laperal House. All the members of the Laperal family were said to have died tragically. It was also said that Japanese forces tortured people in the house during World War 2.

The Laperal House, first stop in the "Pine City Fright Tour". GMA News

Armed only with a flashlight and our teeny cell phone lights, we made our way into the house fully expecting to find ourselves face to face with the undead. Beginning our tour in the dark, our masked (that does not help!) guide, Anton Villa-Abrile, told us creepy stories about the house. The stories were based both on historical facts and those based on the local rumor-mill.

But the eerie music that accompanied the tales... I was a lunatic to agree to this!  

"Pine City Fright Tour" guide Anton Villa-Abrile and his way to effective mask. GMA News

Nevertheless I stuck with it as we made our way to our next haunted stop, the Teacher's Camp and the old Hyatt Hotel. The hotel was turned into rubble by the magnitude 7.8, 1990 Luzon earthquake. I was only a few months old when the earthquake hit Baguio. All I remember was that a lot of people died.

Our tour guide though told us of rescuers' accounts that said they heard SOS taps on the hotel's pipes and muffled cries of help from the basement. Hotel employees were said to have been trapped in the basement, tons of rubble separating them from rescue. And so there they died, forlorn and abandoned.

Some say the souls of those trapped in the ruins continue to haunt the grounds, perennially vacationing at the Hyatt every year – something like "Groundhog Day" for ghosts.

The last stop was Loakan Road, which was infamous for white lady-sightings. Unfortunately, or fortunately for my heart rate, it wasn't foggy that night so no apparitions of any sort.

But by the road was a very small gate. You would miss it if it was not pointed out to you. It leads to the American Cemetery where, if you walk around long enough, you would come face to face with the ghost of one of the 491 fallen Filipino scouts, US nationals, and civilian employees buried there.

The American Cemetery, which was supposedly haunted by ghosts of Filipino Scouts, US nationals, and civilian employees killed during World War 2. GMA News

At this point the tour was more sad than scary, given that the 491 people buried there were now better known for ghost stories rather than their contributions to history.

All in all, the tour lasted about three hours. I did not sense anything otherworldly (thank God, I was praying in my head the whole time), although I thoroughly enjoyed the show.

And more than the ghost stories, the history amazed me more. I would recommend going on the ghost tour not to hunt ghosts, but to learn a part of history that we have all been too scared to even explore. — DVM, GMA News

Watch the full report on GMA News TV's  “Brigada”,  8 p.m. Tuesday.