The haunted house in San Ildefonso
The last time my father brought me to San Miguel, Bulacan for pastillas shopping, he pointed out a house that was some kind of landmark in the area. It was an old house located along the highway and very near the boundary of San Ildefonso and San Miguel. Based on the architecture, it was probably constructed during the Spanish era and, by the looks of it, abandoned for years.
It was nearing sunset when I first caught sight of the house. The sky behind the house, framing it, was an eerie red-orange. It was a spine-tingling scene with the trees surrounding the house bereft of leaves and seemingly as dead as the house that it ornamented. By any standard, it looked like a haunted house.
That scene would play inside my head for years. And I was not even alone in my thoughts because the house got its share of publicity when it was featured in an article in Manila Bulletin’s Panorama magazine years ago. Like I said, it stood there like a landmark, undisturbed, uncared for but still fully erect.
After Speedy and I got married, I would discover that he too had seen the house on several occasions. His father hailed from Nueva Ecija and they had passed by that house many times on the way to Talavera.
Years and years later, we would tell our kids our stories about seeing that house. I would describe the scene to them and we would all relish the mock horror — much like telling ghost stories around a campfire or in a purposely darkened room to heighten the scary experience.
Last weekend, on the way home from an overnight stay at the Mimosa Leisure Park, I suggested making a detour. Instead of going straight home, why not exit the NLEX at Pulilan and drive on to San Miguel? It’s been years since I’ve been there, missed the rows of stores selling pastillas, and we could finally show the kids the haunted house that we have told them about so often.
And so, we went. It was a long drive. San Miguel is the last town of Bulacan before crossing the boundary of Nueva Ecija, and right before San Miguel is San Ildefonso. As soon as we entered San Ildefonso, I started to get really excited. It was Speedy who saw the house first. Yes, it is still standing.
But that was about the only accurate thing from my description and the girls started giving me those accusing looks.
Not only were the trees around the house in full bloom…
There was also a Monobloc chair in front of the house.
Talk about ruining kids’ expectations, eh? Imagine the suspense… after years and years of hearing the story about the haunted house, this was all we got to show for it.
And that’s not even the worst part.
There were no rows and rows of pastillas stores in San Miguel. There were a few stores named Sevilla’s, apparently named to take advantage of the name of the most famous pastillas maker in the country. They weren’t even selling pastillas by Sevilla’s but a hodge podge of pastries from different food manufacturers. These stores were just reselling. What the heck happened to the pastillas industry in San Miguel, I do not know. The numerous stores we passed by were selling powdered laundry detergent. But, being me, giving up is a hard thing to do. Speedy was not in a good mood anymore but I said just go on straight, we’d find them. A snippet of conversation:
“They should be around here,” I said, “small quaint stores constructed in front of houses where the pastillas are made… Old women — grannies — minding the stores…”
Speedy answered in a half-amused, half-exasperated tone, “How old were you then? Those grannies would all be dead by now.”
Ummm… well, true. Okay, so I didn’t object when he said, “Can we turn back now?”
To put a crappy end to a crappy story… Okay, the photos above were taken on the way to San Miguel. You can see from the angle of the house that we had passed by the house already when Speedy parked the car on the curb. Sam was taking photos from the backseat through the open window.
So, on the way back, we passed the house once more, this time going the opposite direction, and we were able to see the side that is not visible in the photo. What do you know? There was a tricycle parked there. 
So much for quaint pastillas stores and haunted houses.
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[...] my life, I called it “the haunted house in San Ildefonso” and that was how I referred to it when I posted the photo as part of an entry in The Mommy [...]
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[...] you may read a related story about the detour to San Miguel, Bulacan in my other blog. October 30, 2007 Print [...]
We feast everyday!
I can’t remember if I’ve really seen this house before but my mother would always insists I did because when often pass through this house on our way between Aliaga, Nueva Ecija and Manila.
I remember an Ovaltine commercial was shoot in this house and my mother would always talk about seeing it during our travels. Also, there were some ghost movies shoot in this “haunted house”.
Happy Halloween!
And Connie, I loved the first plain blue Mommy Talks better. (Feeling close lang po
)
Ooohh, so the house is being maintained with that look so it can be the perfect movie setting? LOL
Re header: oh no worries, it’s always changing anyway, depending on how stressed I am. If the entire template changes, I am de-stressing big time hehehehe
Read the end of the post first to see if it’s scary. Otherwise, I would not have read the entire thing. Afraid to get scared. He he. So I cheated.
The colors don’t matter to me so much.
I love the template. It’s easy to navigate.
I wish you’d bring back Pinoy Cook to this template. Medyo nakakalito.
LOL I thought there was scary-scary and fun-scary.
Re Pinoy Cook, ummm it hasn’t even been a month yet. Maybe it just gets a little getting used to.
Like kotseng kuba, I can’t really remember this house, perhaps because I’ve passed by it a hundred times.
But there’s another one in Pangasinan, Urdaneta or Villasis, which was always a location for horror movies. But a new house, more modern one was built beside it so the eerie feel has been lost.
Having been traveling between Manila and Nueva Ecija for more than two decades now, I can’t help but really wonder each time I get to have a quick look at that “haunted” mansion. Years back – when I was still a teenager – there’s still that hair-raising feeling of being scared especially when we’d pass by it at sunset or late at night. But having outgrown all those freaky stories surrounding the house, I now feel at a loss why its owners, or even the villagers living near it, prefer to leave it at such a decrepit state. Of late, I’ve even seen a family, maybe its caretaker, building a hut at its back but they still don’t seem to touch the house.
What a great waste for such a big house which I’m sure has stood witness to history. The least the local folks could have done is to either bulldoze it if the owners have long abandoned it, or turn it into a sort of an old-house museum. But I guess people prefer to see that “haunted house” by the road – it still makes some scary tales, you know!
Oh how I miss the Sevilla’s pastries of yonder years!
First paragraph pa lang alam ko na kung anong bahay yan sinasabi mo. When I was little it used to scare me, too. But I saw it’s deterioration and I even saw the people who actually live there. And yes, I still remember the tricycle normally parked at the side of the house.
I keep thinking to myself the owners are sitting on a potential “attraction”. You know, if they spruce it up, they can tag it as a proper horror house for visitors.
Sometimes I still wonder what that house can really tell.
naku, madalas ko to makita nung bata ako when we visit our relatives in san miguel. ni hindi namin matingnan noon sa takot.
this house was featured on tv (i forgot wc channel) ,at doon ko lang nalaman na ang tawag pala dito ay “bahay na pula. ” noong panahon kasi ng hapon, dyan dinadala yung mga comfort women. the camera crew took videos of its interiors.
JunKs, yes, there is a bodega-like structure at the back. Would love to read “freaky” stories about it.
auee, re “First paragraph pa lang alam ko na kung anong bahay yan sinasabi mo.”
Famous talaga yung bahay, ah!
Lady Ces, ah so it was in use as late as the Japanese occupation. But the owners must have abandoned it by then since the Japs were using it to house comfort women.
Wow, that was a really interesting story Ms. Veneracion, I wish I was there to see it in person. You know, my mom used to be editor in chief of Panorama magazine, maybe you know her since you’re in the journalism field.
I took my third year high school in, guess what, St. Paul’s in San Miguel. That was during the 70’s. Not really being from there, my dad had to talk with the nuns to take me as a bed spacer in one of their rooms just across. It was an old house just like this one, the floor was made with thick, large slabs of narra and when you turn off the lights, you could’t see a thing like as if your eyes were shut. A lot of people from there told me it was haunted making the other guys (we were four) leave the premises. I was left alone there and to tell you frankly, I was scared shitless. What I would do was cover my face with my blanket thinking whatever happens, I am not opening my eyes. hahaha
Those were the days.
i think i saw that house already and those pastillas stores, too.. i would still love to go inside that house, though
i am always curious when i see old houses…of course, i’d only go inside at daytime, hehe
nga pala, di ba the aguinaldo house in cavite is also one famous haunted place?
Filipino Cultured, your mom is Letty Magsanoc?
Tito Rolly, at least nothing grabbed the blanket from you! LOL I wonder what you would have done hahahahha
raqgold, aguinaldo house? goodness, that’s a popular field trip destination for grade schoolers….
OK, the house is under renovation. I have seen that house everytime we go to my dad’s hometown at Talavera, NE. By the way, he is also a Veneracion. Cheers!!
Hey, Jane, from Talavera too eh? You and Speedy might be related. Probably related.
I live in San Miguel and i’ve heard quite a few things abput the house you are referring to, there has been numerous documentaries shot in that house including that one of GMA (I witness) people around san miguel and san ildefonso tagged the house with the name “Bahay na Pula” (the red house) apparently because of it’s structural color. in the 40’s when the japanese occupied most of san miguel and san ildefonso, they used the house as a garrison (place for torturing slaves) and took a couple of hundred women there and made them sex slaves and they we’re later known as “The Comfort Women” all of them were raped, some of them, killed. the mt grandmother’s sister was one of them (though i’m not convinced hence the lack of proof). anyway, people around the two towns (san miguel and san ildefonso) believe that you have to blow your horn while passing through the house as a sign of respect because of the numerous vehicular accidents which happened in front of the house. people say that a white lady passes accross the highway as you run along in your car thus causing accidents. i don’t know if it’s true but based on my experience it is. one time on our way from manila, i was driving our owner type jeep with my wife and mother, we passed the house and i forgot to blow the horn, this white thing crossed the road and passed right beside me. i don’t know if that was it, i tought it was smoke but i don’t recall smelling any. shadow? no way, i was the only one on the road at that time and the was no light on the post. my headlights? it was right beside me remember?. whatever that thing was, i didn’t utter a single word from the red house until our house in san miguel………
Hi.,.
I just want to ask if the caretakers of that house let visitors in.,.
I want to visit it kasi with some of my friends.,.
thanks and God bless.,.
hi sam.
i’m a reporter for the manila times. i just want to ask permission to use your photo of “bahay na pula” for an article on comfort women.
you can forward your reply at lifestyle@manilatimes.net
hoping for your favorable reply.
best,
perry mallari
Perry, I’ll ask her, ha. But give her credit for the photo, okay?
I just passed by this haunted house last week on my way to Cabanatuan City. There are sacks of sand in front of it right now… looks like it’s being worked on.
According to the stories I heard about the house, the entire family that lived there several decades ago died in a horrific bus accident.
well i havent been any near the house but i wouldlike to pass by someday..
scarry actually, some of my friends planning to go there this hallows eve. dare!, last time we passed we recognized a renovation is in progress. that was good just for info who finance it? they say the owners are gone? Happy Halloween!!!
meron pang isang haunted house sa Pasay, takot na takot kami doon kasi everyday we have to pass by it going home to Ignacio St. eto ay halos katapat ng Jose Rizal Elem School, malapit sa San Rafael church, di ko na ma remember ang street name, basta around the vicinity of Figueroa st. corner house ito, siguro 3 or 4 floors, hindi ko alam kung nandoon pa, that was around 1970’s when I was still in elementary,
elow i am proud to be an ildefonianz, that house is very historical…..
there is a ghost here i will prove that because me, myself saw a ghost here…..
Hehe. San miguel ako nakatira. may nakatira na po sa bahay na pula….
pero klik na klik pa rin naman dba?
p.s. nice story.
We passed this house (at night)
pede po ba overnight stay sa bahay na pula? may lakad po kasi kami mgkakaibigan at napagusapan namin magghost hungting… naghahanap po ako ng mga sites sa web na pede namin mapuntahan… ako po kasi naataasan magorganize ng lakad namin.. Sino po ba pede ko makausap para magovernight stay po sa house na to? Pano ko po sila pede macontact? please reply po or send me an e-mail ASAP… salamat po..
I ta2ma q0h lang ung l0cati0n.hnd p0wh sa b0undry yan nang san miguel!yan pulang bhay na yan ay mata2gpuan sa brgy makapilapil.byan nang san ildefonso!un lang bye.
Nakapunta na po ako dyan and sleep with my friends,as in inside the house.uhmmm…nothing happen naman with as pero yung isang kasama namin saw one sa c.r. sa ilalim nung hagdan.Every people we ask na malapit lang don tells us na they were scared kahit daw marinig lang nila yung name lalo na kapag napapadaan sila.Exagge nga kasi kamusta naman yung mga nakatira don sa likod nung bahay eh sabi nung friend ko don yung part ng house kung saan daw may balon(na ngayon ay wala na)at kung saan pinahihirapan yung mga comfort women edi dapat sila yung dapat mas matakot.