Voodoo and Black Magic - A Personal Experience
An eerie and unforgetable experience
We have always looked forward to our summer vacation with much anticipation because it meant enjoyable camping and hunting trips, fishing expeditions and town fiesta celebrations. That summer of 1962 was no different than summers past and as early as the first week of March we had already mapped out our itinerary in detail. First on our schedule was a camping and hunting trip, then a fishing expedition to a northern coastal town to coincide with their annual fiesta sometime in the middle of May.
Our choice for the site of our camping and hunting sojourn was some 50 kilometers south of our place. We were to make camp at the small farm that belonged to the family of our house help and spend 2 weekend nights there.
As happily anticipated, the summer school break came and we lost no time in embarking on our trip south. There were 4 of us in the group: my elder brother, 2 classmates of mine and myself. For food, we brought along the usual fare of canned goods, dried meat, a few kilos of rice, non-perishables like roasted peanuts, dried fruits, potato chips, dates and candies. We each had water canteens knowing that potable water was available from several mountain springs there. We packed 2 sets of canvass tents, a pair of mosquito nets and some cooking and eating utensils. Of course we brought along our hunting rifles, .22 cal. Winchesters and a pair of air rifles.
We took off on a Friday after lunch on our jeep and after enduring a bumpy and dusty ride we arrived in the small village of our house help’s folks. We had to park and leave our jeep by the highway safely at the side of a house of a friend. Our final destination was still about 2 kilometers walk towards the mountain range. To reach the place we had to trek along a partially dried river bed going upstream, make a few crossings at portions that still had shallow streams. Before we reached the farm we have to go through a passage by the river bank that appeared like a cave because of the thick foliage that gave cover overhead.
We finally arrived at the farm late afternoon and immediately set up camp along the river bank. We cooked and ate an early dinner planning to retire and sleep early as we all felt tired after that long hike. At break of dawn on Saturday we woke up, ate breakfast and then started to explore the place for game birds and monkeys. A couple hours later we converged on the riverbank to assess our progress and…luck. My brother and my two buddies showed off and bragged about their catch or kill – game birds, a monitor lizard and two monkeys, except me. I did not find any game, bird or monkey, in the area I explored. I felt angry and envious. When we started back to camp, I told them to go ahead while I stayed behind awhile hoping I might bump on some game bird or something. I then sat on a boulder feeling morose, listened and waited. From out of nowhere, a chicken appeared some 20 paces from where I sat. I didn't know what got into my head but I just leveled my gun sights on the poor chicken and bang! I took my "catch" back to camp to the surprise and consternation of my buddies. After receiving a tongue-lashing from my brother for shooting a domestic chicken, I ended up preparing and cooking the chicken for lunch myself. To hide my crime, I buried the feathers, entrails, head and feet in the dry portion of the riverbed.
The next day, Sunday, after an early hunting foray, we broke camp to head back to our jeep. We left the farm after lunch. A few yards from our camp while walking back along the semi-dry river bed, where a portion still had a small running stream by it, we noticed a peculiar and strange sight. Floating downstream, were chicken feathers similar in color to the one I shot. We didn't mind it though but it gave me some weird sensation and after-thoughts. Further away at the point where we have to pass by the cave-like passage by the riverbank, another strange and eerie sight greeted us: suspended on the overhead bushes that made up the upper cover of the passage were the head and feet of the chicken I shot! Now this made my hair stand on end. Nobody said a word but just stared at me. My brother then motioned me and my buddies to hurry up and get the hell out of the place as quickly as possible.
We arrived home without telling my parents or anybody about our strange experience. Shortly thereafter, I felt a prick, like a mosquito bite, on my left forearm near the cup of my elbow joint. That innocent prick not long after, turned into a pus-laden boil causing my left arm to swell. I developed high fever and chills that my mother finally decided to admit me to a hospital. The doctors worked on my swollen arm sucking the pus and dead blood out and bombarding me with antibiotics. I got well though but it did scare the wits out of me.
I never could explain what happened except that my brother swore he saw some kind of crawling insect sucked out together with the pus and blood during the medical procedure at the hospital and he still maintains to this day that I was subjected to a voodoo and black magic spell! There is no proof however, except a scar on my arm to remind me of that eerie experience.
