1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:03,400 Speaker 1: Unexplained now has a substack page. If you enjoy Unexplained 2 00:00:03,440 --> 00:00:05,280 Speaker 1: and want to go deeper into the world of the show, 3 00:00:05,480 --> 00:00:07,440 Speaker 1: I've created a new space for all the bits that 4 00:00:07,480 --> 00:00:11,200 Speaker 1: don't quite fit into the podcast, including the Unexplained Addendum, 5 00:00:11,280 --> 00:00:15,040 Speaker 1: a weekly companion piece to each new episode. Expect essays 6 00:00:15,040 --> 00:00:19,640 Speaker 1: that lean more academic and analytical explorations of folklore, psychology, 7 00:00:19,800 --> 00:00:22,400 Speaker 1: and the shadowy corners of history that have shaped the 8 00:00:22,440 --> 00:00:24,799 Speaker 1: stories you hear on the show. But it's also a 9 00:00:24,800 --> 00:00:28,680 Speaker 1: home for something more personal, my fiction, my strange amusings, 10 00:00:28,880 --> 00:00:32,000 Speaker 1: and the odd fragments that don't belong anywhere else. Search 11 00:00:32,040 --> 00:00:35,599 Speaker 1: for Unexplained podcast on substack or go to Unexplained podcast 12 00:00:35,640 --> 00:00:38,920 Speaker 1: dot substack dot com to find out more and subscribe. 13 00:00:39,080 --> 00:00:40,839 Speaker 1: If it's like a little bit more of me and 14 00:00:40,920 --> 00:00:43,800 Speaker 1: Unexplained in your week, join me on substack and let's 15 00:00:43,880 --> 00:00:50,880 Speaker 1: keep exploring the unknown together. New writing every Monday. Please 16 00:00:50,920 --> 00:00:54,520 Speaker 1: note that this episode contains graphic accounts of torture and death. 17 00:00:54,840 --> 00:00:57,920 Speaker 1: Parental discretion is advised. We're about to go to some 18 00:00:58,040 --> 00:01:00,600 Speaker 1: very dark places. If you're happy to take the right 19 00:01:00,920 --> 00:01:17,200 Speaker 1: then please strap in. In the early hours of November seventeenth, 20 00:01:17,360 --> 00:01:20,480 Speaker 1: nineteen eighty one on the shores of Manila Bay in 21 00:01:20,560 --> 00:01:25,039 Speaker 1: Passe City in the Philippines, harsh floodlights shine down through 22 00:01:25,080 --> 00:01:29,959 Speaker 1: a warm, hazy darkness, illuminating a hive of activity. Two 23 00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:33,080 Speaker 1: thousand men hurriedly work to finish the latest in a 24 00:01:33,120 --> 00:01:36,720 Speaker 1: series of vanity projects for a Melde Marcos, the much 25 00:01:36,760 --> 00:01:40,520 Speaker 1: feared First Lady of the Philippines. Another two thousand are 26 00:01:40,520 --> 00:01:43,160 Speaker 1: bedded down in the squatter's village that has sprung up 27 00:01:43,160 --> 00:01:45,800 Speaker 1: around the building site, doing their best to get some 28 00:01:45,880 --> 00:01:50,040 Speaker 1: rest before the next round of shifts begin. The vast 29 00:01:50,080 --> 00:01:54,680 Speaker 1: concrete edifice currently taking shape, a brutalist interpretation of the 30 00:01:54,680 --> 00:01:58,240 Speaker 1: Parthenon of ancient Greece, will in time become a vast 31 00:01:58,360 --> 00:02:02,400 Speaker 1: film theatre. It has been designed by architect Freulen Hong 32 00:02:02,760 --> 00:02:07,040 Speaker 1: to host the inaugural Manila International Film Festival, which are 33 00:02:07,040 --> 00:02:10,680 Speaker 1: Melde Marcos hopes will one day become the Asian equivalent 34 00:02:10,720 --> 00:02:16,480 Speaker 1: of Can Bigger. Even, Hoong has been given only eight 35 00:02:16,520 --> 00:02:20,200 Speaker 1: months to complete the project, and time is fast running out. 36 00:02:21,320 --> 00:02:24,760 Speaker 1: Sparks fly and drills with as labourers hurry up and 37 00:02:24,800 --> 00:02:30,320 Speaker 1: down the wooden scaffolding that encases the entire structure. Some 38 00:02:30,400 --> 00:02:33,640 Speaker 1: are working on the main auditorium, preparing it for another 39 00:02:33,720 --> 00:02:37,400 Speaker 1: slam port to complete the ceiling, while others are busy 40 00:02:37,440 --> 00:02:42,400 Speaker 1: constructing two smaller theaters above it. Elsewhere, another team is 41 00:02:42,400 --> 00:02:46,080 Speaker 1: installing two garish thrones in what will become the VIP 42 00:02:46,240 --> 00:02:50,240 Speaker 1: section for Amalda and her husband, President Ferdinand Marcos to 43 00:02:50,280 --> 00:02:54,320 Speaker 1: sit on. The construction crew has been relying on a 44 00:02:54,400 --> 00:02:58,400 Speaker 1: quick drying concrete to help speed up the building process, 45 00:02:58,480 --> 00:03:01,600 Speaker 1: with little time given to let it set between pourings, 46 00:03:02,320 --> 00:03:06,000 Speaker 1: not that anyone has really been keeping track. In the 47 00:03:06,040 --> 00:03:08,960 Speaker 1: haste to complete the structure, a number of different building 48 00:03:08,960 --> 00:03:12,840 Speaker 1: companies and materials have been drafted in, creating at best 49 00:03:13,120 --> 00:03:17,600 Speaker 1: a form of semi organized chaos on site. Some workers 50 00:03:17,639 --> 00:03:20,720 Speaker 1: are clocking in for one company, then wandering off elsewhere 51 00:03:20,760 --> 00:03:23,800 Speaker 1: to clock in with another. Some are said to take 52 00:03:23,840 --> 00:03:29,560 Speaker 1: both paychecks without actually doing any work. Materials are routinely 53 00:03:29,600 --> 00:03:32,280 Speaker 1: pilfered between companies who rarely seem to be on the 54 00:03:32,320 --> 00:03:35,760 Speaker 1: same page with how best to manage the construction. And 55 00:03:35,880 --> 00:03:41,080 Speaker 1: through it all, the concrete just keeps on coming. It's 56 00:03:41,160 --> 00:03:43,840 Speaker 1: just gone two a m. When another vast load of 57 00:03:43,880 --> 00:03:46,840 Speaker 1: it is poured into the four story high ceiling of 58 00:03:46,880 --> 00:03:52,040 Speaker 1: the auditorium. The gray sludge oozes into the plywood casing, 59 00:03:52,560 --> 00:03:56,160 Speaker 1: all held up by a vast lattice of wooden timbers underneath. 60 00:03:57,200 --> 00:04:00,760 Speaker 1: No one hears the crack under the vast kokoff of noise. 61 00:04:01,920 --> 00:04:12,800 Speaker 1: Then something gives. The scaffolding holding up the Film Centre's 62 00:04:12,880 --> 00:04:18,680 Speaker 1: roof collapses, bringing everything and everyone above with it. The 63 00:04:18,720 --> 00:04:21,719 Speaker 1: men below have just enough time to look up as 64 00:04:21,720 --> 00:04:25,599 Speaker 1: a hellish rain falls down upon them, a deluge of 65 00:04:25,680 --> 00:04:32,480 Speaker 1: concrete bodies, metal rods, splintered wood, steel cabling, and last 66 00:04:32,480 --> 00:04:37,080 Speaker 1: of all, those two garish thrones. The tombre of the 67 00:04:37,080 --> 00:04:41,240 Speaker 1: screams and thunder of falling debris, amplified wonderfully by the 68 00:04:41,279 --> 00:04:46,520 Speaker 1: acoustics of the vast auditorium, rises to a bone rattling crescendo. 69 00:04:46,760 --> 00:04:52,000 Speaker 1: Then all is silent until the screams start again. A 70 00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:55,320 Speaker 1: few days after the catastrophic collapse of the building's roof, 71 00:04:55,720 --> 00:04:58,960 Speaker 1: the national press print a few small stories detailing a 72 00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:03,080 Speaker 1: minor incident at the Film Center construction site. They count 73 00:05:03,160 --> 00:05:07,480 Speaker 1: for dead among thirty or so injured. The following day, 74 00:05:07,800 --> 00:05:11,520 Speaker 1: the death toll rises to seven. Then the story stop 75 00:05:13,040 --> 00:05:17,080 Speaker 1: incredibly despite the setback, and under intense pressure from a 76 00:05:17,160 --> 00:05:21,720 Speaker 1: Melde Marcos freulen Hong drafts in even more workers and materials, 77 00:05:22,000 --> 00:05:24,800 Speaker 1: and the building is completed just in time for the 78 00:05:24,839 --> 00:05:28,080 Speaker 1: opening night at the film Festival, which took place on 79 00:05:28,200 --> 00:05:32,960 Speaker 1: January eighteenth, nineteen eighty two. It's said that workers were 80 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:36,400 Speaker 1: still applying the finishing touches as the many film stars 81 00:05:36,440 --> 00:05:39,440 Speaker 1: and guests of honour arrived in a barrage of shutter 82 00:05:39,480 --> 00:05:43,640 Speaker 1: clicks and flashbowl blights, accompanied by a military band and 83 00:05:43,720 --> 00:05:49,839 Speaker 1: a stunning firework display. And what stars they were. Peter O'Toole, 84 00:05:50,400 --> 00:05:55,000 Speaker 1: Brooks Shields, and Priscilla Presley, among many others, all reveled 85 00:05:55,040 --> 00:05:59,000 Speaker 1: in the lavish opening night. It would be eleven years 86 00:05:59,120 --> 00:06:03,760 Speaker 1: before the full, sickening truth came out. There wasn't a 87 00:06:03,800 --> 00:06:07,479 Speaker 1: soul within earshot of that horrific disaster that didn't know 88 00:06:07,560 --> 00:06:11,240 Speaker 1: the real story of what happened that tragic day, but 89 00:06:11,320 --> 00:06:16,040 Speaker 1: no one dared say a thing. Although President Ferdinand was 90 00:06:16,080 --> 00:06:20,400 Speaker 1: elected president in nineteen sixty five, in nineteen seventy two, 91 00:06:20,480 --> 00:06:24,200 Speaker 1: having secured a second term, he declared martial law and 92 00:06:24,360 --> 00:06:28,200 Speaker 1: ruled as a dictator for the next fourteen years, and 93 00:06:28,279 --> 00:06:33,200 Speaker 1: in Ameldo Marcos he found the perfect accomplice, Recognizing the 94 00:06:33,320 --> 00:06:36,919 Speaker 1: ruthless ambition in each other, they were married only eleven 95 00:06:37,000 --> 00:06:40,400 Speaker 1: days after they met in nineteen fifty four, and the rest, 96 00:06:40,640 --> 00:06:47,080 Speaker 1: for many is grim, painful history. With Amelda occupying a 97 00:06:47,160 --> 00:06:51,080 Speaker 1: number of prominent government roles. Together with her husband, they 98 00:06:51,080 --> 00:06:54,000 Speaker 1: are said to have overseen the torture of over thirty 99 00:06:54,040 --> 00:06:59,520 Speaker 1: thousand opponents, imprisoned twice as many, and murdered or disappeared 100 00:06:59,640 --> 00:07:03,719 Speaker 1: thousand and that's before you even get into the rampant 101 00:07:03,720 --> 00:07:07,680 Speaker 1: corruption and greed that characterized their reign. With the pair 102 00:07:08,000 --> 00:07:11,000 Speaker 1: estimated to have stolen somewhere in the region of five 103 00:07:11,080 --> 00:07:16,360 Speaker 1: to ten billion US dollars in public funds, neither were 104 00:07:16,360 --> 00:07:19,000 Speaker 1: to be messed with. So when Amelda declared a film 105 00:07:19,080 --> 00:07:23,720 Speaker 1: festival would take place on January the eighteenth, nineteen eighty two, 106 00:07:23,840 --> 00:07:27,480 Speaker 1: by hook or by crook, with sweat, blood and tears, 107 00:07:28,120 --> 00:07:32,440 Speaker 1: so many tears, that festival would be taking place on 108 00:07:32,560 --> 00:07:37,640 Speaker 1: January eighteenth, nineteen eighty two. Needless to say, when the 109 00:07:37,720 --> 00:07:41,720 Speaker 1: Key sent a piece to that vainglorious dream completely collapsed 110 00:07:42,000 --> 00:07:45,200 Speaker 1: only months before the opening night, there was some frantic 111 00:07:45,280 --> 00:07:49,440 Speaker 1: strategizing about how best to deal with it. Security teams 112 00:07:49,480 --> 00:07:53,720 Speaker 1: and secret police administered an immediate blackout of the site. 113 00:07:53,960 --> 00:07:57,640 Speaker 1: Ambulance and rescue services were prevented from attending the scene 114 00:07:57,720 --> 00:08:01,200 Speaker 1: for at least nine hours. The press wouldn't be an 115 00:08:01,200 --> 00:08:05,440 Speaker 1: issue since the Marcos has controlled it all. What is 116 00:08:05,480 --> 00:08:09,120 Speaker 1: said to have happened next is almost too shocking to 117 00:08:09,200 --> 00:08:16,239 Speaker 1: be believed. You're listening to Unexplained and I'm Richard McLean Smith. 118 00:08:26,160 --> 00:08:28,960 Speaker 1: Although the regime had been toppled in nineteen eighty six, 119 00:08:29,440 --> 00:08:33,640 Speaker 1: as is always the case, the collective memory of totalitarian 120 00:08:33,800 --> 00:08:37,160 Speaker 1: terror as an insidious way of lingering in the hearts 121 00:08:37,160 --> 00:08:40,920 Speaker 1: and minds of all those who experience it. But bit 122 00:08:41,040 --> 00:08:44,600 Speaker 1: by bit some felt brave enough to tell their story. 123 00:08:45,920 --> 00:08:49,199 Speaker 1: Workers from the site who were there that day recounted 124 00:08:49,240 --> 00:08:53,120 Speaker 1: the initial horror of the collapse. They spoke of hundreds 125 00:08:53,160 --> 00:08:57,520 Speaker 1: of men being trapped under the debris. Many didn't survive 126 00:08:57,559 --> 00:09:02,440 Speaker 1: the fall. Some were impaled on reinforcement bars, but that 127 00:09:02,760 --> 00:09:06,679 Speaker 1: wasn't the worst of it. With all the wet concrete 128 00:09:06,760 --> 00:09:11,160 Speaker 1: falling down too, It started to steadily pool around them, 129 00:09:11,400 --> 00:09:15,960 Speaker 1: and then it began to set. Workers recounted the sickening 130 00:09:16,000 --> 00:09:19,840 Speaker 1: sound of countless men screaming for help as they suddenly 131 00:09:19,840 --> 00:09:24,360 Speaker 1: found their limbs encased by the quick setting concrete. Not 132 00:09:24,400 --> 00:09:27,400 Speaker 1: only did it hold them fast where they were, but 133 00:09:27,520 --> 00:09:31,600 Speaker 1: due to the extensive heat chemically generated by the setting process, 134 00:09:32,360 --> 00:09:36,800 Speaker 1: it began to cook them too. Anyone able to get 135 00:09:36,840 --> 00:09:40,240 Speaker 1: to the site worked frantically tunneling through the debris by 136 00:09:40,320 --> 00:09:44,160 Speaker 1: candlelight to reach co workers with little more than hammers 137 00:09:44,200 --> 00:09:48,280 Speaker 1: and chisels to try and break them out. Project engineer 138 00:09:48,440 --> 00:09:52,520 Speaker 1: Benino Aquino was trapped from the thighs down, held fast 139 00:09:52,600 --> 00:09:56,560 Speaker 1: by the concrete for twenty four hours. He sang hymns 140 00:09:56,720 --> 00:09:59,400 Speaker 1: and joked with his colleagues to keep his spirits up. 141 00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:03,600 Speaker 1: He worked desperately to chip him out. When they finally 142 00:10:03,640 --> 00:10:06,840 Speaker 1: cut him loose, it was too late. He died from 143 00:10:06,920 --> 00:10:11,480 Speaker 1: shock after his legs had been completely baked through. He 144 00:10:11,720 --> 00:10:15,680 Speaker 1: was one of the few that was formerly identified. It 145 00:10:15,760 --> 00:10:18,920 Speaker 1: was around that time that Amealdo Marcos called her key 146 00:10:18,960 --> 00:10:23,240 Speaker 1: adviser aber Canless, who was in Austria. He flew back 147 00:10:23,280 --> 00:10:27,000 Speaker 1: immediately and headed straight to the scene to inspect the damage. 148 00:10:27,480 --> 00:10:30,840 Speaker 1: A short time later, he called Amelda with some good news. 149 00:10:31,400 --> 00:10:35,600 Speaker 1: The festival could still go ahead if and only if 150 00:10:36,000 --> 00:10:39,360 Speaker 1: they paused work on the two additional theaters and the basement, 151 00:10:39,600 --> 00:10:42,920 Speaker 1: which was to serve as a cultural archive, and concentrate 152 00:10:42,960 --> 00:10:47,280 Speaker 1: their efforts on finishing the main auditorium and the buildings facart. 153 00:10:48,600 --> 00:10:52,920 Speaker 1: The Malda reluctantly agreed. It is said that the stench 154 00:10:53,000 --> 00:10:56,640 Speaker 1: of putrefying flesh hung heavy in the humid air as 155 00:10:56,679 --> 00:11:01,319 Speaker 1: the bulldozers arrived to clear away the debris. Some claimed 156 00:11:01,320 --> 00:11:04,839 Speaker 1: that men could still be heard screaming and crying as 157 00:11:04,880 --> 00:11:08,880 Speaker 1: they rolled in to push the tons and tons of concrete, steel, 158 00:11:09,080 --> 00:11:12,560 Speaker 1: and bodies into the vast pit that had been prepared 159 00:11:12,600 --> 00:11:16,520 Speaker 1: a short distance away in Manila Bay. All that was 160 00:11:16,640 --> 00:11:19,720 Speaker 1: left was to level the floor again to prepare it 161 00:11:19,880 --> 00:11:22,680 Speaker 1: for the numerous tiers of seating that still needed to 162 00:11:22,720 --> 00:11:27,960 Speaker 1: be installed. After all, all those protruding heads, limbs, and 163 00:11:28,080 --> 00:11:32,720 Speaker 1: torsos sticking out of the recently set concrete just wouldn't do, 164 00:11:33,679 --> 00:11:36,400 Speaker 1: so a team of men were sent in with chainsaws 165 00:11:36,440 --> 00:11:40,720 Speaker 1: to cut them away. More stubborn body parts were broken 166 00:11:40,760 --> 00:11:44,480 Speaker 1: out with jack hammers, with some claiming that every so often, 167 00:11:44,920 --> 00:11:49,320 Speaker 1: with some bodies still relatively well preserved, arterial jets of 168 00:11:49,360 --> 00:11:52,000 Speaker 1: blood were seen spraying out at the floor when the 169 00:11:52,040 --> 00:11:57,200 Speaker 1: concrete was broken open. A few months later, when President 170 00:11:57,240 --> 00:12:01,079 Speaker 1: Ferdinand and Emelde Marcos took to the stage in all 171 00:12:01,160 --> 00:12:04,880 Speaker 1: their regal finery to welcome all to the first inaugural 172 00:12:04,960 --> 00:12:08,640 Speaker 1: Manila Film Festival. It would be wrong to say that 173 00:12:08,720 --> 00:12:12,360 Speaker 1: no one had the faintest idea of the horrors that 174 00:12:12,440 --> 00:12:23,880 Speaker 1: had been entombed in the concrete beneath their seats. Conservative 175 00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:27,160 Speaker 1: estimates suggest that one hundred and sixty eight workers in 176 00:12:27,240 --> 00:12:31,280 Speaker 1: total lost their lives in the Film Center atrocity, which 177 00:12:31,320 --> 00:12:34,480 Speaker 1: says nothing of the countless others who were injured. Many 178 00:12:34,640 --> 00:12:38,880 Speaker 1: life changingly so in the end, the festival didn't last 179 00:12:38,920 --> 00:12:42,920 Speaker 1: beyond the second year, after which the building was repurposed 180 00:12:42,920 --> 00:12:47,319 Speaker 1: for other uses. But ever since there have been reports 181 00:12:47,440 --> 00:12:52,520 Speaker 1: that odd smells often fill the backstage areas. Employees on 182 00:12:52,640 --> 00:12:56,480 Speaker 1: duty late at night have testified to hearing moans and 183 00:12:56,600 --> 00:13:01,000 Speaker 1: eerie noises. Others have experienced feeling of being blown on 184 00:13:01,440 --> 00:13:06,000 Speaker 1: or strange tingling sensations. Some have even claimed to see 185 00:13:06,000 --> 00:13:10,400 Speaker 1: the ghosts of dead laborers. At one point, a group 186 00:13:10,440 --> 00:13:14,760 Speaker 1: of eighty Filipinos spiritualists held a seance inside the building 187 00:13:15,559 --> 00:13:18,240 Speaker 1: and claimed to sense the presence of at least thirty 188 00:13:18,280 --> 00:13:23,160 Speaker 1: spirits who were not at peace. The deadly accident is 189 00:13:23,200 --> 00:13:25,480 Speaker 1: said by some to have been the beginning of the 190 00:13:25,600 --> 00:13:29,840 Speaker 1: end for the Marcoses, one more high profile nail in 191 00:13:29,880 --> 00:13:34,040 Speaker 1: the coffin of a regime. But the tragically haunting disaster 192 00:13:34,160 --> 00:13:37,480 Speaker 1: of the Manila Film Center is nothing compared to what 193 00:13:37,600 --> 00:13:40,360 Speaker 1: happened in the Philippines during the dark years of World 194 00:13:40,400 --> 00:13:45,160 Speaker 1: War II and Japanese occupation, atrocities that have led to 195 00:13:45,200 --> 00:13:48,760 Speaker 1: a whole host of apparent hauntings and an entire tourism 196 00:13:48,800 --> 00:13:54,000 Speaker 1: industry based around them. Dark tourism has always existed in 197 00:13:54,000 --> 00:13:57,000 Speaker 1: one way or another, since it plays into a number 198 00:13:57,000 --> 00:14:00,840 Speaker 1: of very human impulses. However, it was only in the 199 00:14:00,880 --> 00:14:04,480 Speaker 1: mid nineteen nineties that it emerged as an academic concept. 200 00:14:05,480 --> 00:14:08,600 Speaker 1: It was back in nineteen ninety six that tourism scholar 201 00:14:08,720 --> 00:14:13,400 Speaker 1: Anthony Seton published an influential paper with the quietly ominous 202 00:14:13,440 --> 00:14:19,600 Speaker 1: title Guided by the Dark From Thanotopsis to Thanotourism. In it, 203 00:14:19,920 --> 00:14:25,560 Speaker 1: Setan proposed something unsettling yet instantly recognizable, that many people 204 00:14:25,640 --> 00:14:29,880 Speaker 1: are drawn consciously or not to places touched by death. 205 00:14:30,640 --> 00:14:36,000 Speaker 1: He called this impulse thanotaurism, taking the word thanatos, the 206 00:14:36,000 --> 00:14:39,880 Speaker 1: Greek personification of death to describe a form of travel 207 00:14:40,240 --> 00:14:45,360 Speaker 1: motivated by a desire to contemplate, confront, or even commune 208 00:14:45,400 --> 00:14:49,680 Speaker 1: with mortality. Seton argued that this fascination was not a 209 00:14:49,720 --> 00:14:55,440 Speaker 1: modern invention, but a perennial human instinct. Medieval pilgrims treked 210 00:14:55,520 --> 00:15:00,400 Speaker 1: to shrines that held the bones of saints. Victorians strolled 211 00:15:00,400 --> 00:15:04,720 Speaker 1: through cemeteries as if they were manicured parks. Crowds gathered 212 00:15:04,760 --> 00:15:10,000 Speaker 1: for public executions long before television turned distant tragedy into 213 00:15:10,120 --> 00:15:17,320 Speaker 1: nightly entertainment. Thanaturism, Seaton suggested, was simply the academic name 214 00:15:17,520 --> 00:15:22,000 Speaker 1: for an ancient, uneasy truth. We have always been pulled 215 00:15:22,000 --> 00:15:33,760 Speaker 1: toward the places where life ends. By the late nineteen nineties, 216 00:15:34,120 --> 00:15:38,800 Speaker 1: tourism scholars John Lennon and Malcolm Foley of Glasgow Caledonian 217 00:15:38,920 --> 00:15:43,520 Speaker 1: University were observing a new kind of travel, one shaped 218 00:15:43,680 --> 00:15:47,280 Speaker 1: not just by death itself, but by the global media 219 00:15:47,360 --> 00:15:53,160 Speaker 1: landscape that now broadcast catastrophe and almost real time. In 220 00:15:53,200 --> 00:15:57,200 Speaker 1: their two thousand book Dark Tourism, The Attraction of Death 221 00:15:57,280 --> 00:16:01,480 Speaker 1: and Disaster, they gave this wider an phenomenon its now 222 00:16:01,600 --> 00:16:07,240 Speaker 1: famous name, Dark Tourism. It wasn't only about seeking out 223 00:16:07,320 --> 00:16:11,600 Speaker 1: sights of mortality. It was about the strange, magnetic pull 224 00:16:11,680 --> 00:16:19,120 Speaker 1: of places specifically associated with tragedy, violence, or collective trauma. 225 00:16:19,440 --> 00:16:23,240 Speaker 1: It encompassed everything from the solemn hush of the auschwitz 226 00:16:23,280 --> 00:16:28,080 Speaker 1: Berkanau memorial to the aerie abandonment of Chernobyl's exclusion zone, 227 00:16:28,760 --> 00:16:33,920 Speaker 1: locations where the distant, abstract sense of just what exactly 228 00:16:33,960 --> 00:16:38,400 Speaker 1: happened there still lingers in the air, like tangible remnants 229 00:16:38,680 --> 00:16:43,000 Speaker 1: of a psychical event. It would be easy to dismiss 230 00:16:43,040 --> 00:16:47,400 Speaker 1: the many curious individuals who frequent these places as simply 231 00:16:47,480 --> 00:16:51,880 Speaker 1: macabre voyeurs. But, as Setan, Lenin, and Foley have suggested, 232 00:16:52,520 --> 00:16:55,880 Speaker 1: the reasons they go there are far more disturbing and 233 00:16:56,000 --> 00:17:01,080 Speaker 1: deeply human. We are drawn to these places by a compulsion, 234 00:17:01,480 --> 00:17:04,240 Speaker 1: perhaps in a way similar to a pel da vide, 235 00:17:04,520 --> 00:17:07,919 Speaker 1: or the call of the void, to travel toward the shadows, 236 00:17:08,480 --> 00:17:11,480 Speaker 1: to stand in the presence of death or disaster, and 237 00:17:11,560 --> 00:17:16,280 Speaker 1: to search, perhaps for meaning or connection, or perhaps simply 238 00:17:16,400 --> 00:17:20,600 Speaker 1: for the sensation of being confronted, however briefly, by the 239 00:17:20,640 --> 00:17:24,879 Speaker 1: fragility of our own existence. But there is something else 240 00:17:24,960 --> 00:17:28,840 Speaker 1: that also draws some people to these places. The prospect 241 00:17:28,920 --> 00:17:32,760 Speaker 1: of a truly frightening encounter, and no more so than 242 00:17:32,800 --> 00:17:36,720 Speaker 1: in the Philippines, whereover the past couple of decades, dark 243 00:17:36,800 --> 00:17:43,240 Speaker 1: tourism has proved especially popular with good reason. The city 244 00:17:43,280 --> 00:17:46,720 Speaker 1: of Baggio, known as the summer capital of the Philippines, 245 00:17:47,080 --> 00:17:50,720 Speaker 1: located at roughly five thousand feet above sea level, was 246 00:17:50,760 --> 00:17:53,880 Speaker 1: first established as a hill station by the United States, 247 00:17:54,119 --> 00:17:58,600 Speaker 1: whose government colonized the country in eighteen ninety eight. During 248 00:17:58,640 --> 00:18:01,480 Speaker 1: World War II, however, it became one of the most 249 00:18:01,480 --> 00:18:06,120 Speaker 1: destroyed Philippine cities, perhaps second only to its capital, Manila. 250 00:18:07,240 --> 00:18:10,640 Speaker 1: While under Japanese occupation, it was the site of some 251 00:18:10,680 --> 00:18:14,480 Speaker 1: of the worst atrocities of the war. As such, to day, 252 00:18:15,040 --> 00:18:18,920 Speaker 1: Baggio City as some of the most visited dark tourism 253 00:18:19,000 --> 00:18:22,960 Speaker 1: sites in the country. One of them is the Laparal 254 00:18:23,000 --> 00:18:28,840 Speaker 1: White House. The old Victorian style wooden mansion was built 255 00:18:28,880 --> 00:18:32,959 Speaker 1: for the wealthy Laparal family in the nineteen twenties. Today, 256 00:18:33,400 --> 00:18:35,560 Speaker 1: it is said to be one of the country's most 257 00:18:35,640 --> 00:18:39,960 Speaker 1: haunted properties. Some believe it all stems back to a 258 00:18:40,000 --> 00:18:43,600 Speaker 1: tragic event in the mid nineteen twenties when the youngest 259 00:18:43,600 --> 00:18:47,399 Speaker 1: of six Laparal children, a three year old girl, is 260 00:18:47,440 --> 00:18:50,080 Speaker 1: said to have wandered out at the gates and been 261 00:18:50,200 --> 00:18:54,480 Speaker 1: killed by a passing vehicle. According to local law, the 262 00:18:54,560 --> 00:18:57,800 Speaker 1: maid who was minding the child felt so guilty about 263 00:18:57,800 --> 00:19:03,320 Speaker 1: the accident that shortly afterwards she committed suicide, and things 264 00:19:03,359 --> 00:19:14,200 Speaker 1: only went downhill from there. Over the next decade, one 265 00:19:14,240 --> 00:19:17,280 Speaker 1: after another of the Laperal's children are said to have 266 00:19:17,359 --> 00:19:21,720 Speaker 1: died violent and unexpected deaths, either in the house or 267 00:19:21,760 --> 00:19:25,840 Speaker 1: on the way to it. Later, after the Japanese military 268 00:19:25,880 --> 00:19:29,040 Speaker 1: invaded the country in nineteen forty one during the Second 269 00:19:29,080 --> 00:19:33,439 Speaker 1: World War, whispers emerged that captured soldiers were taken to 270 00:19:33,480 --> 00:19:37,560 Speaker 1: the house to be tortured or killed, often both. Many 271 00:19:37,600 --> 00:19:41,199 Speaker 1: local women who were forced into sexual slavery by members 272 00:19:41,240 --> 00:19:44,080 Speaker 1: of the Japanese army are also said to have been 273 00:19:44,200 --> 00:19:47,840 Speaker 1: raped there. When the country was later liberated with the 274 00:19:47,840 --> 00:19:50,879 Speaker 1: help of the U. S. Military, the laperal White house 275 00:19:51,200 --> 00:19:56,440 Speaker 1: was stormed by U. S. Soldiers. One Japanese soldier still inside, 276 00:19:56,680 --> 00:19:59,840 Speaker 1: rather than surrender, is said to have thrown himself head 277 00:19:59,840 --> 00:20:02,680 Speaker 1: for first to his death from the second floor balcony. 278 00:20:04,240 --> 00:20:07,840 Speaker 1: It wasn't long after that when a peculiar and ethereal 279 00:20:07,960 --> 00:20:11,879 Speaker 1: lady in white was first apparently seen meandering around the 280 00:20:11,960 --> 00:20:16,119 Speaker 1: rooms and peeking out at the house's windows. Children are 281 00:20:16,160 --> 00:20:19,080 Speaker 1: also said to have been heard playing and laughing inside 282 00:20:19,119 --> 00:20:22,280 Speaker 1: the property, while others have heard what they took to 283 00:20:22,320 --> 00:20:26,320 Speaker 1: be feet running down corridors or seen shadowy figures going 284 00:20:26,359 --> 00:20:30,199 Speaker 1: through the rooms. Photos taken inside the house appear to 285 00:20:30,240 --> 00:20:35,240 Speaker 1: show curious phenomena taking place, shining orbs or shadowy figures, 286 00:20:35,520 --> 00:20:38,439 Speaker 1: including one image of what looks to be a figure 287 00:20:38,560 --> 00:20:42,680 Speaker 1: in a Japanese military uniform. The ghost of the suicidal 288 00:20:42,720 --> 00:20:46,520 Speaker 1: soldier said to haunt the second floor balcony. According to some, 289 00:20:48,200 --> 00:20:52,000 Speaker 1: there have also been frequent reports of visitors being overcome 290 00:20:52,280 --> 00:20:56,399 Speaker 1: by an overwhelming fear that something dreadful is about to happen. 291 00:20:57,960 --> 00:21:00,960 Speaker 1: But there is another sight in Baggio's Sae which has 292 00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:05,600 Speaker 1: an even darker past. When the Japanese military invaded the 293 00:21:05,640 --> 00:21:09,520 Speaker 1: Philippines just ten hours after the attack on Pearl Harbour, 294 00:21:09,960 --> 00:21:13,800 Speaker 1: expats from western nations and anyone suspected of being an 295 00:21:13,920 --> 00:21:17,440 Speaker 1: enemy combatant were rounded up and taken to local hotels 296 00:21:17,440 --> 00:21:22,159 Speaker 1: for processing. Often captives were crammed into rooms so small 297 00:21:22,480 --> 00:21:25,040 Speaker 1: that they took it in turns to stand and sleep. 298 00:21:26,720 --> 00:21:29,960 Speaker 1: There was little air in the rooms, and even less food. 299 00:21:31,359 --> 00:21:35,919 Speaker 1: Once interrogations had been completed, prisoners considered high risk were 300 00:21:35,960 --> 00:21:40,119 Speaker 1: sent to camps where the close quarters, lack of clean water, 301 00:21:40,359 --> 00:21:45,560 Speaker 1: and proper nutrition increased the risk of disease. Lice and 302 00:21:45,720 --> 00:21:51,280 Speaker 1: mosquitoes were a constant menace. One of those places was 303 00:21:51,359 --> 00:21:55,679 Speaker 1: the Baggio Teacher's Camp, built in nineteen oh eight in 304 00:21:55,760 --> 00:21:58,600 Speaker 1: the hills on the eastern edge of Baggio on the 305 00:21:58,680 --> 00:22:02,840 Speaker 1: orders of then American Governor William Pack. It began life 306 00:22:02,920 --> 00:22:05,760 Speaker 1: as little more than a scattering of tents, serving as 307 00:22:05,840 --> 00:22:10,920 Speaker 1: classrooms and dormitories for training teachers. More permanent structures were 308 00:22:10,920 --> 00:22:15,040 Speaker 1: added a few years later. Between nineteen thirty six and 309 00:22:15,200 --> 00:22:19,000 Speaker 1: nineteen forty one, it was used by the Philippine Military Academy. 310 00:22:19,920 --> 00:22:23,720 Speaker 1: When the Imperial Japanese Army arrived, it became a place 311 00:22:23,760 --> 00:22:36,240 Speaker 1: of torture. It's hard to find stories from the Teacher's 312 00:22:36,320 --> 00:22:39,919 Speaker 1: Camp directly, but it's likely the conditions were similar to 313 00:22:39,960 --> 00:22:44,320 Speaker 1: those described first hand by inmates at other camps. Food 314 00:22:44,400 --> 00:22:47,480 Speaker 1: would be scarce. Often the one meal of the day 315 00:22:47,880 --> 00:22:51,000 Speaker 1: was nothing more than a gooey rice soup, or at 316 00:22:51,080 --> 00:22:54,719 Speaker 1: least it looked like rice. More often than not, it 317 00:22:54,800 --> 00:22:59,840 Speaker 1: was infested with maggots. Death was a common occurrence, either 318 00:23:00,040 --> 00:23:05,280 Speaker 1: from starvation or torture. One distinctly dreadful method used by 319 00:23:05,280 --> 00:23:08,719 Speaker 1: the Japanese Army to get information from prisoners was the 320 00:23:08,760 --> 00:23:13,320 Speaker 1: water technique. First, a long tube would be violently forced 321 00:23:13,320 --> 00:23:16,360 Speaker 1: down your nose or mouth until it reached your stomach. 322 00:23:17,080 --> 00:23:19,080 Speaker 1: Then a funnel was added to the end of it, 323 00:23:19,640 --> 00:23:23,480 Speaker 1: into which leaders and liters of water were poort until 324 00:23:23,520 --> 00:23:28,160 Speaker 1: the stomach couldn't hold any more. Then, with your belly full, 325 00:23:28,600 --> 00:23:31,600 Speaker 1: you'd be thrown to the floor, whereupon your stomach would 326 00:23:31,600 --> 00:23:35,919 Speaker 1: be stomped on repeatedly until you diet an excruciating death. 327 00:23:37,320 --> 00:23:40,359 Speaker 1: It's also said that hundreds of people were beheaded at 328 00:23:40,359 --> 00:23:44,760 Speaker 1: the camp and buried in mass graves. After heavy bombing 329 00:23:45,000 --> 00:23:49,320 Speaker 1: in nineteen forty five, the American Army liberated Baggio and 330 00:23:49,440 --> 00:23:54,560 Speaker 1: people slowly began to rebuild their shattered lives. Today, the 331 00:23:54,640 --> 00:23:57,800 Speaker 1: camp continues to operate as a training center for teachers, 332 00:23:58,160 --> 00:24:01,720 Speaker 1: as well as an events venue. To the unknowing eye, 333 00:24:01,960 --> 00:24:05,520 Speaker 1: looking out across the idyllic setting, there is nothing to 334 00:24:05,640 --> 00:24:09,400 Speaker 1: hint at the horrors of the past, but such things 335 00:24:09,640 --> 00:24:14,960 Speaker 1: rarely stay buried for long. Over the years, many guests 336 00:24:14,960 --> 00:24:19,560 Speaker 1: and staff have reported everything from hearing eerie whispers echoing 337 00:24:19,600 --> 00:24:24,320 Speaker 1: through the halls to the sighting of persistent monstrous apparitions. 338 00:24:25,560 --> 00:24:29,080 Speaker 1: One of these is reportedly a headless priest that wanders 339 00:24:29,119 --> 00:24:33,159 Speaker 1: the corridors after dark. Another is said to be the 340 00:24:33,200 --> 00:24:36,600 Speaker 1: spirit of a love sick woman who follows young female 341 00:24:36,640 --> 00:24:40,480 Speaker 1: guests back to their dorms and watches over them while 342 00:24:40,480 --> 00:24:44,720 Speaker 1: they sleep. Some have claimed to wake up to see 343 00:24:44,720 --> 00:24:49,439 Speaker 1: the apparition of a blood soaked woman hovering over their bed. 344 00:24:50,280 --> 00:24:54,640 Speaker 1: In twenty twenty three, Steve Ronin, a YouTuber who explores 345 00:24:54,720 --> 00:24:59,639 Speaker 1: eerie and abandoned sights conducting paranormal investigations, arrived with a 346 00:24:59,640 --> 00:25:02,520 Speaker 1: group of friends for an overnight stay at the camp. 347 00:25:03,560 --> 00:25:06,600 Speaker 1: The group arrived late in the afternoon, bringing with them 348 00:25:06,600 --> 00:25:11,800 Speaker 1: an arsenal of ghost hunting equipment, including electromagnetic fields or 349 00:25:11,840 --> 00:25:17,719 Speaker 1: EMF meters and radiating electromagnetic field pods or RAM pods 350 00:25:18,160 --> 00:25:23,880 Speaker 1: designed to measure fluctuations and electromagnetic radiation. They brought digital 351 00:25:23,920 --> 00:25:28,560 Speaker 1: thermometers and a variety of cameras with night vision. One device, 352 00:25:28,960 --> 00:25:32,760 Speaker 1: known as a music box converts changes in the electromagnetic 353 00:25:32,800 --> 00:25:36,760 Speaker 1: field to a creepy musical tune if any supposed ghost 354 00:25:36,920 --> 00:25:40,480 Speaker 1: move near it. And last, but by no means least, 355 00:25:41,000 --> 00:25:45,040 Speaker 1: was the spirit box. Commonly, this is a digital device 356 00:25:45,320 --> 00:25:49,760 Speaker 1: that rapidly scans radio frequent seats. Some believe that spirits 357 00:25:49,760 --> 00:25:53,800 Speaker 1: can manipulate these frequent seats to effectively hold conversations with 358 00:25:53,880 --> 00:25:57,159 Speaker 1: the living by rapidly editing voices on the radio to 359 00:25:57,240 --> 00:26:02,560 Speaker 1: form sentences. Today, they apps on a smartphone that can 360 00:26:02,600 --> 00:26:07,760 Speaker 1: apparently detect unusual electromagnetic fluctuations and convert them into speech. 361 00:26:09,119 --> 00:26:11,840 Speaker 1: All of which is to say, if there was anything 362 00:26:11,960 --> 00:26:16,360 Speaker 1: untoward occurring on the site, they had everything they needed 363 00:26:16,400 --> 00:26:26,439 Speaker 1: to capture it. As Stephen the others arrived at the camp, 364 00:26:26,600 --> 00:26:30,439 Speaker 1: they were a little underwhelmed at first, looking around at 365 00:26:30,480 --> 00:26:34,040 Speaker 1: their tranquil surroundings up there in the tree covered hills, 366 00:26:34,600 --> 00:26:37,560 Speaker 1: It all seemed so peaceful and calm, to the point 367 00:26:37,600 --> 00:26:40,360 Speaker 1: where they began to wander, even if theirs had been 368 00:26:40,400 --> 00:26:44,840 Speaker 1: a wasted journey. Things quickly changed when the sun went down. 369 00:26:45,800 --> 00:26:49,120 Speaker 1: The team elected to stay in Guesthouse three for the night, 370 00:26:49,600 --> 00:26:53,679 Speaker 1: one of the many residences at the camp. Wasting little time, 371 00:26:54,000 --> 00:26:57,680 Speaker 1: they proceeded to spread their equipment throughout the property, including 372 00:26:57,800 --> 00:27:00,720 Speaker 1: setting up cameras to cover every angle of the apartment. 373 00:27:01,600 --> 00:27:04,960 Speaker 1: Then two of the team, Steve and Zark, took a 374 00:27:05,000 --> 00:27:07,800 Speaker 1: seat in one of the bedrooms while the other two 375 00:27:07,800 --> 00:27:11,000 Speaker 1: filmed in night vision. On a table. In front of 376 00:27:11,040 --> 00:27:15,120 Speaker 1: them was an EMF meter, rim pod, and the smartphone 377 00:27:15,320 --> 00:27:19,080 Speaker 1: equipped with the spirit Box app. Then the lights were 378 00:27:19,119 --> 00:27:23,840 Speaker 1: switched off. The group started by introducing themselves to the room. 379 00:27:24,600 --> 00:27:28,400 Speaker 1: We come here to be very respectful, said Steve. If 380 00:27:28,400 --> 00:27:31,080 Speaker 1: there are any spirits, feel free to come and sit 381 00:27:31,119 --> 00:27:35,399 Speaker 1: down next to us and communicate with these devices. Dude, 382 00:27:35,680 --> 00:27:39,040 Speaker 1: said Zark, suddenly pointing at the phone, which seemed to 383 00:27:39,040 --> 00:27:43,199 Speaker 1: pick up something. An automated female voice from the spirit 384 00:27:43,240 --> 00:27:47,359 Speaker 1: Box app broke the silence. No, I won't, it said. 385 00:27:48,880 --> 00:27:51,840 Speaker 1: Just then, a creepy jingle rang out from the music 386 00:27:51,920 --> 00:27:55,680 Speaker 1: box in an adjacent room, having seemingly been triggered by 387 00:27:55,760 --> 00:27:59,919 Speaker 1: something unseen. It's walking around us, said one of the 388 00:28:00,080 --> 00:28:05,240 Speaker 1: team ominously from behind the camera. Are you here with us? 389 00:28:05,640 --> 00:28:10,639 Speaker 1: Asked Steve hopefully. Once again came that sinister twinkle of 390 00:28:10,720 --> 00:28:15,120 Speaker 1: music from the box next door. For the next hour 391 00:28:15,240 --> 00:28:18,480 Speaker 1: or so, the young men continued to converse with the 392 00:28:18,480 --> 00:28:23,399 Speaker 1: apparent entity I'm sad, it appeared to say through the 393 00:28:23,400 --> 00:28:26,479 Speaker 1: phone at one point, accompanied by a ping from the 394 00:28:26,640 --> 00:28:29,840 Speaker 1: rim pot, which also seemed to light up. In response, 395 00:28:31,000 --> 00:28:35,440 Speaker 1: why are you sad, asked Steve, don't provoke us, came 396 00:28:35,480 --> 00:28:46,720 Speaker 1: back the Kurt reply. Other apparent communications by Steve Ronan 397 00:28:46,800 --> 00:28:51,120 Speaker 1: and his team during their investigation included the words this 398 00:28:51,280 --> 00:28:56,520 Speaker 1: is helping me, electric shock, she screams, and the forest 399 00:28:56,680 --> 00:29:00,400 Speaker 1: is home. For Ronan and his team, there was little 400 00:29:00,440 --> 00:29:03,720 Speaker 1: doubt that they were in the presence of a genuine spirit, 401 00:29:04,360 --> 00:29:08,640 Speaker 1: perhaps even two of them. After a few hours, the 402 00:29:08,720 --> 00:29:11,960 Speaker 1: group decided to turn off all their equipment and listen 403 00:29:11,960 --> 00:29:16,640 Speaker 1: out for any non electronic communication. At that precise moment, 404 00:29:17,080 --> 00:29:21,360 Speaker 1: one of the cameras turned itself off. I've been watching you, 405 00:29:21,760 --> 00:29:25,320 Speaker 1: blurted out the voice from the phone, soon after, followed 406 00:29:25,360 --> 00:29:29,760 Speaker 1: by the name Florence. Well that's my sister's name, said 407 00:29:29,800 --> 00:29:34,160 Speaker 1: Steve in confusion. And so it continued until roughly four 408 00:29:34,200 --> 00:29:37,640 Speaker 1: a m. When, having failed to establish exactly who the 409 00:29:37,680 --> 00:29:41,239 Speaker 1: purported entity was and what its precise history with the 410 00:29:41,280 --> 00:29:45,520 Speaker 1: camp might be, the team called it a night. The 411 00:29:45,600 --> 00:29:48,960 Speaker 1: Baggio Teachers Camp, and indeed the sight of the now 412 00:29:49,000 --> 00:29:52,440 Speaker 1: abandoned Film Center are considered to be among the most 413 00:29:52,520 --> 00:29:56,600 Speaker 1: haunted locations in the world. That they are haunted by 414 00:29:56,720 --> 00:30:00,360 Speaker 1: history is in little doubt. As for whether they are 415 00:30:00,360 --> 00:30:03,160 Speaker 1: truly haunted by the spirits of those who died there, 416 00:30:03,920 --> 00:30:17,959 Speaker 1: that remains inconclusive. This episode was written by Richard McLain 417 00:30:18,080 --> 00:30:21,880 Speaker 1: Smith and Diane Hope. Thank you as ever for listening. 418 00:30:22,320 --> 00:30:26,120 Speaker 1: Unexplained as an av Club Productions podcast created by Richard 419 00:30:26,160 --> 00:30:30,200 Speaker 1: McLain Smith. All other elements of the podcast, including the music, 420 00:30:30,560 --> 00:30:34,840 Speaker 1: are also produced by me Richard McClain smith. Unexplained. The 421 00:30:34,880 --> 00:30:38,960 Speaker 1: book and audiobook is now available to buy worldwide. You 422 00:30:39,000 --> 00:30:43,720 Speaker 1: can purchase from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Waterstones, and other bookstores. 423 00:30:44,200 --> 00:30:46,960 Speaker 1: Please subscribe to and rate the show wherever you get 424 00:30:47,000 --> 00:30:49,760 Speaker 1: your podcasts, and feel free to get in touch with 425 00:30:49,800 --> 00:30:52,880 Speaker 1: any thoughts or ideas regarding the stories you've heard on 426 00:30:52,920 --> 00:30:56,040 Speaker 1: the show. Perhaps you have an explanation or a story 427 00:30:56,080 --> 00:30:58,520 Speaker 1: of your own you'd like to share. You can find 428 00:30:58,520 --> 00:31:02,200 Speaker 1: out more at Unexplained podcast dot com and reaches online 429 00:31:02,240 --> 00:31:06,360 Speaker 1: through x and Blue Sky at Unexplained Pod and Facebook 430 00:31:06,560 --> 00:31:10,600 Speaker 1: at Facebook dot com, Forward Slash Unexplained Podcast