Seeing an apparition in your bedroom? Hearing strange murmurs inside your school’s 50-year-old science laboratory at 6 p.m.? Getting literal goosebumps while visiting a murky spot in an abandoned establishment (also because people would keep bringing up a “paranormal” incident)? Our personal spine-tingling stories remain one of our universal experiences, no matter how our tolerance with the spooks differ.
Usually, these stories just get passed down to our personal circles, especially when we use them for small talk or as an anti-boredom tool during power interruptions—and when they do, they often evolve into slightly different versions, with some parts omitted or exaggerated. But what if you can immortalize your exact experience… and even let it become a stranger’s next source of goosebumps?
“True Philippine Ghost Stories,” the cult horror book series that had Filipino classrooms in a chokehold in the 2000s, is making a comeback. Along with it is an opportunity for you to read (and relive) your own horror story in its exciting pages. Its publishing company PSICOM Publishing Inc. posted the call for entries today, May 15. “Seize the opportunity to contribute to the relaunch of the bestselling book series, and leave your mark on its extraordinary comeback,” their Facebook post reads.
If you think your eerie encounter is perfect to be a part of the well-loved saga, take note of the mechanics before hitting that “send” button. It should: 1.) Follow the theme (True Philippine Ghost Stories); 2.) Have a length of 800 to 2,000 words; 3.) Be written in English, Tagalog, or Taglish and not have been published elsewhere, whether in part or in full.
Once it’s good to go, send it over to tpgs2023@gmail.com on or before Jun. 30. Who knows, our horror stories might just need a new home (because, uh, keeping them inside our heads can get a bit disturbing).
If you’d like to be in the zone while digging up memories, you can read some of the iconic series’ volumes online.
Read more:
These 8 scary stories prove we’re not alone in this world
Revisiting classic Creepypastas and to see if they’re still nightmare fuels
5 YouTube horror shorts to keep you up at night
Photo from “True Philippine Ghost Stories”