By J. Jala, Helen Castano | 05:23 PM August 17, 2020
It is creeping slowly in the dark of night. The sound is seemingly near, yet so far, and almost never going away.
It sounds like “disco” music, a steady, droning sound that’s heard in the villages of San Isidro town in Bohol.
But why it only affects a small percentage of the population in certain areas, indeed, remains a mystery.
On Sunday night, August 16, San Isidro Mayor Dadz Nara Gementiza said he heard the “disco” which prompted him to post on his Facebook account: “Naa napud disco? Wala man unta koy gi-approve permit.😂” (There’s a disco? I didn’t approve a permit.)
Having read the mayor’s social media post, many netizens reacted that they heard the same sound. Some even said that their parents and grandparents told them they also heard the same sound.
Stories started trickling during the 1950s from people who had never heard anything unusual before. Suddenly, they were bedeviled by a ‘”disco” music, low-frequency throbbing or rumbling sound.
“Pang-old generation nga sounds kay dili ko ka-identify sa tugtog,” replied RC Gemini to Gementiza’s post. Clarice Tocmo Guisihan said the sound could be heard in the nearby town of Sagbayan. Some claimed they also heard the sound in Catigbian town.
Most people in San Isidro said the sound came from Barangay Caimbang, particularly near Kilab-Kilab falls where a lady motorcycle rider died in a flashflood last week.
Residents in the area said they heard a loud disco music, as if a party was held the night before the incident.
READ MORE: Friends and fans remember ‘Pink Lady Rider’ following her death
Most of the residents there believed that the beautiful lady rider was taken by the dwellers of the “other world.” However, Mayor Gementiza dismissed the belief, stressing that the lady rider-victim who happened to be his younger sister, died of drowning.
Santos Laquinta commented on Gementiza’s post that residents in San Isidro should not be worried because they heard the same sound before: “Mga taga-San Isidro, ayaw mo ka tingala ana kay dugay na kaayo ng togtog diha, murag ga-disco. Gamay pa ko, ingana na magabii sa una pa. Ang taga-Caimbang mo-ingon ‘kusoga sa disco sa Rizal. Ang taga-Cansague moingon ‘saba-a sa disco sa Caimbang.’ Mao pud ang panultihon sa taga-Panagbuan sa Catigbian. Wala’y mi-tagad ana nga saba kay natural nga disco ra man. Pero karon panahon sa pandemic nga way gi-tugutan mag-disco, mura mo ug matingala,” explained.
The cases seemed to have something in common: Generally, the sound is only heard at night time and the music is unfamiliar.
Who hears the disco?
In an investigation conducted by BIN, it was noticed that only about 2 percent of the people living in San Isidro can hear the sound and that most of them are young people – the people who hear the sound and describe the sound as a “disco”.
“It’s kind of creepy. I wanted to record the sound, but no recording is made, but it is undeniable that you can hear the sound,” Mercy Pozon said in a phone interview. She said her husband heard the sound the other day. She added they have perfectly normal hearing.
According to a paranormal investigator identified as “Starhawk”, he said that “dwellers” in the other realm also like to party.
“Pero rare rana mahitabo. Dili kanunay ” and that sometimes, when they “like” someone, they hold a party to “welcome” that someone into their world.
Starhawk said that the mysterious sound people heard in San Isidro town is caused by sound propagation.
“Either the sound was carried away by the wind or could probably be an auditory hallucination.”
