The House of the Unholy

The Burned Boy

    The St William the Hermit Church is being flocked by its people who come to worship the Lord that first sunday morning of October. Seldom had its people lined up by its huge wooden doors earlier than the church’s scheduled mass. The news of the attacks in the nearby towns brought in fear to the people of Pasi; and brought down them to their knees to ask the Lord for protection.

     The church was built from lime and coral stones with massive buttresses which support the front and back walls; its floor made out of marble; originally planned as a fortress church. The Augustinians built the church with its militaristic stature which worked for its advantage as it sheltered the townsmen against attacks from Moro raiders and slave traders from Sulu and Mindanao for years.

     Surrounding the massive structure is the Garden of Saints at the southeast entrance doorway of the church where plenty of life size statues of saints are on display. The townsmen found themselves invading the statues sanctuary while waiting for the doors to open. Families can be seen busying themselves introducing their young children to the saints scattered in every corner of the gardens.

     From the wooden doors through a hall there settles the baptistry on the left. Proceeding further is the large central altar with four lateral altars designed with gilded hardwood decorated with polychrome statues. Separated from the church stands its tall belfry which houses three bells; two of its bells are massive while the other is smaller. A chain attached to the large bells clapper has to be stepped on to ring them, which could be a struggle to the church’s limp bell ringer. As the huge bells start to ring aloud along with its surrounding smaller bell, these signal the doors of the church is about to open. The echoing sounds of the bell tower summon the people as the line going in to the church thickens.

     Families, old men and women cram the doorway all intend to be seated until there’s no more seats to be had. It was only until today we can find church goers who settled to hear the mass outside; all contented just to hear Fray Luciano’s oration; be blessed and be protected from the impending attacks from the bandits.

     Near the grand central altar seated Teo and Isko, behind them seated Chuy who is fanning himself with his hat. Across the aisle to the left of the altar seated Ditas and Jimena both veiled and dressed in white garbs.

     “It is as if tonight is Christmas Eve,” Isko whispers to Teo

     “All because you only attend a mass during Misa de Gallo!” Teo answers back with a laugh

     “I was a child of the church, Teo” Isko pauses,

    “the masses I have missed was compensated with my services as a sacristan when I was young”

     “Let Fray Luciano hear your blasphemy,” Teo warns as he gestures the friar fixing his vestment in the central altar

     “I can still administer the waters to him when he washes his hand,” Isko quips

     “And I will ring the bells once Fray Luciano unveils the chalice,” Teo replies with a childish smile

     “Then have Lito present the water and wine cruets,” Isko retorts The young men fall silent as Isko uttered Lito’s name; he seems regretful as Teo stares at him trying to find the humor in his statement

     “I wonder what he could have been,” Teo finally answers as he looks away

     “We could be both plowing your lands,” Isko responds,

    “if only he did not go with The Burned Man,” Teo shakes his head upon hearing Isko,

     “I was still young then, my memory can be cloudy” Teo claims

     “You saw The Burned Man walked away with Lito,” Isko whispers “We saw his body,” Teo dismisses; he whispers a little louder,

     “We were there when he was buried,“

     The myth of The Burned Man goes back to the day before the construction of the fortress church; the original church was burned to the ground situated just behind the church of St William the Hermit. The ruins of the old church was believed to be haunted by the resurrected corpse of an altar boy who died when the old church was burned; which the locals referred to as a Maranhig.

     People claimed that the cryptoid roamed around the new church that was built in replacement of the burned church. It has been believed that the Maranhig would knock on its massive wood doors which was always closed at night, after which it would make its way through the belfry where its unusual huge bell is situated.

     Back when Teo and Isko were still serving as altar boys along with Lito; the then Sacristan Mayor, Tinyo, would tell them stories about how the story of The Burned Man originated

     Isko recalls a night when the altar boys were gathered in their room surrounding Tinyo

     “One evening, just after the mass, right after the ringing of the bells, the poor boy was lead to the tower by their sacristan mayor and instructed the poor boy to stay for the night for wetting the bed sheets the night before” Isko recalls Tinyo starting the story.

     “Though inconsolable, the altar boy stayed for the night alone in the tower right below the church’s bells. It was then claimed that before the crack of dawn the next morning; the other altar boys were heard screaming and claiming of a big fire; and that the church has been burned down; and that the belfry was slowly being eaten by the fire made him panicked. Being an obedient servant of the church, he thought of alerting the town of the ensuing fire and warn the townsmen, he rang the bells of the tower,” Tinyo continues

     “Then the nameless altar boy was consumed by the fire while ringing the bells until his death as the fire engulfed the rest of the bell tower, his scream for help was made inaudible by the ringing bells,” Isko continues the story as told by Isidro

     “The Burned Man was only a myth!” Teo interrupts,

     “But you were the only witness to The Burned Man abducting Lito,” Isko responds, “not Fray Luciano, nor Tinyo,”

     The ringing of the bell by Tinyo on the central altar signals the start of the mass. The friar takes the center stage; looks over to the flock of people before him and gesture for them to stand up with his arms raised up

     When the friar’s oration starts, everyone silently listens with the exception of some crying children who must have found the overwhelming horde of church goers suffocating. Murmurs are also heard audibly from behind complaining of the scent the people make; since some came to the mass straight from their work at the farm that morning.

     “Glory be to the Father, to the Son and the Holy Ghost…” the friar starts

     Teo has his mind wandering somewhere while pretending to be attentively listening to the friar. Somewhere in his memory, he keeps tracking back to the time when they were still servicing as altar boys in the church. He was aged ten, Isko was eleven and Lito was eight years of age.

     The smallest among the altar boys, Lito was a frail looking little boy; wide – eyed with crooked teeth. He always bad a blank stare and colorful imagination. Often times he, Isko and Teo would play pretend that one of the benches in the altar was a carriage and that Lito was the coach; or other times they would ran off the church yard pretending that they were civil guards and bandits with their toy guns made out of dried twigs. When heavy rains fell down, Lito, Teo and Isko would bathe on it running off the nearby rice fields like wild animals. Out of the sculpted mud they made toy soldiers and animal figures with Lito’s mud sculpture always ended up the best looking.

     Such a vivid imagination Lito had that he even claimed to have seen eyes staring at them from the dark the night that they dared each other of visiting the old church ruins. From then on, Lito would claim to be visited each night by a dark skinned man covered in bad burns under a dark rugged cloak; The Burned Man, the Maranhig.

     “The resurrected corpse of the altar boy in the form of a burned man would take one soul; preferably a child to be with him in the dark,” Tinyo always claimed

     The church had its silence disturbed by audible ahhs and oohhs by the church goers as Fray Luciano assures the people that the bandits would be kept at bay and their town will be spared from the attacks

     “The Lord almighty will not let His people suffer, He will not let those who turn against Him ever harm those who are faithful to Him” the friar’s voice is echoing The friar then swiftly turns the page of the bible that rests on the table as he quotes it; “1 Samuel 15-23, For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you as king,” he pauses “As Faithful members of the church, I ask of you to double the tributes that you have been regularly giving,” Fray Luciano pauses against the sea of disagreeing faces in front of him

     “I understand this sounds as an additional burden on your tired body, the Lord sees how tired you all are but He will deliver you all from the evils of these bandits. We have to deploy additional civil guards that would regularly patrol the town. They would guard the fields and our streets. We have an obligation to our children, we owe them a safer town to live! ”

     That is when the people all agreed with Fray Luciano. They cheer the friar who for them acts as a beacon of hope. They feel that their safety lies in the hands of the priest before them, that he knows how to protect them from the impending attacks of the bandits. To these people, the friar acts as an intermediary between them, the sinners, and the Supreme Being, God Almighty, that no one’s prayer can be as powerful as the priest’s. They believed that their collective pleas are inaudible to the Lord as oppose to the friar’s sole prayer.

     Teo is still deeply sweeping through his memories recalling a painful time during their stay as altar boys; One evening, Teo woke up from his sleep to find Lito missing on his bed. He heard distant noise of a boy talking to someone. When Teo followed the voice, he found Lito in the back yard talking to the dimness of the night

     “Who are you talking to, Lito?,” Teo asked curiously

     “He is calling me,” Lito responded, “he was cold, and alone,” he continued without turning to Teo Teo leaped through Lito, held him by his arms and tried to pull him back to the monastery

     “Let us go back, Tinyo might find us!,”

     Teo tried hard to persuade his friend It was then when Teo looked up to see a hand holding Lito; the figure suddenly cleared as Teo’s eyes got comfortable in the dark. As he looked up further, he saw the face hidden under a cloak; of a burned man with his eyes glaring at him. It was then when Teo tripped and stumbled to find them in front of the old church ruins. As he took another look at Lito, his friend was looking back at him with serene smile

     “It’s okay, Teo” as Lito walked towards the ruins devoured by darkness still holding The Burned Man by his hand

     The next morning, Tinyo, Isko and the other altar boys found Teo coiled in the ground with his head resting on his arms near the old church ruins. When Tinyo asked about Lito, Teo pointed towards the ruins. It was then they found Lito’s body lying on the cold marble ground of the ruined church; motionless, not breathing; with head concussion; he was dead When Tinyo asked Teo on what happened and why he was outside near the ruins, Teo was inconsolable. He then leaned towards Isko who was standing next to him, Teo pretended to be resting his head on his friend’s shoulder as he whispered,

     “The Maranhig!,” made Isko’s eyes widened in fright

     The news of Lito’s death spread through the town like wildfire, for months that follow, his death had been the subject of everyone’s conversations. From men working in the farm; to the ladies working as lavanderas and criadas to wealthy families; and The Burned Man turned into the town’s nightmare. For years, the story of the resurrected corpse caused mass hysteria as everyone made claims of its sightings. People claimed to have seen it roaming the fields, like a stray dog it was claimed to be seen trekking the dirt road; or roaming the Lamunan river. The Burned Man brought the people to the church to ask protection for their children against him. It sent the townsmen and their children to the mass religiously more than Fray Luciano asked them to.

     The bell rings in the altar as Fray Luciano now holds the chalice up in the air as he gestures the people to stand up as the communion starts It is then when Teo leans towards Isko and whispers to him,

     “He had a bad fall and hit his head,” he pauses, “Fray Luciano and Tinyo said so,” Then Teo stands up to join the communion.

     Isko follows after and join the line towards the communion which suddenly thickens. When the young men get back to their seats, the whole church turn silent as people pray headed by Fray Luciano quoting the bible again;

     “Psalm 91: Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked. If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,” and you make the Most High your dwelling, no harm will overtake you, no disaster will come near your tent. For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent. “Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call on me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.”

     “The Lord is my refuge!” the church goers answer in chorus; their collective voice echoing all over the fortress church

    . The huge bells and its surrounding bell ring aloud as it signals the mass has been concluded. The people stand up and rush to the wide doors until the crowded church slowly empties. Teo and Isko walk through the door towards where the carriage is parked

     “What you whispered to me back then was still clear,” Isko still whispering Teo pauses walking as he turns towards Isko

     “I prayed for Lito’s soul earlier for him to finally find peace. I hope you did too,” he takes air in, “you have to free him,” Teo then walks past Isko towards the waiting carriage where Chuy, Ditas and Jimena are waiting.

    Chuy nods his head at his Segnor and looks past at Isko walking from behind as the old man smiles;

     “It is good to see you at the house of the Lord again, Isko and attending the mass. You have not been here for a long time,”

     Teo looks back at the old servant as he over hears his exclamation and sees Isko walking pass them. Then the huge bells start ringing proudly; their mighty voice echoing throughout the church, the town and the nearby rice fields