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The philippines...several thoughts are evoked when hearing about that country. Tropical vacation, weird food, awful traffic, pedophiles and of course; haunted places.

One such infamous site notorious even before it was completely built, is the Metro Manila Cultural Center which still stands today at the Vicente Sotto road, Pasay, and has not changed much since the 80's.

The structure itself has a spooky quality about it which you immediately notice as it catches your attention from afar. It is greek designed, pillared, angular, rough, and drab colored with patches of green moss lining its sharp corners. For a simple mind however, like my 7 year old niece...it looks like an inverted typewriter. But nothing is simple about the tragedy that took place there when it was still being build.

Imelda Marcos, famously known for her thousand shoe collection and for being the better half of the late president Marcos prided herself for being the champion of the arts. And so during her husband's loooong reign as dictator of the philippines from 1965 to 1981, she wanted to construct the said structure. In it's final stages of completion in 1981, some of the scaffolding lining the interior of the building collapsed, sending 169 construction workers plummeting towards the still wet quick drying cement floor of the orchestra. Instead of immediately letting rescuers and ambulance crew to go in and help the poor guys, they instead decided to best cover it up literally...with cement. According to urban legend, some of the bodies of the workers were never recovered and were entombed inside the walls of the building itself, and that it is cursed.

Earthquakes in the 90's and a big fire just last Feb 2013 just gave fuel to the already large rumor that the place was really really haunted. 

Eyewitnesses say that at exactly 3 pm (the time when the scaffolding fiasco happened) everyday, when the setting sun recedes it's rays and the center becomes darker, shadows roam the area. What really didn't make it less disturbing was that these so called shadows were in the shape of men...as if they were standing upside down on the ceiling. And thanks to the building's improved acoustics, sound coming from normal and paranormal sources were amplified to hair raising levels.

Despite it's history, the places still lures a lot of people (tourists) into its halls. Many of them art enthusiasts, but also among them are those hungry for the beyond.