16th Century Filipino Teleporter Mystery

A painting by Cornelis Veerbeck XVI of a galleon at war. (Wikipedia)

Albrecht Durer illus. (Wiki)

Here is a possible case of “teleportation” recorded in 1593 AD. It’s about Gil Perez, a Filipino guard who, one morning, suddenly found himself at the plaza of the Palace in Mexico City. The night before, Gil was stationed at the Governor’s Palace in Manila in the Philippines.

The story of Spanish Era Filipino soldier Gil Perez has been told and retold time and again, but it has kept its simplicity. As he guard of the Governor’s Palace in Manila, he was doing his duty on that fateful night when, come morning, he found himself in a different place—the plaza in near the Palace in Mexico City! He was wearing a uniform different from the other guards and he must have caught the attention of people. He was brought to the Mexican authorities and was questioned by the Viceroy and his Council.

Gil Perez promptly introduced himself and explained how he was ordered to stand guard at the doors of the Governor’s Palace in Manila and how he later realized he was in a strange place. Being a loyal and obedient soldier, he insisted that he would continue with his duties as he had been told since he was still in a “palace of some kind” even when he had no memory of how he got there. He could not believe his ears when he was told he was in Mexico, at the other side of the world! He mentioned that the Governor of the Philippines, His Excellency Don Gomez Perez Dasmariñas took a blow to the head from an axe and died.

Unbelievable as his story was, Perez was then interrogated by Church authorities but he insisted he somehow traveled from Manila to Mexico in faster than a cock crows. It’s unclear, but Perez may have been accused of desertion or for practicing “the black arts” and was jailed. He languished in prison for two months in Mexico until a galleon arrived from Manila bringing news about the Governor of Manila being murdered. Passengers of the ship also recognized Perez and even remembered seeing him the day before he was arrested in Mexico. Dumbfounded, the Mexican authorities sent Perez home. To this day, what happened to Gil Perez is still a mystery.

Get to Know the Philippines

 

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Supernatural Mojo Store in Boracay Island

A tourist poses beside a mojo store display table in Boracay.

Here is a small mojo store in Boracay Island situated along world-famous White Beach. The stuff sold and displayed here appear to be charms which come from different places in the Philippines and abroad. For instance, many of the wooden statues on display are likely from the Northern mountain regions of the Philippines like Baguio. They are called anito and they represent either ancestral spirits or granary gods.

If you're into lucky charms and other scary stuff, then the items in this store should be of interest to you. It's hard to say what the items shown in the pictures are for. But you can see what appears to be a dream catcher in one of the pictures (top); there are also monkey skulls, which, in some cultures, are considered lucky. Sometimes, they are used to cast spells - for good or otherwise.

Boracay island is just off the northern tip of Panay island in the Philippines, where it is said, many residents practice a local form of witchcraft and where monsters like aswangs and manananggals roam at night looking for victims. The aswang is supposed to be like a werewolf that can shape-shift into a large dog through the application of a magical balm on the skin; the manananggal on the other hand, is a woman who can separate her upper body from her torso when she goes off in search of fresh, young human meat. Could there be charms in this store that will help protect you from such supernatural creatures? Could there be charms here that can turn you into an aswang? Perhaps they are just ordinary trinkets with no otherworldly powers at all? There's only one way to find out!

Photos, unless specified, are owned by alvinwriter. Contact him for copyright inquiries.

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