I’m currently in my 20s, and this experience happened several years ago already. Also, been wanting to share this for a while now. It was around my 2nd/3rd/4th grade when this happened.
There are times when we would go to the province during summer or break (I’m not from the US btw). Usually, we use our own car for these travels, but unfortunately that time, we need to go back to the city by commuting. In our place, UV Express vans (if you know what these are, then you know what country I’m in haha) are used for travelling between nearby cities and provinces. Compared to a standard van that only has 2 rows of seats behind the driver seat, these vans have 3.
So, it was me, my brother, and my grandmother. We arrived to the terminal early so that we can go home early too, and because my grandmother is really just an early bird. We were the first passengers of the van we’re going to ride. Of course, the van needs to be full before taking off and it would sometimes take an hour or so for this.
This is something that I’m not really sure about, but all I know is that I was not feeling well since the start of our waiting and that I took some meds. I don’t remember if I was mildly not feeling well before we arrived and it just worsened during our arrival, or it all started when we arrived. But if it was the latter, then I would like to share that I’ve heard some stories of people feeling sick or something before experiencing something paranormal.
Anyway, since I was sick, I just stayed inside the van and took a nap to rest (There are still no other passengers, so the door is open and there was space). The next thing I knew is that I was woken up so that we could sit properly already since the van is almost full. I stayed awake until the van was going to take off. Then comes my experience.
We were sitting behind the driver’s seat. On my left was my grandmother, and on my right was my brother. UV express vans usually pack the people inside, so it would be elbow to elbow and there would be no room for you to move excessively (meaning, even getting something from your bag would be kinda challenging).
So I noticed that there was someone eating chicharon. If you don’t know what this is, it is deep fried pork skin and a common go-to snack when travelling. It is so crispy that eating it would make some noise even if you were to close your mouth. And well, some would eat loudly because the chicharon piece would sometimes be big. Like literally, each chew would make a loud crunch.
I am not fond of loud sounds, and I was sick and I want to sleep again. I know that the sound is coming from behind so I looked over who was eating. But when I turned my head just halfway, the sound vanished. Not even a scrunching of plastic of the chicharon bag. Nothing. And so I tried to sleep. But in seconds, the sound came back again! And for the second time I looked at the back quickly, but this time, I really looked over the people if someone was eating. There was no one. The people behind us were not holding and doing anything aside from hugging their bags. If someone had put it away, it would take time for them to keep it because as I’ve said, we were like sardines packed together.
And yes, the sound disappeared again once I turned my head.
Maybe you’re thinking, “maybe it’s one of those people that is in the 3rd row seat?”. hell nah. Even if it came from there, the sound would not be that loud because of the distance. The crunching I heard sounded like it’s only half an arm way from me.
After that, I turned away and slept. I still heard the crunching sound, but tried to not mind it anymore. I can’t keep turning my head at the back, the people behind me would think I’m weird.
When we got home, my grandmother said something. While I was sleeping and waiting for other passengers, she chit chatted with the snack vendors near the van. And the van we just rode was actually a vehicle that was unfortunately caught up in a massacre that happened a year ago. Look up Ampatuan massacre. The vendors said the van was not really included in the organized massacre, but somehow, it got caught up and the passengers were massacred too. It has the same plate number, but they repainted it to another color.
Honestly, I didn’t really mind this experience for several years. It was some years ago today that I actually realized that it was something rather weird.
Anyway that’s it. I hope the unfortunate souls caught up in the mess have found peace already.