"3 Santelmo's and Me"

"3 Santelmo's and Me"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr. MD

The Santelmo or St. Elmo's fire has been associated with heavenly interventions for sailors. I have not seen one at sea though but I have seen it 2 separate occasions and a 3rd one that my mom described to me.

1) The Dancing Flame 1

My first santelmo experience occurred when were still staying in our old place in Pag-Asa Subdivision. It was a single floor house that was long and might have served as a bodega for one time or another. We were all sleeping in the sala when my tita turned to her side and watched a red glowing flame dancing on top of our kitchen table.

She asked me to look. And right there on the table was a red flame the size of my fist. It was just moving up and down and after awhile disappeared. 

2) The Dancing Flame 2

On one of our vacations in Odiongan , Romblon we went home late after a party in the town proper. Now the bed that I was assigned to in our ancestral house was facing the road and from a hole that was not yet repaired during that time I was able to see the house fronting the house. One of them was my Uncle Paul's house. He had a shrub garden in front of his house and a wooden door that had glass windows on each side. Pastor Paul was a holy man so I am not sure what the Santelmo was doing in front of his house when I looked. From the distance where I was lying down it should have been a big one because it was there moving up and down. It did not enter the house but stayed on the door step. I was not able to understand why this particular spirit was appearing.It just stayed there for a couple more minutes and was gone.

3) The Fireball Follows

The 3rd Santelmo came at a very sad time. It was during the death of my beloved Lolo Romy. My mom watched my lolo vigilantly was called to Manila on business and she had to leave. During that lone day that she was not there My Lolo succumbed to complications of his stroke and died. 

While my mom was on board our Toyota FX she noticed something following them. It was a fireball that turned to the left when they turned left or right when they turned right. The Santelmo followed them for about kilometer or so and then faded. 

It was then that my mom got the call that my lolo has died. She took it as a sign that my lolo was following her to tell her of this fate. 

I have not seen any fireballs lately but I will not be surprised if my daughter Aven will start telling me about her own sightings in the future.