"UP College Baguio: Possessed in the 10's"

"UP College Baguio: Possessed in the 10's"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr. MD

My days in UP College Baguio were filled with such great memories , memories that I still carry today but one particular memory still puzzles me until today. 

When you enter the campus in UP Baguio and you happen to be passing by the first row of classrooms on your right , you are now in the place called the 10's (1-OWS). Normally a place where BS Biology students spend their days dissecting cats or looking at plant Biology through a microscope or making circles that represent Xylems and Phloems. Not the kind of place where you think a demonic possession would occur (But I must admit that skinning a cat must look gruesome for non-Bio students). 

So on that day where the sky was downcast and a couple of our block mates were on our way home , we were nearing the end of the 10's when our female block mate suddenly fell on the floor and started convulsing. Initially we thought she was having a seizure. Even then we knew that seizures are self-limiting and since we had no training all we could do was make sure she didn't hurt herself. The astonishing thing about this seizure was that it took about 6 of us to hold her in place and even then she was able to throw us off on a constant basis. There was some growling involved and I swear that there were different voices. Then again this might be the point of view of a panicked teenager who has only seen his first live seizure.

We were able to get her into a cab  and to the nearest hospital where the bored nurses seemed to be happy just to stay where they are and not see a patient. Amazingly she was able to regain her composure while she was in the taxi , though in a daze she opted to just go home and was escorted home by her boyfriend at the time.

I guess no one remembers this incident as much as I did. Maybe its the November chill that made me remember or maybe something else. I am not really sure.