Three Hooded Figures on the Roof

If any of you listen to the Monsters Among Us Podcast, which I dearly love, then I am sure that you will have heard of the phenomenon which is being referred to as the ‘Mirrored Men’. They are three bizarre figures that move in perfect sync, and trigger episodes of missing time in those who look them in the face. This is a story about a similar sort of phenomenon but is not an exact match.

## The Incident

Our tale takes place in the Philippines, and follows the story of a teenager named Anton de Vera who has allegedly come to the conclusion that there are two possible ways in which to obtain a natural ‘third eye’ with which to perceive paranormal entities. The first is ‘*if this is a gift to you since birth*’ and the second is obtained*‘if you could experience a near-to-death situation*’. The gift of second sight has always been present in his family on his mother’s side, but Anton also had a near-death-experience when he was 2 years old. He accidentally stabbed his left eye on the antennae of his television set in 1989 – and the ensuing trauma has apparently allowed him to have paranormal experiences since he ‘*was a small kid*’.

Anton and his family used to live in a house in Marikina City in the Philippine. There were two sets of bunkbeds in the room in which Anton would sleep – one being for his sisters and the other being for his brother and him. There are six siblings in the family, with 4 girls and 2 boys. The bunkbed shared by his brother and him was located up against a wall with a window, and that window was near enough to the top bunk that the person sleeping on top could open the window the ventilate themselves. When the window was open, you would be able to see the backyards of their house and that of their neighbour, separated by a Kamias tree.

When he was about 3 or 4 years old, Anton was required to sleep on the top bunk with his brother. They were both in the same bed, which means that I have failed to correctly imagine the logistics of this bedroom setup. Anyhow – Anton was lying ‘*beside the wall with the window*’ while his brother was on the other side. Some time during the night, he accidentally opened the window, and so woke up and tried to close it again. However, while he was doing this, he caught sight of ‘*these three men standing on the roof of our neighbour*’. The terrible trio were clad in long black clothing and were stretching their arms sideways in a cross-like position. They appeared to be staring at Anton, and when he saw them, he quickly closed the window and put his pillow over the window so that he didn’t accidentally open it again. After the incident, he suffered from a nondescript illness.

## 21st-Century Kumakatok

Interestingly, there are figures mentioned in the mythology of the Philippines which fit this description pretty well. They are called the Kumakatok, and are described as three robed figures (two male, one female) that knock on the doors of their victims during the middle of the night to bring bad omens – usually foretelling death by visiting the eldest member of a household or one who is sick and will soon die. Visits from the Kumakatok are obviously more frequent after an outbreak of disease. While their door-knocking behaviour (from which they get their name) is not an exact match to the entities in Anton’s account, their appearance and prophetic nature (seeing as Anton became ill afterwards) seems to fit the folklore.

## Source

https://www.yourghoststories.com/real-ghost-story.php?story=26151