There were two main events in history which have greatly contributed to paranormal activity in Baguio: the Second World War and the Great Earthquake of 1990. During the first part of the 1940's, Baguio was in itself one huge garrison for the Japanese Empire, which also provided a strategic point for the conquest of the Cordillera regions north and east. What blotched Baguio's war history was the fact that the city was also home to hundreds if not thousands of Resistance forces, both American and Filipino, who were caught, tortured, and horribly put to death by Imperial Japanese troops in a multitude of ways. Their bodies were then occasionally dumped into sewers, springs and unmarked graves.

The July 16, 1990 Earthquake was Baguio's first confrontation with the powers of nature. The magnitude 7.7 quake took a thousand lives, 700 in the City alone. This awful loss of life came from the collapse of huge buildings, most of them resort hotels. Rotting corpses were lined up in front of schools, waiting to be identified and claimed. For a period of seven days, the City was virtually cut off from the rest of the world as communications and power were cut, while highway landslides and runway cracks prevented vehicular access either by land or by air.

The imprints of these two events, as well as other minor ones, have given rise to a quiet interest in paranormal urban exploration in Baguio that the Department of Tourism won't recognize. Listed below are hotspots for paranormal activity in the City. The list is by no means exhaustive; it does not describe places such as homeowners' houses and small private locations. These are places which have been focuses of past investigations by the SQBaguio group.

Words of advice: SQBaguio highly advises the reader not to enter these sites without proper preparation. Many of these locations are government or private property, and SQBaguio has even caught and documented unexplainable "aftereffects" after visiting these sites. Never visit these sites unless you have a really good reason for visiting them. SQBaguio highly discourages "ghost-hunting" in these sites: even if you don't believe in the paranormal, these are places where scores of people have died and/or their remains are still interred, and a certain amount of humility must be given due while in these locations.

HYATT TERRACES
South Drive
This site, located along the quiet South Drive area, was once home to the only five-star hotel north of Manila. There were two main buildings in the complex; both of them toppled in the Great Earthquake of 1990. The main building's facade was a 45-degree structure covered in glass; this collapsed on itself during the quake, instantly killing people with sharp glass fragments piercing their bodies. Today the site has been cleared, and no traces of the grand hotel could be seen. Years after the quake, passersby would claim to see people inside the complex when nobody should be in there. One case involved a person who peeped through the cyclone wire fence one night and passed out, remaining unconscious for two days straight. Upon waking he claimed to remember nothing of the past two days, only the memory of what he saw that night inside the Hyatt complex.

THE DIPLOMAT
Dominican Hill
Looking over the City is a large building called the Diplomat. Built in 1913, this massive stone structure has had a number of uses: a seminary, a war stronghold, a hotel. Now, however, it is all but abandoned. The government turns away anybody trying to get in, but it couldn't stop whatever's inside from trying to lure people into the Diplomat by any means. Visitors have claimed seeing the shades of numerous spirits in and around the compound: priests, soldiers, even lost children. Numerous blessings, offerings and seances have been performed inside the Diplomat in the past, yet it seems nothing can dispel the hauntings that occur.

LOAKAN ROAD
Baguio-Tuding border
Loakan road stretches and twists through thick pine-covered hills. It seems idyllic in a sense, since it leads southward out of the City to small mountain towns. Everybody in Baguio knows of Loakan Road's Second Cemetery and its resident ghost, the legendary White Woman. Aside from her, however, a lesser-known but much more powerful entity seems to take control over the road and its travelers. There are documented sightings, of a primordial spirit that prowls Loakan Road. Some have claimed to see and even describe this ancient being: ten feet tall, covered in red fur, with a hideous face. There was once an old tree that stood at the middle of the road; in the name of "progress," however, it was cut down in 2001. Many say that this primordial spirit resided in that tree, and God knows what would happen now that its home has been destroyed.

THE VICTORIAN WHITE HOUSE
Leonard Wood Road
This abandoned Victorian structure stands along Leonard Wood Road, and many have claimed this old building is all but brimming with spectral activity. No one has investigated it long enough to find out, though, as tycoon Lucio Tan apparently owns the property.

THE SLU GONZAGA BUILDING
General Luna Road
The oldest building of Saint Louis University still standing, the Gonzaga Building once housed the SLU Boys' High School, but is now home to the Colleges of Education and Law. Faculty and students, especially PMT and ROTC trainees, have stories to tell about the spirits this building harbors: of how lights mysteriously come on at night with no one in the building itself, of footsteps walking through gated alleyways, of the sounds of breathing and moaning that echo through the covered gym area.

CASA VALLEJO
Upper Session Road
Casa Vallejo was once an American lodge built in the 1910's. Throughout history it has been a number of things, including a WWII bomb shelter and a hotel. It now lies closed and empty, except for the left wing where the DENR regional office still functions. Although no one now walks the quiet halls of this once-elegant building, many say that other unexplainable entities still do. Inside Casa Vallejo there still hangs to this day a huge mirror which once looked down upon guests as they ate and danced and slept the cold nights away; now some investigators claim this mirror to be a portal between the world of the living and the dead.

THE WHITE HALL
Teachers' Camp
When the Americans founded Baguio in 1909, they and the famed Thomasite teachers founded a compound where natives could get quality education. Today that compound has grown from its small beginnings and is now called Teachers' Camp, in honor of the Thomasite teachers who saw the City as an ideal second home. Within the confines of Teachers' Camp looms the White Hall, a building with cavernous wooden walkways and wide rooms. Unexplained sounds and shadows still cling to reality, as explained by many who have slept within these old walls. What little know is that near the White Hall lies a geologic-magnetic disturbance documented by both geologists and paranormal investigators alike. Could this be the cause of unexplained anomalies in the White Hall itself? No one really knows for sure.

THE PINE GROVE
Baguio Convention Center
One could easily get lost in this maze of small pine trees, just across the pyramidical Baguio Convention Center. As with quiet and dense places in nature, one could not help but turn around and ask himself if something was following him in this place. Nature is indeed a wise bender of reality; who knows what She could do in such a quiet place as this, a place of art, a place of ritual, a place where secrets are buried and better left untouched?

SPIRITS DISCO
Burnham Park
Every night, droves of the young let their hair down and dance their sanities away in this old building, now a dance disco and bar. But no one gives an interest on what happens after the noisy lot leaves, after the party has died down or after the drinks have run stale. Whispers answer questions never meant to be answered by anybody, and even twisted reflections stare back from mirrors. It might be the alcohol that causes these things to happen, but there's a reason why this old house was named "Spirits."