Have you heard about the infamous Siquijor ghost ship?

The residents of Lazi, Siquijor are all familiar with a hometown myth: There is a ghost ship called the tayog-tayog that appears on the ocean some time at dawn and just as suddenly, it vanishes into thin air.

The myth, which has been passed around for 70 years, has it that a man was fishing in Lazi, Siquijor sometime in the ‘70s, who suddenly, he hears a loud sound.

Surprised to see a ship approaching, he paddled hurriedly and frightened, seeing that the ship had 'engkantos' for passengers.

The Spaniards used to call Siquijor "Isla del Fuego" or the "Island of Fire," because of the splendor of fireflies at night.

Now, a part of the ocean by Lazi lights up every night with a mystery ship that makes such loud sounds it shakes up the ground. As such, it was called the tayog-tayog, coined from the Bisaya term "tayog,” which means the shaking of the ground.

Residents say that the tayog-tayog appears at 12 midnight until 2 am. Sometimes, the loud roar would wake residents up from their sleep.

But what gives the residents the creeps? The tayog-tayog would suddenly vanish just a few moments after it appears. It has since then been tagged as the ghost ship.

Richard, a resident of Siquijor, says he has been hearing stories about the tayog-tayog ever since he was a child. He lives two kilometers from the seaside, and he attests to it, having woken up from the sound the tayog-tayog makes.

One night, he decided to follow the noise and saw the mysterious ship. In fact, Richard said he saw it a couple more times after that.

According to Richard, he saw one ship sailing near the lighthouse and another ship on the other side of the ocean. The two met each other halfway until they both vanished.

He said ghost ship hunting has become an attraction to tourists, with him serving as guide and telling the tourists stories. Richard swears it’s not just a tourism gimmick. Visitors really do see the tayog-tayog, he says.

There are non-believes like Lanie, who has changed her mind after seeing it with her own eyes. Lanie said at first the tayog-tayog looked like an ordinary ship, but what startled her is when it suddenly disappeared.

She said she wasn't scared of what she saw — she was amazed about how it shone bright and how it did not miss a day passing by Lazi in the five years she’s watched it.

Lanie would sometimes even invite her friends to watch the mysterious ship. But no one would come near it. When people try to sail near the ship, it would disappear out of the blue.

Paul, a former seaman and also a resident of Siquijor, attempted to prove that the tayog-tayog is indeed real.

On January 3, using his phone, he was able to take a photo of the tayog-tayog. According to Paul, he started his lookout at 11 pm, seeing a mysterious ship, which he thought was just a regular three-floor ship.

But the brightness of its lights seemed odd. According to Paul, it did not follow the standard.

The “Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho” team consulted with the Philippine Coast Guard regarding the tayog-tayog and Siquijor Station Commander LTJG Donna Liza Ramacho said there were no records or scheduled ships in that area.

And so Richard and Lanie decided to go with Philippine Coast Guard team members, led by Commander Ramacho, to wait for the ghost ship to appear.

The team only saw something at around 1 am, which they recorded on camera: The light formed a shape of a ship on the left side of the ocean, and just like the stories, another one appeared on the other side of the ocean.

They said both of the ships crossed paths in the middle, one ship sailing farther; and as its light slowly faded, while the other ship’s glow became brighter, until both of the ships vanished in the dark.

Commander Ramacho and her team said they couldn't explain what it was.

The KMJS team contacted shipping lines in Cebu, Negros Oriental, and Mindanao to confirm if there were ships scheduled to pass by Lazi that night.

The shipping lines said there were no ships scheduled to sail at that time.

To investigate further about the mysterious ship, Paranormal Investigator Ed Caluag flew to Siquijor to see the tayog-tayog.

Ed, along with Lanie and the Philippine Coast Guard team, waited for the mysterious tayog-tayog, with a plan to go near it this time.

But as the Philippine Coast Guard tried to go nearer in a speed boat, the tayog-tayog moved faster and when the ship sailed past the lighthouse, it disappeared.

According to the KMJS team's research, the tayog-tayog docks in Bulwarte, which can be found inside a wild forest near a cemetery in Barangay Maria.

The Healer's Association of Siquijor denied this and said its real port area is near the monastery.

According to Anthropologist Professor Carolyn Sobritchea, the ships they have been seeing may be real ships that are mistaken as ghost ships because of the tales told by the old residents.

Professor Sobritchea continued and said the light they have been seeing may be because of a weather phenomenon.

But for residents Richard and Lanie, they stand firm with what they think they saw. They said the videos taken by the team is proof that the story about the tayog-tayog or the ghost ship is not a myth.  —  Jannielyn Ann Bigtas/LA, GMA News