“Another one, theres a street called Balete Dr that’s supposedly haunted. Lots of weird things like these monsters called kapre, like they hang out under the trees. They have human body but like a goat or horse body, and they’re always smoking a cigarette. And its called Balete Dr because of the trees, Balete trees look really scary and stuff. People always report seeing like weird things. You can take a shortcut through there but no one wants to go through that street. The phillipines are like 90% catholic so they believe all that stuff. Like if you don’t get baptized you’ll see all this stuff.”

Another article of folklore from the Philippines, Balete Drive deals with the imagery associated with the street. Balete trees are said to be the homes of the Kapre in Filipino folklore, and there was a huge one in the middle of Balete Dr in the past. Tied into the predominant Catholic religion of the region, some interesting combinations between folklore and religion occur. The informant makes the connection that people will experience more supernatural things if they are not baptized, even though Catholicism does not endorse Kapre or Balete trees and the like. Thus, we see the roots of fears explained by the people in terms of things they understand (consequences of not being baptized), and also create stories to justify these fears.