AI illustration
White Lady of Balete Drive
People in Quezon City tell of a ghost of a woman in white on Balete Drive in New Manila. The street was named for the balete trees that once lined it. Drivers and taxi riders are the usual storytellers.
Folklore is retold; versions differ.
Sources: Wikipedia: Balete Drive (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Wikidata (CC0)
The story
Balete Drive is a street about 1.3 kilometers long in New Manila, Quezon City. It is named for a very large balete tree that once stood in the road. Balete trees lined the street, which made it dark. In Philippine belief, balete trees are homes of spirits.
The best-known story is of a woman in white who appears to taxi drivers late at night. In the usual version, a teenage girl was hit and killed by a taxi and buried near the tree. People say she shows up on the back seat or by the road, then disappears. Other versions say she was a university student who was attacked by a driver, or a woman from an old house who was killed by her family. These are all stories, and none has proof.
People have told the tale since the 1950s. Some say a reporter invented it in 1953. One writer in 2021 argued that it grew from a magazine piece of 1952 and a 1949 car crash on another road. The street later inspired the 1988 film Hiwaga sa Balete Drive and a scene in Trese.