Mysterious Stories Below the Wind by Fung Lan Yong
Mysterious Stories Below the Wind
by Fung Lan Yong
68. BRIDGE
Sabah ’s captivating and intriguing
stories,
a part of its irreplaceable cultural, intellectual, and spiritual heritage, can
be used for teaching, research, and art.
They can be used not only to promote historical
and cultural consciousness, but also to foster literacy and creativity among
readers. It is the writer’s pleasure to share them not
only as favorite bedtime stories, but also as keepsake.
The writer was born and raised in Sabah, renowned asBorneo ’s
paradise. Besides its fascinating
folklore, this island state welcomes visitors with the highest mountain in
Southeast Asia, the majestic Mount Kimball , the world's only mushroom-shaped diving
destination, Spading Island , and Danu Valley Sandakan
Fung Lan Yong
Lena returned to the bar to see
Vic, but he refused to have anything to do with her. When she threatened to end her life, he
sarcastically asked her to find the deepest place. Only too relieved to see her go, he could not
careless what she was going to do. He
was busy planning a luxurious, month-long vacation with his rich and
sophisticated companion.
At dawn, both campers, feeling spooked, decided to leave the camping spot as they did not want to bring any unnecessary anxiety upon themselves. As they passed by a charred clearing, they saw some farmers digging and sowing. After hearing their surreal experiences, they shook their heads sadly. The place was said to be haunted by a woman and her son. She drowned in a vain attempt to save the young boy who fell through a rotten hanging bridge many years ago. The two nature enthusiasts recalled seeing the weather beaten remnants of a hanging bridge at the vicinity of their encampment.
by Fung Lan Yong
NARRATIVE
Stories below the wind will send chills down your spine
with their blood-curdling ghastly details.
People from the land below the wind come forward to share and relive
their grotesque haunting tales with you in more than 100 stories ready to make
your hair stand on end. This book allows
you to experience the mood and
resonance, the sounds, scents and tense awareness in the land below the wind,
where the most bizarre could happen.
CONTENTS PAGE
PREFACE
1. SOULS OF THE DROWNED 1
2. LIFE-SWAPPING ORNAMENT 2
3. CURSED ROCK 3
4. FRAGRANCE OF THE DEPARTED 4
5. GHASTLY TOAD 5
6. UNLUCKY FOUR DIGITS 6
7. SACRIFICIAL
BASKET 7
8. EVIL RUBBER LEAF 8
9. SWAMP ENCOUNTER 9
10. SPRING GUARDIAN 10
11. CATTY REVENGE 11
12. SUITCASE HORROR 12
13. SACRED CLUMPS 13
14. WRATH OF A CONTRACTOR 14
15. CREDITOR FROM HELL 15
16. MOUNTAIN SPIRIT 16
17.
SPIRITS OF MOUNT
KINABALU
18.
JUNGLE HYSTERIA 18
19. STENCH OF A SPIRIT 19
20. MIGRATING SPIRIT 20
21. COCONUT RETRIBUTION 21
22. FACE IN THE WATER 22
23. GHOST IN RED 23
24. HAIRY THROAT 25
25. EVIL BRACELET 26
26. RED CRAB 27
27. DANCING SPIRITS 28
28. NEWSPAPER OUIJA 29
29. SACRED ORANGE 30
30. OILY SPELL 31
31. HAUNTED CAVE 32
32. YING-YANG EYES 33
33. MOTORCYCLE GHOST 34
34. PLUNGING GHOST 35
35. DEATHBED DANCERS 37
36. SLEEPINGWALKING SPIRIT 38
37. WIND SPIRIT 39
38. HUNGRY GHOST 40
39. HAUNTED BANANA GROVE 41
40. BLOODSUCKING WEAPON 42
41. THE BEAST WITHIN 43
42. FAITH HEALER 44
43. SPIRIT WORLD 45
44. HAUNTED ROUTE 46
45. MAGICAL IMPLANT 47
46. ICE CREAM GHOSTS 48
47. MARCHING GHOSTS 49
48. BUN-LOVING GHOSTS 50
49. HAUNTED STAIRCASE 51
50. GHOST CLONE 52
51. GHOST SWEETHEARTS 53
52. JINXED AREA 54
53. ROCK SPIRIT 55
54. FINAL FUNERAL RITE 56
55. RESTLESS TWIN 57
56. STRANGE DELUSIONS 58-59
57. TEMPLE
58. FAMILY FEUD 61
59. CAT SPIRIT 62
60. GRAVE EYES 63
61. GAME OF CORNERS 64
62. COCKEREL BLOOD 65
63. PLACE OF EVIL 66
64. INCENSE RICE 67
65. CROW’S EYES 68
66. HORSESHOE MAGIC 69
67. CAMERA MAGIC 70
69. BULLISH EYES 72
70. DEMONIC EAGLE 73
71. UNDER-THE-TABLE DINERS 74
72. GLIMMERING
BASIN
73. CIVIC-CONSCIOUS POLTERGEIST 77
74. MISCHIEVEOUS JUNGLE SPIRIT 78
75. TOO YOUNG FOR GHOST STORIES 79
76. BODY DOUBLE 80
77. GHOST VISION 81
78. PHANTOM GATECRASHERS 83
79. BEAST OF PROTECTION 84
80. PONTIANAK
81. BANANA SPIRIT 86
82. CORPSE EATER 87
83. MIDNIGHT ENCOUNTER 88
84. TABLE FOR THE DEPARTED 89
85. CANDLE-LIT PATH TO INCARCERATION 90
86. PENIS DISPLACEMENT 91
87. HAUNTED CLAY MOUND 92
88. FLARING SPIRIT 94
89. HAUNTED HANGING BRIDGE 95
90. PILLION GHOST 96
90. PILLION GHOST 97
PREFACE
This book presents
more than eighty mysterious stories from Sabah ,
the Land below the Wind, where myths and legends abound in great vitality. The
stories, to a certain extent, reflect the ethical-moral values of the various
communities in Sabah , each of which has a rich
and diverse culture. Such inspiring stories
will always remain an integral part of Sabah ’s
verbal art and folkloric literature.
The writer was born and raised in Sabah, renowned as
Fung Lan Yong
2020
1. SOULS OF THE
DROWNED
Keningau is a
small agrarian town in Sabah . Its population consists of mostly Muruts, an
ethnic group in Sabah . Many Filipino and Indonesian immigrants live
there too. On December 26, 1996, the
Greg Storm caused the Pampang
River
Days after the
cataclysmic phenomenon, many villagers in the area were haunted by eerie
screams at night. People crying
piteously for help could be heard after nightfall. Dogs would howl ominously in the darkness, as
if they had seen something strange.
Believing that black dogs could see spirits, some villagers claimed that
the unearthly cries were from the drowned victims.
The villagers
decided to invite a few babalians or female high priests from the Murut
community to perform a special ceremony to appease the restless spirits of the
drowned. The babalians sacrificed
some white chickens, eggs, rice, and other offerings during a sombre
ritual. They chanted and prayed so that
the wandering souls of the dead could finally rest in peace.
Today, many villagers
in Keningau still seek the assistance of a babalian whenever they have
problems, especially those related to health and personal safety. Highly respected, a babalian is
believed to possess spiritual power; for instance, she can heal the sick through
prayers and communicate with the dead through sacred rituals.
2. LIFE-SWAPPING ORNAMENT
After returning from the market one afternoon, Denise felt as if her
life was draining out of her. Assuming
that it was due to all heat and humidity she decided to take a nap. Her head had barely touched the pillow when
the dull pain in his stomach suddenly became acute. By nightfall, the suffering
was so intense that she was drenched in cold sweat.
Strangely enough, Denise insisted that she bring along her handbag
before leaving for the hospital. While
the doctor was examining her, she asked her roommate, Jenny, to write a message
to her manager. While opening the
handbag, Jenny saw a small wooden ornament stuck in between some bills. Despite its adorable design, it had an
ominous aura that gave her the chills.
While Denise was sleeping, Jenny took the ornament and kept it. When Denise opened her eyes the next morning,
she noticed that her roommate and parents had been crying. The doctor confirmed that she suffered from
stomach cancer, urging her to prepare for the worst. Denise’s parents and
roommate found it hard to grasp this sudden diagnosis, as she had not show any
symptoms of stomach cancer.
Jenny went to the temple and showed the ornament to a medium. At one
glance, the medium revealed that Denise's life had been swapped with that of another
person who was probably suffering from stomach cancer and was dying. The
ornament held the black magic that would suck the life out of Denise.
When Jenny queried whether the life-swapping could be undone, he replied
that the ornament had been discovered too late. Moreover, it was impossible to
find its original owner within a short time. The black magic was targeted at
Denise because she probably had the same date of birth or blood type as the
other person.
3. CURSED ROCK
Ah Meng was fascinated by his friend’s collection of stone
objects. Eager to pursue the same hobby,
he decided to venture into the jungle with his son one afternoon. They reached a river and saw many pebbles of
different shape, size, and color.
Amazed, they selected some unique ones and put them in a plastic
bag. Ah Meng was thinking of selling
them at the weekly tamu or farmers’ market. He smiled at the prospect of making a one
hundred percent profit out of his precious find.
While returning home, Ah Meng saw a huge rock with a grotesque
appearance. It was very heavy, so he
decided to find something to enable him to carry it. After finding an old piece of rope and a pole
at the small cemetery nearby, he managed to bring what he considered as a
unique gift of nature home.
Repulsed by the mere sight of it, his wife ordered him to dispose of
it. However, Ah Meng was adamant and
left it at the front yard. A few days
later, their son suddenly fell sick. He
also started hallucinating, screaming that large red ants were crawling out of
the peculiar rock to attack him. When Ah
Meng examined it, he saw nothing unusual.
Disturbed, he decided to telephone the stone collector and related
his bizarre experience. The latter
advised him to return the cursed rock to the jungle immediately, adding that he
should not have used the rope and pole from the cemetery.
Ah Meng’s friend warned him not to simply gather anything from the
jungle, as it might anger the spirits of the jungle. He maintained that rocks, trees, and other
natural objects might contain a penungggu or spirit that would cause
havoc when defied.
4. FRAGRANCE OF THE DEPARTED
Kudat, known as Coconut Town , is located in the northern-most tip of Sabah . Besides
coconuts and groundnuts, this sleepy town is also famous for its picturesque Bak Bak
Beach
Years ago, there was a couple from India Sabah .
They had a beautiful and intelligent daughter named Jenny. She could also swim like a fish.
One day, Jenny had a picnic with her classmates and teachers at Bak Bak
Beach
Before getting into the sea, Jenny ate some noodles. She was enjoying herself when she suddenly
screamed that something was pulling her leg.
A young man managed to find her a few feet under the water and
resuscitated her, but he failed to bring her back to life.
Seven days after Jenny was cremated, Ah Tong was driving along the Bak Bak Road
At around the same time, Jenny’s parents were talking in the sitting
room when they were suddenly overwhelmed by the fragrance of sandalwood. It permeated the entire house, as if someone
was spraying a generous amount of sandalwood perfume into the air. Deep inside their hearts, they knew that
Jenny’s spirit had returned. Ah Tong’s bizarre experience at the Bak Bak
Beach
5. GHASTLY TOAD
Miku was camping in the thick rainforest with his grandfather, who
was a bomoh or traditional medicine man.
He was helping the elderly man to find medicinal herbs and roots. He had pitched a large tent near the river
that teemed with fish.
One evening, while his grandfather was still bathing in the river,
Miku decided to get into the tent to rest for while. The torchlight fell on gigantic toad. It had bulging green eyes and slimy black
scales. Two venomous looking horns
protruded from its spiny forehead.
Snapped its mouth open, the horrendous creature revealed razor sharp
teeth and a black forked tongue. It let
out a spine-chilling croak that Miku would remember the rest of his life. Scared right out of his wits, he scrambled
out of the flimsy shelter screaming for help.
Overcame by its corpse-like stench, he vomited and almost lost
consciousness.
Miku’s grandfather remained calm as the frightened young man
recounted what he had just witnessed.
Then he walked slowly towards the tent and chanted a few holy
verses. After opening the tent with his tongkat
or rattan walking stick, he peered inside.
Right before their eyes lay a small lifeless toad. Beside it were some fish bones, dead
grasshoppers, and dried leaves.
Astounded, Miku insisted that he had seen a monstrous amphibian trying
to devour him with its bloodthirsty tongue.
Nodding, the wise elderly man concluded that his grandson might have
seen a jungle spirit and advised him to keep his faith strong. He also reminded him not to spit, urinate, or
defecate in the deep jungle, as it might anger the spirits. Shivering, Miku remembered that he had
discarded some rubbish into the river before he entered the tent. That afternoon, he had also used foul
language when he tripped over a root and fell headlong.
6. UNLUCKY FOUR DIGITS
Three months before Chinese New Year, Kim Fook and Kong Fatt were
retrenched. Desperate to get money to
return to their hometown, they decided to buy some four-digit lotteries. Kim Fook suggested that they get the lucky
numbers from a keramat or haunted place.
In Sabah , a keramat could be a
cave, abandoned well, or grave.
Both men decided to visit a pak gung san or hill cemetery
when the full moon came around. They
selected a grave and placed some oranges and flowers in front of it. After lighting some joss sticks and red
candles, they knelt in front of the grave and started chanting. They beseeched the spirit to give them four
lucky numbers. At a distance, they could hear the hooting of an owl and the
endless chirping of crickets. Under the
moonlight, everything appeared eerie.
They mustered all their courage and concentrated on their sacrilegious
endeavour. After ten minutes, they felt
a breeze that swayed the lalang, a type of grass with long slender
blades that thrive in hill cemeteries.
Feeling the presence of another being, they shivered and their hair
stood on end.
Getting cold feet, they decided to flee immediately. Kim Fook tripped over a half-buried brick and
fell headlong. Small pieces of crumbled
paper (with numbers written on them) spilled out from the milk tin in his
hand. Determined to make his nightmarish
trip worthwhile, Kong Fatt randomly gathered four pieces from the ground and
got the following numbers:
one-one–two-four. Using them,
they bought a lottery at an 88 outlet.
They could hardly contain their happiness when they got the jackpot of
ten thousand dollars.
Two days after winning the money, Kim Fook died when his car swerved
and crashed into a deep ravine. Before breathing his last, his eyes were
horror-filled, as if he had seen a ghost.
Lost and frightened, Kong Fatt was haunted by endless nightmares. He kept on seeing a female ghost cursing
him. A month later, he was admitted to
the sanatorium after being caught desecrating the grave that he and his cursed
friend had sought divination.
Kim Fook and Kong Huat had consulted the vengeful spirit of a woman
who had hanged herself after being abused and abandoned by her boyfriend. Unbeknownst to the two ill-fated wealth
seekers, the numbers one-one-two-four were synonymous to “dying one after the
other” in their own dialect!
7. SACRIFICIAL BASKET
Mumpin was sitting
on a grassy riverbank, dangling his legs above the pristine cool water. His buffalo was grazing nearby. He was looking at the small fish that darted
happily among the rocks when he noticed a small bamboo basket floating downstream. Shaped like a lotus, it was bearing something
that was partially hidden by a yam leaf.
Curiosity got the
better of Mumpin. He took a dried twig
and flipped the leaf into the water. It
sailed gracefully downstream and was soon out of sight. Stopping the basket with the twig, he was
astounded to see the contents of the basket.
There was an egg, a coconut-bowl of rice, and a clove of garlic arranged
neatly in it.
Attracted by its
beautiful design, he decided to bring the basket home. After emptying its contents into the river,
he started admiring it. He was thinking
of giving it to Tana who was picking some wild herbs and flowers a stone’s
throwaway.
Suddenly, an angry
roar jotted his senses. A white
crocodile with red fiery eyes sprang up and locked its razor sharp jaws on his
right leg. In a split second, the
hideous monster disappeared dragging his severed limb along. The crystal clear water rippled furiously and
became dark crimson. The mysterious
basket disappeared in a thick red mist.
When he opened his
eyes, Mumpin saw his girlfriend staring down at him, aghast. Both his legs were still intact. The river was sparking and some colourful
butterflies were dancing freely beside him.
He wondered whether he had been dreaming in broad daylight. Then he saw his spectacular treasure. It was stuck in the long swaying reeds
further down the river. In it were the
egg, rice, and garlic that he thought he had disposed of!
Tana had heard his
excruciating scream and rushed to his rescue.
He was lying on the grass unconscious, his face deadly pale. His limbs were icy stiff. He was moaning and foaming in the mouth.
After hearing what
he had done, Tana’s father, the village headman nodded slowly. Being ignorant of sacred rituals, Mumpin had
unwittingly upset a sacrificial basket.
Recently, a number of people in a neighbouring village had suffered from
painful boils and fever. After they were
healed, they had tried to send the disease spirit away though a river ceremony.
8. EVIL RUBBER
LEAF
In the 50s, many
rubber plantations existed in Kudat.
Besides latex, villagers could get many kinds of herbs and vegetables
from a plantation. They could even catch
karuk (small black perch), eels, frogs, and snails if a river meandered
through it. Ah Moi owned in a ten-acre
rubber estate with a crystalline stream running through it. Besides tapping rubber, she also grew
vegetables and reared poultry as side income.
Like most villagers, she was self-sufficient.
One evening, she
was resting under a rubber tree, as dizziness suddenly blurred her vision. Feeling hot and nauseas, she was beginning to
doze off when a breeze suddenly came up and gently swept her face. Hearing an unnerving rustle, she opened her
eyes and looked around. Then she saw
something bizarre happening right under her nose. It chilled her blood and reduced her knees to
jelly.
A large, yellowish
rubber leaf was jumping up and down a few inches away. A minute later, it started to hop around Ah
Moi, who was too stunned to move. It seemed
to be alive. After what seemed to be
hours, she struggled to her feet and fled home.
She heard mind-numbing noises coming from the lalang (elephant
grass) as she scrambled all the way to her small wooden house. She could hear people whispering, grinding
their teeth, and sighing all around her.
The next day, Ah
Moi went to consult a zhau tong (temple medium). Obscured by the smoke swirling from an urn of
joss sticks, the medium chanted and fell into a trance. She revealed that an unclean spirit was
trying to disturb Ah Moi, as the latter possessed “low energy level” at that
time. Fortunately, Ah Moi recovered
after taking some herbal tea and rest.
9. SWAMP
ENCOUNTER
Aboi was looking
for pakis (ferns) in a swampy area when a melodious voice reached his
ears. Bewildered, he decided to look for
its source. He sauntered to the jungle
that was filled with luxuriant clumps of bamboo. Besides locating the singer, he could also
harvest some bamboo shoots. He smiled,
thinking of the money he could earn by selling his jungle produce at the tamu
(farmers’ market). Pakis and bamboo
shoots were his favourite vegetables too.
From behind a
clump of bamboo, he could see a young woman bathing in the pool. Crystal
She climbed out of
the pool. After wrapping her body with a
batik sarong, she sat on a rock and ran her fingers through her flowing
hair. Moonstruck, Aboi could not keep
his eyes off her. Suddenly, she turned
and saw him.
Jumping to her
feet, she cast a sweet smile at him.
Then she started running into the deep jungle. She waved at Aboi and he felt that an
invisible force was dragging him. When
he finally caught up with her, he realized that he was in a clearing filled
with the fragrance of frangipani.
She was sitting on
a small bamboo platform, surrounded by small brass urns. A thin swirl of incense smoke was coming out
from the urn in front of her. She
beckoned him to sit down beside her.
His blood froze
when he approached her. She had
transformed into an old hag; her face was etched with deep wrinkles while
black, shark-like teeth lined her slimy mouth.
Large, black feathers covered her body.
Serpent-like scales coated her hands and feet that tapered with vicious
claws. A rotting stench overpowered his
senses and he fainted.
A woodcutter
discovered Aboi. He was only wearing a
jawat (loin cloth); his mouth was filled with mud and grasshopper legs. His entire body was blue-black. Villagers
concluded that Aboi was killed by a pontianak
10. SPRING
GUARDIAN
Ula was a laborer
in an oil palm plantation in Tawau. He
lived near a spring that provided his village with crystal clear water. Unlike other rivers and streams in the area,
it never ran dry during a drought. It
had supplied fresh clean water to the Japanese barracks during World War
II. Now it helped maintain the livelihood
of 10 kampungs (villages) around the sprawling oil palm plantation.
According to Ula,
the spring was sacred and its penunggu (unseen guardian) was against all
forms of pollution. Once, it went dry
suddenly, depriving more than 3,000 villagers of water that they needed for
drinking and other life-supporting activities.
They did not even have water for drinking and washing. All their plants withered while some of their
poultry died. Ula had never experienced
shortage of fresh water in all his 60 years in Tawau.
A villager had
seen some youths drinking alcohol and having sex near the spring. They had also indiscriminately littered the
area this Japanese legacy. Some had used
obscenities while others had carved on the trees and rocks. According to a bomoh (shaman), they
had offended its guardian spirit.
After the local
leaders had slaughtered two goats as sogit (sacrifice to cool the
spirit), the water started flowing again.
Youths that frequented that area were severely warned against practicing
illicit activities. Since then, the
villagers had become more environment-friendly as they did not fancy walking
long distances just to obtain a pail of drinking water.
11. CATTY
REVENGE
Tess was a loner
who preferred to concentrate on her studies to anything else. Being the eldest from a poor family, she had
to study hard just to get some pencils and exercise books. As for textbooks and school uniforms, she was
lucky to receive hand-me-downs from some kind seniors. Once, she had to go hungry for twenty days to
save enough money to get a packet of magic colors.
Tina, her younger
sister, was a happy go lucky. However,
she was jealous of her elder sister who obtained first in class every
term. She often tried to disrupt Tess by
switching on the radio loudly or hurling insults at her. As a loudmouth, she also got a lion’s share
of everything, from food to clothes.
Tess would curse
silently whenever she was around. One
day, Tina threw a ball at her while she was writing with the fountain pen that
she received from her form teacher as the best student in class. The pen flew into the air and its gold nib
split as it landed on the floor.
Controlling her
rage, Tess just picked it up and walked out of the house quietly. She sat under the old rubber tree, weeping
bitterly. She was still seething when
her big black cat came by and nudged against her leg. “I wish she would drop dead and burn in
hell!” she cursed. The cat looked at her
intently and mewed as if it understood her feelings.
Tess was watering
some plants in the garden when she heard painful screams inside the
kitchen. Rushing in, she saw her pet
scratching and biting her younger sister who was rolling on the dirt
floor. Mewing viciously all the time, it
only stopped when Tess screamed at it.
Apparently, Tina
had tripped over the beast and fell headlong.
The gentle animal suddenly became ferocious and started attacking her.
Aware of the potentially fatal sibling rivalry, Tess’ mother advised her to be
forgiving rather than trying to take revenge all the time.
12. SUITCASE
HORROR
After completing
her secondary school in her village, Ota worked as a waiter in a coffee shop in
the town area. She rented a small room
in a seedy part of town, which she shared with her friend. The small stuffy room had a small window and
an old ceiling fan. She had to sleep on
the floor and hang her clothes on the wall.
Besides, she had to share the kitchen and toilet with ten other
tenants. The living conditions were
terrible, but like many poor village girls, Ota had to survive with the bare
minimum.
Three months
later, Ota got to know Kenny, a rich young man whose father was a
contractor. She was over the moon when
he asked her to live in his apartment, which was air-conditioned and fully furnished. She did not even have to pay rent! However, Ota was unaware that Kenny was
addicted to codeine and other kinds of illegal drugs. She thought the world of him and often
wondered whether she was worthy of him.
She treated him like a deity, worshipping the ground he stepped on.
One day, she ran
across Sam, her old friend. She brought
him back to the apartment for dinner.
While they were watching television, Kenny suddenly appeared. She introduced Sam as a long time
friend. She was relieved that the two
young men were civil to each other throughout dinner.
The minute after
Sam’s departure, Kenny bombarded Ota with many questions. When she pointed out that he was jealous, he
became unreasonable and accused her of having an affair behind his back. He started calling her names and threatened
to cause physical harm to Sam.
Dazed by his
abrupt change in behavior, she asked him to get out of the apartment.
Reminding her that
it was his property, he called her an ungrateful slut. When she threatened to call the security
guard, he tried to strangle her. She
fainted, but he thought that she was dead.
In his panic, he dismembered her with a chopper that he had found in the
kitchen. Then he stuffed her body parts
into a large suitcase.
He simply dumped
the suitcase at a foothill. The jogger
who discovered it vomited everything that he had eaten that morning and lost
his appetite for several days. Kenny was
sentenced to twenty-five years jail for a crime caused by a lethal combination
of jealousy, rage, and drugs. Strongly
believing that Kenny deserved the gallows, Ota’s parents put some soybeans into
her mouth before her burial. Just like
the seeds, they hoped that she would soon come to life to take revenge.
13. SACRED
CLUMPS
Apin lived in a small
village that was renowned for its fine bamboo.
His family depended on selling bamboo products for a living. His grandparents taught his parents how to
make bamboo furniture and handicrafts.
They in turn taught him the various ways of putting bamboo to good
use. They even taught him several ways
of cooking bamboo shoots, which they sold at the tamu (open market)
every Sunday. Right before rice planting
season, his parents would cut the bamboo for various purposes. Fresh bamboo shoots would appear just as the
rice seedlings began to take root in the waterlogged field. In Apin’s village, bamboo was synonymous to
life itself.
Besides bamboo,
Apin’s family also cultivated rice and reared some poultry. However, he wanted more out of life. He wanted to leave the village someday. In fact, he disliked everything that was
associated with bamboo! After completing
secondary school, he moved to Kota Kinabalu to study pre-university. He lived in the hostel, but during the
weekends, he would go shopping in the town area. He found the urban lifestyle much more
interesting and comfortable than that in the countryside.
After completing
pre-university, he got a scholarship to obtain a Bachelor’s degree in Australia
Last Christmas,
Apin returned home for a visit. Bored
out of his skull, he decided to do some cleaning up. When he looked out of the window, he noticed
an overgrown clump of bamboo, harboring countless mosquitoes and other
insects. He decided to eradicate it all. He dumped some rubbish near the clump. Then he hacked some of it with a parang
(machete). After dousing some petrol on it, he threw a lighted match at
it. He was still standing in the
vicinity when his father noticed the flames.
However, it was too late to save any of the bamboo.
That night, Apin
complained about chest pain and high fever.
He was also hallucinating, insisting that large red ants were biting
him. A neighbor rushed him to the
district hospital, but he died on the way.
Elders in his village believed that Apin had offended a bamboo
spirit. Nobody in the village had ever
set fire on a clump of bamboo before, as it was a taboo. It was akin to snuffing out life itself.
14. WRATH OF A
CONTRACTOR
Last year, Zanah
hired a contractor to renovate her house.
She wanted him to add a new coat of paint and installed some
shelves. When the work was near
completion, she complained that the building materials that he had utilized
were inferior. He patiently explained
that her budget did not allow him to get better building materials. Then she revealed that she did not like the
paint that he had used. This time, he
retorted that it was the best she could afford.
Insisting that the renovations were not properly done, she refused to
pay him the agreed amount. She demanded
a ten percent discount, which he reluctantly agreed.
When the
renovations were finally completed, Zanah paid the contractor without saying a
word. He took the money with a smile,
saying that he hoped that she would be satisfied with his work. That night, Zanah was awoken by a peculiar
noise in the ceiling. It seemed that
somebody was playing with marbles or dice.
Irritated, she poked the ceiling with a broomstick. Hearing a child’s giggle, goose bumps
appeared on her bare arms.
Disturbed by the
noise for several nights in a row, Zanah decided to telephone the same
contractor for help. With a bone
chilling voice, he warned her not to harass him ever again. He slammed the receiver so hard that the bang
almost punctured her eardrum.
Zanah asked her
neighbor to check the ceiling. Just
below the roof, he found a sinister looking statue. Its wood was similar to that used in the
construction of the shelves. Beside it
were some small black pebbles, which resembled those that she had seen in the
contractor’s toolbox. Horrified, she set
the pebble-rolling statue on fire.
Crackling in the flames, it let out its final giggle.
15. CREDITOR
FROM HELL
Although saddened
by the news, Asang could not help feeling relieved after hearing of Henry’s
sudden death. Henry had been reminding
him to repay the $2,000 that he owed him.
Now that his creditor was dead, Asang no longer had to worry about the
money. However, unfortunate things
started to happen to him and his family.
First, the
landlord asked him to move out, giving him some flimsy excuses. He found a new place soon enough, but the
parking space allotted to his family was numbered LOT 1-2000. He felt guilty to see this particular number
day in and day out, as it reminded him of his debt.
Not longer after
that, Asang’s daughter suddenly fell sick.
Doctors warned him that minor surgery was inevitable to save her
life. Asang was stunned to hear that the
estimated medical cost was $2,000. He
had a strange feeling that this was more than just a coincidence.
After setting the
surgical bill, Asang received a crank telephone call in the wee hours of the
morning. A stranger asked him if he had gotten lucky of late. The stranger’s telephone number contained the
last digits of 2-0-0-0. Asang could no
longer sleep after putting the receiver down.
While driving to
work, Asang rammed his car onto lamppost in his attempt to avoid a stray
dog. He got the shock of his life when
the mechanic gave him an estimate of $2,000 to have the vehicle repaired.
Hounded by the
2-0-0-0 digits and the life-threatening events, Asang decided to settle his
debt once and for all. A great burden
was lifted from his heart after he had repaid Henry’s widow the full
amount. She was not even aware that he
had owed her late husband money!
16. MOUNTAIN
SPIRIT
Some people
believe that mountains and hills are the sacred dwellings of spirits and
ghosts. Therefore, they tend to be very
cautious when they find themselves near such places. One such individual is Ricci, who almost lost
his life near a mountain.
Ricci, from Kudat,
was driving to Kota Kinabalu when he had the urge to relieve himself. After stopping his car by the roadside, he
faced the mountain and emptied his bladder.
After relieving himself, he took a deep breath to fill his lungs with
cool mountain air.
As he continued
his journey, he suddenly felt that something was wrong with his car. As the road ahead became increasingly steep,
it seemed that some unseen force was dragging his car from behind. From the rear mirror, he saw a large looming
shadow at the back of his car. The giant
eclipsed the noon sun and he found himself driving in utter darkness.
In great panic,
Ricci turned on the headlights, stepping on the brakes simultaneously. His vehicle swerved and smashed onto the
mountainside. Some villagers heard the
deafening crash and rushed to his rescue.
Ricci developed a
slur after the accident, as his mouth had become lopsided in a grotesque
manner. Further, his eyes bulged like
those of a goldfish. A temple medium
said that he had urinated upon a mountain spirit, which in turn had caused the
accident. His grandfather once advised
him to say, “Excuse me!” when he had to answer the call of nature in the
wilderness.
17. SPIRITS OF MOUNT KINABALU
Kabu worked as a mountain guide and had
five years of experience bringing tourists up and down Mount Kinabalu Mount Kinabalu
One sunny afternoon, while ascending the
mountain, Kabu suddenly slipped and started rolling down like a ball. Everybody screamed for fear of his life. He finally came to a stop when he crashed
onto a tree. By then, he was bruised all
over. Blood was oozing out from his
knee. His face was covered with
scratches. He had also sprained his left
ankle.
When asked why he had suffered such a
nasty fall in a seemingly safe path, Kabu had an unusual explanation. A mountain spirit had tripped him with an old
vine and subsequently pushed him downhill.
It was angry with him for polluting the environment with his
excrement. He had stomachache and was
forced to relieve himself behind a rock that morning.
He had been warned not to defecate or
urinate anywhere on the mountain without asking for permission from the
spirits. His behavior might have
disgusted them beyond words. From then
onwards, he decided to bring a potty or plastic bag with him whenever he had to
climb a mountain or stay in a jungle.
18. JUNGLE HYSTERIA
On their way to a remote village near the
Crocker Range
It was a ten-hour trek from the bus stop,
so some of the students became hot and frustrated. Stung by mosquitoes and black ants, some of
them could not help complaining. Constance , feeling hungry and tired, whispered to Andrew
that she hoped she would never find herself in such a “stupid” place
again. She had been complaining even
before setting off their journey.
Burdened by a backbreaking knapsack, Andrew was too exhausted to
respond.
A few minutes later, Constance
suddenly pulled Andrew’s sleeve and squealed, “Look! There’s a signboard there!” Andrew focused on where she was pointing, but
saw no sign of it. All he could see were
trees. Ignoring her remark, he urged her
to walk faster. A few minutes later,
Constance giggled, “Look, there is a monkey on that tree.” Looking at where she was pointing at, Andrew
merely saw a dead rotting branch. He
asked her to quit joking, as it was no longer funny.
Andrew was surprised when Constance said excitedly, “Look! There’s the village signboard!” There was no signboard around. A tinge of fear shot through his spine when
he realized that she was seeing things.
Concealing it, he grasped her hand to catch up with the others. Constance
kept on seeing monkeys, parrots, and signboards on the way. She even saw an elephant and anteater. Andrew did not see any of these. All he saw were trees, nothing but trees.
When the group
reached the undeveloped settlement, Andrew asked if anybody had seen any
signboards or large animals. None of
them did. At night, Constance
was tossing and mumbling in her sleep.
She seemed to be preoccupied during the entire stay in the tranquil
village. On the way back, Andrew advised
her to maintain her silence to avoid any bizarre sightings.
19. STENCH OF A
SPIRIT
A few minutes
before class, Miss Chong walked into the classroom and switched on the
air-conditioner. Some of her students
were already waiting outside. This was
the first time she used this particular classroom.
The minute she sat
down, Miss Chong was overwhelmed by a revolting smell. She instinctively put her palm over her
nose. It was as if there was a rotten
copse somewhere in the roof. However,
her students did not sense anything. The
stench disappeared after a few minutes.
Thirty minutes
after she started teaching, Miss Chong wrinkled her nose again. She asked the students if they had smelt
anything, as she was getting exceedingly nauseous. Nobody detected anything strange, to her
astonishment. The stench dissipated
after a few minutes. Before the class
ended, the stench wafted towards Miss Chong’s head. Once again, nobody else was affected. The teacher was beginning to wonder whether
she was imagining things.
The classroom was
previously the office of Miss Chong’s friend, Linda. Linda was brutally murdered, but the murderer
was still at large. Miss Chong must have
smelt the spirit of her late friend, who had come to see her. Spirits of murdered victims are said to emit
the most rotten smell. Miss Chong was
grateful that she had not detected any rotten smell in that classroom since
that time.
20. MIGRATING
SPIRIT
Candice, a
pre-university student, was traveling from Kudat to Kota Kinabalu with some
classmates. She was telling her friend
how much she had enjoyed her stay in Kudat when she suddenly turned pale. Then she convulsed violently and foamed
profusely, frightening everyone.
Assuming that she
was suffering from a bout of epilepsy, her friend quickly forced a spoon into
her mouth. Instead of calming down, Candice’s glared and ground her teeth. Then she coughed a few times and started speaking
in a man’s voice. It seemed that she was
possessed by a man’s spirit.
Through Candice,
who was now in a trance, the man revealed that he wanted to migrate to Kota
Kinabalu to look for a woman, who had pushed him into the sea while they were
taking a late night stroll at the harbor.
After escaping to Kota Kinabalu with his money, she had purchased an
apartment and found a new boyfriend. The
spirit admitted that it had no other alternative but to use Candice as a medium
to travel to its destination to seek justice.
According to a
medium, the spirit had chosen Candice because she was the weakest among the
group. Her chi (energy level) was
low, as she was menstruating at that time.
To everyone’s relief, Candice returned to normal after reaching home. She could not recall what had happened during
the journey. All she remembered was that
she suddenly felt dizzy and fell asleep.
When she opened her eyes, she realized that the bus had already reached
Kota Kinabalu.
21. COCONUT
RETRIBUTION
Many years ago,
there lived a sociopath in Kampung Tamalang, Kudat known as Sandang. Well remembered for his mean deeds, he was
abusive toward his wife and children. He
would force them to work hard in the vegetable garden or rice field, but he
would ride his scooter to town. He spent
most of his daylight hours gambling, wasting his wife’s meager earnings.
Malnourished, his
children would steal bananas, papayas, rambutans, mangoes, or sugarcane from
their neighbor’s coconut plantation.
Sometimes, they would pilfer cookies and canned food from the neighbor’s
kitchen.
Jealous of his
neighbors, Sandang would command his children to cause damage to their
crops. They would deliberately break the
branches, pluck the flowers, or uproot the seedlings. One day, he asked his son to puncture his
neighbor’s bicycle wheel and cut the saddle.
When confronted, he beat his son blue black in front of the neighbor to
conceal his own wickedness.
Throughout the
trashing, the young boy insisted that his father had ordered him to destroy the
bicycle. Infuriated by his painful screams, he pulled the boy’s hair and
slapped him until his face was swollen.
Horrified by the sheer violence, the owner asked him to stop and forget
about the bicycle.
One evening,
Sandang’s neighbor went hunting without inviting him. Slighted, he dumped his flea-infested and
diseased dog into the neighbor’s well. A
rubber tapper admitted that he saw Sandang dragging the doomed animal toward
its watery grave. It took six hours for
four men to clean the well, from which three families obtained their drinking
water.
One afternoon, a
large brown coconut fell right on top of Sandang’s head. Bleeding profusely and cursing painfully, he
kicked the murderous object with all his might.
As it rolled down the grassy hill, he was horrified to see that it had a
wrinkled face complete with bulging bloodshot eyes, long crooked nose, and
green toothless gums. It croaked and
cackled until it reached the foot of the hill.
With bandaged
head, Sandang was unable to indulge in his favorite pastime. The vengeful coconut haunted his dreams so
much that he started hallucinating. Some
villagers, probably his own family, believed that Sandang needed more of such
torturous retribution to come to his senses.
22. FACE IN THE
WATER
On her fifteenth
birthday party, Gina and some of her friends decided to do something mysterious
to make the occasion more memorable.
After pondering a while, somebody suggested they try to get a glimpse of
Gina’s future husband. Although skeptical,
Gina did not want to dim her friends’ enthusiasm.
A few minutes
before midnight, one of the celebrants placed a basin of water in front of the
dressing mirror. At precisely midnight,
Gina began peeling an apple round and round without breaking its skin before
the mirror. Filled with anticipation,
everyone was quiet, waiting for the face to appear in the water. As the skin came off in one long ribbon, Gina
suddenly saw a man’s face on the surface of the water.
Stunned, she
dropped the knife, which sank after slicing the man’s left cheek. She screamed as blood was streaming down his
face. Noticing her ashen face, one of
the girls quickly took the basin and poured its contents into the sink.
On her
twenty-eighth birthday, Gina agreed to marry her college sweetheart, who had
the same age as she. He had an unsightly
scar on his left cheek, but she never asked how he got it. On her wedding night, curiosity got the better
of her. She simply asked him what had
caused it.
With a puzzled
frown, he related that a knife suddenly dropped on him from an apartment. He had the ill fortune of standing right
below it, saying farewell to a friend whom he had just celebrated his fifteenth
birthday with. It was midnight, so he
did not even realize that he was wounded until he heard his friend’s scream.
Neither could they see anybody so high up in the darkness. Gina was staying in that apartment thirteen
years previously.
23. GHOST IN
RED
Antisocial and
vindictive, Victor had a history of abuse.
When he was young, he watched his father beating his mother with a
rattan stick on a regular basis. Once,
his mother suffered two broken ribs and a sprained ankle when his father
trashed her in a drunken rage. After
enduring the pain and suffering for more than two decades, his mother and he
finally had some peace when his father died of liver cirrhosis.
At aged twenty,
Victor married Jane, who was of the same age.
It was an arranged marriage, so Jane did not really knew her husband’s
character. Right after their honeymoon,
he scolded and pinched her for burning the rice. A few months later, the abuse began to get
worse. Jane often wore a bruise on her
face, mouth, or arm.
After two years of
marriage, Jane decided to return to her parents’ house. When Victor promised that he would behave
himself, she relented. Despite her
parents’ warning, she decided to give him another chance. A month later, Victor threw three big
batteries at Jane, reducing her face to bluish red pulp.
The physical and
emotional abuse continued, but Jane was too ashamed to tell her parents. One afternoon, after receiving several
vicious kicks from her drunken husband, she locked the bedroom door and hanged
herself on a rafter. Wearing a red
dress, she looked gruesome with a protruding black tongue and blood at the
corners of mouth. Her face was still wet
with tears when Victor forced the door open, threatening to kill her. He got the shock of his life when he saw his
wife’s lifeless form dangling from the ceiling.
In his fear and
desperation, Victor grabbed a knife and cut the rope. Jane’s limp body flopped right on top of the
bed. At the funera l,
Victor vehemently tore his hair and scratched his face, screaming that nobody
would marry him in future. To the
disgust of Jane’s parents and relatives, he did not show any remorse at all.
Victor married
Nina, a young Filipino woman, six months after Jane’s death. One night, Nina heard a noise in the
bedroom. Thinking that it was a rat, she
grabbed a broom and barge in. To her
horror, she saw a woman in a red dress lying on the bed, with her face down and
arms apart.
Assuming that she
was Victor’s mistress, she landed the broom right on her head. The woman merely rotated her head. Nina let out a scream and fell down on the
floor, unconscious. It was Jane,
appearing grotesque with a bluish face, pale lips, and sad eyes!
When asked to tell
the truth, Victor grabbed Nina’s hair and punched her face until she was beyond
recognition. She complained to the
village headman who advised her to lodge a police report.
When she returned
home to pack her things, she found Victor dangling from a rafter. With hands clutching tightly round his own
neck, he looked as if he had strangled himself.
His face and eyes registered utter terror as if he had seen a
ghost. He had hanged himself with Jane’s
red dress, which he dug out from a box of her belongings.
24. HAIRY
THROAT
Mrs. Lo, a
big-boned woman, had led a life without an ounce of compassion, especially
toward her daughter-in-law, Ah Jin. Ah
Jin was only sixteen when she married into the Lo family. Pregnant with her stepfather’s child, she was
forced to marry Mrs. Lo’s eldest son, who was mentally retarded. Mrs. Lo bragged to her neighbors that it was
worth spending $300 to get a strong young cow like Ah Jin. Like a cow, Ah Jin had to slog in the coconut
plantation from six to five. She had to
collect the coconuts, tend the vegetable garden, and keep the house clean. She was treated like a slave since the day
she became a member of the Lo family, but she endured the pain and suffering in
silence.
Due to the lack of
education and proper healthcare, she also produced a baby every year.
Being a
psychopath, Mrs. Lo was abusive in every aspect for no good reason. When she felt like throwing things, she would
aim something sharp or hot at Ah Jin.
When she felt like exerting the power of her limbs, she would hit Ah Jin
with a hard object, such as a cooking pot, broom handle, or stool.
Once, Ah Jin had
to see a midwife, as Mrs. Lo had kicked her stomach and hit her with a chunk of
firewood when she five months pregnant.
Mrs. Lo once hit Ah Jin with a cangkul (hoe), accusing her for
flooding the vegetable bed. When she
felt like exercising her word power, she would curse Ah Jin from morning till
night, calling her an incestuous slut.
She believed that she could live longer and happier by abusing her
daughter-in-law even during important festivals, such as Chinese New Year.
After suffering
more than a decade of abuse, Ah Jin finally vindicated herself when Mrs. Lo
starting complaining that hair was growing in her throat. As the elderly woman was dying of throat
cancer, Ah Jin refused to take care of her.
She got a taste of her bitter medicine when Ah Jin refused to feed or
clean her. To push her to her grave
sooner, Ah Jin also switched on the transistor radio loudly and stamped heavily
on the wooden floor.
Throughout the
funeral Ah Jin sat quietly without shedding a single tear. Her heart was bursting with happiness, as she
could now live in the plantation with her husband and children in peace. In a dream, she saw the two chief guards from
hell, Bull Head and Horse Face chaining Mrs. Lo in a pit of fire where she
would remain forever.
25. EVIL BRACELET
25. EVIL BRACELET
After being
retrenched twice in five years, Anu finally found a steadier job in Singapore
One of her
colleagues, Nancy, was particularly kiasu (aggressive). A bitter and frustrated divorcee, she liked
to stir up trouble by being a batu api (devil’s advocate). She would go out with others for lunch and
whatever rumors she had heard, she would repeat to Anu, with additional
flavor. She warned Anu to be careful of
who and who, this or that person all the time.
Taking her seriously at first, Anu often felt hurt by the jealousy and
backstabbing of her colleagues. However,
she began to question Nancy
One day, Anu felt
very giddy after completing an assignment that was actually Nancy
One day, the
office janitor advised her to burn the bracelet that she was wearing, as it
contained evil power. It was a gift from
June. In retrospect, Anu started getting
sick after receiving that bracelet.
After ridding it, her blood pressure returned to normal and she felt
much fitter. Now, it was Nancy Nancy
26. RED CRAB
Mina was often
bedridden by burning headaches after returning to her parents’ house. She was waiting for her husband to sign the
divorce papers. Further, she was suing
him for emotional and physical abuse after barely six months of marriage. Controlling and vindictive, he often
ridiculed and threatened her and her family.
The various doctors whom Mina had consulted with could not find anything
wrong and usually prescribed her different kinds of painkillers.
One evening,
Mina’s mother was pulling the weeds from some flowerpots when she found a black
velvet pouch. Buried in one of the pots,
it appeared sinister, as it contained something evil. Without opening it, she presented it to a bomoh
(medicine man). To her utter amazement,
he pulled out a red crab with a red string tied around it. Although small, it had mean red eyes and
razor sharp craws. There were some bone
chips and dried herbs accompanying it.
Mina no longer
experienced any splitting headaches after her mother’s bone-chilling
discovery. Her husband telephoned right
after her mother’s visit to the bomoh, agreeing to sign the
papers the very next day. She could
help wondering whether he was responsible for her painful suffering or if the
contents of the pouch held any evil significance. Nevertheless, she was relieved to be able to
put the horrible past behind her and to further her studies soon.
27. DANCING
SPIRITS
As her husband was
changing gears to drive uphill, Ann was staring ahead, hoping to get home
soon. Feeling a little depressed, she
could hardly wait to get into her air-conditioned bedroom to have a much-needed
rest. As they approached the hill, the
cemetery at the top came in full view.
Most of the graves were hidden by long lalang (elephant
grass). Having a fear of darkness, Ann
averted her eyes each time she saw a cemetery.
Before she turned
her head, she saw something strange. An
elderly man and woman were dancing on top of their dome-shaped graves. Holding hands and appearing light footed,
they seemed to be floating on a trampoline.
They were still dancing as the car reached the top of the hill. Ann was dumbfounded to see their wrinkled,
blotched faces, as if they were centuries old.
Their style of clothing and hair was elegant but, ancient looking. It reminded her of what her great
grandparents used to wear.
She put on a brave
front and maintained her silence all the way home. Opening the car door, she asked her husband
if he had seen anything peculiar at the cemetery. By the look of his face, she knew that he
did not have the slightest inkling of what she was referring to. She shuddered, praying that nothing bad would
happen to her. Her grandmother used to
say that individuals who felt off weather might see ghosts or spirits, as their
chi (energy level) was weak. The
best way to deal with it was to remain calm and collected.
28. NEWSPAPER
OUIJA
Being a
pragmatist, Ed always scoffed at the existence of ghosts, ghouls, and goblins. He staunchly maintained his stand during his
birthday party when the topic was brought up.
To challenge him, Diana suggested that they play an ouija game one
evening. Curious about the game, two
other friends eagerly join Ed and Diana.
To begin, Diana
took out a piece of Chinese newspaper and a small ketchup plate. She opened the newspaper and laid it flat on
the floor and asked everybody to sit round it.
Using a red marker pen, she meticulously drew a small arrow on the plate
to point out the characters on the newspaper. After placing the plate gingerly
in the middle of the newspaper, she set some rules. Players must point their finger closely at
the plate and take turns to ask questions.
They must be polite and should not ask questions that began with who,
what, how, why, and where.
To get the ball
rolling, Diana asked if she would ever win a lottery. Everyone concentrated and the plate began to
move slowly toward the character no.
Ed, disregarding the rules, asked what kind of work he would find after
graduation. Everyone was nervous when
the plate moved straight across the newspaper and pointed at the character die. Laughing, Ed concluded that someone had moved
the plate manually to scare him.
Diana decided to
terminate the game, as the newspaper seemed to exude a sinister power. Before she could remove the newspaper and
plate, Ed cheekily asked how, why, and where he would die. This time, the plate began to glide around
wildly without anybody pointing at it.
It was trying to find multiple answers on the character-packed
newspaper. Too frightened to know the answers, Diana roughly pulled the
newspaper away and crumpled it together with the plate.
Two days after
graduation, Ed was standing on the white line waiting to cross the highway. Filled with enthusiasm, he was going to
attend his first job interview. While
overtaking the car beside Ed, a reckless bus driver swerved and knocked him
down. Ed died while being rushed to the
public hospital.
29. SACRED ORANGE
Danny was a
Buddhist and his house had an altar where the images of three gods stood amidst
incense smoke, flowers, and fresh fruits.
His mother made offerings regularly, ensuring that the joss sticks were
always smoldering. One day, a joss stick
stopped smoldering and the superstitious woman accused the Filipino maid for
dumping her used sanitary napkin in a wastepaper basket under the altar. To keep her job, the frightened young woman
had to kneel in front of the altar to apologize to the gods.
One day, Danny saw
the maid’s boyfriend take a big succulent orange from the altar. However, he did not disclose it to anybody,
as he did not like oranges himself. In
the evening, his mother was shocked to see that two joss sticks had stopped
smoldering. While they were still looking
for a lighter, a hysterical scream suddenly pierced their ears.
In the garden, the
maid’s boyfriend, also a Filipino, was waving his arms wildly and jabbering in
Mandarin. Both the maid and her
boyfriend, besides their native tongue, could communicate only in basic Malay
and minimal English. Everybody thought
that he was either possessed or had an epileptic fit.
After falling on
the ground, the berserk young man admitted his theft and apologized, in
Mandarin! Together with the maid, Danny
helped him to his feet and carried him indoors.
He returned to normal after lying under a ceiling fan for a few minutes,
but he could not remember what happened in the garden. The next day, the maid brought a large
orange, which she respectfully placed on the altar.
30. OILY SPELL
Dan used to live
near a squatter area that was primarily occupied by Indonesian refugees. He befriended a few Indonesians from Timor,
who had come to Sabah to work as construction
laborers. One day, he confided to his
Indonesian friend that a new classmate, Carrie, had caught his eye, but she
showed no interest in his advances.
Laughing, his confidante told him that he could help him win her love
within minutes.
Feeling
incredulous and yet hopeful, Dan asked how he could gain the new girl’s
attention. To his surprise, the
Indonesian showed him a small bottle of black oil. All Dan had to do was to rub some of it onto
her bare arm or thigh. Its magical power
would cause the girl to fall head over heels in love with him. Applying a drop on her once a month would
enable him to control her mood, feelings, and actions.
To try his luck,
Dan decided to apply the love oil, which had an herbal fragrance. During recess, he walked near Karen’s table
with an oily hand. Pretending to trip
over her bag that was on the floor, he gripped her arm. With smiling eyes, she said that it was all
right. When he invited her to have lunch
at the canteen, she nodded happily.
Since that
afternoon, Karen wanted to be with him all the time. She would telephone him even in the wee hours
of the morning. Highly possessive, she
would scream with rage whenever he talked to other female students. She would threaten to commit suicide if he
refused to keep her entertained.
Although Karen’s love and attention brought him immense happiness at the
beginning, Dan felt suffocated after a few weeks.
Overwhelmed with
regret and guilt, Dan poured the rest of the oily portion into the kitchen sink. No longer under the oily spell, Karen’s
attitude and behavior toward him utterly changed. She not only acted as if she had never known
him, but she would also avert her head, pretending not to hear him whenever he
approached her.
31. HAUNTED
CAVE
A stone’s throw
away from Gerald’s secondary school was a large cave overgrown with weeds. Partially sealed, its mysterious air
attracted him when he first sauntered past it.
His parents told him that Japanese soldiers had once used it as a retreat
camp.
Filled with a
sense of adventure, Gerald decided to explore the historical site on his
own. One evening, armed with a new torch
and a bottle of water, he squeezed through the entrance and ventured into the
dark cavern. A few bats hung from the
ceiling lazily. Musty air filled his
lungs as he proceeded carefully. Seeing
nothing spectacular, he decided to return home.
As he marched
toward the entrance, his torchlight suddenly went off. Groping forward, he could see a dim light
moving toward him. He assumed that it
was someone who came looking for him.
Horror filled his senses when he saw three men, holding their kerosene
lamps at eye level, slowly emerging from the ground.
Judging from their
torn uniforms, they looked as if they were resurrected Japanese soldiers. Their bodies were covered by bullet holes,
still breeding. They mumbled
incoherently and wobbled toward him like sad zombies. Dropping his bottle, he brushed past them and
ran as fast as his legs could carry him.
One of them picked up the bottle and started gulping thirstily.
Gerald recounted
his scary experience to his classmates, but nobody believed him. One friend even joked that the soldiers must
be very famished and lonely, so they arose to get help. In a teasing tone, another friend said that
he should offer the ghost soldiers some food and paper money since they were so
deprived. Needless to say, Gerald would
never go near that haunted cave again.
32. YING-YANG
EYES
Fiona had ying-yang
eyes when she was still a young adolescent, which enabled her to see things of
the netherworld. While studying in
secondary school, she had to live in a hostel.
Hostel life had given her some scary memories, which never ceased to
amaze her family and friends. However,
she was not interested in developing this spiritual power, so she no longer saw
any more ghosts after she turned twenty.
Although relieved to lose her unique gift, she would gladly recount her
hair-raising experiences when requested.
Once, Fiona was
studying alone in the hostel at night.
She was sitting at the end of the corridor that had a light bulb
dangling from the ceiling. On both sides
of the long corridor were rooms with bunk beds.
It was hot and stuffy, as there were no windows around. As soon as the clock struck twelve the light
bulb above her head started swaying like a pendulum. Spooked, she quickly went to her room and
covered her head with a blanket.
Besides the
corridor, Fiona also had a bizarre experience in the toilet once. She was inside one of the cubicles when she
heard footsteps. She could hear clearly,
as the person was wearing slippers. She
just assumed that one of her hostel mates had entered the cubicle next to hers.
Fiona first heard
her neighbor unzipping something. A few
minutes later, she heard her weeping and sniffing. While washing her hands, Fiona decided to
ask, “Hello, are you all OK in there?”
The weeping instantly stopped and complete silence ruled. From the mirror, she noticed that the cubicle
door was slightly ajar. Gently, she
pushed it open, expecting to see a tearful individual inside.
The cubicle was
unoccupied, but powerful whiff of frangipani scent wafted out. It was so sickening sweet that she felt as if
someone had sprayed a generous amount of it right into her face. Feeling heady, Fiona shuddered as her
grandmother used to associate the frangipani, which was often part of a funera l wreath, with pontianaks (female
ghosts). Moreover, that toilet had only
two cubicles!
33. MOTORCYCLE
GHOST
It was near
midnight. Jonathan was socializing with
three of his friends after parking his car at a dead end. Adrian
Exactly at midnight,
a motorcycle whizzed past them. Noticing
his helmet and black jacket, Jonathan wondered why the rider would go to a dead
end alone. Adrian
When both girls
vehemently denied that they had been annoying each other, Jonathan looked at
the rearview mirror. He was shocked to
see the motorcyclist lounging in between the two irate girls, his arms spread
across over their shoulders. His broken
helmet and tattered jacket were stained with mud and blood. Mustering all his courage, Jonathan turned
to warn the girls, but the hellish stranger had vanished.
After advising his
friends to stop bickering, Jonathan calmly turned the ignition key, reversed
the car, and drove away. His friends
were still protesting when he stopped at a convenient store. Only then did he reveal that their rendezvous
was haunted by the motorcyclist who had recently crashed somewhere nearby. The girls screeched with fright after
learning that somebody else was harassing them.
34. PLUNGING
GHOST
A notorious
playboy, Vic had both looks and charm.
As a bar tender, he had many girlfriends, but none took him seriously
except Lena , a waitress. Answering to his every beck and call, Lena treated him like a king. Besides cooking and cleaning for him, she
also helped him with his paperwork. A
slave for love, she endured Vic’s physical and emotional abuse whenever he was
intoxicated or stoned.
One day, Vic forced
Lena to steal as much money as she could from
her parents’ sundry shop. She managed
to get five hundred dollars for him. A
few weeks later, he ordered her to do the same thing. This time, Lena ’s
parents warned her that they would call the police if she dared enter their
premises. Declaring that they were fed
up of supporting her freeloader boyfriend, they threatened to disown her.
To appease Vic, Lena decided to borrow one thousand dollars from a loan
shark. While still struggling to repay
the loan, she realized that Vic had found someone else to leech on, a wealthy
middle-aged widow. When confronted, he
insulted and beat Lena to a pulp. Penniless, she turned to her parents and
friends for assistance. All refused to
help, thinking that she was solely responsible for her trouble. After all, they had repeatedly advised her to
leave Vic, but she had turned a deaf ear on them.
A month later, Vic
was getting ready for bed when he heard water dripping in the bathroom. He went in, feeling sure that he had turned
off the tap properly. The dripping
stopped the moment he made his entry.
However, he heard another dripping sound; this time it was in the
kitchen. It stopped dripping when he
rushed in there. As he retreated from
the kitchen, he heard the same sound in the bathroom again. Cursing, he walked in only to find that water
was gushing out from the tap. He checked
the tap, but there was nothing wrong with it.
Frustrated, he decided to get a plumber the first thing in the morning.
Just as he was
going to call it a night, he heard the sound of waves at the door. To his surprise, water began to rush through
the gaps at the sides and bottom of the door.
Intending to see the landowner upstairs, he marched toward the
door. However, overwhelmed by a huge
wave, he fell down flat on his back.
Just as he was
getting up from the flooded floor, he saw Lena ’s
bloated face at his feet. She was standing
on her head, with both hands stretching downward, as if she was plunging into
the water. Blood and gore dripped from
her arms like rotting seaweed, making him vomit uncontrollably. When he regained consciousness, Vic found
himself in a mental institution.
According to the landowner, Vic had flooded his room in an attempt to
drown himself after learning that Lena had
committed suicide at the bay.
35. DEATHBED
DANCERS
Seeing her
grandmother’s life gradually slipping away, Melinda could not help sobbing. Having grown up with the elderly woman, she
was wondering how she could face life without the wisdom of her guidance. Touching her granddaughter’s hand, the dying
woman smiled and asked her not to cry.
She seemed to have accepted the reality of death. After her grandmother was asleep, Melinda
went to the kitchen to cook dinner.
At about
six-thirty, Melinda brought a bowl of porridge into her grandmother’s
room. She was pleasantly surprised to
see her in a good mood. Clapping her
hands weakly and nodding her head, she seemed to be watching something
delightful. After some time, she turned
and asked Melinda if she had enjoyed the children’s performance.
She went on to
tell Melinda that five children were dancing and singing around her bed. She added that they had invited her to visit
their place. Believing that her
grandmother was dreaming, Melinda merely nodded her head.
After having two
spoonfuls of the food, the white-haired woman once again smiled and waved
around her, saying that the lovely children had returned. She told Melinda that they were jumping up
and down at her bedside. She added that
the dancers had ribbons and flowers in their dainty hands, making them look
like colorful butterflies. Melinda’s
grandmother passed away peacefully that night.
Although grief-stricken, she believed that her kindly grandmother was
serenaded by angels to heaven.
36. SLEEPINGWALKING
SPIRIT
When Danny turned
twelve, he started sleepwalking. He
would get up in the wee hours of the morning and walked round and round his
bed. He would murmur incoherently, much
to his parents’ consternation. Being
diagnosed as suffering from somnambulism, he had to take medication regularly. Unfortunately, the medication made him drowsy
and irritable most of the time. After
two months of drug treatment, he became very weak and thin, as he would lose
his appetite after taking the pills.
At their wits’
end, his parents decided to bring him to a temple to seek alternative
treatment. After lighting some joss sticks
and praying for a while, the monk revealed that an unclean spirit had possessed
Danny. When asked to recall any unusual
incident before his affliction, Danny recounted that he had an unpleasant
encounter at the wet market one late evening.
Hungry and tired,
Danny was rushing home after buying some food from a hawker. At a dark corner, he slipped and pushed an
elderly man down on the wet pavement.
Before he realized what had actually happened, the deeply wrinkled and
toothless man started cursing loudly, pointing his finger at him. Dazed and trying to avoid further trouble, he
apologized and fled, without giving the infuriated, corpse-like man a
hand. As he ran, he turned his head to
get one final look. He was surprised to
see him walking through a large tree trunk and vanished. Since it was drizzling, he concluded that the
rain and darkness had muddled his senses.
It turned out that
the elderly man had died of natural causes that evening. His spirit was traveling to the yellow
springs when Danny had the bad luck of crossing its path. Since then, it would drag the sleeping Danny
in circles with a long vine that twined around the tree. After burning some paper money at the tree,
Danny finally stopped sleepwalking and regained his health. He never walked that way again.
37. WIND SPIRIT
When he was a
little boy, Along liked to play with in the vast rice field with his
friends. During the rainy season, he
would ride a buffalo, catch fish, or chase dragonflies. During the harvest season, he would a fly
kite under the clear bright sky or spin a elaborately carved top at a sulap (thatched
hut). Sometimes, he would watch
cockfighting, wondering why some grown-ups would spit and curse after a
match. He was too young to know that
cockfighting was a form of illicit gambling then.
Carefree as the
birds and looking like one of the scarecrows, Along ignored his parents’
previous warning and continued playing in the field one windy evening. It was sheer joy for him to embrace the cool,
seemingly endless space of the wide, open field, inhaling the golden fragrance
of the ripening rice.
When he reached
home, Along’s right arm felt so stiff and painful that he started crying. Saying that the little boy was possessed, an
elderly neighbor massaged his arm with some essential oil. She said that a disease spirit had entered
his arm as angin (wind) and the oil would help get rid of it.
Although Along’s
parents were skeptical, their son recovered after the massage. The superstitious masseuse warned him not to
play in the twilight again, especially when it was drizzling, as bad spirits
tend to roam around that time.
38. HUNGRY
GHOST
Kenny used to
patronize the night stalls in Inanam, a small township in Sabah . He preferred to stay out of the house until
the wee hours of the morning. His mother
had reminded him to return home early during the Ghost Festival, the only time
that ghosts could roam to earth freely.
His parents would offer food and drink to appease their ancestors during
this time.
Turning a deaf ear
to his mother, Kenny stayed out late during one Ghost Festival. After watching a late night movie, he decided
to tapao (sack) some beef noodles from a hawker. As he was hungry, he decided to eat his
supper in his rickety car that he had parked at a dim but quiet corner. Dangling his legs out of the car door, his
heart sang when he opened the polystyrene clam that released an irresistible
aroma of stewed beef and collard.
As he was lifting
some steaming hot noodles to his wide, open mouth, he suddenly heard a soft
voice, asking how he was doing. He
looked up and saw a lovely young woman in a white dress, smiling at him. To his surprise, the pale-faced stranger
asked him if he would share some of his food with her. She also wanted his sugarcane drink! No stranger had ever wanted food and drink
from him, so he felt rather bemused.
Nevertheless, he poured a generous amount of his favorite dish inside a plastic
bag for her. As she lifted it from his
palm, he felt that its contents had suddenly turned icy cold.
Thanking him, she
turned to walk away. Kenny frowned when
he noticed that her feet were not touching the ground. She was drifting into the darkness, like a
picture in slow motion. Since then, he
decided to stay indoors during the Ghost Festival, as he did not want to meet
any hungry ghosts.
39. HAUNTED
BANANA GROVE
Besides
cultivating rice, Ahu’s parents also reared pigs and poultry. Behind their house many banana palms
throve. After harvesting the ripen
fruit, they would chop up the banana palms which would be boiled as pig
feed. Sometimes, Ahu’s mother would cook
the young inner stems with salted fish for dinner. Ahu was always the first to notice any
ripening bananas, often shooing the hungry birds away.
Ten years old, Ahu
liked to play hide and seek in the cool, dark banana grove. He also liked to tickle the bats that dangled
under the lush green leaves. Once, he
brought a tiny one home as a pet, but it died.
His parents had warned him against roaming amongst the banana palms
after dark for fear of snakes, mosquitoes, and other dangerous pests.
One late evening,
Ahu was nowhere in the house. Concerned,
his parents started looking for him in the banana grove, calling out his
name. They combed the area, but to no
avail. Ahu’s father went to ask the penghulu
(village headman) for help. Beating
gongs, several villagers went in search for the boy until the wee hours of the
morning.
Two days later,
Ahu’s mutilated body was found in the deep, mysterious jungle, reduced to skin
and bones. His throat had a blood-oozing
gash that revealed a broken vein. Cruel
scratches were found all over his body.
It looked as if a carnivorous animal had claimed his life. Tightly clutched in his right hand was a
large black feather.
Believing that pontianaks
(bloodsucking female ghosts) often lurked in banana trees, some villagers
surmised that the lost boy had become a victim of feathered bloodsucker. They even believed that one could get winning
lottery numbers by burying a needle with a red thread into a banana stem to get
inspiration from a pontianak
40. BLOODSUCKING
WEAPON
Lotus migrated to Sabah with the Lu family many years ago. While in China
One day, Mrs. Lu
returned home after a weeklong visit to her relatives. Noticing that only her son was standing by
the roadside to welcome her, she started cursing, “Where’s the old fool? Is he dead already?” Sadly, her son announced that old Mr. Lu had
died of natural causes during her absence.
Upon hearing the terrible news, Mrs. Lu beat her chest and wept for
days.
After coming to Sabah , Lotus had to slog in a forty-acre coconut
plantation. She had to pluck all the
brown coconuts using a long bamboo pole.
After splitting them with a heavy axe, she had to get the white kernel
out of each half-shell using a slender, curved instrument with a sharp end. She had to climb up the coconut kiln with a
heavy sack of kernel on her back. She
had at least ten sacks of kernel to dry each time.
Strong as an ox,
Lotus would not mind all the backbreaking labor had her husband and
mother-in-law treated her like a human being.
Unfortunately, the older Mrs. Lu got, the more sadistic she became. She would deliberately spill food and spit on
the wooden floor. She would insult
Lotus, referring to her as a lazy cow or moron.
Her name-calling had caused Lotus intense emotional pain. She would hurl sharp objects and kitchen
rubbish at Lotus just to gain attention and demonstrate her power.
After more than
thirty years of mercilessly abusing her daughter-in-law, Mrs. Lu suddenly
suffered from a stroke that made her bedridden and emaciated. Before spoon-feeding the elderly invalid,
Lotus would add a few black leeches in the soup or porridge. She had learned that a single leech, chopped
into one hundred pieces, could genera te
the same number of offspring.
Lotus was
gratified to see how green and shrunken Mrs. Lu had become, with all her skin
steadfastly stuck to her bones. As the
overfed red leeches slithered out from dying woman’s orifices, Lotus
nonchalantly picked them up and threw them back into the bowl.
41. THE BEAST
WITHIN
Before settling
down Sabah as a successful retailer of used clothes, Aji’s father used to be
crocodile hunter in one of Indonesia
Years passed and
Aji’s father became very rich. He never
disclosed his secret to anyone. One day,
he became very ill. Knowing that his end
was near, he asked Aji, the eldest son, to take over his business. However, the young man was indifferent, as he
was interested in computer science.
Undaunted, the dying man insisted that it was the eldest son’s
responsibility to continue taking care of the gimbaran. Upon hearing that, Aji fled the house,
declaring that he would not have anything to do with it.
As his father lay
dying, Aji and his grief-ridden mother began to prepare for the final
rites. His father still insisted that
Aji treat the gimbaran as his own.
As he vigorously shook his head in disagreement, Aji was shocked to see
his father disintegrating at an alarming speed.
Blood oozed out of his nose and ears as his frog-like body trashed about
like a shriveled leaf in the wind.
Breathing
painfully, his skin cracked, spilling out tiny streams of blackish blood and
gore.
Before long, he
was in an appalling state of putrefaction, like rotting prey stuck in the
mud-hole of a crocodile. Aji’s father
would have died much earlier had it not been due to the power of his gimbaran.
A few minutes
before the funera l, Aji suddenly
caught sight of a dazzling white crocodile, crawling swiftly out of the
door. Its angry red eyes glowing like
charcoal, it swished its thunderous tail that sent debris flying everywhere. Unable to find a willing guardian, it let out
an ear-splitting roar and vanished into the darkness, leaving behind a trial of
malodorous dark-green slime.
42. FAITH
HEALER
Madam Rose was a
faith healer from the Philippines Sabah , she performed some amazing miracle healing at the tamu
(open market). Many people went to
see her, but she announced that only those who had faith would get cured. She could even sense those who were
half-hearted or doubtful of her ability from a distance. Once, she asked one Chinese medium, who just
wanted to test her power, to return home.
One man, who had
been suffering from stomach pain for a long time sought Madam Rose’s assistance
as the last resort. Doctors had
administered him painkillers for several years.
After chanting and touching his stomach for a few minutes, Madam Rose
pulled out a small black fish from his navel.
After squirming like a snake on the ground for a few minutes, it
suddenly became a piece of rotten bark.
A business rival had planted the heinous object in the sufferers’
digestive system through black magic.
Another man, diagnosed
as terminally ill, begged Madam Rose to prolong his life. He miraculously recovered after she removed a
ball of horsehair tied to a red strong from his stomach. He suspected that his vindictive neighbor,
who owned a horse, had applied black magic to place the deadly charm in his
stomach.
Madam Rose did not
stay long in Sabah . Many people flew to the Philippines
43. SPIRIT
WORLD
When Aloi was a
small child, his grandmother told him that ghosts lived in another world. To see them, people could do a simple
thing. First, they must stand with their
legs spread wide apart. Then, they
should slowly bend all the way down so that they could look behind them through
the gap between their legs. He might
also see ghosts by looking at the world from under his arms. In short, they could enter the spiritual
dimension by looking at the world upside down.
However, they must do it in the evening, preferably during twilight when
ghosts would come out to roam.
One day, Aloi saw
a group of students bending all the way down during physical education class
and nobody mentioned seeing anything out of this world. In the evening, he went into the garden,
spread out his legs and bent all the way down.
When he looked behind him, he shrieked in fright and almost wet his
pants. He saw several ghosts floating
around. Some were seriously wounded,
while others were vomiting blood. One
was dragging a rotting cow. Another was
walking through a wall. They all had
pale faces, glassy eyes, and bloated bodies.
Many were covered with blood and gore, a characteristic that defined
their non-human status.
Aloi found out
that he did not have to bend his body in order to enter the spirit world. One evening, he let his head dangle at the
edge of his canvass bed. He head was facing
the main entrance of the second floor. To his surprise, he saw a shadowy figure
gently floating up the stairs. He
noticed the apparition’s head first, but he did not have to see its entire body
to realize that it was his grandfather’s spirit. He jumped off the bed and decided never to
assume any unusual posture for the rest of his life.
44. HAUNTED
ROUTE
At aged twenty,
Tim inherited a sundry shop from his father.
After closing his shop at six-thirty, he would play mahjong with some
friends. One evening, he was introduced
to Rose, who had just moved into the neighborhood. Rose, aged twenty-five, used to be a
hairdresser. She became a fulltime
homemaker after marrying the salon owner, who was thirty-five years her senior.
As her aging husband
was often sick, Rose felt lonely and neglected.
Although she could afford a luxurious lifestyle, she felt like a bird in
a gilded cage. Tired of staying at home
all day, she would go out after her husband had gone to bed. Instantly attracted to the young and muscular
Tim, she started flirting with him. Rose became more daring when he started to
reciprocate. They started seeing each other secretly at first. Soon, many people, especially their
neighbors, became aware of their illicit relationship. They said that Rose’s husband was wearing a green
hat, a local euphemism for having an adulterous wife. Rose’s lethargic
husband kept an eye closed and turned a deaf ear to the gossip about his
unfaithful wife.
One late evening,
Rose and Tim decided to get out of town for a while. One of the wheels suddenly punctured while
Tim was speeding on a lonely stretch of road.
Hearing a loud screech, Rose panicked.
Without thinking, she opened the car door and jumped out. After smashing her head upon a rock, she started
bleeding profusely and lost consciousness.
To Tim’s horror, she died on the way to hospital.
The tragedy
gradually faded in Tim’s memory, but not for long. During his honeymoon, he took his wife out
for dinner. While driving through the
same stretch of road where Rose met her death, he suddenly felt a chilly
presence. Through the rear view mirror,
he saw Rose sitting at the back. Part of
her scalp was missing and her face was caked with blood. Her eyes were brimming with sadness. A familiar scent wafted into his nose as she
stretched her hand toward him.
To his wife’s
bewilderment, Tim rammed his brakes and got out of the car without saying a
word. Blinded with tears and sorrow, he
offered a silent prayer. He hoped that
Rose would rest in peace, but he would have to live with a guilty conscience
for the rest of his life. Getting to the
car with a heavy heart, he asked his wife to drive back to the hotel. He was
going to admit everything, but he would never use that car or route again.
45. MAGICAL
IMPLANT
Noticing the
wrinkles around her mouth and crow’s feet at the corners of her eyes, Tima
became very insecure. She was suspicious
that her handsome, wealthy husband was seeing another woman, as he was
beginning to avoid her. Determined to
keep her husband and to continue living in the lap of luxury, she was willing
to sacrifice everything, including her soul to the devil.
To keep her youth
and beauty for as long as she lived, Tima decided to seek the assistance of an
elderly old bomoh (shaman).
Despite his stern warning, she still wanted to wear a susuk, a
special charm to maintain everlasting youth and beauty. To keep its power, she had to abstain from pisang
emas, a type of small, aromatic banana.
Besides, she should never walk under a stilted house or
clothesline. Finally, she should never
let anybody to walk or climb over her.
After offering
some prayers, the bomoh inserted a needle on her forehead. It transformed into a worm that would
continually eat the dead or unwanted cells in her body. However, it would not be able to prolong her
life; in short, she would still die when her time on earth was up.
The susuk
helped Tima restore her former beauty and she even outlived her husband for
many years. Although she was over seventy,
she still looked ravishing. She merely
smiled whenever people called her the fountain of youth.
One day, Tima woke
up with a foreboding. Knowing that her
days were numbered, she sent for the bomoh who gave her the susuk. To her shocked disappointment, he had passed
away some time ago. She had always
thought that he could outlive anybody with his invincible power.
Tima suffered a
gruesome death, as a susuk could only be removed by the same bomoh
who had bestowed it. Still breathing,
she initially saw her own body coated with black hairy maggots.
Unblinking, she
saw her own worm-infested entrails spilling out of her non-existent belly. Finally, she saw many parts of her own
skeleton before a long white sheet blurred her vision forever.
46. ICE CREAM
GHOSTS
Cindy noticed that
her dog would howl eerily whenever the ice cream cart passed by. Not wanting to
irritate the ice cream vendor, she would command her pet to stop barking. One day, she was talking to Angie when the
ice cream cart was just around the corner.
Some dogs were barking, which made Cindy frown and turn to their
direction.
Noticing Cindy’s
reaction, Angie asked if she knew why dogs always barked at an ice cream
cart. When her friend shook her head,
Angie, with a mysterious air, declared that she knew the real reason. With eyes wide with curiosity, Cindy was
eager for an answer. With a triumphant
smile, Angie whispered that the dogs were actually barking at the young ghosts
attracted to an ice cream cart.
As the ice cream
cart was approaching her house one evening, Cindy quickly wiped some of her
dog’s tears onto her eyes. Her knees
went jelly when she saw some grotesque looking children behind the ice cream
cart. She was close enough to see their
bare feet, pale faces, and unblinking glassy eyes. Lifeless and ephemeral, they looked like a
floating mirage. One of them was tracing
something on the cart with his finger, while another was sucking her thumb.
Attracted by the
familiar ringing, some children dashed out of the house to get their favorite
treat. Cindy’s jaws dropped when she saw
the excited little ones hopping or running through the ghost children, like toy
planes moving through thick clouds.
47. MARCHING
GHOSTS
One moonlit night,
Tamar was taking a stroll on Layang
Layang Beach
As the drums
became louder, he heard thumping footsteps too.
He was surprised to see a dozen men marching toward his direction,
holding guns. He also screamed the
moment their uniforms became conspicuous under the moonlight. Noticing the flaps at the side and back of
their caps, he realized that they were Japanese soldiers. With pride and honor, they marched past him
and disappeared in the darkness.
Tamar thought that
he was dreaming, but later on, a friend reiterated that a few others had also
witnessed the same episode. Further down
the beach was a Japanese cemetery that shielded the remains of soldiers who were
killed during the Second World War.
Besides, a group of Japanese soldiers also committed suicide at the
vicinity of cemetery when their nation was defeated by the Allies.
48. BUN-LOVING
GHOSTS
Jerry, who lived
alone, used to eat at least three paus (meat buns) everyday. Every morning, he would go to a coffee shop
to buy some chicken or pork buns to bring to the office. He was happy to have buns for breakfast,
lunch, and dinner everyday. Even at
social functions, he would pick a bun rather than pizza, fried chicken, or
hamburger any time. It was no wonder
that he was nicknamed Mr. Bun. One
shopkeeper even gave him a discount whenever he purchased more than three buns.
One evening, Jerry
bought four large succulent buns from a hawker’s stall. Although each had a different filling, he
liked all of them. He could hardly wait
to sink his teeth into them. Unable to
resist them anymore, he decided to open the plastic bag to have one. To his surprise, there were only three buns
inside. However, he had seen the hawker
dropping four inside the bag. In fact,
he had heard him counting to four.
Nevertheless, he
took out one and ate it. He would claim
the missing one from the hawker the next evening. Upon reaching home, he switched on the
television and slumped on the sofa.
Looking forward to have a heartwarming dinner, he opened the plastic bag
and looked inside. He was thinking of
seeing a psychiatrist or temple medium when he found only a half-eaten bun
left.
Jerry was still
knitting his eyebrows when a spectacular image appeared on the television
screen. Amidst much worshipping and
gaiety, people in Hong Kong were celebrating
the Bun Festival that evening, known locally as the Ghost Festival. Jerry decided to have curry puffs or popiah
(spring rolls) during the period when hell was unlocked to allow its
inhabitants to visit the earth.
49. HAUNTED
STAIRCASE
Half covered with
creepers, a medium-sized house in Andi’s neighborhood became very dilapidated
after its owner had migrated to Canada
One late evening,
Andi walked past the neglected house.
Looking up, he thought he saw someone at the window. Eaten up with curiosity, he strained his eyes
to get a closer look, but saw nobody there.
The next morning, he recounted his strange experience to his classmate,
Selina. To gain firsthand knowledge,
both decided to sneak into the mysterious house that night.
Selina did not
have a torch, so Andi had to lead the way.
They climbed in through a broken window and tiptoed to the sitting
room. It was pitch black inside and they
could hear a rat or two scuttling away.
Holding Selina’s hand tightly, Andi flashed his torchlight around. He saw nothing unusual, until he beamed at
the staircase a few feet away. A small
boy was standing there, with unblinking hollow eyes. Remaining still and undisturbed by the bright
glare, he stared back at Andi.
After placing the
torch in her hand almost immediately, Andi pushed his companion forward so that
she could see the young inhabitant of the house. Selina screamed and almost dropped their only
source of light when the boy pinched her thigh with icy colf fingers.
50. GHOST CLONE
Before ascending Mount Kinabalu
As they struggled
against the steepness, they heaved and swore whenever they encountered the
slightest obstacle. Joe screamed
obscenities each time he slipped or tripped over some rock. Throwing caution to the wind, he also
addressed his friend by name and cracked dirty jokes along the way. Marius, on the other hand, smoked and drank
beer to sustain his spirits.
An hour later,
Marius, complaining that his leg was cramping, sat heavily on a weather-beaten
root. Joe shouted that he was going to
climb for five more minutes, so he would wait for his companion when he was a
bit farther up. Resting his head against
the century-old trunk, Marius watched Joe clambering up and then disappearing
swiftly, like a deer, behind a rock.
When his leg pain
subsided, Marius continued his climb. He
clambered past the rock, but did not see Joe in front. Assuming that Joe was way ahead of him, he
silently trudged on for half an hour. He
could not help wondering why his friend had not kept his word.
Suddenly, Marius
heard Joe hollering from below, asking him to slow down. He was surprised to see his friend lagging
behind, huffing and panting away. He was
shocked to learn that Joe was never ahead of him or had agreed to wait for him
farther up. Joe had been trailing from
behind since they began their ascent.
Some elders
explained that Marius might be tricked by a penunggu (trapped soul) that
had impersonated Joe. It wanted Marius
to become its substitute so that it could roam freely. Luckily, the real Joe appeared in the nick of
time to keep him on track; otherwise, his life would be in danger. Only then did they realize the significance
of using numbers rather than real names while on a mountain.
51. GHOST
SWEETHEARTS
Vincent and
Sharon, both aged sixteen, were notorious troublemakers in school. They vandalized, cursed, and disturbed others
in class. Often suspending them for ill
behavior, the discipline master often wished that he could give them indefinite
leave from school. One day, Vincent
was suspended for smoking in the toilet, while Sharon
To while away the
time, they decided to rent a hotel room in the twelfth floor. During a heated argument, Vincent damaged the
television and threatened to jump out of the balcony. Instead of taking him seriously, Sharon
Staring hard, she
saw his mangled body lying lifeless on the pavement, with blood oozing out from
his nose and ears. In confusion and
scared witless, Sharon
All alone in the
crematorium, the monk in charge of Vincent’s final rites was suddenly slapped
hard on the shoulder. However, when he
turned around, there was nobody there.
Later on, he almost dropped the urn that contained Vincent’s ashes, as
it suddenly scalded his hands.
Seven days after
the cremation, a teacher who had remained in the staff room until late evening
suddenly heard familiar laughter and voices in the classroom that was opposite
the staff room. She was certain that it
was the spirits of Vincent and Sharon, who used to be detained in that
particular classroom for serious infractions.
52. JINXED AREA
Magdalene lived in
rather remote area that had become a useful source for her stories. Sparsely populated, most of the inhabitants
there were rice farmers. Besides a
kindergarten, primary school, and secondary school, it had two rows of shops, a
clinic, and a convenient store. It also
had a small park by the river.
Magdalene’s family and her neighbors lived in peace and harmony until
some economic migrants from a neighboring country moved into the
neighborhood. Resourceful and
industrious, these laborers soon created a slum with its own generators and
illegal water supply.
One night,
Magdalene was camping in the park with some friends. After a sumptuous dinner, everybody fell
asleep. Magdalene was suddenly woken up
by footsteps on the narrow pavement at the edge of their camp. She thought that one of the girls was
returning from the toilet. After
flipping the tent door, the person stopped on the left of Magdalene’s sleeping
bag and tickled her bare arm. With her eyes closed and giggling, Magdalene
decided to return the favor by tickling her neighbor’s leg. To her surprise, it was very cold and
spiky. Thinking that it was a practical
joke, she laughed and grabbed the leg.
When it felt like a piece of wood with a rough bark, she opened her
eyes. In the dark, she saw two narrow
streams of red light shooting right onto her face. Blinded momentarily and choked by extreme
fright, she turned to the right and tugged her friend’s sleeve.
Shivering, they
grabbed their torches and started flashing around the tent. Seeing nothing amiss, they ventured
outside. Magdalene saw a three-foot
figure hopping away toward a tall tree.
Looking like a tiny man with matted hair and skin dripping with oil, it
started climbing up the tree like a monkey and disappeared into the darkness.
A week later, the
convenient store and two sundry shops in Magdalene’s neighborhood closed down
due to high turnover and heavy losses.
Some of their employees complained that an oily creature with hairy
wooden legs and red eyes were harassing them while they were closing shop. Some of their customers had experienced the
same fright while loading their vehicles parked at the dark corners.
Some villagers
said that the loathsome creature once belonged to an economic migrant. In return for some blood sacrifice, it would
steal petty cash and watch the children for him. Its owner, unfortunately, was electrocuted
recently while connecting a wire in an illegal attempt to tap electricity. Abandoned now, it had to hop around seeking
food and shelter, badgering those who were ill fated to be on its path.
53. ROCK SPIRIT
Unnoticed by their
teachers and classmates, Nat and Anderson decided to explore a little when they
reached their scenic hill retreat. It
was a cool and breezy evening with an enchanting sunset. Before departure, their teachers had warned
the entire group not to stray, make any noise, or disturb anything at the
retreat, but being rebellious, Nat and Anderson saw another chance to challenge
authority figures. Instead of adhering
to all the rules, they intended to break as many as possible.
Nat whistled
loudly while Anderson
A large cage
perched behind a huge tree attracted Anderson
Fascinated by its
human-like behavior, Anderson
Hearing Anderson Anderson
54. FINAL
FUNERAL RITE
When Nelson’s
paternal grandfather passed away, his entire family had to observe some
important funeral rites. As part of the
ceremony, a large piece of white cloth was hanged in front of the house, tied
at all four corners. Every family member
had to wear a small, cotton square on the sleeve during the mourning period;
its color depended on his or her family status.
As the son to the deceased, Nelson’s father had to wear a black
square. Within this period, family
members abstained from merrymaking such as feasting, picnicking, and partying.
On the seventh day,
everybody in the house had to stay up all night to bid final farewell to the
deceased. Food and drink was placed on
the table, while flour was sprinkled on the floor. With dim lights inside and outside the house,
family members played cards or talked softly to stay awake. Nothing unusual happened until midnight when
the ceremonial cloth started flapping although the air was rather humid and
still. Then a wooden window suddenly
swung open and banged against the wall, making everybody jump.
Suddenly, the
family’s dog emitted a long, mournful howl.
Nelson’s mother, who sat facing the window, suddenly saw a shadow
outside. Not wanting to cause any
commotion, she maintained her silence, while straining to see the apparition
slowly moving farther and farther away until it disappeared into the inky
darkness. By its familiar outline and gait, she knew that it was her
father-in-law. However, she did not feel
scared.
Only upon the
break of dawn did she reveal what she had seen at midnight. While clearing the table, Nelson noticed that
the food and drink had changed color.
Even the flour on the floor seemed to have been stepped on. Nevertheless, everyone was relieved that the
funera l rites were completed when
the ceremonial cloth was finally taken down.
55. RESTLESS
TWIN
Destitute and
malnourished, Mrs. Goh gave birth, the seventh time, to sickly female twins two
months after her husband’s tragic drowning.
The midwife left the babies at a corner of the wooden floor, as it was
the only place that was relatively clean and uncluttered. In the dark and humid parts of the house,
rats and cockroaches were rampant. With
bare hands, Mrs. Goh once squashed a monstrous rat to a pulp; it was nibbling
on the soft fleshy hand of her month-old son, whose painful cries alerted
her. Confronted by a noxious winged
pest, all she used was a slipper or her own bare foot.
Too weak even to
whimper, the hungry twins gasped painfully.
Unable to summon enough strength to even touch them, Mrs. Goh believed
that the babies were better off dead.
The following day, Mrs. Goh’s sister came by with a few pieces of tofu
(bean curd) and ginger. Appalled to see
the dying twins, she picked up one and quickly left.
Every night, Mrs.
Goh was awakened by strange noises outside her squalid bedroom. She could hear stomping, wheezing, cooing,
gurgling, and breathing of a baby. She
could even smell its body odor, saliva, and urine. Having six children, the eldest barely eight
years old, to feed and clothe, she had to keep her sanity intact. At first, she asked the twin’s spirit to go
away, but to no avail. After several
sleepless nights, she lost her temper and cursed it.
One night, Mrs.
Goh decided that she had suffered enough.
The minute she heard the faintest sound, she grabbed the only broom in
the house and started hitting the haunted spot, cursing simultaneously. In great anger, she continued thrashing the
place until she heard a soft piteous wail outside. In the moonlight, she saw a dazzling white
chick, its soft fur matted with dew, scurrying into the lean scanty
bushes. Since then, peace prevailed in
the crumbling house after dark.
56. STRANGE
DELUSIONS
At eighteen, Lily
moved to Kota Kinabalu looking for a job.
Seeking her uncle’s help, she had to stay with his family until she had
found a job and saved some money. With
his recommendation, she managed to get a job as sales-assistant in a department
store. Despised by his family for
intruding, she frequently felt homesick and depressed.
One evening, a
plate slipped from her hand and smashed into pieces. Embarrassed and frightened, her tears came
down in torrents. Sarcastic and mean,
the thirty-year-old wife of Lily’s uncle took the opportunity to vent her own
frustration on her. Glaring, she told
Lily to leave if she found the place unpleasant. While Lily was still sweeping the porcelain
fragments into a dustpan, the telephone rang.
It was a call from
the hospital. Lily uncle’s car had
crashed into a lamppost about the same she broke the plate. Consequently, her superstitious uncle’s wife
blamed her for bringing bad luck to the family.
Dejected, Lily went to her stuffy room and slumped onto the parquet
floor. Blurred by tears and swollen
eyelids, she saw a long strain of hair slithering across the smooth brown floor. Climbing up a table leg like a worm, it
disappeared through the crack of a drawer.
She was still collecting her wits when the play button of the tape
recorder suddenly depressed by itself and the tape started rolling. A few days later, she wandered into a dead
end right in front of a sprawling graveyard while trying to locate a
colleague’s house.
Since then, Lily
began to exhibit behavior that was considered delusional, deranged, or even
possessed. She would grin and wave her
hands as if she was greeting somebody.
She became better after returning to her village to recuperate, but she
still mumbled and giggled to herself.
Ostracized by the community, she stayed at home doing simple chores,
such as cooking, washing, and sweeping the floor. She could still take care of five siblings,
whose ages ranged from four to eleven years. Unable to get adequate medical
attention, she died of breast cancer at twenty-four.
On the other hand,
the wife of Lily’s uncle often fell sick shortly after Lily left. Out of the blue, she would scream at
everybody in the house or at the office.
Once in the office, her left stocking became loose and rolled all the
way down to the ankle, yet nobody bothered to tell her.
Everybody would
scurry away the minute she made her presence.
Often depressed, she had to pay a medium a generous sum to keep her
company. She also had to wear a heavy
amulet and consume foul-smelling herbs just to have peace of mind. At fifty-nine, she still blamed Lily for
bringing bad luck to her household. She
was certain that Lily was responsible for her physical and mental suffering.
57. TEMPLE SPIRIT
One morning, Chua
went to her friend’s house to discuss their school project. Noticing the leftovers of candles, joss
sticks, and food on the grassy roadside, she realized it was the Ghost
Festival. It was the July fifteenth of
the lunar calendar. Next to her friend’s
house was a large red temple, which she had never been to before. Since she was still early, she decided to pay
it a visit first. Entering a beautifully
landscaped garden, she noticed a crematorium just at the back of the
temple. Before leaving for her friend’s
place, she took two-dozen joss sticks and stuck three in each urn.
After returning
home, Chua decided to sit down on the sofa to read a magazine. The moment she landed on the sofa, the stench
of rotting flesh burst into her lungs.
Holding her breath and cupping her nose and her mouth, she looked around
and under the sofa, expecting to find a dead rat. She found nothing malodorous in the sitting
room. She sprayed the place with air
refresher, but the horrid smell permeated the air all day. She could still smelt it when her parents
returned home after work. Strangely
enough, they insisted that the house was very fragrant, frowning at her
simultaneously.
Chua was swamped
by the rotting stench for three days, during which she suffered from
excruciating stomach cramps. While
praying at her family altar, she suddenly thought of her trip to the temple. Upon some reflection, she concluded that she
might have angered a spirit in the crematorium.
Complaining about its stench might have aggravated it further, causing
it to become vengeful and cause unbearable pain.
To appease it,
Chua sliced six oranges and invited the spirit to partake the fruit. After that, she placed a dozen oranges on the
altar and prayed. The stench dissipated
immediately after her peacemaking ritual.
Since then, she had never experienced any bone-breaking pains
again. Also, she would not make any comments
whenever she saw or smelt anything peculiar.
58. FAMILY FEUD
When Lila turned
eighteen, a matchmaker, employed by Ah Kon’s father, went to her house. Lila’s mother agreed to let her marry Ah Kon
one year after the engagement party.
For the engagement, she demanded a sum of money, a gold bracelet, and a
platinum ring from Ah Kon.
Besides a large
dowry, she also wanted his family to pay for the wedding banquet. Two months later, she changed her mind when
Ah Kon lost his job and could not pay the dowry. She not only insisted that Lila break the
engagement, but had also asked a matchmaker to find a rich suitor for her. Having a middle-class background, she wanted her
daughter to lead a comfortable life.
However, she published an apology in the newspaper and agreed to pay
recompense Ah Kon’s family.
Not long after,
Lila married a mechanic, who owned a small workshop. Angry and humiliated, Ah
Kon’s father cast an evil spell on her family.
Her mother became very sick one day and started having delusions. She would scream at imaginary things and
talked to herself incessantly. Sometimes
she would run around holding a stick or firewood. Lila’s baby son was deformed, with hideous
white patches on his face and limbs. He
also had a repulsive body odor similar to decaying fish. Her husband’s business was badly affected
when the workshop suddenly caught fire.
One day, Lila’s
grandaunt, a medium she had not seen for a decade, came to her village. Believing that someone had used black magic
to harm Lila’s family, she hung an amulet in front of the house. Then she chanted for several minutes to
reverse the spell.
Ah Kon’s father
was reading the newspaper when his entire body started itching. After applying some ointment to his skin, he
was stunned to see stomach-churning patches appearing all over his body. He started behaving exactly like Lila’s
mother, raving and cursing at empty space.
On the other hand, Lila was grateful to see her mother and son
recovering each day, while her husband’s business was burgeoning.
59. CAT SPIRIT
Carefree and
personable, Brian liked to party until the wee hours of the morning. His irritated parents often referred to him
as a late-night ghost, but he did not mind at all. In fact, he was proud of his nickname, as it
implied that he was popular and sociable.
He frequented karaoke lounges, nightclubs, and nigh markets looking for
diversion.
Brian and his
friend were walking home one night when they saw a young woman standing at a
shop corner. In her arms cuddled a large
yellow cat. Walking past her, they
noticed her sickly pallor and vacant eyes.
Rolling his eyes, Brian remarked that she reminded him of Juon, a
ghost story that he had recently watched.
Amused by the comparison, his friend laughed.
When he entered
the front door, Brian heard an unearthly loud mew that made him jump. Then he felt a sharp pain on his cheek. Thinking that an insect had stung him, he
slapped his face gently. It felt hot and
sticky. Smelling something putrid, he
looked at his palm and was shocked to see that it had turned crimson. He dashed into the bedroom and stared into
the mirror. On his cheek was a long,
narrow wound that was skin deep. It
looked as if a vicious feline had scratched him.
60. GRAVE EYES
Tina’s fiancé was
killed in an accident and investigations were still going on. She missed him dearly and often saw him in
her dreams. A friend told her that she
could communicate with him, but it depended whether she had the courage or
not. Grief-stricken, Tina was willing to
do anything just to see her fiancé.
Guided by the full
moon, she went to his grave at four o’clock in the morning. Kneeling on the ground, she touched the
headstone, saying how much she missed him.
Then she mustered all her courage to scrape some earth with her bare
hands. Fueled by the desire to see him
one more time, she buried her face in her hands. When she finally lifted her head, her face
was coated with tear-soaked earth, but she did not care. All she wanted was to see him one last time,
to bid him farewell.
As she patiently
waited, a light breeze sprung up and made her shiver. A mist slowly rose to shroud the grave, and
in the silvery moonlight, she saw a familiar shadow behind the grave. It was her fiancé, but he appeared surreal
and distant. Overcame by emotion, she
lunged forward to embrace him. To her
great disappointment, her arms caught nothing but an icy emptiness.
As she staggered
downhill, she felt no fear but a peaceful feeling. The time spent at his grave had enabled her
to come to terms with his untimely death.
No matter what she did, she would not be able to resurrect him, so she
prayed that his soul would rest in peace.
Dawn was breaking and some early birds were chirping. It was a new beginning for her.
61. GAME OF
CORNERS
Bored out of their
skulls and fueled by an adventurous spirit, Adam, Brendan, Candice, and David
were enthusiastic in trying out a new game that they had learned from the
Internet. It was an easy game, but they
had to find a haunted place first. Adam
had heard of a certain hotel room in which one of the guests had committed
suicide by jumping out of its window.
One evening, Adam
managed to book that particular room. He
unlocked the door and glanced around the room.
Then he walked through the door sideways, as he did not want to bang
into any ghosts that were coming out. At
two o’clock in the morning, Brendan, Candice, and David showed up, eager to
become ghost-busters. After switching
off all the lights, each of them stood at one corner of the room.
At the count of
three, Adam walked slowly to Brendan’s corner and pushed him. Brendan then walked to Candice’s corner to
push her and occupy her spot. Candice
walked toward David and pushed him.
Finally, there would be nobody for David to push, as Adam had already
left the corner empty. Since he did not
touch anybody or anything, David yelled, “No ghost!”
Becoming
boisterous after the first round, they changed corners to continue the
game. Nothing extraordinary happened, so
everybody became bored after the fifth round.
Suddenly, Candice asked, “Are you taking the right places? It seems that the time to push the next
shoulder is becoming shorter and shorter!”
Sensing something
amiss, she switched on the lights.
Brendan and Adam were no longer playing, but cuddling in fear at one
corner. Candice and David had been touching a ghost since the third round. Brendan and Adam were frozen speechless after
touching something akin to icy slime!
62. COCKEREL
BLOOD
Addicted to alcohol
and out of a job, Marcel was desperate to get some money. His grandfather once told him that he could
ask for lucky lottery numbers by communicating with ghosts or spirits, so he
decided to seek the assistance of his late wife. He was hoping that she would not leave him
high and dry.
One evening, he
went to his neighbor’s coop and stole a large black cockerel. At midnight, he slaughtered it in front of a
full-length mirror that hung on the dilapidated wall. Then looking into the mirror, he smeared some
of its blood on the eyes of his image.
Before long, he saw two images looming behind his own. They had grotesque features and sharp
teeth. Maggots were wriggling out of
their orifices. With a blood
chilling-scream, one of them jumped out of the mirror and strangled him with
its snaky tongue.
When he regained
consciousness, Henry found himself lying on the mirror like a corpse,
surrounded by darkness. Blood was oozing
out of the frame of the cracked mirror.
His head was resting on a maggot-infested carcass that saturated the
entire barn with a rotting stench. Stuck
in its enamel hard, crooked beak was his left eyeball.
Since that night,
a fire-breathing cockerel, cackling in the most vicious manner, taunted Henry
every time he blinked his only eye. Most people thought that his impaired
vision was the result of a drunken brawl.
63. PLACE OF
EVIL
A narrow road ran
through Sonny’s village, the only one that linked the village to the nearest
towns. Lined by swaying coconut trees on
both sides, it was well trodden by school children that had to walk long
distances to school. In the evenings,
would use the roadside as a meeting place.
One balmy evening,
a young woman committed suicide by jumping out of her boyfriend’s jeep. She left a large pool of blood in the middle
of the road. Looking up from his
newspaper, Sonny wondered why a beautiful young woman would kill herself. One of his friends jokingly said that there was
one way to find out; they could contact the suicide victim. Undaunted, Sonny decided to take it as a
challenge.
A few minutes
after midnight, Sonny had to unbutton his shirt and prostrate himself three
inches above the spot where the woman had jumped to her death. After mirroring his chest against the ground
for seven minutes, he would be able to meet the dead victim.
After prostrating
himself at the scene of horror for a few minutes, a deluge of fetidness swamped
his senses. Struggling to his feet, he
saw a young woman bearing a bluish white face staring down at him. Blood caked her forehead that revealed parts
of her skull.
Under the dim
moonlight, he recognized the face that had appeared in the obituary
column. Rooted to the spot, he tried to
scream, but not even a single syllable came out. His throat felt like a choked pipe that
pushed the ripples of fear back down to his stomach. Coughing uncontrollably,
he made way for black hairy maggots to squirm out of his nose and mouth!
64. INCENSE
RICE
Sorrow and anger
ruled Neo’s life after his wife’s untimely death. He decided to perform a simple ritual just to
ask why she had left him in a lurch. At
midnight, he drove to a road junction with a bowl of white rice that had three
sticks of incense standing in the middle.
After all the incense was burnt, he swallowed the rice at one go.
Neo thought the
faster he swallowed the rice, the faster he could see his wife. After performing the ritual, he waited for
his wife in the sitting room lit by only a white candle. At one o’clock, he felt a sudden chill
enveloping him. Then he saw his wife
standing at the door with a pale face and glassy eyes. His first impulse was to tell her how much he
had missed her.
Bitterness and
anger filled her voice when she asked him why he had summoned her back. Shrugging, she said that she paid all her
dues while living on earth, answering his every beck and call. She warned him not to disturb her again, as
she did not want to be enslaved forever.
Stunned by her revelation, Neo beat his chest and burst into tears.
65. CROW’S EYES
In Kudat once
lived a Madam Chik who was a village medium.
Her dilapidated hut was a busy place, as villagers who had strange
afflictions would seek her help. Revered
for her uncanny healing skills, Madam Chik was active until she died of old age
at ninety-nine. As strong as a beast of
burden, she lived alone and did every chore herself until she breathed her
last.
Madam Chik looked
like an old witch from a horror storybook.
On the right side of her deeply wrinkled face was an eerie black socket;
on the left was a piercing eye that sparkled like that of an owl.
Popularly known as
One-eyed Granny, she was more agile and precise than most young men in the
village. She could pluck coconuts like a
monkey, plough the rice field like a cow, and drag heavy piles of firewood like
a horse. She could even sleep under
heavy rain the entire night.
How she became
known as One-eyed Granny became a rather extraordinary tale.
To become a necromancer,
Madam Chik had to perform a ritual that the average person would shudder. One midnight, she dug out the eyes of a large
crow with the full moon as her only witness.
Then she dipped them into boiling water for a few seconds. After
swallowing them whole, she was able to see ghosts of every kind and shape.
One day, while she
was digging in the garden, a giant shadow suddenly darkened the entire place,
leading her to think that it was going to rain.
When she looked up into the sky, a gargantuan crow swiped down,
instantaneously gouging out her right her eye with its bone-shattering beak.
66. HORSESHOE
MAGIC
While working as a
tourist guide, Adriana had an interesting encounter with a medium from the Netherlands
She told Adriana
that she could develop her third eye, which would empower her to communicate
with the inhabitants of the netherworld.
All she needed to
do was to hang a horseshoe in front of her bed and stare at it for thirty
minutes before going to sleep. With such
power, she would not only be able to live in the lap of luxury, but also to
control others.
With a
suspicion-filled mind, Adriana decided to carry out the ritual. After a month of perseverance, she awoke one
morning with a splitting headache. When
it subsided, she could not only see the human ghosts, but also those of fiery
animals, especially at mid night and the wee hours of the morning. Initially, she felt very frightened and would
make way for them, but later on, she was able to walk right through them.
Adriana sometimes
saw the spirits of her beloved grandparents sitting on her bench garden in the
moonlight. She often saw the spirits of
young couples taking a stroll in the park.
Once, she even saw three ghosts in business suits having a meal under a
table at a five-star hotel. At other
times, she witnessed balls of flames bopping wildly at her vicinity. No matter where she went, she could see
ghosts of various kinds, mostly benign.
As anticipated,
Adriana became very rich. She could
indulge in her favorite activities, traveling to fascinating places and staying
in the best resorts. However, blinded by
greed, she craved more money and power.
Therefore, she continued to stare at the horseshoe every night.
The longer she
stared, the more materialistic she became. However, she did not live long enough to see
what she could have achieved through horseshoe magic. One thunder-filled night, she saw her own
tortured image, spewing blood and gore, sprawling under the trembling horseshoe.
67. CAMERA
MAGIC
Alone in the
silence of one night, Mandy lit a long white candle and placed it outside her
house. After sticking red, yellow, and
blue protective films on her camera lens, she started taking photos of dark
corners, walls, and treetops. The dim
moonlight and breeze created dancing shadows everywhere, which gave her the
creeps. However, she was determined to
experiment with what she had learned from one of the websites.
The next morning,
she went to a one-hour photo studio to have her film developed. All the photos contained vivid images that
made her heart pound profusely. Ignoring
the sales assistant’s look of askance, she staggered out of the shop. What the photos reflected were contents were
totally beyond her imagination.
In some photos,
lifeless eyes of long deceased relatives stared into hers. In others, ghost flames flickered and danced
merrily above the walls. In one photo
was a legless boy clambering up a tree, while in other was a woman seemingly
trying to conceal her face from the camera.
One photo portrayed
a bedraggled woman slapping a scrawny little girl who was cowering on the muddy
ground. Sensing something amiss, Mandy
decided to do a bit of investigation.
She showed it to an elderly neighbor who recalled a macabre incident
that happened in the neighborhood that was once an impoverished village.
The malnourished
girl in the photo had slipped and fell into the pit latrine. Instead of helping her clean up, her mentally
unsound mother hit and berated her.
Caked with feces and urine, the abused victim slumped on the ground,
never to regain consciousness.
Concluding that the unfortunate child most probably died of toxic shock
syndrome, Mandy prayed that her soul would rest in peace.
68. BRIDGE
GHOST
At one o’clock in
the morning, Bobby went under a bridge that arched over a rustling brook. Under the silvery moon, he could see a tiny
stream of crystal clear water meandering around the weatherworn rocks and
fragrant sweet flax as it flowed gently into the darkness. With his head strewn with dried grass, he
stuck three sticks of incense in front of him and lit them with a lighter with
a shaky hand.
Accompanied by
some dancing fireflies and an owl’s mournful hooting, he squatted and waited in
silence. He could hear wind chimes
clanging in the distance as a cold breeze suddenly sprung up. Then a revoltingly sweet perfume wafted into
his nose and choked his lungs.
Thinking that he
was a deity, a female ghost appeared and bowed demurely to him. Before he could ask her for a lucky number,
he felt a sudden pain shooting up his spine.
With a contorted face, he struggled to his feet, releasing an
excruciated groan. Realizing that she
had mistaken him for possessing supernatural power, the infuriated female ghost
bared her sharp teeth and scratched him with her talons.
Gritting his teeth
and tumbling over slippery rocks, Bobby fled the temple grounds, as
bloody-thirsty laughter echoed in the chilly darkness. Paralyzed by searing pain, he spread-eagled
right at the feet of a monk who was getting for morning prayers.
69. BULLISH
EYES
One day, Candice
went to her uncle’s coconut plantation and saw a bull grazing by the grassy
riverbank. She smiled when she recalled
her first encounter with a bull as a small child. She was admiring a bull when her father
explained it was the source of beef. Before that, she had thought that beef
came from the market.
Her parents
discouraged her to eat beef whenever she had a wound, reiterating that the bull
was the most toxic in the animal kingdom.
Her grandmother once said that one of guards of hell had a bull’s
head. Like an angel of death, his main
duty was to arrest the souls of the dead and bring them to hell. She also said
that people could see ghosts if they rubbed bull’s tears on their own eyes. Brimming positive self-esteem, Candice often
contended that human beings were seventy times more dangerous than ghosts. Still renting a dilapidated stuffy room to
save the down payment of her dream apartment, she often grumbled that she would
rather sleep in a graveyard than dealing with blabbermouth of a landlady.
Curiosity and
disbelief led her to approach the bull, which continued to chew its cud after
giving her lackadaisical look. Patting
it gently with her right hand, her left hand swiped across its eyes in a
flash. Then she rubbed her own eyes with
her sticky left hand.
She was scared
witless when she suddenly heard a strange noise behind her. She turned to witness a peculiar
scenario. A zombie like woman donning a
torn straw hat was tugging a yoked bull.
Wearing a faded, navy blue blouse and wrinkled black trousers with many
patches, she looked like an impoverished farmer in ancient China
Covered by buzzing
blood-sucking flies, the bull was pulling a large cart filled with ripe
coconuts. Its left eye was dangling from
a bleeding socket, while monstrous black leeches devoured its legs. Blood was oozing out from its snout. The woman revealed her toothless gums and
black tongue as she hit the ill-fated beast with a long stick.
Candice stared at
the woman before she had mustered enough courage to run. As she turned to her heels, she remembered
seeing a rather similar woman in her grandparents’ photo album. She felt calmer as she assumed that she was
most probably one of her ancestors who first arrived from China
70. DEMONIC
EAGLE
With a black
marker tucked behind her left ear, Shannon
unrolled a large piece of white paper on the table. Using the marker, she printed the letters of
the alphabet around the edge the paper.
In the middle, she gingerly placed a new saucer with a red indicating
arrow drawn on its side. Then she placed
two pieces of paper indicating “yes” and “no” somewhere near the saucer. After lighting a long white candle, she
switched off all the lights.
In utter silence
and with full concentration, Stacy, Andrew, and Shannon placed their
forefingers closely to the saucer. Stacy
started the game, asking what its name was.
The saucer slowly moved, with its arrow pointing at the following
letters individually - N, E, L, L, and Y.
When Andrew asked where it came from, it pointed at the letters J, U, N,
G, L, and E. The astounded players
could hear a grating sound as the saucer moved, as if it were scratching the
paper with razor sharp claws.
Suddenly, they
heard a blood-chilling shriek and the candle flame suddenly extinguished as
powerful wings flapped over their heads.
A revolting smell wafted to their noses, as if they were in a filthy
sty. Then Andrew yelped, feeling an
excruciating pain rushing down in between his shoulders. Scared, Shannon
crumbled the paper with everything in it.
When the lights
were hurriedly switched on, Shannon and Stacy were dumbfounded to see Andrew
sprawled on the floor, face downward. A
long tiny stream of blood was seeping through his sweaty shirt, forming a tiny
puddle on the floor. Half rooted in it
was a glistening black feather, mesmerizing everybody with an evil power that
radiated like incandescent charcoal.
71. UNDER-THE-TABLE
DINERS
New on the job at
a popular restaurant, Brian was required to clear all the tables thirty minutes
before midnight. After putting all the
eating utensils in a dishwasher, he had to fold all the tablecloths and tuck
them under the table.
One night, while
he was cleaning the last table, the phone rang. He glanced at the clock, which
indicated that it was almost midnight.
He decided to answer the call, which was from a loyal customer who
wanted to book a table for the following day.
After jotting the information down, he returned to the table to fold the
tablecloth.
As he bent down,
he was shocked to see a shadow underneath the table. Thinking that his imagination had gone wild,
he stooped to take a closer look. His
jaw dropped as he found himself staring at a pale face with lifeless eyes. As he took to his heels, his eyes darted at
another table. Underneath it was a young
couple looking into each other’s eyes.
As he swung the door open, he heard laughter, accompanied by much
clinking and clanking as if the restaurant was full of voracious diners. Different kinds of food flavors filled his
nostrils as if a large banquet was in progress.
After listening to
his bizarre tale, the manager shrugged and advised Brian to finish his work
before midnight. The senior added that,
while humans normally had their meals at a table, ghosts had theirs underneath
it. He explained that midnight is the
timeline between day and night as well as the meridian between ying
(hell) and yang (earth).
Since then, Brian
always completed his chores before midnight for he did not want to intrude on
any of the under-the-table guests.
Besides, he would rather spend his after-hours in the company of Homo
sapiens, the species that he was more knowledgeable about.
72. GLIMMERING BASIN
Pauline was
sulking while her husband was carefully maneuvering their car on the winding
dirt road that led to his parents’ village.
As he braked to allow some wandering goats to cross the road, she voiced
her displeasure about wasting the precious weekend at a mosquito-infested place
devoid of running water and electricity.
She dreaded the inquisitive in-laws, whose way of life she perceived as
primitive and shoddy. An urbanite since
childhood, she was beginning to miss the creature comforts that a downtown
apartment could offer.
After a dinner of
hill rice, salted fish, and wild ferns, Pauline applied generous amounts of
insect repellent on her arms and legs.
She wanted to take a stroll to spend some quality time with
herself. Illuminating the well-trodden
path with a small torch, she wandered into the spacious garden brightened up
occasionally by fireflies and serenaded continuously by crickets and
cicadas. The entire village was so
serene that she could almost hear the rice plants swaying, in unison and
wavelike, in the cool breeze. The
refreshing night air was filled with the fragrance of rice and maize ready for
harvest.
Immersed in her
own thoughts, she was rudely jotted back to reality when suddenly tripped over
a half-buried coconut shell and fell headlong.
Clutching a huge, sun-baked mushroom on a tree stump to arrest her fall,
she saw a large aluminum basin and three medium-sized plastic pails by the
well, which had a moss-covered concrete ring around it. Hoping to find some water to wash her hands,
she straightened herself and trudged toward the source.
With the torch
lodged securely between her lips, she squatted beside the brimming full basin
to scoop out some water with her hands tightly cupped. The cool water soothed her nerves. Standing up and sighing deeply, she rubbed
her hands on her cropped pants. As she
turned to walk away, her eyes were momentarily drawn to the still rippling
surface of the basin. Gripping the torch
firmly, she flashed it directly above the water. What she saw was beyond her wildest
imagination.
As the ripples
gradually subsided, she could see a shadowy image glimmering on the surface of
the water. At first, she thought that
it was the moon’s reflection or her own.
Fascinated, she stared into the basin and was shocked to see the image
gradually transforming into a woman’s face.
Her hairstyle and makeup reminded her of ancient history and long
forgotten cultural practices.
Racing home at a
breakneck speed, she was certain that she had seen that face before, but she
could not remember where and when.
Walking up the creaking stairs illuminated by a small kerosene lamp, she
saw a faded family photo taken when her husband was born. The face she saw at the well belonged to his
grandmother, the original owner of the aluminum basin.
73. CIVIC-CONSCIOUS
POLTERGEIST
Magdalene and her
husband recently bought an apartment in Penampang. It has three spacious rooms and a comfortable
living room, so they are quite satisfied with their comfort zone. Moreover, it is located near the town area,
which makes life easier in terms of going to work and shopping. However, three
months later, strange things began to occur.
One weekend,
Magdalene and her husband went Sandakan
After entertaining
some friends one night, Magdalene and her husband left all the dirty plates in
the kitchen sink. Neither did they clean
the table or empty the trashcan.
However, when they woke up, they noticed that the kitchen had become
spick and span. Again, they were
wondering who had helped them.
A medium told them
that their apartment was haunted by a poltergeist, but it was not belligerent.
It was the spirit of a worker who had died while the apartment block was still
under construction; he had slipped and fell down from the eighth floor. Grief-ridden colleagues had to spend several
hours to excavate him out of the fast coagulating cement floor.
74. MISCHIEVEOUS
JUNGLE SPIRIT
While on a camping
trip in a lush jungle, James had an extraordinary experience. He was sharing a tent with Henry, who was
rather mischievous. On the first night,
James was woken up at midnight, as he thought that Henry was tickling his left
foot. He nudged Henry, asking him to
stop. However, Henry protested, denying
that he did not cause any disturbance.
A few minutes
later, James shifted restlessly, accusing Henry of pulling his ear. Once again, Henry denied with a little
vehemence. In the wee hours of the
morning, James was disturbed again – this time he thought that Henry was
snoring and blowing air into his ears.
His tent-mate was definitely getting to close for comfort this time.
Exasperated, he
ordered Henry to stop acting like a donkey.
Expecting a sharp repartee, he was surprised to hear neither reply nor
protest. There was dead silence in the
tent. Curious, he sat up and tried to
push Henry away, but all he managed to touch was an empty sleeping bed. Grabbing a torch, he flashed around the tent,
but there was no trace of his friend anywhere.
With his hair
standing on end, James hollered for Henry, who responded from inside a portable
toilet that was a few feet away from the tent.
Still answering the call of nature, Henry asked James to stop accusing
him, as he was beginning to lose his cool. Beginning to believe that his friend
was innocent, James decided to return home right away, as he was starting to
feel exasperatedly spooked.
75. TOO YOUNG FOR GHOST STORIES
75. TOO YOUNG FOR GHOST STORIES
Lance was having a
party when something spooky happened.
Everybody was taking turns to tell ghost stories, but when midnight
came, Lance asked his eight-year-old brother Tim to hit the sack, but the curious
little boy refused.
Lance’s friend was
in the midst of telling a bloodcurdling story when Tim suddenly let out a
painful wheeze and started shaking. His
face was frozen, eyes widened with an empty gaze. His jaw dropped and his mouth started frothing,
frightening the wits out of everybody. His fists were tightly curled into a
ball and his legs dangled stiffly from his chair. White and stone-faced, his mind seemed miles
away. To the witnesses, Tim was horror
personified.
Lance touched his
brother, but withdrew instantly, as the latter was icy cold. The boy remained staring at the wall, without
blinking, while everybody was praying over him. Luckily, he regained
consciousness after five minutes, which seemed to be ages. He was put to bed, but could not recall
anything when he woke up the next day.
Since then, Lance stopped telling ghost stories at midnight, as he did
not want anybody spooked in his house.
He had a jittery feeling that some ghosts might get vengeful if he spoke
ill of them, subsequently haunting his loved ones.
76. BODY DOUBLE
When she was eight
years old, Demmar was sleeping soundly while her friend was reading a storybook
in the same room. Suddenly, her koduuduvo
(body double) came out of her body and sat on her knees. Shortly, like a vivid dream, the koduuduvo
was looking intently at a man sitting on top of the cupboard. He had a moustache and square jaw. With a smile, he was beckoning to her, as if
inviting her to join him.
Mustering all her
courage, the koduuduvo vigorously shook her head to reject him. Demmar tried to get her friend’s attention by
calling out to her, but her efforts were in vain. Deeply engrossed, the latter merely assumed
that she was mumbling in her sleep. The koduuduvo
looked at Demmar and the strange man alternatively for a few times, after which
she suddenly decided to return to the young girl’s body to seek refuge. Waking up with a bewildered start, Demmar
asked her friend why she had not bothered to rescue her. The latter laughingly dismissed that Demmar
must have had a romantic dream.
When she was
fifteen, Demmar’s koduuduvo saw a kindly, middle-aged woman in a purple
dress sitting at the right corner of her bed.
With a great sense of urgency, she was asking the koduuduvo to
telephone her friend, John. With a
thumping heart, she quickly pulled the blanket over her head, adamantly
refusing the woman’s request. After much
procrastination the following day, she decided to contact her friend. She was astounded to hear a muffled, pain-filled
voice over the receiver. Lonely and
frustrated, John was afflicted by severe flu-like symptoms, so Demmar’s
telephone call was like music to his ears.
When she was
seventeen, Demmar’s kuduuduvo saw a man’s face inside the table fan that
was beside her bed. It was one o’clock
in the morning, as she heard the old clock strike. When she recounted her out of body experience
to her two elder sisters, they threatened to drag her to the mental
institution. The following night, all
three of them saw the man’s face in the fan when the clock struck one. Unperturbed, Demmar just pulled the blanket
over her head, while her sisters dashed out of the room screaming and
crying.
At present, Demmar
is wondering whether to develop her three-dimensional ability or just disregard
it. It might become more powerful if she
accepts it as a spiritual part of her being, but it might vanish if she
continues to reject it. (Note: A kuduuduvo
is a person’s soul or double according to the Kadazandusuns, the majority
tribal race in Sabah , Malaysia
77. GHOST VISION
Bestowed with a
pair of ying yang eyes, Ah How could see frequently people from the
spiritual realm, usually referred to as ghosts.
He could see more ghosts during the lunar month of July, as the latter
would be allowed to roam freely on earth during this period, locally known as
the Hungry Ghosts Festival. His parents
would offer food sacrifices by the roadside to appease the wandering ghosts.
Like hungry
beasts, the ghosts would push and shove to grab the food. However, they remained hungry no matter how
much they had stuffed into their mouths, so their stomachs were akin to an
endless pit. While struggling among
themselves, they still remained pale and expressionless, which made the entire
scenario wits shattering.
During one Hungry
Ghost Festival, he was watching a friend folding some hell paper into gold
in the sitting room. It was in the
evening and the latter was going to burn the gold at midnight in the
cemetery to appease the souls. Suddenly,
he saw an elderly couple entering the sitting room. They looked as if they had emerged from an
ancient civilization with their clothes and makeup. They stood at one side with their eyes
longingly fixed to the pile of gold.
Before he went home, he warned his friend not to fold any hell paper in
his room.
One of his friends
brought some pears and oranges to the temple to pray. After the prayers, he advised him to leave
the fruits behind. They were no longer
nutritious, as the ghosts that lurked behind the temple had already sucked away
their essence. He also noticed that
ghosts usually congregated behind the temple, as they did not dare to enter it.
Whenever he
mentioned his sightings, his friends would beg him to stop; otherwise, they
would scamper away, with faces white as a sheet, as if they had seen a
ghost. To avoid any frightening
encounters during the Hungry Ghosts Month, Ah Kow usually spent his time at
home after dark. Most of the ghosts he
saw were revolting and grotesque, as they typically had gory putrefying faces,
maggot-oozing noses, or blood-dripping sockets.
All the ghosts
appeared to be centuries old, as they wore clothes and accessories commonly
worn during the Ming dynasty. Their
flowing silk gowns, jade ornaments, and elaborate embroidery reminded him of
the characters from classical movies or operas that his grandparents used to
watch. They were electrifyingly eerie!
When he was five,
he saw a strange man sitting beside his father and decided to enquire who he
was. There was nobody else in the
sitting room at that time, so his father calmly asked him to go to his room to
do his homework. The older man knew that
he had inherited the gift from his grandaunt, a medium that could enter hell at
midnight. Later on, his parents advised
him to remain calm and indifferent whenever he saw anything unusual.
At the age of
twenty, he had to rent a house with two friends. At dusk, he noticed that a strange thick mist
would appear in the garden, giving it a mysterious air. Then sinister looking frogs, snakes, praying
mantises, scorpions, toads, or centipedes would weave their presence in the
chilly cloud, followed by ghosts of different kinds. Only then did he realize why his elders had
always considered certain reptiles, insects, or worms as ominous. His grandfather once reiterated praying
mantises were much sought after by black magicians, as they were most effective
in transmitting evil. An elderly neighbour
witnessed that the area was once a densely populated village that Japanese
soldiers had pillaged and plundered.
One evening, he
was watching television in his friend’s apartment when he noticed a
white-haired woman standing at a corner, staring at the latter
unblinkingly. To avoid panicking his
friend, he merely asked him to go to the kitchen to get them something to
partake.
One night, he was
inside a train with a young man sitting right behind him. However, he suddenly heard several people
talking and laughing as if there was a party going on. Despite the pandemonium, the other passenger
did not seem affected. A group of ghost
partiers must be riding along with them.
To overcome his
fear, he often watched ghost movies or played eerie video games. However, he restrained from dabbling with the
black arts, ouija, or necromancy.
To lead a normal life, he just assumed his natural self whenever he had
visitors form the other world. As long
as he behaved normally, they would leave him alone. They most probably were unaware that he could
actually see them.
78. PHANTOM GATECRASHERS
MR Chung was busy
stir-frying a large wok of vegetables when his wife burst into the smoky and
cluttered kitchen looking as if she had seen a ghost. Wide-eyed and stuttering, she told him that
some uninvited people were grabbing and eating all the food that they had
placed on the tables outside. Some of
them were unabashedly taking food from the guests’ plates or drinking from
their glasses. Besides revolting body
odour, the hungry intruders also had a strange pallor and glassy eyes. They did not even bother to greet any of the
guests.
It was Mr Chung’s
birthday and he had decided to have a feast by the river that ran behind their
house. He had invited some friends and
relatives for this auspicious occasion. Thinking
that his wife must be over reacting, Mr Chung asked her to oversee the kitchen
while he went out to take a look. To his
surprise, he saw nothing unusual, as everyone was having a good time. Neither were there any famished strangers
among the familiar gregarious crowd. He
returned to the kitchen and advised his wife to take a rest, secretly
admonishing her for having an overly fertile imagination.
A few minutes
later, his wife rushed screaming on top of her lungs. The unruly gatecrashers had attracted several
others and together they were grabbing food with their filthy hands straight
from the containers, pots, and pans. She
was shocked that they did not even bother to use any eating utensils! A few more were wading across the river to
join their counterparts. To her utter
amazement, their clothes remained dry as they clambered up the bank.
This time, Mr
Chung had decided to reprimand his wife if she was imagining things. As he stood at the door, he was astounded to
see many uninvited guests practically walloping all the food and drink. Taking a closer look, he realized that all of
them wore black shirts and trousers with brooding faces. While they were jostling and gobbling as if
they had been starving for ages, food was leaking from their punctured
throats. The ground was covered with
bones, crumbs, and slime. Flies were
swarming everywhere, but the guests seemed unaware of their phantom
counterparts.
Realizing that his
banquet had attracted many river ghosts, some of whom were using a long white
cloth as a bridge, Mr Chung fell unconscious.
When he finally came to his senses, he decided to visit the elderly monk
in the village temple. He was told that
several villagers were drowned or shot in the river during World War II while
fleeing Japanese soldiers. He was
advised to sacrifice some food by the riverbank to appease the hungry spirits
prior to having a feast or celebration.
79. BEAST OF
PROTECTION
Adiu was tapping
rubber one early morning in his grandfather’s estate. As the rising sun was hidden behind heavy
dark clouds, he had to switch on his head torch. Suddenly, he heard rustle behind him, making
him nervous. Turning around, he was
speechless to see a big tiger lumbering toward him. Rooted to the ground and breathless, his mind
went blank. Then his knees became weak
and he knelt on the bedewed ground.
As his life was
flashing across his mind, the ferocious beast let out a thunderous roar and sat
down in front of him. It yawned widely,
revealing its human teeth! As it rubbed
its face against his leg, he noticed that it had human feet and nails!
Running home as
fast as his legs could carry home, he narrated his hair-raising encounter to
his bed-ridden grandfather. Upon hearing
his bewildering tale, the elderly man urged him to be courageous and continue
his work in the estate. The tiger that
he had befriended was a jin or spirit-beast reared by his grandfather
for divine protection.
That night, Adiu’s
grandfather passed away peacefully. He
heard a mournful roar followed by a nerve-wrecking rustle right outside the
bedroom window. The rancid breath of the
tiger wafted through the window like red-hot lava, bursting his lungs and
paralysing him for several minutes.
Sighing in relief, he knew that the spirit-beast had come to bid
farewell to its keeper. He hoped that he
would never see it again after the final funeral rites. An industrious and responsible labourer, he
had no intention of owning a jin.
80. PONTIANAK
Five years ago,
Salomah decided to marry Lihin after dating him for barely two months. Friends were surprised by her sudden decision
to marry a man whom she hardly knew. She
had never visited his parents’ home or met any of his relatives. Her ex-boyfriend suspected that Lihin had
charmed her, as she was a very successful businesswoman then.
Many friends and
relatives of Saloma attended the wedding, but none of Lihin’s came. He bluntly told her that all his relatives
were dead. The first year of marriage
was a happy one for Saloma, but their relationship deteriorated after the baby
was born. She had stopped working to
devote her time for the baby. She had to
depend on her husband, who was a taxi driver.
Lately, she often woke up with her body covered with purplish bruises
and feeling painful all over. Feeling
weak and dizzy all the time, she was also losing weight rapidly. Her face was becoming increasingly pale while
her menstruating time had amazingly decreased.
However, several doctors had assured that her health was normal and that
she should not be worried.
Although life was
getting increasingly difficult, she was contented and willing to face daily
challenges. However, fear began to fill
her mind after she saw a gigantic eagle hovering above the balcony one night. Its bloodshot eyes pierced at her
menacingly. Just as she thought that it
was going to fly away, it made an abrupt dive toward her. Its razor sharp beak sliced her arm like a kris
(wavy dagger) leaving her numb with pain and fear. The full moon was that was
casting strange shadows all around revealed its knotted scaly legs attached
with glistening dragon-like claws. She
fainted as it let out a thunderous shriek and merged with the looming eerie
shadows.
A bomoh
told her that her husband had actually kidnapped her with a pontianak
Confronted by
Salomah, Lihin merely shrugged, asking her to maintain her silence for her own
safety. Not knowing how long he was
going to keep the pontianak
81. BANANA
SPIRIT
After waking every
morning, Norbert would go to the garden well where two large drums, filled with
water, stood. Usually with half-closed
eyes, he would fill a small aluminum basin with just enough water to wet a
small towel. After washing his face, he
would throw the water onto the vegetable bed covered with luxuriant, bedewed kangkong
(swamp cabbage) that creep as far and wide.
Living in a small wooden house without any electricity or running water,
he had been following this morning ritual as long as he could remember.
When Norbert
completed primary school, his parents decided to rear some pigs. They planted several banana trees near the
vegetable bed. After the ripe bananas
were harvested, the long, juicy stems would be chopped finely and boiled as pig
feed. As he continued to splash water
onto the same patch, the kangkong continued to thrive and twine around
the banana trees.
Unlike the
evergreen healthy kangkong that seemed to gallop, Norbert became
increasingly pale and weak despite having a healthy appetite. His skin became drier and drier until he
became scaly and thin. Doctors could
find nothing wrong with his digestive system and other body parts.
One night, woken
by his moaning, Norbert’s mother tiptoed toward his dimly lit room and peeped
through the door that was slightly ajar.
She screamed on top of her lungs when saw a green shadow stooping over
him. Fearing for his life, she dashed in
and dragged him out of the room. Like a
mist, the shadow of a slim young female drifting out of the window. Only then did Norbert admit that a lovely
young girl in a green dress appeared in his dreams every night.
The next morning,
squatting by the roadside patiently, they waited for an old rusty bus for
almost two hours. It took another hour
of bumpy bus ride for them to reach the only temple in town. After lighting some incense and chanting, a
white-bearded monk explained that Norbert had attracted a female spirit by
throwing water that contained his essence onto a banana tree. He became increasingly emaciated as it
continued to suck his yang chi (male essence).
To dispel the
spirit, Norbert had to chop down the banana tree after tying a piece of red
cloth round its base. Right after
felling the jinxed tree, he had to pour salt-saturated limejuice, onto the
stump that was still encircled by the red cloth.
82. CORPSE
EATER
Tikah, an economic migrant who had risked her life escaping to Sabah by boat, was born and raised in Cagayan, Sulu. She lived near a cemetery and believed that
it was a popular haunt of a berbalang,
a subhuman with a tiger’s head and bat’s wings.
With razor like claws and teeth, it breathed so heavily that humans
could hear it from afar.
A berbalang lived inside a
deep hole, but when it was hungry, it would stop breathing so that its soul
could go out to steal a corpse. Human
beings could not see it, but they could hear its heavy breathing and
footsteps. Besides, it emitted a fetid
odour and its bluish red eyes pierced the darkness. At night, it would dig out coffins to feast
on the corpses. Broken coffins and human
bones picked clean demonstrated its existence.
Some villagers dutifully sprinkled lemon juice on the graves of their
loved ones to prevent a berbalang’s
desecration.
Tikah wore an opal while her husband often carried a kris (wavelike dagger) cleansed with
lemon juice. The semi-precious stone
could paralyze a berbalang, while
stabbing into the air behind one’s back with the bone-cutting dagger could
exterminate it.
83. MIDNIGHT
ENCOUNTER
After his graveyard shift at a factory, Abin had to walk a short
distance from the bus stop. Having just
moved to the housing estate, he was still trying to remember the
landmarks. With hands in his pocket, he
walked along the stony path under the dim moonlight. An owl was hooting at a distance and a slight
breeze came up. He quickened his pace,
longing for the comfort of his bed.
Suddenly, a waft of perfume filled the air, making him wonder who was
nearby.
He peered into the dark distance and noticed a woman walking slowly
in front. She was wearing a long dress
that fluttered in the breeze. Deciding
to mind his own business, he overtook her as if he did not see her. He did not like to glance at strangers, as
his mother emphasized that it was rude.
Besides, he felt uncomfortable with people whom he did not know,
especially a woman walking alone in a lonely path in the wee hours of the
morning. In fact, he felt goose bumps on
his arms as he walked past the woman, whom he assumed was courting danger.
Suddenly, she called out to him, asking him to wait for her. He stopped and turned around, only to see a
beautiful young woman under the moonlight.
As she approached him, she told him that she lived just down the
road. They continued their way, both
engrossed in their own thoughts. When
they reached a brightly lit house, she bade him goodnight.
He continued his way, with eyes still fixed to the beautiful house
with a colonial façade. He could not
remember ever seeing such a majestic house since he moved to this area. Suddenly, the impressive building was
enveloped by pitch darkness. Logic told
him that dense clouds must have swallowed the moon or the woman must have
switched all the lights off.
As the moon reappeared, he found himself rooted at an unfamiliar
grassy spot. To his horror, the palatial
building that once effused the air of a bygone era was no longer there. In its place was a dilapidated hut with a
coffin, two long poles, and some rope leaning against its wall. A woman with long hair was sitting on the
bench that was half buried by elephant grass.
Strange shadows were dancing all around him. Only then did he realize that he was in the
middle of a sprawling graveyard shaded by age-old frangipani trees and lit by
fireflies. His knees wobbled as he
caught the sight of a grave that still smelt of fresh earth and flowers not far
away from the bench. Running
frantically, a sickening floral fragrance filled the air, choking him
senseless.
84. TABLE FOR THE DEPARTED
When Ah Loong was young, it was customary for his grandparents to
observe Ching Meng or All Souls’ Day,
one of the red-letter days in the lunar calendar. On the eve, his grandmother would prepare a
feast for their long-departed ancestors, featuring rice cakes enriched by
brown, red, and black sugar served with coffee that was as black as the devil,
as strong as Hercules, and as sweet as an angel.
As the eldest son, Ah Loong had the filial duty to lay the table for
the departed with tiny porcelain cups and saucers. The sticky sweet rice cakes were believed to
sweeten the spirits, which in turn might grant the family’s requests. Besides cakes, other types of food were also
placed on the table.
At six in the evening, Ah Loong helped to open all the doors and
windows so that his grandparents could invite the souls of their loved ones to
partake the food and drink, informing them the end for dinnertime as well.
After dinner, all the offerings would be discarded. Once, Ah Loong, tired and famished, ignored
his grandparents’ warning that the living must abstain from the food for the
dead. Before he reached the garbage bin, he grabbed a brown rice cake and
hungrily sank his teeth into it. His
grandmother found him spluttering and choking in the kitchen, eyes popping out
of his ashen face. It not only tasted
like a combination of fermented sawdust and dishwater, but it also made him
nauseous for three days. Convinced that
their ancestors had returned to slurp away all the essence of the food and
drink, Ah Loong’s elders matter-of-factly told him that he had eaten something
synonymous to waste excreta.
85. CANDLE-LIT PATH TO INCARCERATION
Adin, a coconut plantation owner, could hardly stand his
father-in-law Intti for various reasons.
Usually addressed reverently by the villagers as Datuk, a prestigious
title in Sabah , Intti was not only judgmental
but also sanctimonious. He earned his
datukship by contributing generously to various social welfare organizations
after he became a successful politician.
Whenever he made a speech, he would emphasize the importance of
business ethics and other virtues. Glib
and nifty, he was the epitome of success and integrity to everyone except
Adin. Adin disliked Intti like poison,
as the latter was arrogant, sarcastic, and spiteful toward him. In short, he was treated like dirt because he
did not rub shoulders with the rich and famous.
One day, Adin withdrew five thousand dollars from the bank to have
his house renovated. After stashing the
cash in the drawer, he went to see the contractor. When he returned later, he was thunderstruck
to see his room ransacked. Everything
valuable, including the cash, was gone. While the police was still searching
for evidence of a break-in, Adin went to see a bomoh (traditional doctor who knew black magic) who could help
identify the thief.
Inside a small room, the bomoh
stood a new mirror on a table. Then he
created a path to the mirror by placing two rows of seven candles in front of
it. At midnight, he switched off the
lights and lit all the candles. Consequently,
twenty-eight candles could be seen flickering, creating an awe-inspiring and
yet beautiful sight. After chanting a
few minutes, the face of guilty person would appear clearly in the mirror.
Both the bomoh and Adin
were speechless to see Intti’s disdainful face in the mirror. Since Adin naturally wanted his money back,
the bomoh had to perform another
ritual. When Adin returned home, he saw
Intti’s standing right outside the main door, crestfallen and tearful. The once distinguished man admitted his
wrongdoing, saying that he had borrowed from several loan sharks to feed his obsession
to gambling, womanizing, and other forms of debauchery. He had also accepted bribes and embezzled to
create a pompous image. In the end,
there was nothing he could do except facing a jail term, much to the crying
shame of his own family and supporters.
86. PENIS
DISPLACEMENT (SANTET)
Kota Belud is a small town in Sabah ,
which is a two-hour drive from Kota Kinabalu.
It is populated mainly by Bajaus, an ethnic group in Sabah . Others races found there include Malays,
Kadazandusuns, and Chinese.
Idah was a hardworking farmer in Kota Belud. She cultivated maize, rice, and vegetables
for a living. Her husband, Zul,
unfortunately, was not only indolent but also abusive. He would steal her money and spend it on
gambling and other vices. Idah put up
with him for the sake of their five children, hoping that he would change
someday.
One evening, after a day’s toiling in the soggy rice field, she was
appalled to find out that Zul was gone.
He had taken all the valuable things with him. The house was practically empty. Even the curtains and cooking utensils were
gone!
Later on, she found out that Zul had moved to Kota Kinabalu. He was also seeing another woman. Humiliated and angry, Idah confided to her
elderly father, Pak Mat. Pak Mat was a
renowned bomoh or traditional medicine man in Kota Belud. He consoled his daughter, assuring her that
Zul would face retribution for causing shame to the family.
Early one morning, Idah was woken by an excruciating scream
outside. She opened the door and found
Zul on the floor, foaming and writhing in pain.
“My penis is hanging on my forehead!
I can’t urinate and I’m going to die!” he howled. Begging for forgiveness, he pleaded with her
to reverse the deadly spell, locally known as santet.
Some villagers in Kota Belud still believe that a bomoh has
the power to displace a person’s penis, usually onto his forehead. Unable to urinate, the accursed would die of santet
within twelve days.
87. HAUNTED CLAY MOUND
Victor was transferred to a remote area where he was required to do
some quantity surveying. He rented a
small wooden house with a long neglected garden. Away from the hustle and bustle of the city
where he once worked, Victor appreciated the fresh air and peaceful
surroundings for a change.
One evening, he decided to do some gardening just to get some
exercise. While digging the soil, he
struck some termite-infested planks with a rusty jewelry box stuck in
between. Before he called it a day, he
threw some dried leaves, twigs, and soil over them. He would decide what to do with the mound
later; perhaps he could grow a fruit tree or dieffenbachia on it.
A few days later, he realized that the mound was carpeted with a
layer of freshly sprouted grass. It
reminded him of an ancient grave that he had seen in a historical drama. At night, he could see fireflies dancing
around the dew covered mound serenaded by buzzing cicadas and croaking frogs.
One day, Victor was asked to do a presentation in another town. Before he embarked on his journey, he asked
one of his colleagues to oversee the house.
When Victor returned, the colleague told him that something strange had
happened in the house while he was sleeping over there. When the clock struck midnight, he could hear
a baby cooing and someone sweeping the floor although he was the only person
around. The colleague suspected that
somebody was buried under the unholy mound, but Victor remained unimpressed.
After working hard for almost a year, Victor decided to take a long
awaited vacation. This time, he hired a
part-time maid to take care of his house.
When he returned, he heard the same story; the frightened maid revealed
that she was awakened by a baby’s cooing around midnight. On top of that, she heard that somebody was
sweeping the floor. She thought that the
house was haunted and felt that the strange occurrences were related to the
mound.
To avoid trouble and gain some peace of mind, Victor decided to
place a small offering of rice and eggs on top of the mound one evening. In his dream that night, he saw a young woman,
with a cooing baby in her arms, drifting away from the mound. In the wee hours of the morning, he was woken
up by a howling wind heralding a thunderstorm.
Upon coming home from work a few days later, Victor looked around
the garden and noticed that the mound was no longer there. In its place was an ethereal patch of bright
yellow daisies dancing daintily in the cool breeze and basking in the
enchanting hues of the rapidly setting sun.
Victor simply assumed that the mound had been flattened out by the
increment weather or nature had taken its course on the curios underneath
it. Since the mysterious disappearance
of the mound, none of Victor’s colleagues or the maid reported any more unnatural
noises in the wooden house at night.
88.
FLARING SPIRIT
Nigel and his fun-loving friends had been harvesting rice for three
hours when they decided to take their dinner.
It was already late evening when they reached a solitary wooden barn
that stood amidst the golden field. The
partially burned down building, which had shielded many a farmer from rain and
shine, was cluttered with some gunny sacks, bamboo mattresses, firewood, and
wine jars. Also on the wooden floor were
a linoleum covered table and some wobbling stools. Despite its rustic simplicity, the barn had
become a venue for Nigel to enjoy some solitude or take a long nap in a lazy
afternoon.
After a simple dinner of rice, anchovies, and swamp cabbage, Nigel decided
to play hide-and-seek with his friends.
Facing the wall and burying his face in his arms, he started counting up
to ten so that the rest could find a place to conceal. While he was still counting, he could hear his
friends running out of the barn to hide behind the bushes or overgrown hedges.
As he turned around to locate his playmates, he saw someone
scurrying out of the barn, engulfed by flames.
Although he felt as if he was inside a smoke-filled kiln, he could not
help shivering. As he rushed toward the
door, he could smell that something was burning. However, there was neither fire nor smoke
around the barn. His heart was still
racing when his bewildered playmates gathered around him, exclaiming that he
seemed to have seen a ghost as he was drenched in cold sweat.
After confirming that all his friends were hiding outside the barn, Nigel
wondered if he had had an unearthly encounter with the restless spirit of a
young farmer who committed suicide by immolating himself in the barn several
years previously. Rumor had it that he
had sold his farm and gambled all his earnings away. After hearing the hair-raising story, a medium
offered some prayers in the barn to appease the spirit of the hapless gambler.
89. HAUNTED HANGING BRIDGE
After setting up
their tent in a heavily wooded area, Anthony and his friend Darren decided to
take a dip in the crystalline river a stone’s throw away. A classmate told them that some strange
things had happened there, but as infamous daredevils of the school, they
refused to take heed and embarked on their camping trip.
As they were relaxing in the cool water, Anthony suddenly saw a woman passing by the tent. Rubbing his eyes, he nudged Darren and pointed at the tent. Sensing Anthony’s nervousness, his friend directed his eyes at the tent, but noticed nothing extraordinary. The tent was standing steadfastly under the stately trees, but there was no sight of any human being or animal around. Since nothing was amiss, Anthony assumed that he must have mistaken the shadow of a large tree for a human being. Nevertheless, he sensed that the evening air was permeated with light perfume when a light breeze suddenly sprang up.
As they were relaxing in the cool water, Anthony suddenly saw a woman passing by the tent. Rubbing his eyes, he nudged Darren and pointed at the tent. Sensing Anthony’s nervousness, his friend directed his eyes at the tent, but noticed nothing extraordinary. The tent was standing steadfastly under the stately trees, but there was no sight of any human being or animal around. Since nothing was amiss, Anthony assumed that he must have mistaken the shadow of a large tree for a human being. Nevertheless, he sensed that the evening air was permeated with light perfume when a light breeze suddenly sprang up.
In the middle of
the night, Darren was woken up by the flapping of the tent. Shining a small torch, he crawled toward the
entrance only to realize that it was not totally zipped up. As he put his torch down to zip up the tent,
he saw a pair of red eyes staring at him point blank. Assuming that it was a wild animal, he
grabbed the torch and flashed at the intruder.
The light splashed upon a barefooted little boy running away with the
speed of lightning. To his astonishment,
the fleeing feet were not touching the ground at all; it was as if the young
fugitive was roller-skating on air.
At dawn, both campers, feeling spooked, decided to leave the camping spot as they did not want to bring any unnecessary anxiety upon themselves. As they passed by a charred clearing, they saw some farmers digging and sowing. After hearing their surreal experiences, they shook their heads sadly. The place was said to be haunted by a woman and her son. She drowned in a vain attempt to save the young boy who fell through a rotten hanging bridge many years ago. The two nature enthusiasts recalled seeing the weather beaten remnants of a hanging bridge at the vicinity of their encampment.
90. PILLION GHOST
Working as a security guard at a car company, Lance commuted on a
motorcycle from his village to town.
Diligent and helpful, he had graveyard shifts every Wednesday and
Friday. Although his job did not pay
well compared to many others, he was satisfied with his simple existence.
One Wednesday, the minute he had competed his late night shift at
three, he rushed to the car park as he was eager to have some rest. As he rode along the silent road, he could
feel the morning dew on his face, keeping him level-headed.
As he stopped by a petrol kiosk, the young and pretty cashier was
getting ready to go home. To his
surprise, she asked him which direction he was travelling. Although her route was the opposite direction
to his own house, Lance decided to give her a pillion ride.
As they rode along in silence, it suddenly began to drizzle. Lance stopped and put his jacket over her
head. A few minutes later, he dropped
her in front of a small house at a foothill.
He got another surprise when she simply walked off without saying a
word. On top of that, she took his
jacket along with her. As it was still
drizzling, he assumed that she would return it to him the next day.
The next day, Lance experienced yet another bombshell. After flipping through the record book, an
equally befuddled manager revealed that all the cashiers working at the petrol
kiosk were men. Moreover, it was
unthinkable for him to place a woman on night shifts.
Hoping to salvage his favorite jacket, Lance decided to return to
the place where the young cashier alighted. When he reached the spot, he noticed nothing
but flourishing mimosa and elephant grass.
After taking a few more steps, a half-hidden grave came into sight. On its headstone was his jacket, looking as
if it was sheltering someone’s head. Gladly
leaving the jacket behind, Lance was relieved that no harm had befallen him.
91. FOGGY HORROR AT SEA
Looking forward to have some fun and sun, Justin was eager to spend
some time with his relatives who lived by the sea. Upon reaching the fishing village, he was
greeted by verdant coconut palms in symmetrical rows and blossoming fruit trees
serenaded by the soothing sounds of waves and gentle breezes.
The next evening, Justin decided to venture out at sea in his
uncle’s old fiberglass boat. He
persuaded his niece, Christina, to join him.
While Justin was lost in his own thoughts, his niece soon fell asleep,
lulled by the gentle waves and warmly blanketed by the evening sky.
Justin was still unpacking the picnic basket when a blinding fog
suddenly enveloped the boat, making him sneeze until he became bleary. To his amazement and horror, monstrous waves
erupted around the sailing vessel despite the absolutely calm weather and
starlit night.
The eerie atmosphere forced both Justin to steer toward a small
island nearby. As he approached, the
island suddenly disappeared under a torrent of thunderous waves. Before he could regain his composure, he saw
the light of a stationary ship nearby.
His jaws dropped when the ship also vanished into thin air as he
approached it.
Expecting the worst, Justin sank to the floor and said a
prayer. When he lifted his head,
everything has returned to normal, with Christina staring down at him,
unperturbed. No matter how much Justin
tried, he could not convince Christina what had actually transpired and how he
nearly lost his life.
Upon hearing his paranormal experience, Christina’s father asked
Justin what he had done prior to the storm.
Justin recalled that he had urinated into the sea; his unbecoming action
could have angered some sea spirits that might appear as a fog, waves, island, or
ship to crush him. His uncle added that
villagers used to hold special ceremonies to ward off evil spirits in the
waters, once notorious as the battleground of rivaling pirates.
92. MACABRE CHAINS
Desperate to have an undisturbed weekend after accomplishing a
complicated project, Daisy decided to check into a seaside bungalow alone. It was already late evening when she arrived
at the much anticipated destination.
From her window, she could hear larges waves flapping on the rocks and some
people partying on the beach.
Daisy was dozing off when she heard a sound, as if someone was
dragging a heavy chain on the parquet floor.
Assuming that it was a figment of her own imagination, she ignored it
and closed her eyes. However, the sound
became increasingly irritating, so she decided to open the door and take a
look. Her curiosity was reciprocated by
a silence that would allow one to hear a pin drop.
Defeated, she closed the door gently and returned to her bed. Just then, the table lamp started to
flicker. It returned to normal as she
approached the table. As she sauntered
to the bed, it started flickering again. Undaunted, she turned around to check if the
light bulb was functioning properly. The
flickering stopped and the lamp appeared normal again the minute she touched
it. However, it started flickering again
the minute she turned her back.
With her patience wearing thin, Daisy decided to call the
receptionist for assistance. While
putting the receiver down, she smelt something putrid, as if there was a decomposing
animal nearby. The manager conducted a
thorough search of the premises but did not find anything amiss.
Later, Daisy found out that the bungalow was located near a Japanese
prisoner-of-war camp where many inmates were starved and tortured to
death. When Daisy opened the door to
investigate the dragging sound, a spirit or ghost must have thought that she
had invited it into the room, permeating it with its putrefaction. After that ghastly experience, Daisy would
never patronize the bungalow again even if free transport and accommodation
were offered.
93. HAUNTED ELEVATER
Recently Sandra moved into a downtown apartment located on the
topmost floor. Oftentimes, it took her
several minutes to reach her floor even though she was alone in the lift. All the buttons had been pressed by naughty
children, so the lift would stop at every level. Some of them played hide-and-seek in the
lift, so it would remain open on a particular floor for a long time. Whenever the lift stalled, some impatient
people would kick the door and use the stairs instead.
One late evening, Sandra was waiting at the lift on the ground floor
because she was too tired to take the stairs.
When the door opened, she walked in and habitually pressed the fifth
button. Suddenly, she realized that a
little boy in a red shirt was standing besides her. She was wondering why she did not see him
entering the lift in the first place; besides, she was certain that she was
waiting alone on the ground floor. To
her dismay, all the buttons had been pressed and the lift stopped at every
floor. She focused on the buttons above
her head, ignoring the young stranger. After what seemed to be an unusual
length of time, the lift finally reached the topmost floor.
As she walked out, Sandra noticed that the little boy was still standing
inside like a statue, enveloped by the semidarkness. She could not help wondering why he did not
get off at any of the floors and why he was allowed to go out unsupervised at
such a late hour. Nevertheless, looking
forward to letting her hair down, she shrugged and hastened her way to her
apartment.
Upon reaching her apartment, Sandra realized that she had run out of
low-fat milk, something that she needed to have a good night’s sleep. Since the following day was a public holiday,
she decided to go to the convenient store across the street to get a carton of
milk and a box of cheese crackers.
When the door opened, Sandra saw the same boy standing inside the
life. He was pressing the open button
with his right thumb, looking as if he had been holding the lift for her. Curiosity prompted Sandra to take a closer
look at the melancholic looking boy. She shrieked in utter horror when she realized
that his shirt was soaked with fresh blood.
Blood was dripping from his mangled nose and the corners of his
mouth. As she rushed off to get the
security guard, she heard a painful scream muffled by the closing lift.
With the security guard right beside her, Sandra rushed back to the
lift, fearing for the boy’s life. To her amazement, everything seemed
normal. There was nobody in the lift and
not a single drop of blood was found anywhere.
The security guard revealed that a young boy was found dead at the
bottom of the lift shaft a few years back.
Apparently, he got into the lift one morning, but it suddenly stalled
between the second and third floors. He
jumped out impatiently, missed his footing, and fell through the gap between
the lift car and the floor. Doctors
concluded that he died of severe head injuries after plunging through the lift
shaft. Besides Sandra, a few other tenants
had also seen the spirit of the boy who fell to his death.
94. VOICES IN THE ROOM
During his freshman year, Jack lived in the dormitory where he
occupied a single room. He wanted single
occupancy so that he could concentrate on his studies. His mother called him every weekend to ensure
that he was adjusting well at college.
Located at the end of the corridor, the room was cool and quiet all
the time. From his window Jack could see
an overgrown graveyard a stone’s throw away; however, he never mentioned it to
his mother who was rather superstitious.
During the semester break Jack returned home, eager to share his new
experiences with his doting mother. To
his surprise, she asked him to describe the two girls whom he had been
socializing with. When he indicated
that he did not have any female friends, she winked at him, adding that college
was not all about studying but dating as well.
When Jack insisted that he was not seeing anyone, his mother told
him that she could hear two girls talking at the background every time she
phoned. It appeared to her that they
were sitting right next to him. After
calming his mother down, Jack returned to the dormitory to pack his things and
find a new place to stay.
He had never invited anybody into his room throughout the semester. Moreover, he was definitely alone each time
his mother called. Later on, he found
out that he was not the only tenant who had invisible visitors in that room. One tenant moved out when his girlfriend
insisted that she overheard someone singing in the room while they were still
on the phone. Another tenant heard
someone whistling inside while he was still fumbling for the key to enter the
room.
95. DEADLY PLEDGE
Andrew, James, and Andrea were trekking in the jungle when it
suddenly began to rain. After running
for a few minutes, they saw a large cave ahead of them. Desperate for shelter, they rushed into the
cave without a moment’s hesitation. They
were relieved to find that the place was warm and dry, its walls carved with
some peculiar images that seemed to come alive under their torchlights.
As they leaned against the wall, they saw a small shrine decorated
with some dried fruit, shriveled palm leaves, and dust covered silk
flowers. Standing steadfastly in the
middle was an antique bronze urn containing some half-burned red candles and
decaying joss-sticks. In front of it was a faded picture of a young girl held
inside a hand-carved photo frame.
The three looked at one another and decided to try their luck. Andrew stood in front of the shrine, bowed,
and requested a winning lottery ticket. He pledged that he would offer the deceased
girl some money if he won a lottery. Pushing
Andrew aside, James pledged that he would sacrifice a dozen hard-boiled eggs
and a baked chicken if he could get a job promotion. Andrea, urged by James to make a wish,
mumbled that she would like to have lasting memories of the two men. Reminded by Andrew to make a pledge, she
unthinkingly declared that she would offer whatever the deceased girl
wanted. Not taking the entire thing
seriously, she laughed at her friends’ superstitious behavior.
After winning second prize in a lottery, Andrew trekked back to the
cave with his two friends with some money.
Andrea jokingly said that the money would have no use for the dead,
adding that Andrew should have given it to her instead. Upon his return from the cave, James received
a letter of promotion from his company, a prestigious position that he had been
trying to attain for more than five years.
To fulfill his pledge, he returned to the cave with Andrew to place
twelve boiled eggs and a baked chicken on the shrine. This time, Andrea flatly refused to accompany
her two male friends, insisting that their good fortune was just a coincidence.
While impatiently waiting for the two friends at home, Andrea dozed
off in front of the television set.
Startled by a strange sound, she lazily opened her eyes and was
astounded to see the face of deceased girl on the screen. Still in a semiconscious state, she heard the
girl say that she would remember her two friends as long as she lived. Thinking that she was dreaming, she continued
to sleep.
The next day, Andrea received tragic news. Andrew and James were killed in a car
accident. While wishing for everlasting
memories, she had inadvertently pledged the lives of Andrew and James to the
dead girl.
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