Not so supernatural stories

[timebomb]

Hi,

It happened more than 30 years ago when I was working as a land surveyor in Ang Mo Kio. In those days, the development of Ang Mo Kio as a housing estate was in full swing. Bulldozers were everywhere and every second of the day, you can hear piling machines hammering H-piles into the ground. Manpower was cheap then and I had 5 workers in my team then. My mandore (leading hand) was a Malay who has been working as a survey worker for many years. He was a very devoted Muslim and a very good person. I say "good" not because he's religious but he's kind, generous and very hard-working. He hardly ever takes medical leave from work and on many occasions, he reported for work even though he was sick.

Anyway, he didn't turn up for work one day. Another of my workmen told me my mandore was sick. I didn't think much about it then. But when he still did not turn up for work after a few days, I began to make some enquiries. The other workers were reluctant to talk when I asked them what happened to my mandore. But they spoke in whispers among themselves.

I then asked one of my men, Khamis, who has been visiting mandore to take me to his house. He was reluctant at first but when I insisted, he agreed. In those days, I rode a motorcycle. So after work, Khamis and I rode our motorcycles to mandore's house. Mandore lived in an attap house somewhere in Kranji. It was a long ride. We weaved through many mud tracks
before reaching the house. It was already twilight when we arrived.

Mandore's wife greeted us when we arrived. She showed us into the house where mandore was lying on a mat in the living room. He looked very weak. I asked him about his illness and he said he suffered a heart attack. He was so weak his wife and daughter had to support him when he had to go to the toilet.

They invited me to stay for dinner. It was already dark after dinner. I was sitting on a sofa with the rest of mandore's family. Mandore himself was lying on the mat. Suddenly, he put his hand to his forehead and mentioned something about a woman appearing. His family and Khamis immediately seemed to know what was happening. Khamis went to mandore's side and held his hand. I didn't know what was happening but I went to mandore and held his other hand.

All of a sudden, Mandore gripped my hand very tightly and sat up. And he said, "Assalamalekum". I don't know what the term means exactly but I think it's Malay for "Greetings". Khamis replied "assalamalekum" to him too. All this while, mandore's eyes were closed. He then asked in Malay, "Who's the head of this house?" And Khamis replied "Sari" which was mandore's name. I can't remember the rest of what he said but basically, he asked for a lemon to be placed in a bowl of water and for a kris which he said Sari lent to a neighbour in the village some time ago.

So they brought a bowl of water with a lemon in it. And one of mandore's daughters ran to the neighbour's house to ask him to bring the kris. The neighbour showed up after a while with the kris in his hands. He was very nervous. When mandore knew the neighbour was there, he asked for the kris to be handed over.

Now, you have to understand that all this while, mandore who was normally a very soft-spoken person was speaking in a very aggressive manner. Although he was very weak when I first saw him, he was very strong when the so-called spirit possessed him. He gripped my hand very tightly and if he had decided to stab us with the kris, none of us would have been able to stop him.

Khamis tried to reason with mandore. He tried to stop the neighbour from handing over the kris to him. But mandore became very aggressive. He shouted loudly, "Kasi aku!!!" I(in English, that would be "give it to me"). The neighbour had not choice but to hand the kris over.

By this time, there was already a huge crowd standing outside the house by the window. Mandore snatched the kris from the neighbour's hand and unsheathed it. At that moment, his wife and daughters ran screaming into the kitchen. I was still holding mandore's hand. Truth be told, I would have ran for my life too but he was gripping my hand so tightly I couldn't get away

Mandore took the kris and stabbed the lemon in the bowl. He stabbed it so violently, the bowl cracked and the water spilled on to the floor. He then threw the kris out the window and the crowd scattered. At that moment, his grip on my hand relaxed. He fell back on to the mat, opened his eyes and when he saw me, he said, "Mr Loh".

A few days after that night, he reported back for work. I didn't dare ask him about his so-called possession. But years later, when I thought it was safe, I asked him what happened that night. But he couldn't remember a thing.

So, do I believe in possession? Do I believe there are ghosts? Honestly, no.
Because I know the human mind is a very highly complex organ. It does things to people which is sometimes hard to explain but not impossible to understand. My mandore was a believer and as with seeing ghosts, it always happen only to believers.

But it's an interesting "ghost story", nevertheless. Hope you enjoy it.

Loh K L

[timebomb]

It was a Saturday night. My wife and I had just finished watching a late-night show on TV and was just about to go to bed. Suddenly,we heard a twitching sound. It sounded as if someone was turning the knob on my bedroom door. We thought it was one of our daughters at first but when I asked, "Who's there?", there was no reply.

The twitching sound continued. I went to the door to investigate. The moment I reached the door, the sound stopped. I opened the door but there was nobody there. I checked and my daughters were both sound asleep in their bedrooms. I was puzzled but didn't think much about it.

I closed the door and went back to bed. And the sound started again. My wife was terrified. I asked again, "Who's there?". Again, there was no reply. I went to the door again and as before, the sound stopped the moment I reached it. And again, there was nobody there when I opened the door.

Now, I was beginning to feel a bit terrified too But hey, I'm a skeptic, remember. I don't believe in ghosts.

So I went back to bed again. And damn, the twitching sound started again. This time however, I sat up on my bed and listened very carefully. The sound appeared to be coming from the door but when I listened very carefully, it actually came from behind the dressing table that was just beside the door. I went to the table and moved it aside. Behind it, I found my daughter's pet hamster. It had escaped from its cage and was nibbling on the cardboard behind the dressing table. The hamster was very smart. When it detected my footsteps approaching, it stopped nibbling.

And that's all that is to it. If given the chance to investigate, many mysteries are easily solved. But with ghost stories, it's hard to solve the riddle because more often that not, it happened very long ago. And usually, the eye-witnesses never thoroughly investigate what they saw.

Loh K L

[timebomb]

When I was young, I believed in all sorts of mumbo-jumbo. Atlantis, the Bermuda triangle, Astral-travelling, out-of-body experiences, ghosts, spirits, reincarnation, UFO's, Bigfoot, spontaneous human combustion - you name it, I believed it. I thought I was into science and did a lot of research into these topics. I read all the books, so to speak.

I had a close friend then, called KC. He was a few years older than me and actually, he was the person who influenced me into believing all these mumbo-jumbo. KC and I had a great interest in the after-life. We talked about it often. We even once made a pact, that should either of us die, the one who's dead will try his best to communicate with the other still living.
We were young and full of life then. Never did we thought the pact may come to pass.

In November 1983, I received some really bad news. KC was working on an oil rig somewhere off the coast of Taiwan then. The work was fairly dangerous but the pay was damn good. The helicopter which was carrying him from the rig back to Taiwan crashed in a storm. KC was the only Singaporean on board. There were 14 passengers altogether, the rest of them all Taiwanese. They never found any bodies. A few days after the crash, they found parts of the helicopter washed up to shore. Up till this day, they haven't found anything else.

There were many nights when I stayed up in bed, thinking of the pact I made with KC. I wanted him to appear before me. I willed for his spirit to make some connection with me, to give me some sort of a sign. Something, anything.

But what did I get? A big fat zero. Nothing, zilch.

Loh K L

[vinz]

I used to live in a walk up apartment. We have intercom doorbell.

One day I came home late, and when I stepped in the house, my wife told me that the doorbell would ring a few times, just minutes apart, for a period then stop. Then it would start up another session. But there's never anyone at the door.

At first, I thought maybe some of the neighbours kids were trying to be funny. But when it started happening again when I was at home, I checked and indeed there was no one. I can see all routes of escape, if it was a prankster.

I called the guardhouse, which can see the entrance to the staircase to my unit if they saw anyone. They said no. We were on friendly terms with all the guards, so I told them what was happening and to pay particular attention to my stairwell and see if anyone goes in or out or there for the rest of the night.

It happened, one more time and again there was no one. (When I opened the door to check, I found one of the guards actually sat right in front of the stairwell entrance. Spoke to him briefly and could tell he was mildly spooked by the events. But he bravely stuck around there.)

To prevent being bothered all night, I took the intercom "phone" of the hook which would stop any ringing.

The next morning, I put the intercom back on and shortly after it started happening again. Being rational and skeptical, I figured it could be a wiring issue, so I got my tools and opened up the doorbell/intercom unit outside. However, I couldn't find any cause. In the end, I just disconnected the wires permanently and we never had the problem again. We never got round to having it fixed.

Epilogue: about a year later, we installed a battery powered, wireless doorbell (that you can get at the DIY shops/sections) but never experienced the same problem.

[vinz]

Around the same period (give or take a year?), my company moved office. The new office space was a used but seldom accessed store room in the building of our parent company. My marketing manager being somewhat superstitious said that the room had negative energy because of lack of live human occupation, and naturally the spirits in the building would congregate there, or used to. Or something like that.

One night, one of the girls stayed back alone to work. At midnight, she started hearing a breathing sound behind her. She got spooked because she sits at the far end from only entrance of the rather small but long office and even faces the door. There was no way someone could come in without her noticing. She turned to look anyway, but there was no one. All this time the sound would continue, but always seems to be behind her, no matter which way she turns. So she quickly packed and left.

The next day, she told a few closer colleagues, and the story eventually made it's rounds but I was one of the few who didn't hear about it. Unbeknownst to me, for a few weeks, no one dared OT too late.

Just a few weeks after that, I had to OT. Since I didn't know the story, I did not worry and was prepared to work past midnight.

Same as for the girl, at midnight, I started hearing breathing sounds behind me. Like the girl, I sit at the far end from the door, BUT i face away from the door. So I thought some colleague had returned to office without me noticing and was looking over my shoulder. I turned, and there was no one. Similarly, no matter which way I turned, the sound was always behind me and close by. I was spooked (goosebump), but my rational/logical nature dismissed the supernatural, though I was starting to worry. So I tried to track down the source... moving to different parts of the office to listen. Finally I discovered, it was our backup system. It is configured to start up at midnight, on the dot, to back up the data on our servers to a tape. From a distance, the tape recording device happens to make a sound like heavy breathing. The device sits just a few meters from our cubicles. And somehow, the acoustics of the room just makes it always sound like its behind us, unless we are standing almost right next to it.

Next morning, I recounted my story to some colleagues and that's when they told me about the girl's encounter. Naturally, she was relieved!

[leeruisheng]

This is a superstition account of mine.

Last time I used to have a mirror right infront of my bed. Sometime later when I've heard about a superstition that by doing so, when I'm sleeping, my soul will be out of my body and be trapped in the mirror and my soul cant return to my body so I cant wake up.
After hearing about this superstition, I begin to think about it everytime I go to sleep. And for a number of nights/weeks, I had insomnia. In the end I remove that mirror/re position it such that it is not facing me directly.

But the thing is that that mirror was already there since my younger days and always slept well. It's only after I have heard of the superstition story then I start to experience uneasiness.

[timebomb]

Have you ever been "pressed by a ghost"?

A couple of months ago, my brother-in-law told me he had this experience 2 nights in a row when he visited his old hometown in China. He was sleeping in his relative's bedroom when he suddenly woke up and felt completely paralyzed. He tried to move but his body was completely frozen. He wanted to shout for help but he couldn't make a single sound. It was a long while before he could move and by then, his body was covered with cold sweat.

He told his relatives about the experience and naturally, they called in the Toaist priests. They made some prayers, did some chanting and voila, my brother-in-law slept peacefully from then on.

You know, I'm an authority on this syndrome which the Chinese here calls, "pressed by a ghost". Why so, you ask? Because I'm been pressed by many times, so many I've lost count

It often happens when you go to bed completely exhausted. It is also likely to happen to you when you sleep in unfamiliar surroundings, like for instance, when you're in a hotel. In medical circles, it's known as "sleep paralysis". In the old days, people in Europe called it the "Old Hag syndrome". They believed then it's because an old witch is sitting on your chest. So you see, in the west, it's a witch, in the east, it's a ghost. It's all closely tied to culture.

With sleep paralysis, you will find yourself completely frozen. You can't move, not even a little finger. You may hear loud noises or even see an apparition. Obviously, if you're a ghost-believer, you will likely see a ghost. In the west, they often see aliens and some even claim to be abducted by them.

For me, it happens if I feel marooned. I had many experiences of sleep paralysis when I was doing my national service. In those days, my barracks was huge and there were only 3 of us national servicemen using it. I don't know how the barracks are like these days but then, we have our beds on one side of the room and our cupboards on the other. In the middle of the room was a ceiling fan. The nights used to be very warm so I would often pull my bed and position it right under the fan. And night after night, I was "pressed". It came to the point I don't even try to struggle. I just continued sleeping and wait for the feeling to pass. It will pass eventually.

My friend tells me it's the same with dogs. He said if you tie a dog to a lamp post in the middle of nowhere, the dog will become very restless and walk round and round the lamp post. But if you tie it against a wall, it will likely lie down and go to sleep.

For me, it's the feeling of insecurity that causes "sleep paralysis". I suppose I'm a highly-insecured person so it happens to me more often. I need to sleep against a wall or beside someone I can't sleep in the middle of a big room. It gives me a feeling of being marooned. I often hear loud noises when I'm "pressed", like as though there are many people running around me. But it's nothing to be afraid of. You don't even have to say a prayer. The feeling will pass. Just keep calm and go back to sleep.

Loh K L

[Alvin Koh]

I ever experienced Sleep Paralysis myself and I'm also a skeptic.

Both times I "saw" white semi-transparent feet stomping on/through my chest and body. In both cases, I was scolding hokkien vulgarities for disturbing my rest. In both cases, I had to close my eyes and relax to "wake up" - i.e. body to sync with the mind.

[Shaihulud]

I was once an oversea student in Perth and stayed at a student's hostel, after a period of a year, I moved on to find some other accomodation. It just so happens that new students, a few girls from Singapore would be staying in the same house. I had abit of fun at their expense and jokingly told them that the house was haunted .....a few months later, I heard that the place was haunted, especially the room I stayed in the girls moved out of the house and the news spreaded among the Singaporean/Malaysian students, in the end none of them wants to move in there. They had to let the place of students of other nationalities.

[hwchoy]

Now, I was beginning to feel a bit terrified too But hey, I'm a skeptic, remember. I don't believe in ghosts.
Loh K L

I don't equate a skeptic as a non-believer. by being non-believing, you are already subscribing to a belief system, believing and not believing are two sides of the same coin.

a skeptic to me means you are holding an open position, for me it means that there are insufficient reasons and data to lean towards one or another conclusion.

so when people ask me if I believe in ghost, spirits, gods, whatever, I simply have no meaininful answer.

[timebomb]

I don't equate a skeptic as a non-believer. by being non-believing, you are already subscribing to a belief system, believing and not believing are two sides of the same coin.

a skeptic to me means you are holding an open position, for me it means that there are insufficient reasons and data to lean towards one or another conclusion.

so when people ask me if I believe in ghost, spirits, gods, whatever, I simply have no meaininful answer.

Well, you are partly right, Choy. A sceptic isn't a non-believer - this is correct. He holds an open position - this is correct too. But that's a 3rd part you left out - a sceptic keeps an open mind but his mind isn't so open his brains fall out

You misunderstood the concept of an open mind, you see. To keep one's mind open is simply to give every argument a chance. In other words, if you are going to tell me there are ghosts, I would still listen to your story and give you a chance to prove your story is true. I won't say that you're wrong about the existence of ghosts until I've heard your story. But if you insist you saw "something" and you insist that what you saw is a ghost and that is the only evidence that you have, then I'm afraid I will have to dismiss your story because such evidence simply isn't good enough. We are postjudice and not prejudice. The word "postjudice" is coined by Carl Sagan, I think.

Keeping an open mind does not mean we believe everything exists. If that's the case, we can't even dismiss tales like the existence of Santa Claus.

With most ghost stories, it's usually impossible to find enough evidence to prove the story is wrong. As I've said earlier in the other thread, more often than not, the story took place long ago and the person who told the story isn't the actual eye-witness. Even if he was actually the person who saw the ghost, he is the only eye-witness and the details are always sketchy.

With sceptics, we say, the onus of proof is on the person making the claim. Science cannot prove there are no ghosts - it's up to those who say there are ghosts to prove they exist. And so far, what sort of evidence do they have?

Sceptics also say, "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence". To say there are ghosts is an extraordinary claim. If ghosts were real, it would mean there is an afterlife. It would mean something lives on after we die. Such a claim requires real hard evidence. Where is it then?

I wrote that I do not believe ghosts exist but this statement isn't based on a belief system. Yes I know, I used the word "believe". Honestly, a sceptic does not like the word "believe" but sometimes, he uses it out of habit, that's all. I should have said, "I know ghosts do not exist" but that would sound very arrogant, don't you think?

Actually, a good sceptic would say something like this, "There are probably no ghosts". But I know many who don't understand scepticism would jump at me on the word "probably". (In fact, one already has) "Aha!!", they would say, "There you are, it's only probably. In other words, you are admitting there is a possibility ghosts exist". That's what a good scientist would say too, you know. Over in Great Britain, the atheists have a campaign where they put slogans on public buses with the words, "There is probably no god. So stop worrying and enjoy your life".

To a sceptic, he understands the slogan perfectly. To say it's just "probably" is the right stand to take. Because we keep an open mind. Yup, anything is possible. All you have to do to make us believe your claim is to produce the evidence, that's all.

With ghosts, I would say "probably they don't exist". But you must understand my "probably". If you really want it in figures, it would be something like "99.999999% I don't think ghosts are real". If you ask me if the sun will rise tomorrow, I would also say "probably, yes". And the figure would be about the same for ghosts.

Loh K L

[timebomb]

I was once an oversea student in Perth and stayed at a student's hostel, after a period of a year, I moved on to find some other accomodation. It just so happens that new students, a few girls from Singapore would be staying in the same house. I had abit of fun at their expense and jokingly told them that the house was haunted .....a few months later, I heard that the place was haunted, especially the room I stayed in the girls moved out of the house and the news spreaded among the Singaporean/Malaysian students, in the end none of them wants to move in there. They had to let the place of students of other nationalities.

Interesting story. I've often thought that is the easiest way to bring down the price of a house you intend to buy. Just spread some ghost stories about the house around and the owner will never be able to sell it

Loh K L

[timebomb]

I have a relative who's rather superstitious. Actually, that isn't unusual. Here in Singapore, many people are superstitious.

My relative has 4 children. Not long after his first son was born, things went badly for him. His company folded and he lost his job. The stock market, in which he was an avid player, crashed. He lost a fortune.

Several years later, his second son was born. Things began to turn around for him soon after. The stock and property markets were booming again and he found a high-pay job in Brunei as a project manager.

My relative believes that his first son brought him bad luck. Although he does not admit it, as relatives, I can see he does not like his first son very much. Poor kid. It's none of his fault but he gets the blame. My relative dotes on the second one though, although the boy is somewhat of a brat.

You know, it's really kind of sad how people associate one event with another although there isn't a link at all between the 2 events. Yes, I know - the birth of a child is a momentous occasion, so it's natural that people will believe it also somehow brings along with it either good or bad fortune.

Once, I tried to make him understand that this is just all nonsense by telling him a story. I told him that one day, I had chicken rice for lunch in a coffee shop. After I finished my meal, I drove out of the car park and unfortunately, got involved in an accident with another car. From that day on, I never ate chicken rice in that coffee shop again. My relative laughed and said it was so stupid to believe something like that - what has the accident got to do with the chicken rice in the coffee shop?

He's right, you know. It's just so stupid.

Loh K L

[Mr.XP]

I ever experienced Sleep Paralysis myself and I'm also a skeptic.

Both times I "saw" white semi-transparent feet stomping on/through my chest and body. In both cases, I was scolding hokkien vulgarities for disturbing my rest. In both cases, I had to close my eyes and relax to "wake up" - i.e. body to sync with the mind.

i experience this while i was doing guard duty in NS. it was like the 7th mth then and aft i manage to wake up, i told one of my fellow guard duty personnel and he told me he experienced the same thing! no white figure or anything, jus paralysis when i tried to talk or move my body, nth happens.