Tribute to Hungry Ghost Festival

Being a "kampung" (village) boy originated from Perlis, I have been exposed to a lot of supernatural stories since I was a little boy. Most of the events occurred in Perlis.

I remember being told that a lot of Malays/Siamese in that area used to keep some kind of spirits for their protection in the olden days. As they passed away, their offspring do not carry on with the traditional practice anymore. So the spirits roamed freely.

The hill in Kangar town near the old Mahkota cinema is known to have a lot of spirits (keramat). Several people got lost on the hill in the past including some of my schoolmates in 1980s. My dad told me "bomoh" had to be called to assist when a skeptic got lost decades ago.

My family members had been exposed to supernatural elements as well especially my late mother who was exceptionally "sensitive".

I remember my sister telling me that she saw a lady ghost hanging around at the hall of a "kampung" house we used to live. She could not enter the room because there was a Buddha statue inside the room. Eventually, my family found out that the wife of a teacher who used to live there passed away.

When I was a little toddler, I used to fall sick every Thursday. Any other days, I was fine. Even the doctor was puzzled and joked that Thursday did not suit me. With the consultation of a medium, my family found out that an ancestor from Indonesia was seeking my family's attention. After praying, everything is back to normal ever since. My ancestor actually migrated from Indonesia.

When I was a boy I used to live in an area called Kampung Bakau which is next to Sekolah Menengah Perlis. That entire housing area was infamous as being haunted. There were several occasions that my parents saw weird things when staying there such as:

1. A hairy hand trying to grab my dad when he was watering the plants

2. My late mother saw someone that looked like my dad but "he" was not my dad.

3. My late mother saw someone that kept rushing into the toilet thinking "she" was my sister but "she" was not my sister.


The neighbours also encountered weird things around that area:

1. My neighbour's children saw kids with green face and red face playing with water at the sink.

2. Neighbours complained about hearing baby crying at night (Note: there were a lots of stray cats in that area too. So, it could be cats)

3. An old man was seen by the son of a neighbour when there's no old man in the house

4. A lightning stroke my sister's friend's room directly at the chair he used to sit. Eventually, a medium informed that the house was haunted and he had been living with a female ghost in the room.

I remember the late Pak Dollah who used to live in a nearby "kampung" told my parents that the area had a lot of suicidal/rape cases during the Japanese occupation. He even pointed out that the trees in front of our house and the back of our house used to be the suicide spots of 2 women.

I used to work in Cyberjaya for about 2 years plus and I used to pass by the infamous Lim Kok Wing Institute where there were a lot of accidents. All of the time I drove alone even after midnight. I had never encountered anything supernatural there but I knew it was a dangerous part of the road. I felt half asleep there once and almost had an accident when making a u-turn. Another dangerous part of the road is in front of NTT. I remember very well that someone died in an early morning accident there years ago. I only heard about security guards complaining about the lift in my former company going up and down by itself when nobody was around, as well as mysterious window tapping sound.

In my current company in PJ, I often have to work alone in the office. Sometimes, I can hear weird sound like someone typing using the keyboard when nobody was around. I even walked towards that section to check but found nobody. I believe the noise is caused by the temperature changes leading the windows frame to generate the noise. Strong wind often causes the gap of the windows to "whistle". I have got used to it.

In my apartment, I often hear the sound of marbles or something dropping after midnight too. I don't think it's something supernatural or rather I try to dismiss it. I believe there's a Malay family with a kid staying upstairs.

I am actually an in-between believer and non-believer. I believe because I have no doubt about what my family members encountered. Even my cousin who is a doctor and my uncle who is a former army have encountered supernatural stuff. I don't believe because certain encounters can actually be explained but our brains play trick on us sometimes.