Ghost stories

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1) The weather for the last two weeks has been extremely hot, so much so that I need to on the room’s air-condition full blast before I can enjoy a good night sleep. One night, at about 2.00 am, there was a sudden urge for me to urinate and having done that, I walked towards the window just to have a look outside. To my horror, I saw a ghostly figure of a man standing opposite my house and he was wearing a bow tie! I froze for a while and when I realized that he was staring at my direction, I pulled the curtain slowly to hide my face. And for a good ten minutes he was standing there before he disappeared into thin air.

I realized the next morning that this is a Hungry Ghost month where the gates of hell open to allow them to roam the world and for those who died untimely deaths, the opportunity to seek revenge. However, this ghost with the bow tie seemed to be a friendly one.

2) About three years ago, my third elder brother passed away unexpectedly at a relatively young age of 59. He owns a restaurant which has been doing pretty well as he has been working hard to ensure his business is well taken care of. Just as he is to reap his success, his life was snatched away right before my eyes. One Sunday afternoon, he called me to fetch him to the hospital as he was having difficulty in breathing that seemed like an asthmatic attack. And two days after admission, he was gone.

One night, as usual on a weekend, I was sitting on the sofa watching my favorite Astro programme past midnight, when I could smell something pleasantly nice coming from the kitchen. As this perfume smell was familiar to me, I knew instinctively my brother had come to ‘visit’ me as the fragrance was his favorite. I sat still on the sofa with tears rolling down my eyes as I recalled his last breadth, and not wanting to turn back to ‘see’ him.

3) This happened quit a long time ago.

Previously, during each Chinese New Year, I need to drive home to my hometown in the East Coast for the celebration and then on the third day, to drive to Ipoh to celebrate with my in-laws. And this journey requires me to drive to KL and then to Ipoh by using the trunk road.

One New Year, while driving back to KL and as I drove through the tunnel near Genting, I saw a ghostly shadow of a child on the wall and was wearing the full attire of the Manchu era of China! When I revealed this to my wife, she told me that it is bad luck to see a ghost during Chinese New Year.

As I reached KL, I received a call from my friend who happened to go back to Ipoh as well. Remembering what my wife had told me, I arranged to travel in his car. When we reached Kampar, my friend met with two accidents. His car windscreen was smashed by a flying stone and later when this was fixed, his car door got knocked by another car.

Is there a relation to what I saw and what happened to my friend’s car?

I shudder to think what would have happened to me and my family if I were to drive to Ipoh.

Will I meet with a more serious accident and survive?

Whether we believe in fate or faith, let us appreciate what we have and not take things for granted.