Do You Believe In Ghosts?

The Chinese 7th month Hungry Ghost Festival is here soon. When I was little, I was confused and befuddled so I asked an innocent question and got pounded by elders for being disrespectful. All I said was if the people we knew went to Heaven after they have passed on then how come they got released from Hell during the 7th month? 

Yet I have know of people who are said to have the third eye as they see "things" that normal people don't and so they have told me that during the 7th month, they don't like to look around as from what they saw, they were unsure if they are humans or things from  another dimension, from the twilight zone: 


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKmySdCD77Y&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJ8Mp_08rwk (Manhattan Transfer)

We have also heard those scary stories on Rediffusion or watched ghost story on television: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGNt69zZx1Q  (Ghost Story, TV) or simply eavesdropping on the adults' conversation. Canals where children lost their lives were said to have been haunted by water ghosts and they spoke of where the "dirty" or haunted places were. It didn't help that those days, places were mostly dimly lit.


Do you believe in ghosts? Firstly, what are ghosts? Depends on whether what your religion teaches or superstition leads you into. Have you ever seen a ghost? It is safe for me to say that nine out of ten people has never seen one and the one who thought he has seen or heard one or had some eerie experience in all probability heard voices coming from a neighbour's house, saw a shadow due to light effects or frightened themselves silly through their own figment of imagination.

In real life, you ought to be more frighten of people than ghosts as there has been no reported cases of humans killed by ghosts but everyday humans are hurting or killing one another in one or more ways. People in general fear the dark and the unknown. They fear the dark because of the unknown. You grew up listening to ghost stories, reading books of horror or watching scary movies. You attended school camps and army camps where ghost stories were aplenty. You may have eavesdropped on adults' conversation as they shared their experiences or narrate another person's encounters. Or rumours of haunted places - the mysterious spiral staircase at the museum, the old vacant house at Punggol and the old Changi Hospital. There exists a big mystery. I bet you that every schools' toilets were haunted. Are there really ghosts?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTSV1roPW_I&feature=related  (Ghost Story, Movie)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqgB_NtLEU8 (Changi Hospital)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OibCh_MwLF4 (Salem's Lot)

If there are, are they some wondering spirit? Are they good or bad? The Westerners have their vampires and werewolves to wreak havoc, the Malays have their Pontianaks and the Chinese many other versions. When you watch a horror movie, which is more scary? Western or Asian? If Asian, which are the most scary? From Japan, Hong Kong or Thailand? 

Does the Pontianak attack Caucasians? Does the "ang moh" vampires and ghosts only attack their own kind? Now, in a globalised world with many people travelling like taking a bus, does Western ghosts bother Asians or Asian ghosts disturb Westerners?

I shall not be telling you ghost stories as in stories. In the course of the next few weeks or months, I shall be sharing with you real life encounters of the "strange" kind from personal experience, heard it first hand from those who has encountered so that we can ascertain and in case of hearing from the horses' mouth, to detect their pulse and if we saw fear in their eyes. Some folks don't even dare to talk about or discuss such things.


Urban legends or not, many also believe that when you talk and discuss this eerie subject, the spirits would be around us. They say that one should not be swimming during the Chinese 7th month because the "chwee kwee" (water ghost) will drag you to the bottom that's how people got drowned but ang mohs continue swimming without a clue? They also said that during this time, when someone calls out your name from behind at night, do not turn back or answer. No wonder some friends told me that they called out to me and everybody looked at them except me. Haha, just pulling your leg. Aargh!! Who's pulling your leg? Not me. Look below!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ae5XwkSguNI


Tales from the Crypt! Watch this space.....