Friday, April 15, 2016

Drowned Ghost (溺死鬼)

My friend, Mark who stayed in Aulong New Village told me his personal experience with drowned ghost. If you have ever visited Aulong, you will notice several large abandoned mining ponds in that area. I used to fish for tilapia from the ponds with Mark too during our school days.

Mark mentioned of an incident that had happened to him when he was 12; and that he shall not forget it for the rest of his life. It was during a hot afternoon in April, Mark’s neighbor cum his best friend who was known as Hao was found drowned in the mining pool at the back of their housed in  Aulong New Village.

This unfortunate incident has stirred up the whole village and a sense of sadness permeated the local community. On the afternoon of incident, Mark’s mother told him that Hao did pay him a visit but Hao subsequently left after found out Mark was taking the afternoon nap. It was really a shock to hear the news of Hao drowning.

Another neighbor said Hao went to the mining pool to catch tilapia fish but due to some reasons, he suddenly sank into the water and after struggling for a while, Hao sank into the water. When help arrived, the rescuers finally managed to find Hao’s body but they found that Hao was already dead.

The most sorrowful person was certainly Hao’s poor mother. Mark heard that she has fainted many times… However, Mark dared not pay Hao the final respect because of two reasons: first, Mark’s mother forbade him to do so and secondly, Mark was quite afraid to look at Hao's corpse. He heard those who have attended the funeral said that they saw blood flew out from Hao’s ears and nose... this was an indication that Hao was not in peace.

After the funeral service, Hao’s family moved away hurriedly because they said Hao’s mother had attempted to committed suicide by the pool and the family members have no choice but to move away from this sorrowful place.

On the 7th day of Hao’s death, Mark suddenly woke up at midnight due the urge to pull. At that time, toilet and main house structure is normally separated in Aulong village. Anyone who needed to answer the call of nature MUST come out from the house and walk a small distance to the toilet. And Mark’s toilet was just situated at the back of his house; which is pretty near the pond that has drowned Hao.

So Mark had to go out of the house and into the toilet in the dark with torchlight. As he was squatting in the toilet, suddenly he heard very faint crying voice on and off. So Mark tried to peep through the toilet door seams… Well, toilets of those days were simple wooden structures coarsely nailed together using a few pieces of wooden planks.

Mark said that he had indeed regretted to peep outside… because there he saw a silhouette of a person stood by the backdoor of the already vacated house of his neighbor. Although Mark couldn’t see the face of the silhouette, he could identify it was Hao!

According to Mark, his stomach almost sucked back all his droppings as he felt a sense of chill rose from the base of his spine! Although Mark very much wanted to call Hao, he couldn’t raise enough courage to do so… further Mark found that he was so scared that both of his legs held fast to the ground. He stayed in the toilet until Mark’s mother found him inside the toilet the next morning.

According to Mark’s mother, she heard the crying sound too but she didn’t see any shadows around. Both of them decided to go to the neighbor’s house to investigate… And indeed, they found a pool of water and some muddy footprints there.

 After the incident, Mark got a job in Singapore and he decided to settle in there for good leaving his mother in Aulong. A few years later, Mark returned to Aulong to visit his mother and spent a night in his old house.

The next morning, Mark found some very familiar muddy footprints in front of his house and a pool of water. He suddenly remembered Hao… Mark’s feet started to tremble and wondered: “Who has visited his house early in the morning?”


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