German Doctor Vs Lord Of Death (德国医生与阎王)

There is an old grave situated behind now abandoned old German consulate at Chongqing (重庆), Sichuan Province, China. It is said the grave belonged to a German doctor by the name Dr. P. Assmy who died around 1800 if I have not mistaken.

According to a local legend, when the good old German doctor arrived at Chongqing; there were many people suffered from epidemic. So this doc used his modern medical knowledge of that time to save his Chinese patients; and as expected many lives were saved. The local people were certainly grateful of this kind hearted doc but by saving their lives. On the other hand, by saving lives; the doc also indirectly offended the ‘Lord of Death’ and this god of dead vowed to settle the numbers of lives that the doc has saved.

After the death of the doc, he was buried just behind the old German consulate that was built on a hilltop. There is a rocky lane that leads down the slope of the hill and it was once the main passage way that connected the Chongqing town and nearby village. As the story goes, many people mysteriously fell to their death when using this lane at night. The reason is that the Lord of Death wanted to take back the lives the good old German doctor saved. So, unless the number of casualties equals that of the death toll; the Lord of Death will not cease.

Luckily, the place is now more or less abandoned and the lane is no longer in used.

My local Taoist bro told me that anyone who passed through the lane should pray at the good doc’s grave for help and protection as this will protect the person’s soul from being taken by the Lord of Death. Since no one really knows what is the exact number of lives the Lord of Death is looking for, so it is best just to pray than sorry…

Perhaps this is one of the more interesting spiritual conflicts between the East and the West; where the Eastern Lord of Death vs the Western God… As to the question of who will win this spiritual tug of war; maybe no one really knows!

Love Magic Using Shy Plant (含羞草爱情术)

Do you know that shy plant leaf can be a potent ingredient in casting love magic? But think twice as the person you love now may be your pain-in-your-ass later! Do you want to live in limbo for the rest of your life?

The leafs of a shy plant can be used to cast love magic specifically for those marrying couple:

First one of the couple must get one hair from his/her partner and then tie a knot.

Then this person must wait until a full moon night.

At that time, he/she must go outside under the moon light and stands in front of a shy plant (Mimosa Pudica).

By holding the entangled hairs, the spell caster should make a wish that the two persons should live happily after the marriage.

After that, the hair is placed in the centre of one of the shy leaf and the leaf would shut automatically.

At this point, the person must quickly use a scissors to cut the leaf that holds the hairs.

After cutting the leaf, the person should immediately wrap the leaf with a piece of red cloth and tie the cloth up with a piece of red string.

Now, quickly bring the wrapped leaf back to the house and put it a box or container; and place it on one’s altar if he/she has one. If not, just hide the shy leaf in a secret place.

This love magic is very good if a marrying couple can do it together if they vowed to live and die together. But just a word of warning though:

Please think if this person is the one you love and wanted to live together for the rest of your life; otherwise you may find difficulty to get rid of him/her.

Of course, the magic will not work if you just want to have fun.

Please avoid fooling with other person’s life; or you will spoil your chances to get to know your soul mate.

Hachiojo Castle (八王子遗迹)

An old man told me that it is best just to walk up the trail and not walk down. Because walking down will not only bring bad luck; but spirits in the forest may also follow the person back.

The Hachiojo castle is one of eight renowned historical sites in Japan but unofficially; this castle is believed to be haunted.

Actually, Hachiojo Castle is built on the peak of a hill. Normally hill top castles are mainly built during the warring period for defence purposes; and as with all historical warfare incidents in Japan, there would be many casualties. The worse scenario is that if the castle is concurred by the enemies, the soldiers would either be killed or committed suicide. It was said that this Hachiojo castle has seen a horrible war involving 20,000 strong men.

According to history, the Hachiojo Castle has a tragic ending. Hojo Ujiyasu (北条氏康) asked his 3^rd son, Hojo Ujiteru (北条氏照) to build the Hachioja Castle to defend against the attack of Takeda Shingen (武田信玄). About 3 years after the castle is built, Takeda Shingen attacked the Hojo family. At that time Hojo Ujiteru escaped to Odiwara Sastle (小田原城) and the Hachiojo Castle was taken by the enemy. The defending generals were either committed suicide by harakiri (切腹) or died by then; and all women in the castle committed suicide. After the wall, Hachiojo Castle is abandoned until today.

It was said that the water of this waterfall turned red and flew for 3 days and 3 nights... And this waterfall is haunted!

As described by a description board at the site, when the Hachiojo Castle was concurred by Takeda Shingen, the generals and women committed suicide at a waterfall nearby. It was said that the water few from the waterfall was red in colour for 3 days and 3 nights.

There is a small incident that happened to me at the waterfall. I was some sort of lost while hiking to the waterfall. So, I waited for my friend to get me… And suddenly I heard the disembodied voice of a woman humming a song. It sounds like: “he.. He… HE… HE.. he…”

I thought it was the wind but later my pals told me that many people also heard the disembodied voice especially at night. Just as when we were talking at the waterfall, the voice was heard again and we all quickly left the place for good…

The Evil Ou-ba-sang (邪恶的欧巴桑)

My Japanese and Taiwanese friends call old busybody ladies as ‘ou-ba-sang’. Not so long ago, employment is a lifetime engagement just like marriage in Japan. A person’s first job would also be his/her last job naturally; switching employment was almost never heard of in those days. My friends did tell me about their experiences with an evil ou-ba-sang spirit during their stays in a hotel situated at a lake near Mount Fuji. You heard my words right: not just one friend, but many! I just list down some of the more exciting ones to share:

A couple stayed in the said hotel for a few nights during their honeymoon. During their last night, when they were soundly sleeping under a piece of thick blanket; the wife dreamed of an old lady came to her and pulled the blanket away and in a half-awaken state, she kept her eyes shut and continued to sleep. After a while, she shivered due cold and she thought it was her husband who had pulled the blanket all to himself during slumber. So, the lady tried to push her husband with her hands but maintained shut eyes. To the lady’s surprise, all her pushes have failed to reach her husband. It seems that her husband was not beside her… Reluctantly this lady opened her eyes and only to find herself sleeping in the hotel corridor outside of her room!

In the morning, a hotel housekeeping lady told the couple that the wife’s ordeal was caused by the restless spirit of an ou-ba-sang who worked under the previous hotel owner but committed suicide when the new owner took over the building and asked the ou-ba-sang to take early retirement. After all, the ou-ba-sang was already in her 70’s at that time.

A friend arranged a trip for his parents to visit Mount Fuji. It was a coincident that he booked the said hotel and his parents stayed on the second floor.

At night, my pal’s mother suddenly heard a voice whispering beside her ear: “Wake up and follow me…”

In a dreamy state, the mother opened her eyes and saw an ou-ba-sang standing beside her bed. She recalled later that she couldn’t resist the ou-ba-sang’s call and as the ou-ba-sang turned her back and walked towards the corridor while she followed the ou-ba-sang at the back. So, as my pal’s mom walked, and walked until she felt a sudden pain on her cheeks.

It was due to pains that the mom opened her eyes only to find her husband standing in front of her continued to slap on her cheeks. Before she come to her senses; her husband shouted: “Are you trying to jump down from the balcony?”

Only now the mom opened her eyes, she found herself standing at the edge of a railing under which was a deep ravine…

My pal said if it was not due to his dad, his mom would have jumped down from the second floor into the ravine… interestingly speaking, that was the place where the ou-ba-sang fell to her death many years ago… It seemed that she wanted someone to accompany her to stay in the hotel for all eternity…

Another Use Of Tofu (豆腐的妙用)

Obviously, tofu is a type of food that we consume or used in Asian cooking…

There is a Chinese saying: 吃人豆腐 which means ‘taking a lady’s advantage’.

In Taoist offering to spirits, tofu is a must item; and do you know that we can use tofu to attract ghosts?

The method is simple:

You will need a few pieces of big tofu, a bell, some incense sticks, joss papers, some flour or chalk and 1 ~ 5 pieces of soul banners (招魂幡).

You will also need at least 2 players including you; but best if you can get 5.

The best place to perform this game is in a cemetery or a known haunted place and the time should be after 9pm.

First, at the designated place and time, the tofu pieces are placed on the floor and 3~5 pieces of incense sticks are plugged into the tofu. After that, spread the flour/chalk around the tofu evenly. Then some joss papers are thrown into the air to open the spirit portal (开路).

One of the participant should hold the bell and sound the bell slowly and best if he/she could chant some mantra, this would tell the spirits that the food is served and they shall come ASAP.

While the companions hold the soul banners and walked towards the 4 directions slowly. If anyone feels his/her arms felt heavy; that is the sure sign that the spirits are gathering. There should be some wind or breeze too. At this point, the person who holds the soul banner should return to the starting point and plug the soul banner into the floor.

Now, everyone can start inspecting the surface of the flour/chalk and there should be some patterns that resembles footprints but the sizes could be smaller than the human feet.

There are many explanations to these mysterious patterns:

It could just be that the ground is wet and the flour/chalk that has absorbed the ground moisture and forms some interesting patterns. Whatever case that might be, please just treat this as a game if you chose to play it. Please also remember to burn away all of the banners and joss papers before returning. This is to prevent any spirits from following you back.

Dwarf Imperial Army (小皇军)

My pal Richard and his wife went to Japan for a tour and they stopped over at Osaka for a few days.

At the meantime, the couple stayed in a hotel beside a very famous noodle shop.

All went well and they enjoyed the sightseeing trip very much and only to return to their room to rest.

In the middle of the night, Richard faintly heard some thumping noise came from the left side of the room wall. He thought it was the noise of hot water pipe shaking; which is normal when the boiler has just heated up. So Richard continued to lie in the bed and tried to shut his eyes…

Then the thumping noise became more audible. Now the thumping noise resembles the marching noise of a troop of soldiers. It was ‘thump, thump, thump…’ sound of leather boots storming the ground in a rhythmic order. Slowly the ‘thump, thump, thump…’ became louder which caused Richard to fix his gaze on the left wall. Not long after that, he saw a trop of soldiers in WWII Imperial Army uniform marched out from the left wall. The soldiers were about 3 feet tall. They marched in the mid of the air and slowly passing Richard and his wife who were still lying in the bed.

Richard wanted to turn his body so that he could wake up his wife but he just couldn’t move or open his mouth. Some invisible force seemed to have taken control of him. So, Richard could only watch the dwarf Imperial Army procession passing him and his wife in the mid of the air.

Gradually, the procession entered into the wall on the right side. And row by row of ghostly Imperial Army disappeared into the opposite wall and as the last row of soldiers disappeared into the wall; so are their thumping sound of their boots…

Finally, the thumping noise subsided and Richard found the binding force on him has also gone. So he jumped out from the bed and rushed to inspect the walls on both sides of the room but he found no traces of any sort. Richard’s action stirred his wife from her slumber and she asked what Richard was doing. At this point, he could only squeeze out a bitter smile; he just couldn’t tell what he just saw to his wife. There was no sign or no proof whatsoever.

One afternoon when I happened to meet Richard in a coffee shop, he just poured the strange incidents onto me and wanted some explanation to the ghostly phenomena he saw in Osaka hotel.

Personally, I think what Richard saw was only a snap shot of images somehow ‘recorded’ from the past and this image was ‘released’ when the temperature, time and humidity are right. Since the ghostly figures did not react to Richard’s presence; it is safe to assume that they have no intelligence and they are just mirages of the past.  

Aisa’s Piano (爱莎的钢琴)

There is a now abandoned hotel in Shizuoka Prefecture (静冈县), Japan where the famous Mount Fuji is situated, the hotel was the house of a haunted old piano. Since the hotel was abandoned for more than 30 years and this story was told to me many years later by a pianist who happened to have visited the hotel during its operations; I have no idea if the piano or hotel still exist today.

Janet was a pianist who happened to know the hotel owner, Yamamoto and she did visit the gentleman during her piano performances in Japan. During Janet’s visit, Yamamoto invited her to stay in his hotel for as long as she wished free-of-charge. Janet was certainly delighted. So after completing her performances around Japan, she made it a point to have a short stay in Yamamoto’s hotel. Since the hotel is situated near Mount Fuji, Janet could spend her sweet time to visit areas around Mount Fuji. According to Janet, she disliked the hectic schedules of ordinary tour agency and Yamamoto’s kind offer came in just in time.

Finally, Janet found herself set her foot in Yamamoto’s hotel and she was warmly greeted by Mr. Yamamoto. After the dinner, Yamamoto excused himself due to his other business matters but he assigned his niece to attend to Janet’s needs. Before Yamamoto left, he suddenly said to Janet: “You can treat my hotel as if your own house but pardon me, whatever you do; please don’t play the piano you saw in the main hall… it belonged to my late wife, Aisa. I know you might be tempted to try…”

Janet gave Yamamoto her scout’s honour and Yamamoto left through the front door.

Days in Japan get dark very fast during winter. There was nothing Janet could do except to watch TV and chat with Yamamoto’s niece and due to curiosity, Janet enquired about the old piano. The young girl said:

“My aunty Aisa was also a pianist and the piano was Yamamoto’s present to her. She loved the piano so much that she never allowed anyone to play the piano without her permission. However, she committed suicide many years ago after uncle Yamamoto had an affair with a prat-time pianist. Hotel attendants found aunt Aisa leaned over the piano keyboard lifeless with an empty sleeping pill bottle… Apparently she had an overdose of sleeping pills and she wanted to play her last tune before she dies…”

Having said that, Yamamoto’s niece excused herself leaving Janet and a few attendants in a large hotel. Since Janet has nothing to do and no one was watching her; Janet thought she just try to play some tunes with the piano… well, no one would know and what harm could be done with some harmless tunes? After all, Janet was not a believer of supernatural stuffs. So Janet put her thought into action and she went to the piano and tried some of her favourite tunes.

After playing the first tune, Janet paused for a while to quench her thirst. At this time, she heard a series of footstep noise descending the hotel staircase. Janet thought it was just another hotel guest but she couldn’t see anyone came down from the staircase though.

Janet continued to play a few more tunes and suddenly her sight was fixed on the window curtain in front of her… the curtain moved without any apparent wind… No one would open the door or switch on a fan in winter time at night.

Just as Janet’s wandered about with her hands on the keyboard, the piano top cover suddenly slammed down with a loud bang which made Janet transfixed with shock on the piano stool.

Before Janet was herself again, she smelt the scent of lady’s perfume and a soft whisper near her ear: “Pardon me…”

As recalled by Janet later, she said perhaps the strange incident would not have happened if she just asked for permission first.

Granny’s Mysterious MIA Search (奶奶的妙法)

My friend, Chong went missing after his Bukit Hijau herb hunting trip last week. He went into the forest with a group of 5 people and a guide.

The guide only found Chong dropped off the trail when he was taking the headcount half way to the peak of the hill.

At first people thought Chong was releasing himself at the back of a bush but after waiting for some time; Chong was still not in sight. So the group decided to descend down to foothill just in case Chong was already down there. To their disappointment, Chong was not seen at the foot of Bukit Hijau. Before the guide decided to contact the authority for a search and rescue mission, one of the group member saw that there was a small shrine opposite the car park.

The group lead, Lee thought it is no harm just to go into the shrine to ask for a divination as to Chong’s whereabouts. No one wanted to follow Lee, so he went alone.

As soon as Lee set his feet into the shrine, a granny was in the shrine sweeping the floor. The granny saw Lee and asked him of his intention.

After Lee told the granny of the missing of his team member, Chong; the granny asked Lee to handle her Chong’s clothing and she would pray to the Datuk spirit of the shrine to help. Luckily, Chong has left his jacket in Lee’s car and Lee hurriedly fetch the jacket and passed to the granny. As soon as the granny got hold of Chong’s jacket, she started to kneel down in front of her altar and start chanting for quite a lengthy of time. She at times nodded her head and at times she shook her head; but the granny’s eyes remained shut during her prayer. Finally, granny opened her eyes and asked Lee to give her two coins. Lee complied to her request and the granny said: “Follow me!”

Out of curiosity, Lee asked his team members to wait at their cars just in case Chong returned; and he himself followed the granny to hike up the Bukit Hijau trail.

Though the granny looked aged, she could hike pretty fast while Lee could only follow at her back. Interestingly, whenever the granny reached a trail junction, she would put down Chong’s jacket on one of the trails and flipped the coins. She only picked the trail that was ‘chosen’ by the coins, i.e. the coins must show a head and a tail. So the granny repeated the process every time they came to a junction until they came to a place blocked by a tree broken half.

According to the granny, the place with tree broken into half is the dwelling place of the mountain god. Again, the granny started to kneel down in front of the broken tree and prayed earnestly just the way she did in the shrine.

Finally, the granny opened her eyes and told Lee that the mountain god has kept Lee behind the fallen tree as a punishment. Though a little disbelieved, Lee went to the back of the fallen tree and there he heard the moaning voice of Chong came from below a slope.

Looked like Chong has accidentally slipped and fall during the hike. Since the incident happened so fast and the jungle trail was slippery, there wasn’t time for Chong to shout for help. Whatever case that might be, everyone was glad that Chong was finally ‘lost and found’ though in quite a mysterious way just as how he got lost.

Until today Chong still doesn’t know how he has offended the mountain god. Since the granny didn’t say; and he didn’t ask either.

Sick Tree & Feng Shui (病树与风水)

I have said this before and I am going to say this again:

“Please pay particular attention to the condition of plants especially trees around your house for your own good…”

Perhaps what annoyed Westerners more is that Chinese likes to cut down trees around their houses. This is true due to Feng Shui reasons especially when a sick tree is around.

Basically a sick tree and a dead tree can bring very bad consequences to dwellers of a house.

If a sick tree is dying and in the process of decaying with sap oozing from tree trunk or root; then people in the house will suffer from sore related sicknesses. The location and size of the sores will depend on the location where tree sap came out from the tree. Whoever would be affected would depends on the location of the tree with reference to the house. If the sick tree is not removed in due time, then the sick will definitely die of blood related illnesses. As to when the ill effects of sick tree will attack will also depends on the zodiac animal and the arrival of flying star.

Dead tree on the other hand, will bring bad luck to due to dead chi which is bad for health and business…

Of course, all the talk mean nothing without a real life example.

Just fairly recently I received a call from Mr. Ho. His problem is that first it was his 65-year-old father suffered from unknown bad sore at his left leg, after a while; his mother too suffered from sore related issues at her legs… then Mr. Ho’s youngest sister also suffered from sore at her leg… A series of incidents made Mr. Ho think that the incidents are Feng Shui related.

After hearing Mr. Ho’s complaint, I knew that the series of issues were caused by sick tree and the location is at the northeast direction.

I told Mr. Ho my conclusion. Indeed, he agreed that his father’s house is indeed facing northeast direction, further just a few weeks ago; a mango tree was being chopped down due to termites leaving one foot of tree root protruding above the ground. As expected, tree sap still flew out from the tree root. Incidentally speaking, tree root represents a man’s legs. No wonder whoever stayed in the house suffered from sores at legs!

The remedy is simple too, the reminder exposed tree root must be excavated clean and the sore problems shall be cured with medication.

So, it is good to plant trees but remember to remove them when they are dead or sick. Please remember too to uproot the tree completely to avoid any side effects for your own good.

Fated (命中注定)

According to the arts of astrology, we cannot change what is fated to us.

Many scientific minded people would say astrology is superstitious and unfounded.

Many people yelled out: “My fate is in my hands!”

And many, many more…

To me, when it is fated; there is no escape. There is only misinterpretation of an astrology reading, unless one’s date and time of birth are wrong of course.

There is a Chinese saying:

“命里有时终须有，命里无时莫强求。”

“What is fated shall be given, there is no need to be persistent.”

This certainly sounds pessimistic, but I assure you that there is some truth in it:

My friend, Kenny spent many efforts to find his soulmate according to the principle of astrology.

One day, he hurried to my place and shown me the date of birth of a lady said to be his soulmate. It was a lady born in 1990 who matched all that are described to be rich and beautiful. Since Kenny did spend quite some time in the study of astrology so I just skimmed through Kenny’s calculation and indeed, his soulmate seemed to possess ‘heavenly ethics’ and quite well to do too…

I did tell Kenny that he is not fated to have decent soulmate before but he wanted to prove me wrong. Maybe this time, Kenny wanted to show off in front of me and made me apologize to him.  So, I gave him a big bow and not forgetting to congratulate Kenny on his ‘rare finding’.

As expected, soon the news of Kenny’s approaching marriage came to me. Just before I gave Kenny a call, he called me instead…

“What would it be if my soulmate’s year of birth is in 1991? I just looked at her identity card and she is born in 1990 and not 1991?” Kenny asked eagerly.

I answered lazily while checking on the calculation…

“Well, if the year of birth is indeed in 1990, your soulmate would be your pain-in-the-ass! Hahaha…”

Kenny: “What can I do now?”

“Pray… or get a divorce to lose 50% of your property or lose your life… Hahaha…”

Kenny: “…”

As expected, Kenny did marry the lady and only to learn that the lady is the sister of a local mafia group… And indeed, his wife is Kenny’s biggest pain-in-the-ass now!

Gui Lou Vs Ghost (鬼佬与鬼)

Cantonese like to call a foreigner ‘gui lou’ or ‘ghost man’ since foreigners come to Guangdong Province now and back in history. Since we have read that Asians probably can’t cope with western ghosts very well, can a ‘gui lou’ tackle Asian ghosts instead? I am sure that would be an interesting thought. Anyway, just hold on to this thought and let me continue and tell me your opinion at the end of the story:

I used to have a habit to linger in Petaling Street, Kuala Lumpur while I was staying in Subang Jaya. So happened that my pal has a budget hotel in Petaling Street, so I would just spend a night at his hotel when it was too late to take a bus back. Of course I didn’t need a room to spend a night but just a couch or armchair would be sufficient.

The hotel receptionist counter was situated under a staircase and my pal was kind enough to put an armchair there for me to rest. So while I was sleeping in the background, the receptionist would be sitting in front of the counter overseeing hotel guests and visitors from entering and leaving.

One night as I was lying in the chair, a Chinese couple came to the front desk to rent a room and the receptionist gave them Room 3-11; and the couple checked in happily.

About half past one in the morning, the Chinese couple rushed to the front desk scantily cladded to complaint that there were ‘something’ running in their room. According to the couple, while they were soundly asleep, they heard footsteps of people running around their bed. The man switched on the desk light but found nothing was wrong so they continued to sleep. About half an hour later, the couple felt that their blanket was yanked by some external force. Both of the came out from their bed to investigate. And again, they found nothing… So they demanded to switch room.

On hearing the complaint, the receptionist, Mr. Ooi nodded his head and call the porter to assist the agitated couple to move to another room.

I thought the incident was over so I continued to sleep while Mr. Ooi doze off over the desk.

Not long after that, a British couple came to the front desk to look for a room. The good old Mr. Ooi gave them Room 3-11 and the couple left the front desk and headed towards Room 3-11…

After the British couple was out of sight, Mr. Ooi turned his head and whispered to me:

“Let’s see if the ‘gui lou’ have any problems!”

Out of curiosity, I asked Mr. Ooi: “What about Room 3-11?”

“Oh, someone committed suicide in the room last year and it is haunted!” Said Mr. Ooi.

I couldn’t really sleep that night, so after the British couple checked in; I started to chat with Mr. Ooi.

It was 5am and I felt thirsty and thought of going down the street to get some drinks. So I asked Mr. Ooi if I could bring him anything…

Just before I could open my mouth, the British couple rushed to the front desk and complaint about ‘someone jogging upstairs’ throughout the night… They want Mr. Ooi to ask ‘whoever upstairs’ stop exercising…

After some assurance, the British couple went back to the room.

At this point, Mr. Ooi turned his head towards me and said: “Looks like even gui lou cannot communicate with gui (ghost)… Hahaha…”

When East Meets West (东方人遇西方鬼)

Now days people in the east can migrate to the west and likewise. This has caused many cultural shock problems physically and also spiritually.

I have a Hong Kong college mate, Jane who has migrated to Vancouver, Canada some 10 years ago. Just recently she dropped me a mail after visiting my MagicSEA blog to share her true ghost encounter:

Jane has bought a double story house near seaside just outskirt of Vancouver city. Many Hong Kong Chinese like to migrate to Canada and USA because they can buy big houses with affordable prices.

So Jane got her dream house with a car garage at the side. This is her dream house that Jane would otherwise couldn’t afford to buy in Hong Kong.

All went well for the first month after Jane settled in the house. After a while, she found something peculiar about her dream house…

At first Jane could some footstep noise as if someone was strolling to and fro in front of her bedroom. She sworn that she was not dreaming because her bedroom is on the second floor and the floor was constructed by wooden planks. If anyone would walk on the wooden corridor at night, then the cracking noise of planks under certain weight obviously could not be mistaken.

At the beginning it was just the footstep noise outside the corridor, but gradually someone or ‘something’ started to knock on Jane’s bedroom door… to be exact, something was actually start knocking on each of the room door in the house; not just Jane’s alone.

Jane thought that the 5 room house was indeed too big for her, so she asked her mother to fly over to accompany her.

Just as before, the first few weeks after the arrival of her mother, the strange knocking and footsteps stopped. But before Jane could celebrate, the knocking incidents occurred again…

Only now the haunting seemed to intensify. At night, Jane could now feel a presence in her bedroom after the knocking on her door. It is always the footsteps, the door knocking and then a foul odour that resembles stinky salted fish or sweaty socks. Slowly Jane said that she feels a presence moving around her bed until one night, she felt a cold breeze blew into her bed and she was frozen solid. Jane struggled but she could only roll her eyeballs. Gradually Jane fell into slumber after some struggle and only to wake up in the morning.

Such incident has become a routine until Jane said that she just ignored the presence in the house. Though Jane kept her secret, her mom found there were something wrong with her daughter and she finally managed to invite a Taoist from Hong Kong to perform exorcism.

An exorcism ritual was carried out by the Taoist, but after some communications, the Taoist said that he couldn’t exorcise the spirit in the house because it was the previous owner of the house. According to some unwritten law, whoever comes first; is the owner of the house. So the Taoist could only chase the spirit out to the garage and let it stay put in the garage.

Unfortunately speaking, Jane’s peaceful days only lasted for one month as the spirit returned to the house again.

A second Taoist was summoned and again the spirit was bound in the garage… and again, the spirit broke the boundary after a month later…

I supposed by now Jane has grown accustomed to the spirit in the house. So I advised her to just let the spirit as it is for now until she really cannot stand it anymore. For I am sure Jane would move back to Hong Kong some point in time…

The Secret Fan (特别的粉丝)

To the outside world, an entertainer would like to have as many fans as possible. But there are some fans that no entertainers would like to have; this is especially true for those fans with extreme compulsive behaviours. These fans would do anything just to show the entertainer/star belongs to them even up to the stage of die-die together using whatever means possible… Now, there is another kind of fans from ‘the other side’ that could give the entertainer as much headache as their worldly counterpart…

Ben is a well-known local movie star and he had his fair share of experience with a bizarre fan. Ben’s experience is best told in his own words:

“Naturally that I too have my fair shares of local fan groups but never had I known that ‘people’ from the other side do enjoy my movies as well…

A few years ago, I received a letter from a young girl expressing her interest on me. Since it is my custom to reply to any letters written to me when I have the time, so I replied to her letter. Perhaps it was not so wise to do so because as soon as I responded to the first letter, the girl sent the second, the third and so forth… Since the content of the letters was no other than that she wanted to be with me; I gradually got agitated. Not that I have not met this girl, I don’t really know her at all… after all; I was busy with my movie shootings at that time.

Since there is a return address at the back of the girl’s letter, and that the girl just stayed outskirt of KL; I decided to pay the girl a visit and to ask her not to write any more letter. So I found an empty time slot that I could just drop by the girl’s house one afternoon and indeed I was at the girl’s front door after an hour’s drive from my company.

After I pressed onto the door bell, an old lady opened the door. She looked bewildered and she asked: “Who are you looking for?”

“Oh aunty, is Mei in? I am Ban, “I replied.

The old lady looked at me queerly and said: “Are you joking, Ben?”

Since the old lady looked quite serious, I thought I just explain further: “No, aunty. Mei wrote to me many times. Today I happened to be around so I just drop in to say ‘hi’…”

After finished my words, I handled a pile of letters to the old lady to show that I mean business.

The old lady held the letters in her hands and started to inspect them one by one carefully. After flipping over the letters for quite a while, she raised her head and said to me:

“Oh, forgive me Ben. Mei is my daughter and it is indeed her handwriting… but she passed away a year ago. She was certainly a diehard fan of you. I put your photo in her coffin myself…”

On hearing the old lady’s words, I felt as if something has smacked my nape and a sense of chillness came up from my spine but I manage to reason out perhaps it was someone playing pranks using Mei’s name. So I made an apology to the old lady and hastily excuse myself.

More strange things entailed on the following night…

I used to check on my Facebook page before going to bed just to catch up with my fans and friends alike. And against all odds, there was a message from a person called ‘Mei’ and she wrote:

“Why did you disturb my mother this afternoon?”

At this point, I still think that someone is playing a joke, so I wrote back:

“Who are you? Mei is dead…”

And the reply came: “This is Mei and do you know how much trouble I got just to send you letters and messages? I know you slept with your girl last night after you both ordered some pizza…”

 I almost fainted! I didn’t tell anyone about what I did last night…

Then Mei sent me another message: “Don’t worry… I am leaving. See you soon…”

There were no messages from Mei since the last one but… My girl got pregnant and we hastily arranged a marriage.

The night before my wife went into labour, she told me that she had a dream. In the dream, a girl said she was Mei…

So you see, Mr. Liew. This is the reason I ended in your house at this odd hour. What should I do with the baby?”

Let None Stay (不留没错)

Feng Shui information already flooded our mass media for a very long time. This is especially true in Southeast Asia, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and the Western world.

Personally, I think the topic of Feng Shui is already at such a worrisome stage that some attention should be paid to. At least potential student in Feng Shui should be given a proper exposure to classical Feng Shui calculations and theories. There are just too many fragmented Feng Shui books flooded the market now days until no one can really grasp the basic idea behind true Feng Shui. Many aspired people asked me to recommend some good Feng Shui books but I just couldn’t… for I don’t really read those books in the market, especially those written in English. There are difficulties in describing some Feng Shui terms in the language other than classical Chinese unfortunately.

There is a saying that goes like this:

十个先生门前过，留亦错不留亦错！

10 masters passing my house, it is wrong if I stop them; it is also wrong if I don’t!

The above has shown that it is very difficult to find a good Feng Shui master since old days; more so in this modern time?

Perhaps the words should be changed to:

十个先生门前过，不留包没错！

10 masters passing my front door, it is safe that I kept none!

I am pretty confident the second sentence is 100% correct today. Many good Feng Shui masters never come out to provide their services and they normally kept their profile very low. Most of these Feng Shui masters only serve their own clans though there are some exceptions; but rarely. As I am aware, these low profile masters are not rich. Many of them prefer to wake up early in the morning and cycle to the nearest garden to exercise and after that, they would gather with a few friends to enjoy breakfast. This is really contrary to the Feng Shui masters that I have come across in Asian countries where they would drive big cars and talk big.

My Feng Shui knowledge stays within my family only as it is difficult to teach outsiders. It is not that I am selfish but I can train my kids to learn an art from small when they don’t mind some scolding. Normally kids would stay with their parents for more than a decade and this is the exact timing that is required for a person to master the basic of Feng Shui… Likewise, I cannot teach an outsider for 10 years… he/she shall not have this type of patience. Many people wouldn’t last for even 3 months…

Hence until now, I have no plan to teach anyone for the moment at least. It is best to let such knowledge forgotten in time than transmitting a polluted version of it.

From Winner To Loser (从精英到失败)

You know, once upon a time, people who were able to work in MNC electronic firms in Penang Free Industrial Park were thought to be creams of the society and they were high and mighty. When you talk to them, their eyes would be looking upwards rather than looking at you. I am not about to put any more cynical remarks on these folks as their good time is over. What I am interested to tell you is a bizarre story about a senior manager, Mr. Tan.

During the beginning of millennium, an electronic firm with initial ‘I’ were expanding rapidly in Penang. The company built one factory building per year for a consecutive of a decade; and Mr. Tan was the person in charge of this rapid expansion. It was a local custom that prior to construction projects, a sumptuous offering session would be in order. However, since Mr. Tan is not local to Penang and he is not a believer in supernatural things; not only he scorned at the suggestion, he also forbade his fellow workers and contractors to set up any forms of worship at work site.

Now, Mr. Tan was a high-flyer in his company and he was pretty respected amongst his fellow workers. It was said that he was the ‘next in-line’ in the top company management…

Due to Mr. Tan’s very important position in the company, he was given a brand new company car to facilitate his position as the project manager of several construction projects. Just as everyone was jealous about Mr. Tan’s success, an unexpected incident happened:

During one of Mr. Tan’s site survey trips, he dropped by a petrol station to refill his tank. Suddenly his car caught fire unexpectedly with him trapped in his car. Although the station workers and passer-by tried to put off the fire, the fire was too fierce to be handled and fire brigade was called. When the fire was finally put under controlled, Mr. Tan’s brand new car was completely burnt to bare bone. Luckily this Mr. Tan was pulled out by a worker at the last minute. Though he was escaped unharmed, Mr. Tan did inhale much of the smoke and he was sent to hospital for observation.

Everyone thought Mr. Tan’s ordeal was over and he finally returned to his office. Though Mr. Tan seemed to quite himself in his work, everyone worked with him could feel that this Mr. Tan is not the Mr. Tan that he/she used to know. Many of his instructions to his fellow workers were quite harsh and plans were changed at the last minute. Consequently, many of the projects were delayed and underestimated. As I heard, this poor Mr. Tan was put in ‘cold storage’ until he left the company.

Please bear in mind, before the fire incident, Mr. Tan was a sharp and capable person and he could manage multiple projects at one time. No one knows for sure what caused Mr. Tan’s performance to drop dramatically. People who sat closed to Mr. Tan claimed that they felt Mr. Tan became dumbed and he always had his eyes fixed towards the space in front of him and self-talked in his office. He used to mummer: “I saw her… I saw her…”

I am not about to guess what happened to good old Mr. Tan but perhaps it was the fact that he didn’t made offerings to the Datuk spirits in his project sites?

Coincidentally, I came across Mr. Tan a year ago when I was having dinner with my business partner but he tried to avoid me by going out from the restaurant back door…

HK Fox Spirit Terror (香港狐仙事件)

This is the said photo of the fox image that appeared on the wall of Windsor House.

This shaking incident happened in 1981 at HK Haw Par Mansion. At that time there were many murals outside of the mansion and workers would wipe these murals every morning. On one night, thunders and lightings besieged the night sky emitting unusual light… and the next morning, the workers found there were 7 fox heads imprinted on the wall. So they employed a Taoist to seal the stone wall with yellow papers.

Later similar fox heads resurfaced on one of the walls of Windsor House. The strange incident attracted a large crowd which caused the company to close for the day. The security personnel used a piece of cloth to cover the marble wall; and the whole piece of the marble was removed at midnight thus ceasing the strange incident.

During that period, a restraint in Windsor House was the favourite place for parents to celebrate their babies’ full month celebration. Sadly, babies who celebrated in that restaurant would die of unnatural causes. Rumours had it that was the working of fox spirits. Amongst many rumours of that time, after a couple celebrated their baby’s full month celebration in that restaurant; a fox spirit with red eyes and sharp fangs appeared in the mother’s dream. It mentioned that since the couple didn’t pay it a respect, it would kill their baby instead. When the mother awakened from her dream, she found her child’s face had turned green and it has stopped breathing. The couple immediately sent the baby to the hospital but the baby was pronounced death on arrival. There are rumours said that the baby’s blood was sucked dry… There are still many stories of such incidents being told until today.

While some rumours also mentioned that the fox spirits were being sealed within the walls. At that time there was a Taoist subdued and bounded two of the fiercest fox spirits and released the rest. But when this story transmitted to Taiwan, the Taiwan people came out with their own version of fox spirit sequel … According to Taiwanese version, the Hong Kong fox spirits went to Taiwan to continue their spiritual practices. In Taiwanese version, a Taiwanese senior Taoist went to Hong Kong to bring the fox spirits to Yangming Mountain. It was said that up to a decade ago, there were indeed fox spirits in that mountain. But since the deceased of the senior Taoist, no one knows where the fox spirits went.

In another fox spirit related incident which also took the life of an innocent baby. As the story has it that a small fox spirit came to Hong Kong from the Northeast mountainous region of China. It sneaked into the children’s department of a supermarket and had fun with kid’s costumes and shoes. The next day, shop assistants found their merchandise were scattering all over the shop floor. They thought their shop was haunted so the boss invited a Taoist to perform exorcism ceremony. Perhaps the small fox spirit was angered by Taoist’s workings, it killed a baby in rage. Following that, a master sealed this fox spirit into the supermarket wall. This has caused the image of a fox to appear on the wall surface. Later a Taiwanese fox spirit that could transform into human form went to Hong Kong and hide the small fox spirit into its jade stone ring; and brought the small fox to Taiwan.

Following the spread of rumours in Hong Kong and Taiwan, fox spirit worships suddenly became prevalent in these two areas… It was said by worshipping, the worshipper would obtain the charm of the foxes and they would excel in their business and love affairs. Whatever case that might be, fox spirits in Hong Kong and Taiwan are no match to the fox spirit from Japan in beauty and wisdom that I can assure you.  

Banana Ghost Of Taiwan (民雄的香蕉鬼)

Taiwan is a place full of mysteries too apart from Hong Kong, Japan and Southeast Asia. However, such stories are rarely made available to non-Chinese readers.

My friend who used to stay in Minxiong Village (民雄乡), Jiayi County (嘉义县), Taiwan knew some local ghost stories and he is very kind as to share them with me:

The below is a story about a banana ghost.

In the beginning of 20^th century, there was a filthy rich businessman selling tobacco and liquors who owned a big mansion in the village.

This businessman employed may workers and maids to take care of his mansion. There were two wells in the backyard, one well specifically for the businessman and his family; while the other is meant for the workers to share.

To begin with, this businessman wasn’t any amicable soul, he treated his workers cruelly and when his workers grumbled, they would be tortured physically.

Legend has it that one day, one of his maids grumbled about having to work too much and for too long hours, the businessman asked someone to drag this poor maid to one of the well and pushed her down into the well and drowned. After that, this businessman had the well filled with soils so as to hide the body of the poor maid. Now another new well need to be dug as replacement. He subsequently announced to the outside world that the old well had to be abandoned due to lack of water supply. No one questioned his reason of course.

A year later, a banana tree grown from the well that hid the murdered maid’s body. At the same time, the businessman’s house started to be haunted. Right at midnight the moment when the maid was pushed into the well, a lady spirit could be seen raised from the well and wandered about in the backyard while weeping sorrowfully. Everyone in the house was very scared. So, one by one left the house until the businessman has no choice but to abandon his house too.

Another year passed, the banana tree was fully grown and the maid’s restless spirit possessed this banana tree and became the frightful banana ghost.

During midnight, sorrowful voice of this restless spirit could be heard emitting from this banana tree. The news of the haunting of the businessman’s house gradually spread to the villagers and that naturally attracted many spectators.

Gradually, the local government officials noticed the commotion around the haunted house, they sent solders to chase away the villagers but as soon as the soldiers left the place, the villagers congregated again.

The soldiers tried to chop down the banana tree but their axes were swayed aside until the axes chopped the soldiers’ own legs instead. So the local officials had to leave the banana tree alone until a new mayor took over. The new mayor asked some workers to dig out the remains under the well and had some Taoists performed a deliverance ritual in the hope that the restless spirit would rest in peace.

Indeed, after the soul is rested, the banana tree could be chopped down easily. Since then, there are no more hauntings.

There Are Truly Fox Spirits (确有狐仙)

I must say that there are indeed fox spirits around though I feel that the Chinese fox clans and the Japanese ones are quite distinct in temperament and status.

Whatever case that might be, fox spirits are normally inherited through bloodlines and not through purchases. You cannot purchase and keep a fox spirit by purchasing a Thai locket, a mustika pearl or by performing rituals as far as I know. Fox spirits are normally of free beings and they hate to be bounded by anything or anyone.

So far, I only came across an old man, Mr. Wang who lived in an old mansion off Taiping Road in Kuala Kangsar many years ago who indeed kept an heirloom male fox spirit brought from North-eastern China during WWII. If the old man is still alive; he would be 90 years old by now.

According to the old Mr. Wang, his ancestor was an army commander serving under Qing Emperor about some 400 years ago. He obtained this fox spirit when he was stationed in Northeast China commanding a troop of imperial army. Also that this fox spirit had saved his ancestors’ lives over the years. Every time when a mishap is about to occur, this fox spirit would appear in the form of an old man in its owners’ dreams to warn them.

Mr. Wang recalled that when he was young, about 10 years old; his parents were living in Guangzhou and they were quite rich and most furniture they used were antiques of that time. We can perhaps imagine if all those antiques were preserved until today… the value of these antiques must be skyrocketed during this time if put into auction in New York or London. But that was the good old memory of those days.

Back to the story, at that time; Wang’s father has a special room specifically for his heirloom fox spirit. No one except the father and servants who clean and made offerings to the spirit were allowed to enter the room. After Wang’s father passed away, he inherited this fox spirit and as instructed by his father; the room for the fox spirit should be always kept clean.

There should only be one table in the centre of the room with a tablet inscribed with the characters ‘胡大仙之位` (The place of Immortal Hu), a cup of tea, an incense burner and some flowers. A raw chicken egg was the only needed offerings on the 1^st and 15^th of every Lunar Month. Strangely speaking, on every egg change; the old egg would become emptied with outer shell intact. It was as if something has removed the egg contents leaving an empty shell.

A few weeks before the Japanese invaded China, Wang’s father had a dream where he was visited by Immortal Hu. This Immortal Hu advised Wang’s father to migrate to Southeast Asia as the war in China was imminent. So Wang`s family travelled first to Sandakan and then to Malaya and finally settled in Kuala Kangsar until when I was still staying in the royal town of Perak.

Before my parents moved to Taiping some 30 years ago; I paid Mr. Wang a visit and asked him of his Immortal Hu. According to old Mr. Wang, perhaps his days were numbered because just a few weeks ago, this Immortal Hu appeared in his dream and bided him farewell.

Unfortunately, I have not got any chances to revisit Mr. Wang after I have moved to Taiping though I do go pass his big house every time I go to Kuala Kangsar. Perhaps I wasn’t interested in fox spirits at that time… just fairly recently when I did stop by the mansion, it has changed ownership. The new owner has no ideas of Mr. Wang’s past and the whereabouts of his fox spirits. It is a little pity and disappointing to say so…

Meeting Japanese Fox Lady (日本狐女)

Japan to me, is still a mysterious place that yet to be explored…

Eric and I were on a business trip to Osaka from Penang airport where we met a very foxy Japanese lady who happened to return to Osaka coincidentally.

Since the lady needed some help in interpretation and that since we were on the same flight, we started to chat naturally.

That was a very attractive Japanese lady with a pair of soul catching eyes that reminded me of legendary Chinese fox spirits. Later this lady introduced herself as Yuko and she said she is a businesswoman involving in silks and related products.

Yuko kept silent for most part of the journey and I supposed she behaved just like a conservative Japanese lady: attractive yet keeps people at a distance.

Just before our plane landed in Tokyo airport, Yuko suddenly said to my pal, Eric:

“You need be very careful in coming month. There will be three car accidents waiting for you in due course…”

Eric certainly didn’t pay too much attention to the lady’s warning but he smiled politely and nodded his head.

Then Yuko said to me:

“You will get a nice Japanese lady and Japan welcomes you…”

Me too, nodded to Yuko with a smile but out of curiosity, I asked Yuko of how did she come out with such an information; but she just gave me a mysterious yet enchanting smile. Then Yuko said to both of us that when time comes; we shall know.

We parted at immigrations check points. I returned to Penang after done my business but Eric stayed on in Osaka to meet his wife, who is also a Japanese.

One month later, I received a long distance call from Eric and he told me that Yuko meant business as he had met with three car accidents in a role within one month’s time!

A week after Eric and I parted, he and his wife was riding in a small van heading towards the Mount Fuji. Suddenly a fox-like creature ran across the road in front of the van and the van skidded and hit a boulder. The van then made a triple summersaults and rested upside down. Luckily no one was seriously injured in that mishap.

After resting for two weeks, Eric thought of driving his wife’s car to a local supermarket to buy some rations. As Eric’s car approached a road junction and when he was turning his steering wheel towards right; the car steering wheel suddenly loosened and he could practically lift up the steering wheel. Consequently, the car rammed into a road divider…

Now Eric was a little scared of driving, so he called a cab to the airport but sadly speaking, the cab too involved in an accident on its way to the airport!

Interestingly speaking… the last incident happened on last day of the month.

Many years lapsed and I met this Japanese lady in quite an unexpected circumstance. Interesting too last night I had a dream of Yuko.

In my dream, Yuko was in a room full of beautiful silk. She was engrossed in painting her beautiful silk and her ledger was on a desk behind her. I opened the ledger and the record stated:

“Loss at first, 12 million dollars’ profit at the end in English…”

Perhaps I am not going to guess what the words meant and let the time to explain them.

Deep inside my heart, I believe Yuko is somehow related to foxes so I called her the ‘fox lady’; and Eric’s Japanese wife believes this too… But I don’t know if Yuko is a one-tailed fox lady or a nine-tailed fox lady… Hahaha…

The Ghosts Of Kampung 8 (第八村的鬼怪)

Villagers of Kampung 8 in Tengkera, Melaka are now haunted by apparitions of spirits since about 3 weeks ago.

It is reported by Harian Metro that people did come across with the apparitions of pontianak, pocong and also toyol.

There were various hauntings experienced by residents such as the sightings of pontianak flying near banana tree and naked kids believed to be toyols walking beside bushes in the evening.

A resident, Abdul Halim Abdullah, 39, said that the haunting of these spirits caused the villagers to think twice when venturing outside at night thus causing the village to be in dead silent.

“Before this, I can see kids playing even though it was around 6pm. However, now the parents demanded their kids to return early and shut their windows as early as 7pm in the fear of spiritual interferences.

“The presence of these spirits also caused the kids shy away from attending al-Quran study classes or tuitions at night.” Continued the resident when interviewed last night.

Added Abdul Halim that in the beginning of the appearances of pontianak and pocong, a few villagers claimed to have seen these spirits but the claims were dismissed by others as pranks done to scare local residents.

“Villagers are united to patrol at night with concentrated location involving the main entrance and exit of the village.”

“Since the patrolling, more and more villagers claimed to have seen these spirits to date. There were naked kids walking in the mid of the night. Such happenings are also become a norm.” Added the gentleman.

Abdul Halim elaborated further that an Indonesian worker claimed to have seen pocong entering the village and asked the villagers to call Islamic healers.

“A 63-year-old man was in trauma for nearly two weeks after claiming that spirits materialized as kids that slept beside his bed and in addition to that, a 52-year-old woman was startled by the shrieking of pontianak in her house.” He said.

Meanwhile, Abdul Halim’s mother-in-law said that last week pontianak disturbed her house when her youngest son returned from outside.

The incident happened at 3am and her son said he heard the sound of high power motorcycle but the sound just vanished for no apparent reasons.

“When my son entered into the house, he heard as if someone whispered at my bedroom window. Not long after that, my grandchild roamed aimlessly inside the house causing the whole household stayed awakened until morning,” she said.

According to Fatimah, in latest incident last night, her grandchild, Muhammad Wan Rafeeq Nur Haiqal Wan, 4, seen the creature in their neighbour’s yard.

“It was still early and Muhammad Wan Rafeeq suddenly bowed and said there are ‘momok’ (ghost) and we were quite worried by his action,” she said.

 To find out more about ghosts of Kampung Lapan, try below link or google search:

http://www.siakapkeli.my/2016/04/penduduk-di-tengkera-dakwa-dihantui.html