The Manikins (人偶)

Believe it or not, manikins used to display fashions and accessories can be haunted subjects too. I have heard many such stories from various people from Malaysia to Hong Kong.

In mid-90’s, an emporium in Ipoh became famous because a night cleaner claimed to have seen fashion manikins in the display window winked and waved their hands at her. She was so scared until she passed out in front of the display window only to be revived by the security personnel on patrol.

One decade later in Hong Kong, same incident happened to a radio DJ, Wong who worked in an office located below ground level of an emporium. Wong normally worked from midnight to 8am daily and he must pass through a row of shop lots including some fashion boutiques with many manikins displaying the hottest fashions of the season. For some reasons that Wong was afraid of these manikins and he normally would walk with a faster pace so that his eye contact with those manikins was kept to a minimum.

An unforgettable incident happened to Wong one night during one of those ghost months. On that particular night, he was a little late for his work due to some transport delay. So, Wong hurriedly walked to his office and it was around 11:30pm. As usual as Wong walked passed the rows of fashion manikins displayed behind the windows, something caught Wong’s attention.

Since everything around the walkway and the shop lots was almost stagnant, some minor movements around Wong could be easily picked up by him or anyone else. As Wong passed by one of the manikins, he suddenly heard someone was knocking at the display window. Wong instinctively turned his head towards the source of the knocks and there he saw a lady manikin waving its right hand at him; and then it gave Wong a flying kiss.

That has done it. The lady manikin’s flying kissed not only broke Wong’s heart but also his nerve. So, Wong ran as fast as he could heading towards his office until he bumped into his colleague, Jack who was waiting impatiently for Wong to relief him. Not only Jack didn’t sympathize Wong’s horrific experience, he just thought Wong was finding an excuse for his lateness to work. A few days later, Wong fired his boss and quit his midnight DJ job.

DJ Wong told me his story over a cup of coffee. I thought he noticed my peculiar facial expressions when looking at him and while listening to his story; he stopped me and said: “I know what you are going to say Mr. Liew. I am not crazy and I really hate to come face to face with those manikins during midnight!” I shrugged and I rested my case.