Things That Go Bump In The Night!

I'm a coward, I really am. I won't deny it, especially when it comes to all things ghostly and the supernatural! I've always had this fear of the supernatural since I was a young boy but strangely I'm extremely fascinated by it in some weird way. Funny, ya?

When I was growing up, my mom and me lived in the same house with my grandparents and my cousins. We were kind of a big family back then. Normally after dinner, we'd all sit outside the porch and my grandmother would start her daily grandmotherly stories (pun intended). Somehow the topic would always drift towards the supernatural. The house we lived in back then was in this pretty old area (the house itself was kinda spooky) and there were lots of trees outside and when nightfall came, the surrounding area got pretty dark and deserted. I'd normally curl up as close as I could to my mom as my grandmother related all those horror stories from her time. Well, most of the time I'd end up falling a sleep half way through it, not that the stories were boring mind you, but I'm a sleepy head and I could fall asleep anywhere (but that's a story for another post).

But all these stories somehow played havoc with my young mind and whenever I'd wake up in the middle of the night, I'd always be in some kind of frightened state (told you I was coward ... LOL!) I wouldn't even get up to go to the toilet. I'd hold it in till morning if I could but normally I'd end up wetting the bed (hey, I was just a wee little 5 year old boy, ok!) I owe my fear for all things supernatural to my grandmother (and btw, I was grandma's little pet grandson and all my cousins just hated me ... hehehe)

I'm 40 years old now (yes, you heard me, 40 whole years old!) and I'm still afraid of ghosts and all things associated with it. I've had my fair share of ghostly encounters to last me a lifetime. I remember once long ago, I was working in the design department of a printing company. I used to stay back really late (as late as 12 - 1am) at night finishing up my work. Normally there would be 3 or 4 other designers who would also stay back and we would all leave about the same time. But there was this once when everyone wanted to leave but I decided to stay a little longer cos I was kinda swamped with work.

So there I was all by myself not bothered about anything except getting my work completed. Suddenly the phone on my table buzzed. I was startled of course and when I looked at the blinking light it indicated that the receptionists phone was buzzing me. (I'm all alone here remember). I thought it was strange but I didn't give it much thought. So, I continued my work. Then a few minutes later, the phone buzzed again, only this time it indicated that the call was coming from my colleagues table which was 4 tables away from me. Ok, this was where my streak of cowardice and my imagination starts working overtime. But I persisted and thought maybe the phones were acting buggy. Then a few minutes later the bloody phone buzzed again and this time it showed that the call came from the table in front of me. I was seriously freaked out by now! This couldn't be normal. I looked at my watch and it showed the time as 11.58pm. A coincidence? I think not!

This was where it got totally mind blowing freaking scary. Immediately after that phone buzzing (and I swear on this till today) The mouse pointer on my PC screen started to shut my PC down by itself. It actually went through all the motions that I would manually do to shut my PC off only this time I wasn't even touching the mouse and it wasn't moving, only the mouse pointer on the screen was moving. By now, I'm totally freaking out, I could feel every bit of hair on my body stand on end! I looked at my watch and it's exactly 12.00am. I think whatever it was was trying to tell me something, so I got up, I run like a stark raving lunatic out of the office (it would be funny if it wasn't so scary!). I didn't bother to look back, I didn't bother to switch off the light, the air-conditioning and the what-nots, I just ran for my life. (gee, my hair is standing on end just writing this down).

So, the next day, my production manager who was always the first to get to the office (and also the most longest serving staff here) came up and made a fuss about who left all the lights and stuff on, not even bothering to lock the doors. I told him what happened and that was when he sat down with me and told me not to ever work late alone. Apparently the damn place has this ghostly spirit and it doesn't like people working late (my kinda ghost ... LOL!). Some of the people who worked late here have experienced this weirdly encounters and they just didn't bother to tell me. I could have died of fright! Damn, I even felt sick for three whole days after the incident.

That was one of many other encounters I've experienced in my lifetime. I've heard my name being called, seen a man lie on the road while driving, only to disappear after avoiding him (my buddy Adrian can testify to this cos we both saw the same thing), seen swings that move on its own, the list could go on and on and I don't want to bore you, but the bottom line is I'm a bloody coward.

Thank god my wife is braver than me in this ghostly stuff! Even at home, when something goes bump in the night, I'd wake her up ... hehehe ... Once I watched this local horror movie, 'Pontianak Harum Sundal Malam' in the afternoon and I was all alone and I freaked out! (don't worry honey, I'm only afraid of ghosts, spiders, creepy crawlies and snakes, that's all ... LOL!)

So, what about you guys? Does the supernatural do anything to you? I'd sure love to know if there are more cowards out there like me ... :D