Dear friends, 
Right now we are experiencing a very heavy thunderstorm with lots of thunder and lightning, with our electricity flickering now and then as our electrical switchbox tries to cope with the power surges caused by lightning. Having heavy thunderstorms like these brings down the temperature a lot and the air is very cool and the rain is very loud. If I were to drive out now, I will have difficulty because my visibility is drastically reduced by the heavy rain.
As the weather was so terribly hot and humid the whole day up until an hour ago, this thunderstorm has brought much relief to us and we are having a great time relaxing now. Then it suddenly occurred to me that the setting of the thunder and rainfall is just perfect for me to tell you some ghostly experiences. I had intended to write on this subject earlier this morning when I read an article in the newspaper today about a haunted abandoned mansion located in Relau.
The mansion’s condition adds to the eerie atmosphere. It is covered wuth creeper plants with tree branches making their way up the old stone walls. The grounds of the single storey bungalow, believed to be 100 years old, are densely covered with lallang (very tall weeds) and bushes. There is a pool right in the middle of the building and the roof of the building is missing.
This dilapidated mansion is sending chills down the spines of nearby residents, many who had experienced strange incidents there. On one occasion, a 19-year old man who likes to hang out at this mansion with his friends said that he had smelt “fish curry” while they were there at 7 pm. At one time, his friend uttered some expletives and suddenly, he went tumbling down. They have heard rumours of a woman commiting suicide in the mansion’s pool.
A nun used to live there and she told one of the neighbous that there is “always something whispering” to her and she had seen many spirits and wandering ghosts at the mansion. This nun passed away about three years ago, and her dying wish was to have some have some monks chant some prayers at the mansion to appease the spirits there. And so, a few days ago, 7 monks and 30 devotees turned up at the mansion to offer some prayers, and hence, fulfilling the request of the late nun.
I have had many experiences of my own with ghosts and spirits, and I will tell you more about them as and when I recall them later ….hehe, I have started a category here called, “Ghost Stories”, as I have many stories to tell. 
Here is my first ghost story :-
In 1996, my family and I had moved into an old single storey bungalow, which we had a contractor did some renovations to it turn it into a modern home. There were 4 large plants with leaves that looked similar to banana trees, except that the leaves opened up like a Chinese paper fan. I didn’t like those trees at all as the Chinese believe that ghosts and spirits like to reside in those type of trees. So, I told the contractor to uproot the trees and remove them. It was very strange, his worker tried many times to chop the trees down but everytime he struck the trees with a machete, his arm was in great pain. The contractor then suspected that there must be “something” there – so he said a short prayer, chose 12 o’clock noon as the time to chop down the tree and got the task done finally. Noon time was believed to be the hottest sun and the time that ghosts and spirits are at their weakest.
The renovation of our house got delayed many times and there were always inexplicable problems that crop up. Finally, our new home was completed and a few days before we moved in, the contractor told us that he has seen many ghosts while working in our home – there was always this old man looking at him from the main door, and his workers said there were some spirits in the roof. Being Buddhists, we believe in different realms of beings and we were not afraid of ghosts or spirits as they should have their own worldly dimension to be in and they do not come into our human realm or dimension.
Before we moved in to this new home, we did some prayers and made some offerings to appease any spirits that were there and we requested that we co-existed in peace. Things were fine when we were living there for a year when suddenly all my 4 children (whose ages were from 2 to 10 years only) got a severe case of food poisoning. After seeing a paedictrician and taking some prescribed medication, they all got better. The strange thing was the whole family and my maids ate the same home-cooked food but nothing happened to us.
One year later, at the same date, again my 4 children got severe food poisoning and this time my 7 year old daughter had to be admitted to the hospital, whilst the other 3 were just prescribed medication and they got better. Except for Natasha who was so sick for 2 days in the hospital. She couldn’t even keep a spoonful of water down…..she would vomit out a spoonful of liquid. I stayed at the hospital with her while my mother and my husband took care of the other 3 children at home.
By this time, I knew that ghosts or spirits were likely to be the cause of my children’s food poisoning as the timing was just too coincidental and the rest of the family was not sick. Only the children. The Chinese believe that spirits would “disturb” children. A few weeks after this latest bout of food poisoning, one night, around midnight, I came out of my bedroom and walked across the living room to get some water from my kitchen. As I was walking, suddenly I noticed from the corner of my eye a man, who was wearing white, seated at my armchair and staring at me. By then, I was already very angry at the spirits for disturbing my children and I was in no mood to be afraid of them!!
Quickly, I turned my head back to glare at him but he vanished! I told my husband about this and the next few days, we enquired around to look for help to exorcise the spirits and cleanse my home. We found a reputable man who was a psychic as well to help us. I was told to buy a list of things (I have forgotten all of them by now) which included 6 types of different coloured beans, some kuih, some fruits, some cooked food, incense and candles. An evening was chosen and this man came with many of his followers to say some prayers and “negotiate” with the spirits to leave the house. I did the chanting of prayers together with them and by 10pm, we were done. I was told that the “negotiation” was successful and with the help of some of the followers there, I was to take out a tray of the offerings and the candles to a park nearby and leave the things there and then return back to my home without looking behind me. As I walked back, all the dogs in my neighbourhood were howling anc crying very loudly and eerily that my hair stood up……but I just kept on walking and walking, never looking back even once. When I reached home, the psychic man told me that I had got those spirits out of the house. What a relief!!
But then, it was only for a further 3 years that we stayed at this house as many things had also happened later on (ah, I will leave the stories to tell you later when there are thunderstorms again 
) …. and in the end, we decided to just sell it and get out …… 
