Yesterday, my neighbour told me that a few weeks ago, she saw a creature of what looked like a tiny doll-man spying on her from her window sill. Upon leaning over to get a closer look, that creature flew away.
In Malay black magic culture she said, there is a creature the size of a doll, approximately 5 or 6 inches in height, traditionally capable of being kept like a pet by some people to put spells on their enemies. This creature is said to be able to stick to windows and walls, and fly/leap from one place to another.
My neighbour went on to tell me that our entire rows of houses have been inflicted with all sorts of woes, in that some neighbours have been quarrelling, and others have been having all sorts of ailments for weeks, and a few complains about having seen something flying around in their houses, yet they could not see what it is. This is all, she said, courtesy of this so-called creature.
And here’s the best part; my neighbour could see this creature because she has been a vegetarian these past year, and as such had purified her body and so she can see things invisible to the normal human eye.
Well, if you asked me, perhaps she was just hungry and was seeing things indeed! Go eat a cow, woman!!
But if I were to swallow that story hook line and sinker, it would have been convenient to blame my 3 weeks long TB-like cough on this little guy.
As it is, I am inclined to believe that someone played a prank on her by putting a Ken doll on her window and pulling it away with a string or something so that it appeared to have flown away.
Or it could have been a lizard and that her eyes were playing tricks on her.
Or simply, she’s cuckoo.
Generally, I’m a skeptic when it comes to ghosts and supernatural beings. To say outright that I do not believe in ghosts would probably be a lie, since I do get spooked whenever I hear a ghost story, and I had long been a die-hard fan of supernatural stories like Buffy, Angel, Charmed and Supernatural, and that after watching The Ring I did not answer the phone for a week, and that when the floor tiles in my living room popped out a couple of years back, the first thing that came to my mind was poltergeist!!!
I have been taught to believe that there are supernatural elements out there in this world other than us. They are God’s creation and they don’t usually bother us. I don’t have any problem believing in that. But I personally have never experienced anything paranormal, so I do not know whether to believe in these things beyond the facts that they do exist somewhere.
Back in high school, every now and then there was a so-called ‘sighting’ by a few of my peers in Asrama Puteri. The boarding school I went to was said to be a very haunted place and that during the Japanese occupation, it was used as a military headquarters. So, there were a lot of stories being circulated among other things, about students hearing the sounds of chains being dragged on the concrete floor and ghoulish voices screaming. Then there was also a story about how our Asrama Puteri is protected by a Hantu Galah (an extremely tall being, with extremely long limbs, enabling it to
leap over tall buildings in a single bound….:-) …Okay, so I borrowed that line from Superman, so sue me), and that this Hantu Galah was known to have chased away countless bad boys coming over at night to peep at us girls (Good job there, Hantu Galah guy! Bravo!!!!)
I have seen a few of my friends being traumatized from their encounters with spooky apparitions and I have heard 1st hand accounts of how these people, friends of mine, had all these harrowing experiences from out of this world.
But I have never had any single experience of the sort on my own (not that I want to, mintak simpang!!!).
My mother has one simple explanation to this, “
Kalau dah perangai macam hantu, mana ada hantu nak kacau lagi, dah kawan dia!!”.
*Sigh*.
I made a simple research and found a glossary of Malaysian ghosts in an article in The Star a few years ago. It says this:-
Pontianak or kuntilanak – A type of vampire in Malay folklore. (One of the spookiest of the lot in my opinion. Made spookier by Maria Menado but lost some of the spookiness and became the object of lust instead when played by Maya Karin)
Langsuir – A version of pontianak but said to be the deadliest banshee in Malay folklore. (ishhh… this one takut giler weyyy….)
Manananggal – The spirit of an older, beautiful woman capable of severing its upper torso to fly into the night with huge bat wings to prey on unsuspecting pregnant women in their homes. (or is it penanggal? The Indonesian version is Sundel Bolong, I believe)
Toyol – A mythical spirit in Malay mythology. It is a small creature created from a dead human foetus using black magic. (This one is used by its owner to steal stuff).
Orang bunian – Said to inhabit jungles and are similar to elves except they are invisible to most people. (They say this one kidnaps the people they like, and those in their captivities actually live among us but are invisible to our eyes)
Orang minyak (oily man) – According to history, Satan offered to grant worldly desires if the orang minyak raped 21 virgin girls within seven days and worship Satan as a God. These orang minyak usually douse themselves with oil and run around naked. Although the orang minyak is believed to be human, there are countless stories of them being related to the supernatural world. (Can’t we just light a match and throw at him since he is covered in oil and all?)
Orang halus (invisible people) – These dwarfs usually cannot be encountered unless one is purified by cleansing the body and wearing clean clothes. They live in the jungles and are conversant in Malay! (Ah, this must be it!)
Hantu galah – A male ghost, believed to be gigantic, with extremely long and thin limbs. (The security guard at my old Asrama Puteri)
Hantu pisang (a Mah Meri belief) – A beautiful ghost that is supposedly formed when the heart of the banana bud is pierced with a nail attached to a thread. (Never heard of this)
Mumiai (pronounced moo-mee-eye) – A poltergeist who throws things around and attacks people who are especially lazy or criminal. – (The only poltergeist I know is the one in the Mat Salleh movie, not this mumiai thing)
Okay so, assuming that my neighbour was not bluffing, the Ken doll look-alike would be ‘orang halus’ I guess. Our respective jungle-like backyard could be their little vacation spot or something. And if that is so, there must also be Barbie dolls look-alike flying around somewhere outside our kitchens! (Somebody call Mattel!! )
That being the case, I must stop eating cows so that I get to see these things….or mustn’t I?
I hope all this talk of hantus and everything won’t affect me tonight.
*Shudders*