Asia is steeped in folklore, superstition and the paranormal. I think the belief in such entities brings about more of the same. The Kuntilanak is a female ghost from Indonesia and she is often seen wearing a long, white dress and has a frightening expression on her face. Another variant of the same is the Pontianak. This one is depicted as a bloodthirsty and sinister entity. Then there is the Langsuyar, it is an undead which has the ability to take the form of a woman. Add to that the Seventh Month Ghost Festival which is also known as the Hungry Ghost Month where it is believed that the gates of the underworld open and spirits come to roam the earth and it is no wonder that spirits are present everywhere!
I came face to face with mine on a dark and rainy night. I was making my way back from a meeting and it was almost midnight. The wind was picking up speed and the roll of thunder and flashes of lightning was spooky to say the least! I was dropped off at the main road and had a short distance to go to get to where I was staying.
Little did I know that it would turn out to be the scariest experience of my life! The rain was falling steadily now and I was getting wet so I started walking faster. It was dark and the one street light at the corner was out for some reason. Just then, I saw something white go into a drain nearby. I told myself it was a cat. As I approached the corner where I needed to make a turn, right where a fire hydrant stood, a slight rustling sound caught my attention and I quickly turned my head towards it. There sitting on the fire hydrant was something dark, it had a shape and it moved back and forth whispering something! I didn’t wait to find out what it was saying, I took off running and believe it or not, the crickets were chirping alongside and keeping pace with me!
I got to the foyer wheezing and as I turned around to look at the entrance and there it was. It was about 7 feet tall and draped in white from top to bottom. There were no visible features and it was standing absolutely still! I let out a scream, loud enough to wake the dead so that people came running. They did a check of the surroundings but they found nothing!
It has been many many years since that horrific experience but that night has remained etched in my memory. Recently, I found out what it or that spooky entity could have been. It is called a “pocong” meaning ghost in Javanese. The belief is that “a pocong is the soul of someone who has not been properly released from their shroud due to incomplete burial rites or unresolved issues in life.” However, a “pocong” is wrapped in a white shroud with visible features. What I saw that night had none. Whatever it was, it “scared the bejesus out of me!”
Are ghosts real? I think they are. What I saw that night didn’t come out of an overactive imagination although I do have one! I would go on to experience several more experiences of the spooky variety in Asia but that’s for another time!
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