Ghosts In My Photos

Over the years, I have taken many photographs with strange and unexplained objects or entities in them.



Since it is the Hungry Ghost Festival this month, I thought it would be the perfect time to show you all those "ghostly" photographs. It is especially timely as at the stroke of midnight tonight, the Gates of Hell will be thrown wide open to let all those hungry ghosts roam the earth!



Yes, if you do not already know, 12am tonight marks the 14th day of the 7th lunar month in the Chinese calendar, which is the peak of the Hungry Ghost Festival. Be afraid. Be very afraid...



All the photos shown here were taken either with my old Sony Ericsson C902 mobile phone or my current iPhone 3Gs, so please excuse the not-so-good quality photos.



This is a photo I took last year at the KL Convention Centre. Those of you who have been there will recognize this long corridor leading to Traders Hotel. I and my friend had gone to SkyBar at Traders Hotel that night and on the way back, we walked through this corridor.



My friend had gone to the toilet and while waiting for her, I snapped a picture of the corridor just for fun. It was only the next day I noticed there was something unusual with the photo. Can you see it?







That dark figure on the right side of the photo - what is that? It looks as if it's someone dressed in dark robes walking towards me. But I did not see such a person when I took the photo!



They say many cinemas in Malaysia are haunted. If it's the cinema in Summit Subang, I will be quick to agree as I had felt uncomfortable the last time I went there. But do you believe if I tell you now that GSC Signature in The Gardens is haunted?



Look at this photo which I took inside the GSC Signature lounge. Can you see someone standing at the end of the row of chairs on the left?







Or was that just the light playing tricks on my eyes?



And how about this picture which I took on the same night in the GSC Signature lounge?







What is that ghostly white figure flying out from the chair near the curtain?



That's not all. One night my friend and I watched a late night movie at GSC Signature. If you have been to GSC Signature, you will know that on leaving the cinema hall, you will pass by this glass window overlooking the Gardens Mall below.



It was past midnight when our movie ended. As we walked out of the cinema hall, we passed by this glass window and I decided to take a photo. As I was taking the photo, I suddenly saw that face reflected on the window! Can you see it?







I quickly turned around but there was no one behind me! When I turned back to face the glass window, the face was gone! Somehow I managed to capture that haunting face in my iPhone. My friend freaked out when she saw this photo!



Two years ago, I was at Genting Highlands with another friend. I was waiting for my friend who had gone to the toilet at Highlands Hotel near Starbucks. While waiting inside the lobby of the hotel, I snapped this photo. When I reached home, only did I see it! Can you see it - that white female ghost at the ceiling?!







Another time - probably 3 years ago - I visited Genting Highlands with yet another friend. We were resting at the lobby in Resort Hotel late one night. There were not many people at the lobby at that time. I accidentally snapped this photo where a white figure was crawling on the floor.







Surely that can't be my imagination? This reminded me too much of those "japanese" or "korean" horror movies so needless to say, I was totally freaked out!



I love to go jogging in the park. One of the parks I frequent is Taman Lembah Kiara in Taman Tun. I dislike crowds so I normally go when there are not many people around.



One afternoon, I went there to jog. There was no one around at the time. As I reached the suspension bridge, I saw this blue figure standing at the bridge!







At the sight of the blue figure, I froze in fright. It appeared to be slightly transparent. Luckily I managed to regain my composure and quickly snapped a photo of it before running the hell away!



After seeing all these photos, do you believe in the existence of ghosts? Did my photos freak you out?



OK, I have a confession to make.



None of the photos above are true. Haha!!!



Yes, perhaps I have tricked some of you but I am pretty sure I did not trick all of you. If you have been using the Ghost Capture app on your iPhone, you will know how I created those ghostly images on my photos! LOL!







It was quite a fun app! All you need to do is to snap a photo or retrieve an existing photo from the picture library in your phone, add in the ghost you like (there are over 30 ghosts to choose from in the paid app), manipulate the size and position of the ghost, adjust how sharp or blur you want your ghost to appear and voila! You have a ghostly picture to share with your friends!







The only qualm I have about this app is that all the ghostly images they provide are Western ghosts! I would have preferred some Chinese or Japanese ghosts as they are more scary! Haha!



There is another app which I would like to share with you all as it is quite a scary app. When I first downloaded this app on my iPhone, it gave me quite a fright. There was a picture of this girl.







I don't know about you but this picture of the girl already seems to frighten me. She looks like a person who is dead, don't you agree?



And then as I looked at the picture, it began to change...in a horrible way.







The face then turned hideous and it was accompanied with ghostly wail and screams that were too terrifying to describe!







If you have a weak heart, do not ever download this app! The girl has now changed into an ugly ghost that will send chills down the spine of anyone who look at her!







Now the fun part of this app is you can take anyone's photo (including your own) and change the face into a horrible looking ghost! Not that I want to do any such thing! No thanks! Haha!



The app is called HauntedFace available for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad.



Although all the ghosts in the photos which I took and shown earlier in this post are fake and were created using the Ghost Capture app, there is however one photo in my collection that is genuine. I took this photo while walking the suspension bridge at FRIM 2 years ago.







Is that my imagination or is it a long haired lady in dark glasses wearing a robe or something on the tree trunk? What do you think?

FIRST COMMENTER

10 Things NOT To Do During Hungry Ghost Month

The Hungry Ghost Festival is back! The Chinese believes that during this entire 7th lunar month, the gates of hell are opened to allow the hungry ghosts to roam the earth. Whether you believe in it or not, that is really up to you.

But it's better to be safe than sorry, don't you think? So here are 10 things you should not do during this ghostly month.

1. Tell ghost stories
When two or more people group together to talk about ghost stories in the middle of the night, they will tend to attract unwanted attention from wandering spirits and ghosts! The Chinese has a saying "Don't talk about ghosts at night and don't talk about humans in the day".

2. Whistle in the night
If you are one who love to whistle, do it in the daytime. Whistling at night seems to attract ghosts! If you can't resist your favourite tune, try humming or singing instead.



3. Cut your finger nails at night
If you cut your finger nails after dark, you run the risk of seeing a ghost! I am not sure about cutting your toe nails, however.

4. Swim in the lake or sea
It is a general belief that swimmers will have a higher chance of getting drowned during the month of the Hungry Ghost. This is because ghosts like to stay in the water due to its "yin" environment and they will likely drag you down into the water.

5. Hang your clothes out at night
Wandering ghosts may get attached to your clothes - you surely will not want to be wearing them!
Or perhaps, this is just an advice to prevent us from scaring ourselves silly? You know, your clothes might just look like flying ghosts on a windy night!


Image courtesy of Of Memoirs And Musings

6. Touch the offerings meant for hungry ghosts
The food and burnings you see at the road side are offerings for the hungry ghosts. Do not mess or touch the offerings or even step on them. You might offend the ghosts and they may disturb you or follow you back home!

7. Wear red or black colour clothes
Not sure the reason why but ghosts seem to dig dark-coloured clothes especially red and black! Wear something bright like white or yellow instead.

8. Going out late at night
Since hungry ghosts are roaming the streets during this month, it is fair to say that your chances of bumping into them are much higher. Try to stay home more often during this entire month or at least be back before midnight. And if you are a pregnant woman, avoid going out at all costs since ghosts are attracted to foetuses.


Image courtesy of Dangerous Intersection

9. Walk in the dark and near the walls
If you really have no choice but to go out at night, it is advisable to walk at brightly lit areas and where there are crowds. Ghosts like to walk (or fly?) along walls and stay around dark corners, so avoid walking close to the walls!

10. Answer when someone calls your name
If you hear someone calls your name at night, do not by any chance turn around and look, or worse, answer that call! If you do, the ghost may just reveal itself to you!

Superstitions? Myths? Nonsense? Maybe.

Some of you may have probably done one or more of the 10 things above and nothing happened to you, right? Well, you may not be so lucky this time around. It all depends whether your spirit essence is strong or weak. Haha!

Oh, by the way, if you feel someone tapping your shoulder while reading this post, DO NOT turn around to look!

FIRST COMMENTER

My Take On Insidious And Astral Travel

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OK, confession time. I did not know the meaning of this word INSIDIOUS.

A check with Merriam-Webster site revealed the following definitions:
1. awaiting a chance to entrap (treacherous)
2. harmful but enticing (seductive)
3. having a gradual and cumulative effect (subtle)

If you didn't already know, INSIDIOUS is the title of a new horror movie playing in cinemas right now. As a horror movie fan, I heard some good reviews about this movie and decided to catch it yesterday.

Before you proceed, take note - SPOILERS AHEAD!

But first, you might want to watch this trailer from the movie.



Frankly speaking, I was not at all impressed with the trailer. It didn't look that scary to me, but on learning that INSIDIOUS is a collaboration between Saw co-creators James Wan & Leigh Wannell and the Paranormal Activity team comprising Oren Peli, Jason Blum and Steven Schneider, I decided to give it a go.


Director James Wan on the set of Insidious

I did not expect it to be scarier than The Exorcist - still the scariest horror movie to me - and it wasn't. Well, I was hoping it would be scarier than The Eye, my No.1 horror movie from Hong Kong directed by the Pang Brothers, but it still wasn't.

You know how it's like after I watched The Eye? Right after I stepped out of the cinema, I started to imagine things whether I was in the lift, in my room alone or in the bathroom! The Eye really freaked me out for weeks! Now that's what I call a real horror movie!!



In fact, I even find The Ring (the original Japanese horror movie), Shutter (the original Thai horror movie) and The Exorcism Of Emily Rose much scarier than Insidious.

The Ring was horribly disturbing, especially with that video thingy; Shutter gave me the goose bumps especially with the nightmarish shocking ending and Emily Rose made me worry about waking up at 3am every night!



Insidious? Let's just say I was not at all traumatized leaving the cinema hall. Haha! Perhaps I watched too many horror movies and it's getting harder to scare me? Maybe.

But that does not mean Insidious is not a good movie. It was simply not scary enough for me, but it was engrossing enough to keep me at the edge of my seat, at least for the first half of the movie. Yes, it was more suspenseful than it was scary, at least to me.



Briefly, the movie is about a couple Josh and Renai Lambert (played by Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne respectively) whom upon moving into their new home with their three kids discovers that their house is haunted and that their son Dalton has inexplicably fallen into a coma. In order to escape the haunting and save their son, they move again only to discover a shocking truth - it is not their house that was haunted, but their son!



Now that revelation may be shocking for the couple but definitely not to us viewers. That's because the filmmakers had already revealed that the boy is the source of the hauntings in the trailer! I thought this sort of hurt the movie a bit since I would have preferred to discover it myself during the movie! Oh well, maybe they needed a twist since not many would want to watch another movie about some haunted house!

Anyway, to cut the story short, Dalton is found to be gifted at astral travel in his sleep. Don't know what astral travel is?


Image courtesy of mattstone.blogs.com

Astral travel or astral projection is an out-of-body experience where the person who practises it is able to project his "astral self" or consciousness out of his physical body and travel in the astral plane. It appears that some people are more gifted in this than others but experts in astral travel claimed that everyone can do it if one practises enough.

In fact, some experts said that all of us travel out of our body in our sleep every night! Read more HERE.


Image courtesy of Mind Petals

Since astral travel seems like a foreign topic to most people, many are afraid of trying it out of fear that they may not be able to return to their physical body. Some people are also afraid that evil spirits will possess their physical body while they are away on astral travel.

And this is exactly what this movie Insidious is trying to exploit. That fear that you cannot return to your physical body and forever trapped in the astral world while an evil spirit takes over. Creepy.


Image courtesy of Wisdom Quarterly

Experts on astral travel had however, debunked such thoughts as myths. Some maintained that you are connected to your physical body by a silver cord and this cord cannot be severed under any circumstances unless you are to leave your body forever like in the case of death. Others said that actually it is only your consciousness that is traveling, your soul is still in your physical body. But with no concrete proof of this, would you believe in the experts?

The bottomline is, are you daring enough to try astral travel? If yes, here is a step-by-step guide on how you can travel out of your body. Do it at your own risk yes? : )



Back to the movie, Dalton is highly gifted in astral projection and because he had traveled a bit too far into the dark realm called "The Further", he could not find his way back. His physical body lapses into a coma and this attracts all those spirits who are craving to possess his body.

That certainly explains all the hauntings that the couple experienced, but that's not their only problem. It seems that in the dark realm, there is a demon who is hell-bent to possess their son's body and will stop at nothing to achieve it.



And from then onwards, the movie started to remind me of Steven Spielberg's Poltergeist with the arrival of the three ghost hunters with their gadgets and mumbo jumbos. It all still remain quite engrossing and entertaining until the descend into the dark realm.

I was really quite put off with all those dead souls, like the bunch of dead family members in the living room, the laughing child that runs across the hallway, and the demon himself. It was not even scary anymore! Oh by the way, did anyone notice that the demon looks like Darth Maul from Star Wars? Or is it just me?



And to see Dalton with his legs chained to the floor presumably by the demon? I mean, seriously? This just makes it look like a scene taken out from Charmed or Supernatural! Gosh!

So yes, the movie started off really well and managed to build up its suspense and momentum effectively. There were many creepy moments like the raspy whispers on the baby monitor and the front door of the house found wide open in the middle of the night. And of course the sudden appearance of the demon behind Josh almost threw me off my seat!

The actors all did a great job and this include excellent performances from Barbara Hershey as Josh's mom and Lin Shaye as the ghostbuster.



Unfortunately, it started to go downhill from the moment Josh crossed over to the other side towards the later part of the movie. Maybe they showed too much of the ghosts? Over exposure is never a good thing in horror movies and I think the filmmakers made a mistake of doing just that.

Also I thought some of the scenes in the later part of the movie looked funny and probably a bit corny. If they wanted to be funny, then I think that Sam Raimi did a better job with his movie Drag Me To Hell. Now that was one hell of an entertaining horror movie!



Still, I consider Insidious to be one of the better horror movies among all those mediocre horror movies churned out by Hollywood. I am rating it as follows:
Scariness : 6/10
Suspense : 9/10
Storyline : 7/10
Acting : 9/10

One thing's for sure though. I will never attempt astral travel. Not after watching this movie!

FIRST COMMENTER

Random Notes 9

1. Hi everyone! As you are reading this, I am probably enjoying myself in Bali soaking in the sunshine, or admiring the beautiful sunset or simply having a scrumptious meal! Are you missing me yet? Haha!

2. If you missed my previous post 'Random Notes 8', do go back there and read about the current contest I am having right now on my blog. Leave the most number of comments and win souvenirs from Bali! Terms and conditions are in my previous post so read them if you are interested.

3. Talking about contests, today I am going to announce the 3 lucky winners of my Versus Tag contest. Before I left for Bali, I had written all participants' names into a piece of paper each, mixed them up in a container and asked my brother to pick 3 names at random.

So these are the three names he picked!



Are you one of them? If yes, congratulations! Please email me your address so that I can mail you the prizes! But of course, you have to wait till I return from my holidays in Bali first before I can send them to you, so be patient yes? : )

Oh, if you want to know what the prizes are, sorry can't tell you now, haha! Will let you know once I return! ; )

4. I love to look at the sky and I enjoy watching the clouds. Call me weird, but I am just fascinated by them. I even enjoy watching those thick, black clouds right before a thunderstorm! Here are some photos I captured last week.



These were the clouds above me right before a huge thunderstorm!



I was at a friend's house and I could see the looming dark clouds above his house.



I was captivated by the beautiful sky! And of course, I couldn't wait for the rain to fall! Haha!



5. I seldom eat at DOME cafe, but when I do, I always choose to eat their caesar pesto salad. I just love it!



Have you eaten at DOME before? Do you like the food there?



The prices are pretty expensive, but I like the portions - they are HUGE!!

6. Do you believe in ghosts? Last year I went to walk the suspension bridge at FRIM and captured this photo on my camera phone.



Do you see that lady with long hair wearing dark glasses and dressed in a robe on the right? Can you see it? Or is it just my imagination? Perhaps it was the light playing tricks on my eyes!

You know what, I think after I return from Bali, I am going to make another trip to FRIM. Let's see if I can capture that same image again. It's sure going to be exciting! Enjoy your weekend, everyone! : )

FIRST COMMENTER

A Frightful Night At Lake Kenyir

This is entirely my own account of what happened that night.

My friend had no knowledge of this as he slept through it all. And I did not mention to him the next day because I did not want to frighten him. In fact, I did not tell him about this even to this very day. So my dear friend, if you happen to read this, please do not freak out. (You can choose not to read any further)

After that scary last phone call to the resort lobby, we went straight to bed. We had switched off the lights except for the one near the bathroom. We did not talk at all. All we wanted was to go to sleep as fast as possible.

As I laid there thinking about the events that happened earlier, there was a sudden loud ringing tone. I jumped. Then I realised it was my friend's handphone. He must have just received an sms from someone. Damn it! He should have toned down the volume!

I sat up and glanced at my friend. He was already asleep. Oh great! And I wasn't feeling sleepy at all!

So I laid back down and looked up at the ceiling. Should I start counting sheeps? Haha!

Suddenly, I heard the sound of teeth gnashing. Instantly, I knew where it came from. It was my friend. I was not afraid as I experienced it the first night too. My friend has this habit of gnashing and biting his teeth when he sleeps.

I turned around and slept on my side facing away from my friend's bed. I closed my eyes and started to visualise sheeps jumping over a fence. I am a night owl so it was entirely normal not to feel sleepy at that time.

As I counted the sheeps, I heard my friend tossing and turning in his bed. So he's not having a good night sleep after all! Maybe we should just chit chat instead of sleeping! The thought of this cheered me up.

I turned around and looked at my friend. For a moment, I froze. He was sound asleep in the exact same position as when I saw him earlier! He did not appear to have tossed and turned. I must be so eager to chat with him that I imagined him tossing and turning!

With a sigh, I turned to my side again, facing away from my friend's bed. I tried to sleep once more. Luckily we did not have to wake up at 6.30am to go bird watching like the previous day. We would be going on a boat cruise to Herbal Island and the Saok Waterfalls in the morning but it was scheduled at 10am so we could stay in bed longer.

I was drifting off to sleep when I heard it again! The ruffling sound of my friend's bed as if he's tossing and turning. I turned around at once. Again, the ruffling stopped. My friend did not move at all. OK, this is not funny! I was starting to freak out.

All of a sudden, there was a loud thump coming from the air-conditioner. I jumped. Shit! What was that?

I looked up at the air-con which was mounted on the wall beside my friend's bed. I tried to calm myself down. Must be one of those natural sounds coming from air-con, I consoled myself, but I hoped it would not do that again!

I decided that I must stop frightening myself. I realised that I could not sleep so I sat up, picked up my handphone and decided to do some tweeting in the dead of the night. Haha! Unfortunately, I could not log into Twitter. There was something wrong with the internet connection.

And so, I laid back down and tried to sleep again. I felt myself drifting into sleep....

I woke up with a start. What was that? Did I hear something? I really thought I heard something, like a loud knock or thud. Did I just imagine it? Or was I probably dreaming?

But there was no sound now. Probably it's that air-con making the sound again. I glanced at my friend. He's asleep but in a different position compared to earlier. I took my handphone from the table next to me and looked at the time. It was 4am. So I've actually slept for a couple of hours!

I suddenly felt the urge to pee. So I got out of bed, put on the slippers and went to the bathroom. The bathroom had a wooden sliding door that you need to push aside to enter. I went in and pulled the sliding door back to close.

As I was doing my business, I thought I heard movements outside the bathroom. My friend must have woken up and must be walking around the room! Suddenly a fear gripped me. What if it was not my friend? That very thought made my hairs stand.

I stood there in the bathroom, listening intently. Should I call out to my friend? I thought for a while and decided against it.

I did not know how long I stood inside the bathroom. It seemed like more than ten minutes, probably longer. I was too afraid to get out. I kept looking at the sliding door. After a while, I just got a little angry. Why should I have to go through this nonsense? With my head held up high, I walked confidently out of the bathroom and closed the sliding door behind me.

My friend was, as expected, sleeping on his bed. I could not believe he was sleeping like a baby while I was scared half to death either by things that were really there or it was entirely my own imagination!

I went back to my bed and attempted to sleep. If my friend could do it, so could I!

I did not know how long I slept, but when I opened my eyes, it was still dark. I was about to take a look at the time on my handphone when I heard it. The sound of the bathroom's sliding door being opened.

I froze. There was no mistaking the sound. With the blanket covering up to my neck, I turned my head to look at the direction of the bathroom. From where I laid, I could not see the sliding door. All of a sudden, I felt a strong presence in the room. I held my breath. Someone or something had just came out of the bathroom and was probably walking into the room.

I closed my eyes. That's the only thing I could do. I just shut myself out. I did not want to see what I feared to see.

I heard the sliding door sound again. I opened my eyes and glanced at the direction of the bathroom. I saw nothing.

Then the sound of sliding door being opened or closed came again. That's it! I was furious!!

I got down from my bed and walked until I reached a point in the room where I could see the sliding door of the bathroom. I peered out from where I stood. The door was closed. Nobody was there. Did I imagine it all?

Maybe, just maybe what I heard was from our neighbouring chalet. Although the chalet next to us was some distance away, I would not dispute the possibility of what I heard coming from there! Well, that's the only explanation I could think of that seemed remotely possible.

There was no more disturbances after that. When I woke up again, the sun was streaming in through the glass door facing the balcony. Somehow in the bright morning light, last night's events appeared unreal, more like a nightmare.

My friend woke up moments later and I did not bother to tell him what I experienced the night before. Why should I?

Firstly, I might have imagined it all, although I was sure I did not. Secondly, we would be checking out in the afternoon, so there would be no point in telling him. Thirdly, we were looking forward to our boat cruise to Herbal Island and Saok Waterfall, so I did not want to spoil the day.

Whether what I experienced was some sort of paranormal activities or purely a figment of my own imagination, I was glad it added some thrill to my Lake Kenyir trip.

FIRST COMMENTER

My Paranormal Experience At Lake Kenyir

Continued from previous post

I tried to turn the key but it would not budge. I took it out of the keyhole, slot it in and tried again. No good. I could not unlock the door.

My first thought was, were we at the right chalet? Perhaps we had walked to the wrong one and was attempting to open someone else's door.

My friend and I checked the number on the door. Although it was dark, there was enough light for us to see the number quite clearly. It's our chalet all right. So why couldn't I unlock the door?

My friend decided to call the lobby and asked for help. As he dialled, I could not help feeling a slight discomfort in my right ear. There seemed to be some sort of buzzing sound in my ear. I wondered what that was! I placed my finger into my ear hole and desperately pulled at my ear lobe to no avail.

With his handphone close to his ear, my friend waited for his call to be picked up. I looked at him and asked, "No one picking up the phone?" He shook his head.

Don't tell me there is no one servicing the counter! Even though it's almost 1am, this is a 4-star resort, for heaven's sake.

My friend dialled again. I pulled at my ear again. The buzzing sound in my ear was getting irritating.

I started to complain to my friend. I remember telling him I did not know why I could hear this buzzing sound in my ear.

Suddenly, my friend said, "Did you hear that?"

I was taken aback. "Hear what?"

"Listen!"

"What?"

My heart was pounding.

"The phone is ringing!" my friend whispered.

I still did not know what he was talking about. "What phone?"

"The phone inside our chalet."

My blood turned cold.

Oh no, you must be kidding me. Please don't do this to me! But I didn't hear the phone in our chalet ringing!

My friend said, "OK, I will dial again. Now you listen."

As he made another attempt to call the resort lobby, I went and placed my ear near the door.

My heart was pounding faster than ever. And then I heard it. Oh my God, the phone inside our chalet was ringing!!

I quickly moved away from the door. I could feel the hair on the back of my neck standing. How on earth was that possible?

I could see the frightened face of my friend in the dimly lit surroundings. I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself down.

"OK, let's not panic." I said, trying to reassure myself more than my friend. "I'm sure there must be some kind of scientific explanation for this!" I didn't think I sounded very convincing.

I decided to try calling the lobby using my handphone instead. My friend subscribed to the Maxis line while I was subscribed to Digi. Perhaps I could get a response using my Digi line.

I dialled and waited.

I think we both stopped breathing at that moment. If I hear the phone in our chalet ring one more time, I think I would die!

We waited and waited. Nothing. There was no line.

I dialled again.

Again nothing. I looked at my handphone. The signal bar was empty. Looked like I could not call using Digi line.

So my friend had no choice but to use his handphone again. I whispered a little prayer. Please don't let that phone in our chalet ring again. Please don't. Please don't.

This time, someone picked up his call. Thank goodness!!

My friend explained that we could not unlock the door. The person on the other end of the line told him that they would be sending someone over to open the door for us. It would take about 3 - 5 minutes to reach us on the buggy.

We waited in fear. Maybe they took 5 minutes, but it sure felt like more than half an hour to me! I guess time just seems longer when you are anxious and feeling panicky.

When they finally arrived, I breathed a sigh of relief. Two men came down from the buggy and one of them attended to our door. He unlocked it within a few seconds.

So why couldn't we open the door? The man explained that we could have accidentally double locked it earlier, meaning after pushing the lock button from the inside, we accidentally turned the knob on the outside before closing the door shut, hence double locking it.

OK, at least that explained it. I think I was the one who locked the door earlier but I was quite sure I did not double lock it. Oh well....But what we were more curious to know was why the phone in our room rang when we called the resort lobby!

When we posed this question to the man, he replied, "That's not possible!"

Me and my friend looked at each other. I think we were really freaking out!

The man then thought for a while and said, "Perhaps it could be due to cross-line."

Cross-line? Could it be the reason then?

My friend was quick to accept this explanation. I guess it was the only plausible scientific explanation for him. So cross-line it must be! I was not so sure.

After the men left, we locked the door and switched on all the lights. My friend said, "Let us just quickly go to sleep."

I laughed. Go to sleep and ignore what we just experienced? Go to sleep so we would not be aware of anything funny happening in the night? I thought that was a great idea! Yes, let's go to sleep as quickly as possible!

But wait! I glanced at the phone at the corner next to my friend's bed.

I looked at my friend in the eye and said, "Let's try calling the lobby one more time."

Did I just say that? Oh my God, why did I say that? My friend looked at me in disbelief.

He was not at all keen with the idea, but I told him I wanted to see if the phone would ring right in front of us! In fact, I dared it to ring in front of us!

And so he agreed. Very reluctantly, he dialled.

We waited.

He said there's a ringing tone.

"No one answering?" I asked.

I half expecting the phone in our chalet to ring at any minute. But it was silent.

Then I saw the expression on my friend's face changed.

"What? Someone answered?" I asked, my heart pounding.

He quickly canceled the call.

"Why? What is it?" I asked, curious and scared at the same time.

"Someone picked up." my friend said.

"Yes?"

"But there was no one speaking...."

That's it! We were going straight to bed!

Coming up next : What Happened During The Night

FIRST COMMENTER

Of Christmas Dinner And Ghost Stories

On Christmas Day last week, I was invited to a Christmas dinner gathering by my friend.

I had a great time there because besides the delicious food, I was treated to real ghost stories by a retiree there.

More on the ghost stories later. First, let's take a look at the food I ate that night.

We had turkey. What Christmas dinner would it be without turkey right?



Although honestly, I prefer chickens! Haha! I feel chicken meat is more tender and juicy!

But I learnt that if I scoop some sauce underneath that huge turkey and spread it on my turkey meat, it tasted much better. Add in some cranberry sauce and voila, you have a delicious tasting turkey! Yummy!!

Besides turkey, we had salad which was full of fresh strawberries, grapes and carrots!



Spread some mayonnaise sauce on top of the salad and you would be drooling in no time! In fact, I am drooling even as I write this! Haha!

We had two different types of spaghetti.



Which one looks more appetizing to you?



My host asked me which I preferred and I had a hard time deciding as they were both nice!

Ooh! Feels like having spaghetti for dinner tonight! Hmmm....

I am not a fan of shepherd's pie, but this one was scrumptious!



Maybe because all the food I ate here was home cooked. Somehow, home cooked food always taste better! Don't you all agree?

Oh, by the time I took the photo of this shepherd's pie, it was already half eaten! And I have not started eating yet! Gosh!!! I guess that's the sacrifice I had to make as a blogger! Haha!

We had an assortment of cakes for desserts.



Oh! They were so yummy I had a hard time stopping myself from making a complete sweep of these cakes!



Luckily I managed to control myself and left some cakes for others! LOL! I was actually wondering if the host would allow me to take home some. Haha!

And of course there were the usual "junk food".



All calorie laden cookies and sweets! I tried not to touch them but I eventually succumbed to the pineapple tarts and the chocolate cookies!

Well, I promised myself to jog round the park five times the next day, which I unfortunately did not do due to waking up late! LOL!

Now, as I was enjoying my dinner with friends, an old retiree came up to us and told us his encounters with ghosts! Being a fan of ghost stories, I was all ears!

I am not going to go into details, but very briefly, this man had worked in Filem Negara (located in Section 14, PJ) for close to 40 years and during his work there, he had experienced a lot of chilling hauntings in the darkroom and the surrounding area there.

I was freaked out when he told us about how he almost got strangled a few times by a ruthless ghost and how men and women would ran out of toilets completely naked after being disturbed by ghosts inside the toilets!

One very spooky encounter was in the toilet when a man felt his buttock was being pinched! He was so scared he ran out of the toilet without bothering to wear his pants!

Another was the retiree's own experience of how he could feel someone or something following him around inside the darkroom while he was processing photos. This happened many times and he was mostly alone at that time! Sometimes, that thing would poke at him, at other times, it would try to strangle him!

Luckily the retiree was brave or perhaps he was so used to the hauntings, he actually shouted at the ghost to leave him alone! And it did, for a while, before attacking him again.

Anyone of you currently works in Filem Negara? Haha!

By the way, the retiree told us that you better not be the last one to leave the building, as you would need to switch off all lights before leaving and the thing was, the switch was located far inside the building. After switching off the lights, you would need to walk quite a distance in complete darkness before reaching the exit. Horrors!

OK, enough about ghost stories! I hope I spooked you a little. Haha! Getting back to the dinner, I took photo of one of my friends cutting the turkey to the last bit.



And another friend digging out whatever fillings inside the turkey for our consumption.



This is the photo of the fillings. Does not look too appetizing, but trust me, it's yummy!



I would really be missing this nice dinner gathering. I hope to get invited again next Christmas!

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