Monthly Archives: November 2011

Ouija Board Ghost

My friend Nelly who personally experienced this told this story to me.

“Ummm… so we were… Nancy introduced the Ouija game to us. So she came over after school and then uhhh, we like… yeah we don’t play by the game, like the board game. We play by paper. So when you play by paper you have to rip it up when you are done. It’s like an instruction you know? So we decided to play and ummm… we were playing, we barely started and then ummm, we heard my dad coming to the living room so we stopped and then like you’re supposed to rip up the paper, but me and Melody, we just like let go and like was sat back down and then umm… Nancy, she didn’t let go and she was just like,”ahhh!” and then she gasped but she didn’t let go and like she was holding on to the paper and I was like, “Rip it up!” And she was like, “Yeah, yeah I know.” My dad came up and he was like what are you guys doing and I was like, “Uhhh… watching TV.” Ummm… she put the paper down and he was like, “Ok.”

So then he went back to the kitchen and then she set the paper down and then like we were just pretending to be you know doing whatever. So Melody… she like…  me and her, we went like to the computer and Melody was like, “Oh, lets play the Sims.” And then ummm… Melody suggested that we should play the Sims game… and then Nancy brought over the Sims game because like…   thats why she came over, to play and to teach us how to play the Sims game. And then ummm… and then I was sitting next to Melody and then I was like, “Uhhh okay lets play the game.” So then Melody was like, “Oh where’s the game?”  And I was like, “I don’t know.” So then we turned to Nancy and she was like, “Nancy, where’s the Sims game?” And she was like “What are you talking about? Who are you?” And then ummm… and then like we were like, “Oh stop kidding around.” And then she was like, “You know… the Sims game.” She was explaining, “That’s why you’re here, you’re going to show me how to play the Sims game, so where is it?” And she was like, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Who are you? Where the hell am I?” And we were like, “What the heck.” And then ummm… she started crying and I was like,” What the heck? Why is she crying?” So I was like, “Nancy are you okay?” and like I was walked to the living room because the computer… it’s sorta near… it’s like in between the living room and the kitchen, so I walked towards her, the sofa, and was like, “Are you okay?” And she wouldn’t respond. She kept crying and she kept looking at the ceiling and she was like crying and it seemed like… she was grabbing onto her backpack. Like she grabbed it and was holding on so tight. I was like, “Okay, what the hell? Stop kidding around.” I was like getting angry at her. I was like, “Stop messing around. Like why are you crying?”

And then my dad came over and I was like, “Oh my god, he’s going to be like, ‘what the fuck is going on?’” And then he came up and I was like, “Dad, she’s crying.” And then he came up to her and said, “What’s wrong sweetie? Why are you crying?” Ummm and then… she started yelling at him. She was like, “Who are you? What do you want?” It seemed like she was about to get raped or something. She was crying and holding on to her stuff like her life was about to end or something. She kept screaming and I was like, “Calm down that’s my dad… what are you doing?” And she was like, “No! Get away from me!” And she was just screaming and was crying and kicking. And then I was like, “Daddy… I don’t know what to do.” And then.. so… like she stopped and then she was covering her face and everything and I was like, “Daddy, just leave her alone.”

And then he went back to the kitchen and like he was talking to us like, “What did you guys do?” And I was like, “I don’t know. We were just watching TV, thats it.” And then it came up and I was like, “What the fuck, you didn’t rip the shit!” So then I started ripping the paper. Like me and Melody were like ripping the paper and then she just sat there after five minutes she was like, “What are you doing?” And then I was like, “What the hell?” Like we left her alone because I didn’t know what to do and then ummm she was like, “What are you guys doing?” And we were like,”…. what are you doing?” She was like, “Aren’t we going to play the Sims?” And I was like,”… do you have the Sims? Like what the hell…” and then ummm my dad told her, “Oh go wash your face.” and then she did and she came out. And I was like you don’t remember that you were screaming and yelling at my dad? And then she was like, “No… all I remember is us sitting here about to play the Sims or something like that.” And I was like, “The fuck?” And she doesn’t even remember till this day. Even when I remind her, she’s like, “No, I seriously don’t remember.””

This story might not be an obvious ghost story when first read, but there are a few indicators which put this story into the ghost genre. The Ouija board game is a popular board game which is known and has been played by many people. It has also been used in the movie Paranormal Activity to help persuade and scare viewers into believing the house in the movie is possessed. The board has letters and words on it with a marker where the players place their fingers. The marker then moves to specific letters or words which are supposed to make a message to the players. Supposedly, the marker is being moved by a paranormal entity which makes the whole game scary. Other supernatural stories relating to the Ouija board have been around and only make it more believable. Because Nancy is “possessed” after using the Ouija board, it is easier believable that the story is paranormal. The entity which possessed Nancy had a personality which makes it easier to believe it was a ghost. Nelly emphasized the fear that was instilled into Nancy after she was possessed; “It seemed like she was about to get raped or something”. Many ghosts come from people who have had a tragic life or unfinished business. The terror and panic that came from Nancy gives reason to believe a ghost who had a tragic and fearful life possessed her.

Despite the scary possession that happened to Nancy, it can’t help but be thought of as the consequence of their “fun”. Nancy was possessed only after they didn’t rip the paper and that she went back to normal as the paper was ripped. It’s as though the paper, once used as the game board was an entrance for spirits to come through. This story shows the consequences of meddling with the supernatural world and not following it’s rules.

 

 

The Headless Horseman

Britta Roosendahl, 20, Female

Student, American

Los Angeles, CA

“So umm… I hope that I tell it right. It’s a really famous story on the East Coast and it has a history… like during the Revolutionary War. Okay, so… there’s this town in Pennsylvania, called Tarry Town, and it still exists. And so since the Revolutionary time, there’s this story called the Legend of the Sleepy Hollow. So I guess back in the 1600s, there was this guy, his name was Ichabod Crane. He was a school teacher, and he was kinda awkward, you know… tall and skinny and weird and he really liked this girl, who is the daughter of this farmer. So he is in love with this girl, whom he taught the piano to, umm… but she is the daughter of this really wealthy farmer and he’s really poor and, you know… but he loved her and he wanted to be with her. So he went to this party at her house and he hopes to get to know her better, and there’s this other guy, who is much bigger and more… umm… manly… who’s also in love with this woman. They called him Brom Bones or something… because he’s really kinda scary… and he didn’t like the fact that the school teacher was falling in love with this girl. So he told him this story… that one night, when he was riding home from work… and he heard… umm… he heard this noise behind him and this guy, he was riding a horse… and when he looked over, he saw that the guy had no head. And the guy was following him silently. So… umm… Brom, the big, tough guy saw that the guy was chasing him and he realized that if he rides over the bridge, to the churchyard, the ghost won’t be able to follow him, because ghost can’t cross over water and can’t go into the churchyard. So he crosses the bridge and looked over, the ghost bursts into flames. So… umm… Ichabod Crane… the skinny, dorky guy was totally freaked out because uhh, you know… there’s a ghost running around in the town. So after the party finishes… he… umm… said goodbye to this girl and rode on his horse and you know, it’s kinda dark, riding through the woods by himself and he got scared. So he then heard the sound of the… hooves and he looked around, no one was there. And it was really dark, so he got really scared. He kept looking over his shoulder, then saw the headless person riding behind him, really silent. He is wearing this military uniform, sort of like those worn during the Revolutionary war. So he pretended he wasn’t there, but eventually when he opened his eyes, and the guy was right next to him. He tried not to freak out but this guy was just riding next to him, totally silent. And all of a sudden, Ichabod Crane just freaks out and picked up his pace, and this guy was chasing him, and he was like… oh my God… I need to get to the bridge… so that, you know… the ghost will disappear. So he crosses the bridge and looks behind him, and the guy was still chasing after him. He didn’t burst into flames or anything, he just kept coming. He pulled out something from beside him, not a head, but something like a carved pumpkin… with a crazy face on it and aims it at Ichabod Crane and hits him and he flew off his horse and rolled down this hill then he was never seen again. To this day… the horseman still roams in the forest. Well, the coolest thing was, it is a traditional ghost story and I know there are many out there which are scarier… and umm.. this story, it is so traditional, East Coast and I learned it when I went to school there, in 4th grade and everyone in New England knows the story. And people travel down to Tarry Town to see the grave of the girl and they are all like… historical figures. And they are saying like… maybe Brom Bones, the bad guy, dressed up as the headless horseman, to scare Ichabad Crane away from the town so he can be with the woman, but everyone believes that the headless man is real because he probably died in the forest during the Revolutionary War and Pennsylvania is… well… uhh a creepy place!”

Like many post-war related ghost stories, the story of the headless horseman envelopes the motif of restless dead. Based on the book, The Legend of the Sleepy Hollow written by Washington Irving, a stray cannonball shot the man’s head off, and since then, the now headless man rides around the woods in search for his lost head. The headless horseman was also described to be wearing a Hessian military uniform, which then explains that the story took place during the American Revolutionary War. Many places were deemed haunted after a certain war period because many people were killed and most of the time, they are not buried properly, or buried without complete body parts. Because of this reason, ghosts, or spirits were seen roaming around their death place, in search for missing parts to make themselves complete before advancing to the spiritual world. People who did not die a merciful death, or had “unfinished business” in their lifetime, will probably come back as ghosts to seek revenge.

Hungry Ghost (Preta) in Burma

My room mate, ThawZin, is from Burma. He is a Buddhist, and is very religious. This is the story he told me from his country.

 

ThawZin: “First, some background info! In Buddhism we have different classes for spirituality. There are the demigods at the top, followed by humans, animals, hungry ghosts, then devils. Hungry ghosts are what we call ‘preta’ (pronounced pale-tar). Pretas are people, who, when they were alive, were greedy and malicious. Their death is usually caused by a greedy act they brought upon themselves. You know… pretas are actually pitied by humans, because they have to face suffering, but they deserve it. It’s karma. They are invisible, but they can scare mortals. They like eating the gooey shit coming from meat and other things, haha! That is why, every time I go to the market with my mom, we always have to spit on the floor, so that they won’t follow us. Their appearance: they have big bellies, and small heads. The big bellies symbolize how greedy they are, you know… They want so much, but the little head, little face, little mouth, symbolize that they can’t get anything, can’t get shit, you know? Haha!

 

Anyway so the story… my mother told me this before. In Burma there’s this guy. He was fucking greedy during his life time. One day he was really hungry. He loved eating intestines, so he went to his wife and said, ‘Where the fuck is my food?!” But the wife didn’t have anything prepared. He was so angry, so he went to the barn and, you know, he cut the tongues of the cows there while they were still alive! I mean the cows were still alive, and he just cut them, and so they were bleeding and shit. The cows were like… mooing the whole night, haha!  And they died a slow, painful death. He went to his wife, threw the cow tongues down at the table and told her to cook them for him. So the wife did. As he was eating the cow tongues, suddenly his own tongue started to dissolve. You know, it dissolved all the way to his insides. But karma did not kill him yet, it made him suffer. The cow tongue just dissolved his insides for days, until he died. He died just like the cows… a slow, painful death. When he died, that is when he became a preta. Well, he was reborn as a preta.”

 

Me: “Where in Burma was this? I mean, is there a specific place where he haunts?”

 

ThawZin: “Oh yes! It is in the old first kingdom of Burma, in Bagan.

 

Me: “Do people avoid that place?”

 

ThawZin: “Oh not at all! Actually you know, when he died, his preta was located under the ground. And then one day farmers in Bagan found that one part of… you know, the ground, started becoming fleshy. And that’s when they figured out that there was a preta there. They don’t avoid it. They constantly plow over the land, again and again. The greedy guy has to suffer again and again, getting plowed, but they can’t do anything about him. It’s karma, man. He deserves what came to him, and he has to stay there until he has repaid his debt, his bad karma.”

 

ThawZin’s story shows a lot about the Burmese culture, especially about the strength of the people’s belief in Buddhism. For one, the whole idea of a preta ghost is based on Buddhist beliefs in spiritual hierarchy and rebirth. As well, he says that even though people pity these pretas, when the farmers found out that there was a preta under the ground, they still plowed over him, again and again, even if it made the preta suffer, because they believed in the Buddhist concept of karma: that people deserve what is coming to them, good or bad. In many ways, his story also comes as a story of morality, particularly for the idea that greed and blind rage are unwanted negatives that will get you in trouble, and will follow you even after you die, in your rebirth, or the afterlife.

 

Funeral traditions

 

This is a belief prevailing among small towns and villages throughout China. I heard this belief from my friend Sue, who finished her high school in Hangzhou City and went back to her hometown village in Huzhou several times a year to visit her grandparents and old relatives there. Sue’s village has a 100-year history. Villagers there believe there are ghosts existing in the world, and they have special understanding of ancestor ghost and have special rituals to hold funerals. This is what Sue told me:

“From what my father told me, every time an aged villager died, after his or her funeral, there was a tradition that offsprings of the dead had to participate into a race in his hometown. This tradition passed down from the generation my grandpa lived in.

The process of Chinese funerals has changed a lot in past years. In my father’s generation, the dead body would be put into the coffin and covered by his or her off springs’ quilts. Every son or daughter of the dead should provide one quilt at least. Then, friends and relatives who were holding the funeral came to pray and bow to the dead, for showing their respects to the dead before people buried the coffin.

After everybody bowed to the dead, offsprings would take quilts out of the coffin and bury the coffin respectively and solemnly. Then descendants of the dead would carry their own quilts and start to run while competing with each other. The first person who reached his home was regarded as the one who would be blessed most by his dead ancestor in the future, because they believed that they carried their dead ancestor home first. Good fortune would come to that family.”

Sue is from a town in Huzhou where is in the eastern part of China. I think this tradition not only dominates in Huzhou, but also in my father’s hometown, Zhuji. Although the ritual of the funeral varies a bit, the main belief is the same. The belief is that the spirit of the dead ancestor will never go away even his body is cremated. The ancestor’s spirit will keep watching, blessing, protecting and bringing good fortune to his offspring. After my grandfather passed away, every time the Tomb Sweeping Festival comes, my father will take the whole family go back to his hometown and visit my grandfather’s grave and pay respect to him. My father always murmurs in front of the grave to ask the spirit of my grandpa to take care of us.

Ghostly game

I asked a lot of my friends if they had any fantastic ghost stories to tell. They all racked their brain so hard, but hardly came up with one. At the time I felt helpless about my story collection, Shirley saved my life. She told me a spooky story happened in her high school in America.

“I am even trembling now every time I try to recollect the story. At that time, I was in my senior year in Massachusetts. My friends were bored of study in the school. So they decided to play some paranormal activities to entertain. The game should be conducted in an abandoned house with lights turned off. Four participates will stand in four corners of a squared room with eyes covered with black mask. As the game begins, the first person walks towards the second person. When he approaches the second person, he pats the person on his shoulder. Then the second person goes to the third person and does the same thing. After the third person approaches the last participate, the last person is supposed to walk to the original place where the first person stands, where no one is there after the first round starts. As anyone passes a empty corner, the participate should cough and continue to walk towards the next corner to pat the next person. The game goes on until no one coughs anymore. The wired thing of this game is who is the extra person shown in the game? My four friends were brave and curious about this game. Thus they follow the rules one by one and. However, the game was stopped when one of my friends, Nick, touched “someone” in the empty corner.

It happened a long ago that I couldn’t remember some details. That afternoon, something horrible all happened to four of them. The only thing I remember is Nick fell down and broke his legs bones after playing the game. And when he returned home after school, his dog in his family barked loudly at him. Since it is believed in Chinese culture that dog can see ghost, we all started to imagine what were following Tom as he returned home.”

I took a long pause to think and go over Shirley’s story in my mind again. It made me scared actually. I then did some research of this frightening game and discovered that it was regarded as a taboo, because the extra “person” will emerge in the dark room for the most situation. What will you feel if you touch a “person” who doesn’t exist in the dark? My nerves tightened even I just think about rather than take part into the game.  Although many ghostly games like this four-corner one spread widely in traditional society, four-corner game haunted Shirley during her high school year the most, since it took place around her life. What’s more, she was actually sitting at the corner where Tom touched the fifth “person”.