“Okay, so all I know is this very traditional Thai story, which was told by my grandfather. There was this guy, in his mid 30’s started hearing, like, dragging sounds everywhere he went. When he stopped walking, the sound stopped. It was almost as if someone was following him. He didn’t know what to do so he didn’t do anything. This happened for about two weeks. During the second week, an accident happened. This guy fell down the stairs in his own house and was admitted to the hospital as he injured his knee. He told the doctor that he felt like someone grabbed his leg, causing him to lose balance and fall. While he was lying in bed, he would hear the dragging sound again, which was strange because he wasn’t walking. Then he began to hear other noises, like people chattering but he was unable to make out the words at first. One day he figured out that the words were something like “kill…us…revenge…you died…killed…you killed…” but they weren’t proper sentences. He asked the doctor if he could leave the hospital because he wanted to pay a visit to the temple but the doctor said no. The guy had to tolerate the voices for three whole days. Finally he was able to leave the hospital. He went straight to the temple to make merits. The voices softened and then disappeared. The guy thought all was well so he stopped going to the temple. About a month later, the guy was crossing the road when he heard the voice whisper “revenge” and suddenly he was unable to move his legs. The guy was hit by a car, but luckily, he was only paralyzed. After he was able to leave the hospital, he went to see a monk. The monk told him that he had killed many people in his past life, so bad karma never left him, even in this life. The guy decided to spend the rest of his life as a priest so he could spend everyday of his life making merits and virtue to compensate for the sins from his past life.”

This story was memorable to the informant because he is Buddhist and his grandfather was an especially strong Buddhism devotee. The majority of Thai people are devoted to Buddhism, which highlights Karma as one of the main concepts. Karma is the belief that when one’s actions, speech, or thoughts are unethical, it would lead to consequences that follow one to either in the present life or the after life. In this story, the man was completely oblivious to what sins he had committed in his past life. Because this man had supposedly killed countless lives in his past, it resulted in consequences that almost took his own life in the present. This story demonstrates the fact that people cannot escape their sins and paying for their evils deeds is inevitable, if it does not occur in the present life, then it will occur in the life after.

I personally believe in this story. This is because I have heard from my family members and other friends that told me similar stories about good and bad karma. I also feel like every time I tell lies, even when they are just white lies, I am always guilty and always remember the Buddhism teachings. This story could be true or made up, but the message remains the same. What this story expresses is the fact that Buddhists should attempt to preform only good deeds and if they fail at doing so, they have to find a way to make merits to lessen the consequence. Making merits do not cancel out the sins committed, but people do feel better after, even if it is just psychologically.

Pam Kiser was my mother’s best friend for almost 30 years. She was my mother’s “soul sister” and even my god-mother. Since Pam was a young girl, she was physically and emotionally abused by her father; this occurred even after she left for college. He always kept a tight hold on his daughter, and when she finally got married to her husband, Keith, a very respectable doctor in their area, her father became even more emotionally abusive towards Pam. This was a demon that Pam and her husband had to deal with until her father died about 10 years later. “To be honest,” my mother admits, “the demons continued to haunt Pam for years up until the day she took her life.”

August 12th, 2006, was the day my mother lost her best friend, not to natural causes, but to the simple pull of trigger. Ever since then, my mother has never been the same. She continues to sense Pam in everything she does. “I wanted to stay in bed,” Mom would complain, “but I could hear Pam telling me to get my lazy arse (butt) up!” “Pam helped me get through a tough day today; I could almost feel her wrapping her arms around me.” “Pam reminded me today that I am so lucky to have children like I do; I know she misses her girls terribly.” Comments like this from my mother’s mouth are not peculiar, for she senses her best friend almost every day.

The week after Pam passed away, a few strange occurrences happened to my mother during her time of grief.  Pam was known to be the “social butterfly” of our community in Sugar Land, Texas. Every one knew the Kiser family, and to know Pam was to love her. Because of this, Pam became associated with butterflies on a regular basis. People gave her gifts constantly that had something to do with a butterfly — coffee mugs, posters, even cardigans. Every time my mom would pass a butterfly item in a vintage shop or at the department store, she had to buy the item for Pam. The day after Pam’s funeral, my mother decided to take a personal trip to her grave to mourn. “I sat there at her grave, crying and yelling at her, telling her that she was so (pause) SO selfish for leaving me and her family. I was so incredibly angry at her and I needed answers. Her poor husband and children needed answers! But as I sat there weeping, a cool breeze blew across my neck and a yellow butterfly — her favorite color — flew down and landed on my shoulder. Suddenly, all at once, I was at peace. It was her; her spirit was there trying to help me through. I’ve never felt so at peace…”

A few days later, my mother was going through some old photos of Pam to make a scrapbook. “I found so many amazing photos of Pam doing her normal stuff — volunteering and whatnot — but I could NOT find a single photo of us together for some reason. I was frantic that my best friend had possibly left the world without even taking a polaroid with me! (nostalgic chuckle) But that night, as I was putting on my jammies (pajamas), I found a picture of us in the top drawer of my closet. It was from a Christmas party years ago, when you (me) were just a baby. The funny thing is, though, I never remember taking that photo. I could recall every other photo I had taken of Pam, but not that one. It was just like it (trying to make sense of it) appeared. (pause… looks up) I knew it was her; she was there with me.”

The next day my mom went to take some old photos that she found to Pam’s mother, who still lives in Pam’s childhood home in northern Houston. “When I got there, Pam’s mom was, of course, distraught. I came in and talked to her for a little while. We cried for a bit, and then she brought up something strange. She said that a few nights after Pam took her life, the mirror on the right side of the parents’ bathroom — Pam’s father’s mirror — mysteriously fell and shattered. The woman had lived in that house for almost 45 years, and the mirror just then decided to fall. When I heard this I remembered Pam telling me about her relationship with her father, and how he used to treat her until he died. (very convinced) All at once I suddenly knew why Pam took her life. His demon (her father) still haunted her, and caught her at a moment of weakness… then boom. (she stares at the ground for a while after)”

At the end of the interview, my mother suddenly remembered something else. “Oh! And at her funeral, the weirdest thing happened. The funeral was inside, remember? (I nodded to agree) Well, remember that strange butterfly that landed on the podium as Pam’s daughter was speaking? (I nodded) Remember how it just came out of nowhere and happened to be inside? (again, I nodded) Remember what color it was? (pause) Yellow. It was yellow.”

Although this is an unorthodox ghost story, it still represents a spirit that remains with its loved ones. Pam’s spirit visited my mother and her own family through symbols of her past life. I know this is Pam trying to help her loved ones remember her good qualities in life, not the fact that she left without saying goodbye. This is common throughout many ghost stories — widows will experience “visitations” from their deceased spouses, etc. My mom may not have been Pam’s spouse, but Pam was everything to my mother, and the visitations my mom has experienced have helped appease her anguish.

“I grew up in New Jersey, and about 30 minutes away from where I lived there’s a nice park called Peapack. Peapack is a huge estate and there is an abandoned house on the property. The house used to be a convent, and the church donated the land to the area as a park when it ceased to be used. Well, um, apparently there’s a legend that one of the Mother Superior’s of the convent murdered some of the nuns in a pagan ritual after she lost her mind… I didn’t think it was true but I totally believe in ghosts. Anyways, some of us from my high school were visiting a friend who lived there and we decided to walk there. It was a Sunday afternoon and it was pretty gloomy. Anyways, whenever we got near the house, the wind always seemed to pick up a little. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary besides the sprawling abandoned house, but it was hard to convince myself that the wind wasn’t a result of some presence. The air just seemed a little heavier but I think that’s just because we were all trying to convince ourselves we were feeling something.”

This is another textbook story. The story behind this is much more daunting and fanciful than my other collection, but plausible all the same. The land had been a convent, but was no longer one. That means there must have been a reason why it was abandoned, whether or not it was the rampaging murderous nun. But other elements of the story include the gloomy day, the wind, and the “heavy” air.