The Presence (a true ghost story)
I’ve never seen a ghost. However, my mother believed she saw them all the time. She told us many stories of her supernatural encounters, including this one.
My mom was a school teacher in Singapore. At the time this occurred (in the 1960s or so), she was very involved in the scouts and would bring kids to remote areas in Singapore to camp and hike. After the activity was done, she would take a few kids home, which resulted in her driving long distances in some very quiet and dark places.
After one particular camping trip, she was driving in the early hours of the morning on a road surrounded by old graves and trees. She saw a patch of mist in the middle of the road. It’s not unusual for ground mist to occur in Singapore because of the high humidity. However, this mist was actually moving. As my mother headed down the road, she saw the mist move from the graveyard to the road. Short of stopping and turning around, she had to pass through it. She had a bad feeling about the mist but kept going because it was late and she wanted to get home.
My mom said she felt an intense chill as she drove through the mist. She broke out in goosebumps. She shook off the feeling and continued on her way.
Mom lived alone in a small apartment. She went to bed as soon as she arrived home. The next day, she had a strong feeling that she wasn’t alone. There was something in the apartment with her, and it wasn’t friendly. The feeling was especially bad at night.
She became so frightened that she talked to the thing and asked it not to harm her. It didn’t, but her fear grew anyway. After about a week, she couldn’t take it any longer. She called my grandfather (who lived in the neighboring country of Malaysia), broke down in tears and told him what happened.
My grandfather told her to hang in there. He came two days later with a Taoist shaman. The priest confirmed there was a presence in the apartment. It hitched a ride while my mother was driving beside the graveyard. The priest said prayers and blessed the apartment.
After that, my mother felt the presence was gone.
The moral of the story: avoid patches of mist at the graveyard. They may be lost spirits looking for a new home.
Submitted by Yin Leong.
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