Experts Unearth Srebrenica Bodies In Ghost Village
Forensic experts said on Tuesday they have unearthed about 1,000 skeletal remains of Bosnian victims of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre in a mass grave.
Documents recovered from the grave in this village dubbed “Death Valley” showed the victims were from Srebrenica, forensic experts said.
The eastern enclave was under United Nations protection when it was overrun by Bosnian Serb forces near the end of the 1992-95 war.
“Almost 90 percent of all remains had traces of bullet shots and some victims were blindfolded with rope-tied hands,” said Vedo Tuco, standing on the edge of a muddy grave where white-clad forensic pathologists marked and cleaned up bones.
Experts had hoped to complete the exhumations Wednesday but say the work which started two months ago will finish next week.
Tuco said some of the remains were of 14-to-15-year-old boys. The victims were killed at three locations near Srebrenica and transferred to the village of Kamenica from the original graves three months after the execution, he added.
More than 8,000 Muslim men and boys were killed in Srebrenica. Bosnian Serb General Ratko Mladic, indicted on genocide charges for the atrocity, is still on the run.
Bosnian Serbs first buried the bodies near the execution sites but then dug out many of them with bulldozers and reburied them in “secondary” mass graves in an attempt to hide the crime.
“There is a complete chaos in this mass grave. Some of the remains that we found here will probably be re-associated with the bodies that we had exhumed from other mass graves discovered in this village,” Tuco said.
There are 12 mass graves in a strip of land about 7-km (four miles) long, located beside the sole road in this remote and almost deserted village, mainly on Muslim land. Mass graves unearthed earlier yielded around 3,000 body parts.
“They probably thought that nobody would ever return here and discover the crime,” Tuco said. He said another mass grave has been located in the village but digging will likely start in the spring because of bad winter weather.
About 5,800 victims of Europe’s worst atrocity since World War Two have been identified through DNA analysis but they can be reburied only after 70 percent of the bodily remains have been identified.
“The identification of the bodies we found here will probably take a long time because they are so dismembered and in bad shape,” Tuco said.
“It is therefore very important to dig out even the smallest body parts.”
Camila Mehmedovic, 61, a rare villager who returned to Kamenica after the war, mowed grass for her sheep from a nearby field before she learned there was a mass grave below.
“If I knew it would be like this, I would have never returned,” she said.
“Wherever I go the bones are being dug out and I cannot escape a smell of decaying bodies. This really is a Death Valley.”
As it hunts for ghosts, NBC Universal’s Sci Fi Channel is scaring up larger numbers of female viewers.
“Ghost Hunters,” now in its fourth year on Sci Fi, is helping the male-skewing network achieve its goal of balancing its demographics.
As a genre, science fiction tends to attract more males than females. That’s reflected in the audience for Sci Fi Channel, which is about 56% male. Sci Fi’s most heralded show, “Battlestar Galactica,” attracts an audience that is 65% male and 35% female.
Since most of television skews toward female viewership, the handful of networks that attract a greater proportion of men—ESPN and History, for example—try to take advantage of their unique audience to sell ads to marketers in categories looking to reach males, such as financial services, insurance and video games.
But Sci Fi, a top-10 cable network trying to shake the perception of its fans being Trekkies who live in their parents’ basements, opted instead to reach out to female viewers.
“We have that debate every year with the advertising team,” said Dave Howe, president of the Sci Fi Channel. The network came to the conclusion that it wanted the largest total number of adult viewers, and decided to work toward a 50-50 split between men and women.
“We see this as the way to maximize your revenue,” he said.
“Most of the dollars out there are chasing either women or adults,” said Carrie Drinkwater, senior VP and director of national broadcasting at media buyer MPG.
Mr. Howe said the network maintains critical mass with both males and females. But, he added, “Companies in the pharmaceutical and packaged-goods industries have chosen to advertise on the network because of what ‘Ghost Hunters’ is doing.”
In its fourth year, “Ghost Hunters’” viewership is up 31% from a year ago, and that audience is 56% female.
“The reality programming is absolutely driving their female numbers,” said Nicole Romanik, VP and account director for national broadcast at Initiative. And even though it’s a male-skewing network, it’s already got nearly as many female viewers during prime time as VH1 and HGTV, she noted.
“That’s not exactly what you’d expect,” Ms. Romanik said.
Not all of Sci Fi’s attempts to appeal to female viewers have resulted in successful shows for the networks.
Reality shows, for example, tend to skew female. And women tend to have an interest in the paranormal. But when Sci Fi aired a show called “Psychic at Large,” it attracted women, as one would expect, but it drew practically no men, so it was a failure.
What Sci Fi learned from that effort was that while women tend to believe in the paranormal and the afterlife, men need such subject matter to at least attempt to provide some sort of scientific testing to appeal to their rational side.
So when the “Ghost Hunters” use gadgets and gizmos to try to document the presence of spirits, that “gives it credibility from a male point of view,” Mr. Howe said.
Sci Fi has been adding more shows to its schedule in the paranormal genre that attract female viewers, including “Ghost Hunters International” and “Destination Truth.” It also ordered new series “Ghost Hunters: College Edition” and “RelicQuest.”
It’s important that the shows fit into the network’s lineup, Mr. Howe said. Through scheduling and promotion, Sci Fi hopes its new female viewers will watch other shows on the networks.
“We’re not interested in any islands in the schedule,” Mr. Howe said.
Despite the influx of new shows and female viewers, Sci Fi will retain its geek chic.
“I think the Trekkies of the world are always going to watch Sci Fi,” Ms. Romanik said.
“Ghost Hunters,” now in its fourth year on Sci Fi, is helping the male-skewing network achieve its goal of balancing its demographics.
As a genre, science fiction tends to attract more males than females. That’s reflected in the audience for Sci Fi Channel, which is about 56% male. Sci Fi’s most heralded show, “Battlestar Galactica,” attracts an audience that is 65% male and 35% female.
Since most of television skews toward female viewership, the handful of networks that attract a greater proportion of men—ESPN and History, for example—try to take advantage of their unique audience to sell ads to marketers in categories looking to reach males, such as financial services, insurance and video games.
But Sci Fi, a top-10 cable network trying to shake the perception of its fans being Trekkies who live in their parents’ basements, opted instead to reach out to female viewers.
“We have that debate every year with the advertising team,” said Dave Howe, president of the Sci Fi Channel. The network came to the conclusion that it wanted the largest total number of adult viewers, and decided to work toward a 50-50 split between men and women.
“We see this as the way to maximize your revenue,” he said.
“Most of the dollars out there are chasing either women or adults,” said Carrie Drinkwater, senior VP and director of national broadcasting at media buyer MPG.
Mr. Howe said the network maintains critical mass with both males and females. But, he added, “Companies in the pharmaceutical and packaged-goods industries have chosen to advertise on the network because of what ‘Ghost Hunters’ is doing.”
In its fourth year, “Ghost Hunters’” viewership is up 31% from a year ago, and that audience is 56% female.
“The reality programming is absolutely driving their female numbers,” said Nicole Romanik, VP and account director for national broadcast at Initiative. And even though it’s a male-skewing network, it’s already got nearly as many female viewers during prime time as VH1 and HGTV, she noted.
“That’s not exactly what you’d expect,” Ms. Romanik said.
Not all of Sci Fi’s attempts to appeal to female viewers have resulted in successful shows for the networks.
Reality shows, for example, tend to skew female. And women tend to have an interest in the paranormal. But when Sci Fi aired a show called “Psychic at Large,” it attracted women, as one would expect, but it drew practically no men, so it was a failure.
What Sci Fi learned from that effort was that while women tend to believe in the paranormal and the afterlife, men need such subject matter to at least attempt to provide some sort of scientific testing to appeal to their rational side.
So when the “Ghost Hunters” use gadgets and gizmos to try to document the presence of spirits, that “gives it credibility from a male point of view,” Mr. Howe said.
Sci Fi has been adding more shows to its schedule in the paranormal genre that attract female viewers, including “Ghost Hunters International” and “Destination Truth.” It also ordered new series “Ghost Hunters: College Edition” and “RelicQuest.”
It’s important that the shows fit into the network’s lineup, Mr. Howe said. Through scheduling and promotion, Sci Fi hopes its new female viewers will watch other shows on the networks.
“We’re not interested in any islands in the schedule,” Mr. Howe said.
Despite the influx of new shows and female viewers, Sci Fi will retain its geek chic.
“I think the Trekkies of the world are always going to watch Sci Fi,” Ms. Romanik said.
Visits From The Deceased
Carlos Sluzki’s cat died a while ago now, but he still sometimes visits. Now more of a shadow cat, the former pet seems to lurk at the edges of Sluzki’s vision, as a misinterpreted movement amid the everyday chaos of domestic life. All the same, the shadow cat is beginning to slink away and Sluzki notes that as the grief fades his erstwhile friend is “erasing himself from the world of the present and receding into the bittersweet world of the memories of the loved ones.”
The dead stay with us, that much is clear. They remain in our hearts and minds, of course, but for many people they also linger in our senses—as sights, sounds, smells, touches or presences. Grief hallucinations are a normal reaction to bereavement but are rarely discussed, because people fear they might be considered insane or mentally destabilised by their loss. As a society we tend to associate hallucinations with things like drugs and mental illness, but we now know that hallucinations are common in sober healthy people and that they are more likely during times of stress.
A Common HallucinationMourning seems to be a time when hallucinations are particularly common, to the point where feeling the presence of the deceased is the norm rather than the exception. One study, by the researcher Agneta Grimby at the University of Goteborg, found that over 80 percent of elderly people experience hallucinations associated with their dead partner one month after bereavement, as if their perception had yet to catch up with the knowledge of their beloved’s passing. As a marker of how vivid such visions can seem, almost a third of the people reported that they spoke in response to their experiences. In other words, these weren’t just peripheral illusions: they could evoke the very essence of the deceased.
Occasionally, these hallucinations are heart-rending. A 2002 case report by German researchers described how a middle aged woman, grieving her daughter’s death from a heroin overdose, regularly saw the young girl and sometimes heard her say “Mamma, Mamma!” and “It’s so cold.” Thankfully, these distressing experiences tend to be rare, and most people who experience hallucinations during bereavement find them comforting, as if they were re-connecting with something of the positive from the person’s life. Perhaps this reconnecting is reflected in the fact that the intensity of grief has been found to predict the number of pleasant hallucinations, as has the happiness of the marriage to the person who passed away.
There are hints that the type of grief hallucinations might also differ across cultures. Anthropologists have told us a great deal about how the ceremonies, beliefs and the social rituals of death differ greatly across the world, but we have few clues about how these different approaches affect how people experience the dead after they have gone. Carlos Sluzki, the owner of the shadow cat and a cross-cultural researcher at George Mason University, suggests that in cultures of non-European origin the distinction between “in here” and “out there” experiences is less strictly defined, and so grief hallucinations may not be considered so personally worrying. In a recent article, he discussed the case of an elderly Hispanic lady who was frequently “visited” by two of her children who died in adulthood and were a comforting and valued part of her social network. Other case reports have suggested that such hallucinations may be looked on more favorably among the Hopi Indians, or the Mu Ghayeb people from Oman, but little systematic work has been done.
And there, our knowledge ends. Despite the fact that hallucinations are one of the most common reactions to loss, they have barely been investigated and we know little more about them. Like sorrow itself, we seem a little uncomfortable with it, unwilling to broach the subject and preferring to dwell on the practicalities—the “call me if I can do anything,” the “let’s take your mind off it,” the “are you looking after yourself?”
Only a minority of people reading this article are likely to experience grief without re-experiencing the dead. We often fall back on the cultural catch all of the “ghost” while the reality is, in many ways, more profound. Our perception is so tuned to their presence that when they are not there to fill that gap, we unconsciously try to mold the world into what we have lived with for so long and so badly long for. Even reality is no match for our love.
Ghost Stories Alive And Well In Opelika
The ladies walked into the tavern. They were wearing the finest of Victorian wear for the time. They were joined a few moments later by a gentleman friend.
They talked, commented on the fashions of others there. I don’t think they were fond of what was worn by some of the ladies present that night.
They laughed.
After a short time, the gentleman glanced at his watch, as remembering he had another engagement near. Then, in a few minutes, he left saying “He must catch the train.” Just a moment after he departed, the horn sounded as a train sped through downtown Opelika on its way north. It was December a few years ago. But not one 120 years ago, it was just two years ago. You might encounter these Victorian friends again in the next few weeks. Well, maybe, if you see ghosts.
Opelika isn’t the only city with stories of ghost in old buildings. Several owners of shops on Railroad Avenue can tell you of lights cut off at night, only to be found on in the morning. I’ve seen the shadow of a shop owner’s wife pass in the dimly lit store, only to discover she’s not working that day and isn’t in the shop. I would have bet $100 that she was hiding behind the wall. Then the story of the bartender that hears glasses being pushed off shelves, only to walk to the bar and find no one there to do the deed. Or me hearing the footsteps from above the ceiling, then learning that the second floor was empty of life.
So now, how do I explain that someone saw the ghost? There are people that see ghosts you know. I know we normally bring out stories of ghosts or spirits each Halloween, but this appearance at the time of the Victorian Front Porch tour seemed worthy of mention again. And who is the person who saw this Victorian trio? Not some crazed lunatic, but a responsible working member of the community. I was at Eighth and Rail that night friend Beth Witten and her husband Steve, and she asked the question, “Did you see that?” For it was Beth that saw (and felt) the ladies brush past her. And in just another moment, another figure of the gentleman, who joined the ladies.
I thought it was interesting that this sighting was during the time of the Victorian Front Porch Tour in Opelika that year. Does this mean that other spirits come out for this holiday celebration?
Well, I would offer this up for thought. If you walk the Victorian Front Porch Tour and see a couple down the street, but as you turn back, they are no longer there, you may have seen a ghost of Christmas Past. Now if you come upon the gentleman with the British accent and younger Victorian wife, it’s probably just George Purves and wife Debbie. They’re not ghosts. Happy Holidays folks, see you next year.
Leave Him Alone
This story happens in the hostel of the school. Joe, someone I met in an archery competition, once stayed at the hostel. This is the story he heard and later relayed to us.
The hostel was of three (not very sure) storeys high and there are rooms being occupied by male students of all ages. Some of the older boys can be a bully at times to the younger boys. One of the older boys learnt his lesson one day when he met something not so pleasant as he was trying to bully a younger student.
It was past midnight, Min was at his friend’s room on the second floor for a chit chat. Before long, he realised how late it was and asked wish his friends good night as he leave to go back to his own room. It was a hot night with occasional breeze. The whole place is quiet with exception of the familiar sound of insects outside the building. It was just another usual weeknight when many tend to go to bed earlier.
Min was walking slowly towards the room on the ground floor. As he was getting towards the first floor, he saw a boy sitting down at the end of the staircase. Min did not recall seeing that boy around before. Maybe it’s just one of those studious students who never mix around with them. He looks much younger than Min himself.
The boy had his arms on his knees with his face buried on his arms. From behind, he looked as if he is sleeping. As Min got near, he can’t help but to disturb the boy.
“Hey boy! What are you doing here? Crying? Oh, cry baby! If you want to cry, go to your room and cry. Or go to your Mummy and cry. Don’t sit down here and block my way!”
The boy ignored him and just stayed still. Min was annoyed because the boy doesn’t seem to be scared of him, who is very much bigger in size and in age. So, he got nearer to that boy and gave him a slight kick on his legs. “Come on! Get lost!”
Then the boy sat up straight and slowly turned his face towards Min. As he turned around, Min could see that the boy has got no face. There’s just a plain piece of skin without a mouth, nose or eyes.
Min was motionless for a moment. He stared straight on the boy’s featureless face. He doesn’t know what to do for once. He wanted to scream but the voice never came out. His mind gone blank.
Then the boy started to move again. He was trying to stand up. Suddenly Min started running away. Before he knew it, the boy was chasing behind! He ran as fast as possible while kept looking back. All these while, he could see that boy chasing behind. He got into his room, slam his door real hard and rush into his bed. He quickly covered himself up with the blanket and shivering with fear. He was still in a shock and stayed under his blanket praying.
Then he heard someone opening the door and walked a few steps in. Then the door was shut. Min was petrified but dare not get up and see who it was. He could sense the person walk straight up to his bed and stand right next to the bed. His fear got the better of him and he may have fainted there and then. The next thing he knew was it was morning already and he was sweating under his blanket because of the heat. He realised he was not in his pyjamas and recalled what had happened the night before. He told his friends and since then, never dare walking back to his room late at night when everyone’s off to bed.
Mystery Kid
The school has a big field which is quite suitable for archery competition. They have been host for several archery competitions on the past years.
Not long ago, John, the storyteller, was there for an archery competition with his three other team-mates. Most archers were put in the hostel for accommodation by the organisers. They, too, were living there with the rest for several nights.
On that occasion, John and Azmin were sharing one room while their two other team-mates shared another room. On the first night they were there, John left Azmin alone in the room and went over to the other room to chat with his other team-mates. Azmin decided not to follow but went to bed early as he was tired.
The three guys were talking in the next room when they heard Azmin started scolding someone. They could hear Azmin was really angry to the extent that he was actually yelling. Apparently, Azmin was furious over a kid who disturbed him while he was trying to sleep. When they came out to check on Azmin, they saw Azmin rushed out of the room, with a clothes hangar in his hand, and ran down the corridor as if he was chasing someone or something and trying to hit it with the hanger. When he got back to his room, the surprised friends asked him what was he up to.
Azmin said, “That stupid boy came into my room and started pulling my blanket away from me. I scolded him and told him to get lost. But he came back and started pulling my blanket again. I was really annoyed. I got out of bed and told him to go away. He just stood there and laughed. So, I grab this clothes hanger on the table next to me and I started chasing him. I wonder where did he go as I lost him suddenly round the corner there.”
The friends felt strange and told him that they didn’t see anyone, besides Azmin himself, when he was running down the corridor.
V.I. is a very old school and most of the buildings are very old. Most of them were built in the pre-war years and some have unique, if not weird, architecture. The old hall is one such building.
It is not a very big hall and the whole place can be very dark without the lights on. Inside, it looks as if the hall is oval shaped. There are only two small doors on the corners at the end of the hall. Hence, it is not very convenient for huge crowd. Since the hall has not been in use for a long time, most school students have never been into the hall.
One day, curiosity drove two boys to sneak into the building. As they step into the hall, they felt an unusual coldness. It seems that the air is trap in the hall and the heat outside has no effect upon the temperature inside this old building.
They walked around exploring the hall to find nothing much interesting inside. Then, as they were standing in the middle of the hall looking up towards the ceiling, they heard a whooping sound coming from behind them. They turned around and saw a patchy thing which looks like a boomerang. It was green in colour and the thing was rotating. As it rotated, it got bigger and bigger. Then it slowly moved towards them. Out of fear, they started running towards the door but when they start running, they both went in different directions.
As the hall was dark they could not find the door. They kept running around the oval looking hall with the things still chasing them behind. Apparently, the green thing has split into two and was chasing both of them, who were running in different direction.
One of the boys claimed that his friend wasn’t actually running with him, but floating above the ground and always stays right beside him while kept smiling at him. As he was running, the thing continued to chase after him but it never seems to get to him at all. Exactly the same thing happened to the other boy who was running in the opposite direction.
Perhaps there are two ghosts involved here and they both take the form of the boys. However, what is the green thing, nobody would figure out.
The weirdest thing is that they never bum into each other as they kept circulating into the hall. They started shouting for help. Suddenly, someone opened the door and light up the hall. Then the green thing disappeared and the ‘friend’ was gone.
It is not a very big hall and the whole place can be very dark without the lights on. Inside, it looks as if the hall is oval shaped. There are only two small doors on the corners at the end of the hall. Hence, it is not very convenient for huge crowd. Since the hall has not been in use for a long time, most school students have never been into the hall.
One day, curiosity drove two boys to sneak into the building. As they step into the hall, they felt an unusual coldness. It seems that the air is trap in the hall and the heat outside has no effect upon the temperature inside this old building.
They walked around exploring the hall to find nothing much interesting inside. Then, as they were standing in the middle of the hall looking up towards the ceiling, they heard a whooping sound coming from behind them. They turned around and saw a patchy thing which looks like a boomerang. It was green in colour and the thing was rotating. As it rotated, it got bigger and bigger. Then it slowly moved towards them. Out of fear, they started running towards the door but when they start running, they both went in different directions.
As the hall was dark they could not find the door. They kept running around the oval looking hall with the things still chasing them behind. Apparently, the green thing has split into two and was chasing both of them, who were running in different direction.
One of the boys claimed that his friend wasn’t actually running with him, but floating above the ground and always stays right beside him while kept smiling at him. As he was running, the thing continued to chase after him but it never seems to get to him at all. Exactly the same thing happened to the other boy who was running in the opposite direction.
Perhaps there are two ghosts involved here and they both take the form of the boys. However, what is the green thing, nobody would figure out.
The weirdest thing is that they never bum into each other as they kept circulating into the hall. They started shouting for help. Suddenly, someone opened the door and light up the hall. Then the green thing disappeared and the ‘friend’ was gone.
The Mirror
Many people have the opinion that ghost does not appear on mirror because they don’t have a reflection. And this, according to certain people, is due to the fact that ghost has no soul. However, some would argue that ghosts are merely souls without their solid form.
In my opinion, as long as the ghost appears solid, i.e., if they are not transparent, they should have a reflection on the mirror. Nevertheless, to a group of students, the argument of ghost having reflections on the mirror is not an important issue at all.
I have to point out that the following account may have happened in the school toilet itself although the initial impression I got was that it happened in the hostel toilet. Hence, in the story, I will assume that it happens in the hostel.
A lot of students claimed they have seen their reflections on the mirror becoming ‘alive’. Everybody knows that when you turn right, your reflection on the mirror would turn left, and vice-versa. Nevertheless, the mirrors in this hostel would do otherwise. That is, if you turn right, the reflection, as if alive, would turn right as well. Many students and teachers experience that phenomenon but when they realised something was not right, everything would be back to normal. According to them, this phenomenon only happens when you are not looking exactly at the mirror and are not paying attention on it.
You may argue that it is mere psychological effects and that’s what those who had experienced it thought so too, until they came together and realised that so many others experience the same thing.
Although this is not scary, the mirrors, or perhaps the ghosts, have another trick that would set their victims screaming and crying in fear.
One early morning, everyone was awoken by a loud scream of a girl. According to the girl, she bent down near to the sink to wash her face. When she stood up straight and looked into the mirror, she saw what made her screamed out in fear. She claimed that those drops of water on her face appeared as drops on blood. She thought it was her blood at that moment and yelled out loud. She rushed back to her room and told her roommate. Her friend convinced her it was only water but not blood.
By then, everyone has rushed out of their room and gathered around outside the girl’s room trying to find out what had happened. One of them later told the housemaster about the incident. The housemaster said there is nothing he could do. However, he did not rule out the story of that girl as ridiculous and, in fact, he advised the residents not to go to the toilets alone. Later he told some students that the incident was unexplainable as it has happened many times in the past. According to him, it is better to leave the “thing” alone as any action may cause the incident to repeat itself even more often.
Guardhouse
Along the fence of the school, there is a roll of nice trees. I was told that during World War II, the Japanese army used to hang prisoners’ head on those trees. During the war, the most common method of execution was to chop off one’s head. To warn the people so that they will not go against them, the Japanese army would hang the heads of executed prisoners’ on trees. Since the school was used as a Japanese station and for their prisoners, added to the fact that the trees were by the roadside, it became the best spot to serve that purpose.
The school has a guardhouse just off that roll of trees, where the gate is. There will be at least one policeman on duty there every night. The reason why the police was involved in such kind of duty, instead of just an ordinary guard, was not known to me.
One night, one of the policemen was on duty as usual at that guardhouse. Ahmad (name changed) has been attending duties at the guardhouse for countless number of times but he has not encountered any kind of the extraordinary.
On that fateful night, it seems to be just another quiet, warm night that he has to go through. He was listening to the radio while trying to keep himself awake just in case his superior come and check on him. At about 3 am, the inspector indeed appears. Ahmad felt a great sense of relief he did not fall asleep for that may caused him some sort of punishment.
He got off his chair and stood at the doorsteps waiting for the inspector to get near. He then saluted to him and said, “Good morning, sir!” The inspector saluted in return and greeted him back.
There was a long pause then. The inspector, with his hand still up and staring at Ahmad, just kept quiet for a while. Ahmad was starting to feel uncomfortable. Ahmad was about to open his mouth and asked if the inspector’s all right. Before any words could come out, the inspector’s head suddenly broke off from his body and dropped to the ground. Ahmad saw the head on the ground with its eyes still wide opened and the inspector still standing firm on its two feet.
Ahmad got really frightened and ran away at the next moment. He got home in a fright and was sick for several days. Then later, he tried to tell his colleagues what had happened but they were reluctant to believe him, though they did not dismiss his story completely either. The main reason they did not want to believe the story was that the said inspector was still seen in the police station as usual everyday.
The incident did not hinder Ahmad from continuing his duties as usual. Nevertheless, whenever he was on duty in the guardhouse, he would be wary of any noises around.
To his horror, the same inspector appears again one night several months later. He started to get panic the moment he saw the inspector walking towards the guardhouse from his car. He got out of the guardhouse and stood firmly. He felt like running away that precise moment but he told himself to be brave and stay on to see what will happen next. He was ready to run away once anything unusual happen. He can’t bear to see the inspector’s head on the ground with those wide-opened eyes anymore.
When the inspector got to the guardhouse, he greeted Ahmad first. Ahmad was speechless. He fear if he were to salute to him, the inspector’s head might fall off again. So, he just kept quiet and stared at the inspector. Waiting for him to response, the inspector also stood there quietly staring at him.
Ahmad thought, “Oh! Oh! The silence! Maybe this is the moment to run away.”
Just before he could move his feet and run, the inspector spoke and asked if he was all right. The inspector said he looked pale and sick. Then, Ahmad feeling confused that the inspector have spoken, started to wonder if the inspector was the same ‘inspector’ who visited him before.
Instead of answering the inspector, he put up his guts and started poking the inspector’s body to see if he is human. The felt the solid form of a human body but he was not convince yet. So, he pushed the inspector’s head instead — to see if the head would fall off.
Well, the head did not fall off to the ground but the inspector was very furious by then. He yelled at Ahmad condemning him for disrespect.
“What do you think you are doing? First of all, you never even greet your superior as he comes in. Then you started poking him with your fingers!” Ahmad was later punished for disrespect to a superior.
When the story was told to me by an ex-student of the school, a policeman from the same squad as Ahmad was presence. He overheard over story and interrupted to confirm that the story was true and Ahmad was never placed on duty in that guardhouse again after that incident.
According to Lee, this story has some connection to those ‘nice trees’ along the fence of the school. A lot of people, especially those working in the guardhouse through the nights have claimed to have seen figures on the trees, some without heads.
Badminton Hall
Georgetown (Penang, Malaysia) is a very old city. Most of the buildings downtown are build before World War II and many, especially the school buildings were often used as the station for Japanese soldiers. Many of these buildings are used as a prisons and execution centre, too.
This school, commonly known as CIS, is an all-girls school. It is one of the oldest schools in Malaysia. It was used as a prison by the Japanese during the war. Inside one of the classrooms, there were carvings of British prisoners’ name on the wall. The school also houses the first residence of Sir Francis Light, the founder of Penang.
Although the school building has been declared a heritage area, some old buildings are of no value and they were excluded from the heritage building list. One of such building was the canteen. The old canteen was declared unsafe and hence was torn down and a new school canteen with a badminton hall above it was subsequently built.
The badminton hall has two entrances — one on each end of the hall. However, only the door on the left end of the hall is usually open. The other side has a locker-cum-changing room and hence the exit was not open for privacy reasons. Before one gets into the locker room, one has to go through a door, and then there is a small passageway, with a surau (small mosque) on the left. There is another door before one can get to the lockers and changing area. Then there is the staircase and another door, which is usually locked, as mentioned above.
Some years back, I used to play badminton in that hall on weekends. Personally, I have not seen a ghost or hear anything out of the ordinary. My brother, who was there with me every weekend, once said he saw a man waving at him from one of the classroom nearby. The school has many ghost stories but most of them, like what my brother experienced, are merely sightings of a ghost, feeling of a presence or hearing of voices. However, there is one particular sighting which is probably the scariest ghost sightings I have ever come across. This story is told to me by the canteen caretaker who is also in charge of the badminton courts as well as my friends who were once students in that school themselves.
One morning, a group of students were having their regular physical exercise session in the badminton hall. At the end of the session, all the girls went to the locker room to change. All of them left together and went back to their classroom after that.
About an hour later, one of the girls realised that she had lost her purse. She thought she must have left it in the changing area in the hall. Hence, she decided to go back to the locker room and look for it. She got permission from the teacher and set off for the badminton hall. When she got there, there’s no longer anybody there. Being a badminton hall with dark curtains, the hall seems pretty dark without lights on.
She switched on the lights and walked straight to the other end of the hall to where the locker room is. When she got to the door that leads to the small passageway, she found that the door was locked. Nobody could have locked the door unless there’s someone inside. Since there was no more class in the hall, obviously someone was having some hanky-panky business inside the locker room. Eager to get her purse back and curious what her schoolmates might be up to behind that door, she peeped through the small window on the door.
She couldn’t see anyone but suddenly, out of the changing area, she saw a figure floating into the small passageway. It was kind of transparent but yet seems solid. Then the girl noticed something she could not want to believe. The floating object became clearer and clearer and she noticed that it was a headless woman.
Being someone who doesn’t believe in ghost, she refused to believe what she saw and decided to take a closer look through the window again. Again she saw the same figure. This time, it became clearer and she could see a woman in a Malay costume floating about half a metre above the ground without a head.
The girl got so frightened that she rushed out of the hall immediately. She ran to the canteen caretaker and told her what she just saw. The canteen caretaker said she dare not go up there and investigate but she said she believed the girl’s story as she was crying and she was completely pale due to the shock. The teacher later called her parents to take her home.
Georgetown (Penang, Malaysia) is a very old city. Most of the buildings downtown are build before World War II and many, especially the school buildings were often used as the station for Japanese soldiers. Many of these buildings are used as a prisons and execution centre, too.
This school, commonly known as CIS, is an all-girls school. It is one of the oldest schools in Malaysia. It was used as a prison by the Japanese during the war. Inside one of the classrooms, there were carvings of British prisoners’ name on the wall. The school also houses the first residence of Sir Francis Light, the founder of Penang.
Although the school building has been declared a heritage area, some old buildings are of no value and they were excluded from the heritage building list. One of such building was the canteen. The old canteen was declared unsafe and hence was torn down and a new school canteen with a badminton hall above it was subsequently built.
The badminton hall has two entrances — one on each end of the hall. However, only the door on the left end of the hall is usually open. The other side has a locker-cum-changing room and hence the exit was not open for privacy reasons. Before one gets into the locker room, one has to go through a door, and then there is a small passageway, with a surau (small mosque) on the left. There is another door before one can get to the lockers and changing area. Then there is the staircase and another door, which is usually locked, as mentioned above.
Some years back, I used to play badminton in that hall on weekends. Personally, I have not seen a ghost or hear anything out of the ordinary. My brother, who was there with me every weekend, once said he saw a man waving at him from one of the classroom nearby. The school has many ghost stories but most of them, like what my brother experienced, are merely sightings of a ghost, feeling of a presence or hearing of voices. However, there is one particular sighting which is probably the scariest ghost sightings I have ever come across. This story is told to me by the canteen caretaker who is also in charge of the badminton courts as well as my friends who were once students in that school themselves.
One morning, a group of students were having their regular physical exercise session in the badminton hall. At the end of the session, all the girls went to the locker room to change. All of them left together and went back to their classroom after that.
About an hour later, one of the girls realised that she had lost her purse. She thought she must have left it in the changing area in the hall. Hence, she decided to go back to the locker room and look for it. She got permission from the teacher and set off for the badminton hall. When she got there, there’s no longer anybody there. Being a badminton hall with dark curtains, the hall seems pretty dark without lights on.
She switched on the lights and walked straight to the other end of the hall to where the locker room is. When she got to the door that leads to the small passageway, she found that the door was locked. Nobody could have locked the door unless there’s someone inside. Since there was no more class in the hall, obviously someone was having some hanky-panky business inside the locker room. Eager to get her purse back and curious what her schoolmates might be up to behind that door, she peeped through the small window on the door.
She couldn’t see anyone but suddenly, out of the changing area, she saw a figure floating into the small passageway. It was kind of transparent but yet seems solid. Then the girl noticed something she could not want to believe. The floating object became clearer and clearer and she noticed that it was a headless woman.
Being someone who doesn’t believe in ghost, she refused to believe what she saw and decided to take a closer look through the window again. Again she saw the same figure. This time, it became clearer and she could see a woman in a Malay costume floating about half a metre above the ground without a head.
The girl got so frightened that she rushed out of the hall immediately. She ran to the canteen caretaker and told her what she just saw. The canteen caretaker said she dare not go up there and investigate but she said she believed the girl’s story as she was crying and she was completely pale due to the shock. The teacher later called her parents to take her home.
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