Did you ever buy used clothes or take used clothes that someone give to you. This is a real life story from Koosang Koosom by Setanee, written in Thai Language, which will make you think twice about used or second hand clothes.

One day, I was at my girlfriend’s house, we were talking about miscellaneous stuff and my eyes caught something pink at the corner of the room. It looked like a pink terry clothes that stick out from a shopping bag; so I asked my friend what it was because the color looked really fresh and pink. She told me it was a bathrobe that someone gave her. It’s not new and she got it out from the bag to show me. It was a pink bathrobe, must be for an American person because it’s quiet big. The fabric was very soft, the color seems more appropriate for female but she told me it was from a ‘Farang’(white) guy, I guess any color would look good on them because they have a light complexion.

I told my friend that it’s beautiful and asked what she would do with it, would she give it to her boyfriend. She said ‘No, It’s second hand, so I’ll cut it up and use it for a floor mat.’ I then busted out ‘Hey, I feel sorry for the bathrobe, don’t do that’ I didn’t know why I said it like that, it’s a bit strange but at the time I really felt like that, so she looked at me and said ‘If you feel sorry for it, just take it, I’ll give it to you.’

So, I took that bathrobe home, I’m not sure what I was thinking, normally I don’t like second hand clothes, or second hand anything as a matter of fact. There must be some sort of chemistry or something between that bathrobe and me; somehow, I wanted to save it from becoming a floor mat. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with it myself, I really can’t wear it, it’s way too big for me, so I took it home and washed it and hung it in front of the closet just to look at because I like the fresh pink color. People at home all complemented on how pretty it looked, they asked ‘What are you going to do with it?’ My answer was ‘I have no idea, all I know is that I like it because it looks pretty, and I like the color.’ I’m not sure if that’s enough reason to bring something home when I have no used for it.

Three days have passed, I live with my sister and niece, both sleep in the upstairs bedrooms right next to each other. That next morning, they asked one another if the other came to knock at the door last night. Both said ‘No’, I slept down stair so I didn’t hear anything. We didn’t have time to talk about it because both ladies were in a hurry to go to work.

Another nigh has passed…the next morning, both ladies came to tell me prior to going to work for me to go sleep upstairs tonight because something strange is going on upstairs, that last night both heard numerous knocks at their door and when they opened, there was nobody there. When they tried to go back to sleep, then there’s the knocks again, this happened all night long. I told them that I will go upstairs tonight and see what they are talking about. Off they went to work again and once again, I’m home alone.

Nine o’clock that night, I went up to my sister’s room and my niece joined us. We watched TV until 11 PM, felt a bit sleepy, so we all decided to go to bed. We were awaken by the sudden noises in front of our room, both ladies tapped me on my shoulder and whispered my name. I whispered back, ‘I know, just be stilled, the door’s locked and we have a Buddha mantle that will protect us.’ Therefore, we all laid there listening to the noises. At first it was the knocks on the door, by the sound of it, we can tell that it’s a big person or thing. Then the knocks turned into scratches, we laid there half-awake and half-asleep all night long, till almost morning when the noises stopped.

Early that morning, we didn’t have time to talk; those two ladies were in a hurry to go to work and left me home again by myself. If I didn’t mention to you yet, I’m a homemaker, the lady of the house. I went back to my room, passed my closet, and there hung that pink bathrobe. I stopped and looked at it for a moment, strange thoughts came to my mind, but surely, it couldn’t be, it’s only a bathrobe, it couldn’t have been anything else.

That evening, my sister got back home and said ‘Sis, didn’t I tell you, but tonight I bought some flower for the Buddha mantle, we’ll see what will happen tonight’ This time we were all lying there waiting for something to happen. We waited until we drifted off to sleep, then we heard sudden knocks at the door, and within few minutes later, the knocks changed to noises similar to someone was scratching the door, and it grew louder and louder. The noises sounded a bit violent as if that person or thing was very upset/angry with something or someone.

The shakes and noises at the door were so violent that it frightened all of us. The two ladies started to shake due to fear, I felt somewhat similar to them, but since I’m the oldest, I felt like I needed to be in control of the situation, I had to be strong for all of us. I gathered all my courage and went to a table at the corner of the room, looked for something that I could use as a weapon. I saw a chair and grabbed it, went to the door and smashed the door with it. I didn’t know where I got my strength but I must have hit on the door several times because the chair felt apart. My sister and niece had to stop me from what I was doing; they didn’t want to scare the neighbor because it was very loud. I didn’t realize how tired I was, I was soaked with sweats, but strangely, that the noises were completely gone.

Early that morning, the two ladies got up and went to work as usual, and once again, I’m home alone. I went into my room to straight things up and passed that pink bath robe once again, but I felt a bit annoy by it this time and thought to myself, maybe I should put it in the closet or something. I was too tired to be bothered with it at the moment, so I laid down on a couch next to my bed and the bathrobe was visible in plain sight. As I was lying there thinking about what happened last night, then I started to drift off. Something caught my eyes, there were some movements at the bathrobe, and it started to take shape and form of a person, as if someone was wearing it. Then it was a person, a big person, a ‘farang’ as I thought, but what I didn’t anticipate was that he was a black ‘farang’, dark complexion in contrast to the soft pink bathrobe, and he gave me a big ‘@?sexy?#@’ smile, showing his sparkling white teeth.

I was in a state of shock, almost pee on myself, I laid there stiff, my hands started to shake, I gabbed my necklace to find my Buddha statue, felt a bit better knowing that it’s still there. I started to pray ‘Na Mo…’, shoot, I couldn’t remember anything, then I started it again, but this time my ‘Na Mo’, turned into ‘Ma No’, and I couldn’t think of anything else; I felt hopeless.

I started to shake really bad, closed my eyes and tried to remember the prayer verses in Baily language, but I couldn’t remember…I decided to use the Thai language, ‘Buddha, please help baby elephant, please help, please come and help scare this ‘farang’ ghost away…Sa Tuh’ I didn’t know how many time I repeated these words of prayer, but when I opened my eyes the robe was hanging at the same spot. I stared at it for a long time to make sure that it’s just a bathrobe and nothing more. I then thank the Buddha for helping and ran to the bathroom to take care of some business.

Now I knew what it was last night. I could probably throw the bathrobe in the trash, but I kind of felt sorry for it, or maybe felt sorry for the ‘farang’ ghost, which I’m not sure of it myself why I felt that way. I went back to the sofa and stared at the bathrobe once more, couldn’t decide what to do with it. If it’s a Thai ghost, I could go to the temple and perform a ceremony to send him to a better place, but this is a ‘farang’ ghost, what should I do?

I got up and walked over to the robe and said ‘Don’t worry, I’ll take you to a better place, so don’t come and bother us again…okay’ I didn’t bother to wait for a reply, I went out of the room to look for a bag, got the pink bathrobe and put it in the bag, still felt a bit nervous and went out the front door with it. I got on the bus, and went to the nearby ‘farang’ church.

I asked to see the minister; he was ‘farang’ and was kind. He was smiling and was able to speak Thai fluently. He asked if there’s anything that he can help. I asked for permission to tell him the story of what happened, and he listened patiently. At first, I thought he might laugh at me that it’s such a ridiculous story but I thought wrong. He listened and nodded when appropriate until I finished. He then asked, ‘What do you want me to do?’ I told him that I wanted him to help this ‘farang’ ghost to go to a better place, to see his god. The minister smiled with kindness and said ‘It’s okay, I’ll take care of it for you, and did you bring the pink bathrobe with you? I can perform a ceremony right now and don’t worry; I’ll take care of everything.’

I was relieved, I thank the minister and handed him the bag, but before I went, I whispered to the bathrobe or the ‘farang’ ghost ‘I’m going, good luck to you and hope we’ll never meet again, and good bye.’

After that incident, everything is back to normal, there’s no knocking sound at the door in the middle of the night, and just the memory of what I’ve heard and saw. One thing for sure, I’ll never take another second hand clothes from someone because of the fear of the bonus that might come with it.