Continued from Part I. This is based on a real life story in Koosang Koosom Magazine, by Jarouhvanh in Thai Language, translated by Nye.

I lay there silently watching her, but she didn’t acknowledge or notice that I’ve been watching her, still gazing at the wooden floor.

I decided to close my eyes because I didn’t want to look at her, or more like her noticing me looking at her. I had my eyes closed for a couple of minutes, then reopened and was hoping that she’d go away, but this time it was worse because her body gradually submerged from the floor until she was in a sitting position, very neat and proper much like a sitting position of a traditional Thai lady. It was so shocking to see that she was still there; I immediately closed my eyes again, but this time reopened slightly, enough to see what she was doing. Her body gradually disappeared into the wooden floor, then resubmerged back up and she repeatedly in and out of the floor for about 3 times, then finally disappeared into the floor.

It was as if I was in a trance, confused of what I just saw, then I suddenly became aware of myself once more. I looked up to the head board to see if my necklace with my small Buddha statue was still there, which I took off before I went to bed last night (I’ve been wearing it as good luck charm, but this time I’m hoping that it’d do a double duty for me, also for protection). I then sat up on my bed and reached for it, I began toWai, my hands were placed palms together as in prayer and my head would make a bow to touch my pillow; I did this 3 times, then I started my prayer ‘…Whatever signs of ill-omen, ominous sounds, influence of planets, and bad dreams, by the power of the Buddha may all these be destroyed…’ I also Pra Maid Ta (a prayer for her to go in peace) because there was no doubt in my mind that she was a ghost, my door was locked, and I couldn’t imagine anyone having a special power to submerge from the flooring like her. After it was all said and done, I couldn’t go back to sleep for fear that she might return.

I sat there until morning, and then went knocking on all the doors to ask if they saw what I had seen last night. I guess it was just my luck, because I was the chosen one, some even asked if I was dreaming. Obviously NOT, I told them for I had the cut on my lips from biting down on it, pinched myself which I had visible purplish mark to prove, and NO, I’m not dreaming because I stayed up until morning.

Later on that day, I called home to tell my mom and dad, they then went to ask ‘Kone Songk Jour’ (a person that has a special power, which s/he’d give up his/her body, then the ghost would take control of that person’s body, you then can ask any question that you want to know because the ghost see it all, sort of like ‘see all evils, know all evils’. Thai Issan would go to ‘Kone Songk Jour’ for their everyday problems). Yes, my parents believe in this, so they went to Kone Songk Jour, I guess to see what was going on, after what they heard; they immediately came to pick me up from my dorm. They told me that I’d have to move out that day because that beautiful ghost lady was asking to come live with me, for she has nowhere else to go.

My mom said, when they performed ‘Kone Songk Jour’, she was told that when the beautiful ghost lady was still alive, she was raped and murdered nearby; she has no where to go, and her soul was still wandering, and that’s why she has been going around to see my other dorm mates in hoping that she could stay with them. Kon Songk Jour also told my mom that when they built the dorm, the original owner was a Christian woman, therefore didn’t perform any ceremony of ‘Sen Wai Jour Teen’, asking the ‘Lord of the Land’ and any restless ghosts and spirits in the vicinity, which the ceremony would consist of offering of food and water, flowers and incense sticks are offered so the ghost will not make trouble and the ‘Lord of the Land’ will bring good luck to those concerned. This is our belief, might be strange to some but it does bring comfort to us after performing such ceremony.

Let us just say that I moved out from that dorm that day, which I didn’t get my deposit money back since I didn’t give them a notice in advance; if I had known that she would pay me a visit, then I would have, silly of them to not understand the situation, or it was silly of me to be so chicken and not stick around. I moved in with one of my friends; I was afraid to stay by myself for fear of seeing something similar to this again. After we had gotten everything moved, we then went to the temple to Tum Boun, Ta Waih Sunka Tarn (offering of charity to the beautiful ghost lady), which ‘Kone Songk Jour’ told my mom her name, to make sure that we mentioned her name so she’d receive her Boun (charity) and would be released and go on her journey; my main goal was to not have her come back to see me again… Sa Thu (Amen).

After that day, I’ve never encountered anything like this again. When the new owner found out of what had happened to me, he then performed a ceremony of ‘Sen Wai Jour Teen’ and created a ‘Son Jour’, (similar to the Ghost/Buddha mantle, a sacred shrine that people worship), which was welcoming to all the people live there since the majority are Buddhist.

Then one day, after I graduated and have started working, I ran into the former owner, the Christian woman; I told her of what had happened to me. It didn’t seem to surprise her and she then told me that she saw the same thing, and that was the reason as to why she sold the dorm and didn’t give us any explanation. She said that the beautiful ghost lady would come to her room every night, was extremely upset with her but she didn’t know why. She was so frighten and decided to sell her business but didn’t tell anyone for fear that people wouldn’t come and rent the place. Currently the place is still in business, as I’ve mentioned earlier, there are no vacancy, especially my old room #21, the one at the very end. The current owner has expanded his business, it’s a lot bigger now, and business is going very well from what I’ve heard.

This is a true story that I had encountered myself. Even though it might have happened a while back, but it’s still vividly in my mind, every time I think about this, it gives me chills and goose bumps as if it just happened yesterday.