This is based on a real life story in Koosang Koosom Magazine, by Panida written in Thai Language, translated by Ginger.

At the beginning of 1995 (Thai year 2538 ) I moved out from the dorm at Soi Ornnuit 61, and moved into an apartment with my friend, which I knew her for several months from the University (Soi Phetburi 5.) When she first asked me to roommate with her, I wasn’t sure because the rent for this new place was extremely high, for me anyway because it was almost 5,000 baht monthly, and this didn’t include the water and electricity.

Even though the old place was a bit far from my work place but the rent was a lot cheaper, almost half. My friend finally persuaded me to move; of course, it would be more convenient for me because it was closer to my work place, it would also save me time and transportation fare. Also if I ever needed her help, she’d be there for me, come to think of it, she really wanted me to move in with her.

I later discovered that she wanted me to roommate because she couldn’t afford the rent by herself. She did not intend to stay there long, plus she knew people that lived at that apartment, and this was a perfect location for her to meet with her many acquaintances or clients because it seems that she knew everyone on the Soi (block.)

Our apartment was on the 6^th floor and it was an ordinary room. The upper floors were a bit more upscale that some rooms came with furniture and air-conditioned. A few days after I settled in, I went to a nearby beauty salon to get my hair done; one of the ladies that worked there saw that I was new, and asked if I lived nearby. I told her the name of the apartment and that I moved in 3 days ago.

All looked at me, then one lady said, “What were you thinking? There are so many apartments in this area, and you chose that one.” Then she didn’t say anything else.

At the time, I didn’t think much of what she said until several days later. I noticed that when I was in the elevator by myself, I would feel chills run down my spine; it was a feeling as if someone was standing next to me. At first I thought it was a dejavu feeling but then no matter how many times I got on the elevator, that feeling was there every time. It got so bad that I would not ride the elevator by myself, if someone were there, then I’d follow them in.

After 3 months of living there, I quit my job and not that I got fired, one day I just got tired of my job and wanted to take a break, so I did some traveling because I had some money saved up and thought after a vacation, then I’d come back and look for a new job.

During this time was when my roommate did not come home, so I often stayed at the apartment by myself. She often stayed at her boyfriend’s place, which it didn’t bother me one bit because it’s none of my business of how she lives her life.

Then one night, almost midnight, my roommate didn’t come home as usual, so I got up to turn off the light, I actually fell asleep whist reading a book at 10 pm, and I wanted to get a good night sleep and get up early the next morning; I had a date with another friend to go walk at Jatujuk Park, so I went right to bed. Instead of falling right back to sleep, I was wide-awake, and a million thoughts ran through my mind.

As I was in my deep thought, I saw a shadow standing next to my dresser, on the right hand side of the door. At first, I thought I was seeing things, but after looking, it was actually a man and he started walking towards me. I was certain that it was a man because above the door was a blue stained glass, the light shined through and made the room not as dark, the image was vivid. At the moment I knew I wasn’t alone, I thought to myself, must be a burglar.

At that moment, I started to scream, then I turned on the lamp on my nightstand, but when the room became bright, I didn’t see anyone. Just to make sure, I turned on every lights inside the apartment, no trace of that man. The front door was locked, I was puzzled, then what could this possibly be? I couldn’t go back to sleep and stayed awake all night.

The next evening my roommate came home, I asked her if she ever saw anything strange in the apartment, but she told me everything was normal. I decided to tell her of what had happened last night, and she was startled. She said that when I was on my vacation, she was home alone but didn’t see anything. She told me not to worry, it probably would not happen again, I thought the same thing, and let us just hope that I’m not that unfortunate.

After living there for 6 months, my roommate told me that she was moving out because she was getting married next week. As for me, I left almost the same time as her, for real, if that was you, would you have stayed if you woke up in the middle of the night and found someone staring at you?

It has been over 10 years and I have not gone back to visit that Soi, and I’m sure the apartment is still there, but I don’t know if anyone had seen what I saw.