Ghosts only thrive in the tropics

These things only seemed so rampant in Asia. Or South East Asia to be more exact. Have you, for example, heard from friends coming back from Amsterdam (and this despite its close relationship with Indonesia), Stockholm or Hamburg saying their hotel room was haunted, or that some particular area in the Bavarian forest has a powerful spirit guarding it. The last time anyone mentioned anything about a ghost sighted in the Scandinavian area was the sighting of a one in Denmark some centuries ago. It was the ghost of Hamlet’s father who came to tell him that his death was a result of some foul play and not from natural causes as was first suspected. This had affected Hamlet so much that soon he became a loner. As is with most loners they tend to start talking to themselves. However, for Hamlet, his moments of solitude at least resulted in questions for us to ponder. As to whether it is to be or not to be, or whether one should suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune or take arms against a sea of troubles. We certainly now know what the choice was for Zinedine Zidane when it boiled down to whether to head butt or not to head butt. Most certainly in both Hamlet’s and Zidane’s case there were method in their madness although we may not necessarily agree with them.

But back to our ghost story. Of course, some east European countries or the Irish countryside may have their fair share of fairies and Dracula, but those seemed to be more folklore to regale your friends at campfires rather than recent occurrences. Which is why the more likely stories you would hear when friends returned from that part of the world were close encounters of the second kind rather than the third. The European continent which over the years had seen a remarkable number of killings and ethnic cleansing should rightly be teeming with restless souls making their appearance or at least their presence felt to the unsuspecting Malaysian visitor to those countries. It would seem that this is certainly not the case.

However, go to any Southeast Asian country and you would come back with some supernatural tales or other to relate to an audience quite ready to gobble up such stories with gusto. This makes one wonder whether ghosts and such beings only reside in the tropics because of the year round warm weather. The only other places where you seem to get many tales from the dark side are certain parts of Africa, Central America and the Caribbean. Notice that again these countries are very near the equator and the tropics. Maybe beings like toyol, for example would find running around in the snow not very much to their liking. One acquaintance was kind enough to send me pictures of the said toyol through the internet recently, purportedly caught somewhere in Pahang or Indonesia. I must say the hairy little creature securely tied with a piece of string seemed scarier of its captors than scary itself. Well, I would too if I am about to be put in a bottle and buried alive. Maybe that was why its big red eyes were looking at the camera with so much sadness. The wonders of modern technology, eh? Just when you thought science had made nonsense of such superstitious beliefs, some genius had used his cell phone or digital camera to prove that technology is now going where man had not gone before. Capturing pictures of supernatural beings ghost buster-style.

Anyway China seemed to be the one notable exception to ghosts liking the tropics. However, the ghosts in China normally have a greenish hue and their favourite mode of travel is hopping from place to place rather than the effortless flying one would associate with their kind. At least that is what Hong Kong movie directors would like to have us believe is the way Chinese ghosts behave. And, one certainly wonders if only ghosts out to seek revenge act in this way just to scare the people who have wronged them a little bit more before delivering the coup de grace or whether all other ghosts, even when they were not out for blood would also act in a similar fashion as well.

Not having come up close and personal with any of these unnatural phenomena, I have never been able to support or disprove the stories and theories on these spiritual beings. Still I have always believed that the smarter thing is just to keep one’s mouth shut about things one is not particularly sure about. There is a Chinese proverb, which says that you should never speak bad of people in the day and never speak of ghosts at night. Wise saying if you ask me. The Thais and the Malays have added a bit more to this, which is not speaking about tigers when you are in the jungle or speak of crocodiles when in water infested with the reptile. Only the very brave or the utterly foolish would go so far as to say should either of the animals pop into view within the next few minutes, then one would like to break off their teeth to make key chains or necklaces and other trinkets with them. While admittedly such objects would make interesting conversation pieces, one should strive to be around and be an active member of the conversation rather than being the sorrowful subject of the discussion at such clan gatherings.

Since I do travel quite a bit in my line of work, many good Samaritans had felt very free to offer their advice on how to avoid being haunted in hotel rooms. It is unbelievable that these advices have come from the most unlikely of people. Most are highly educated and well travelled. Certainly not the kind you would normally associate with such superstitious beliefs. The warnings have included not putting your shoes together side by side or to throw your underwear all over an unused bed and so on. The advices have come by the dozens especially after the tsunami hit our part of the world two years ago.

I have had to travel quite a number of times to Phuket and the surroundings, where there were quite a number of casualties, especially Patong beach and Khaolak in neighbouring Phangnga Province. While some people were just offering advice on how to keep myself from being haunted, others were more curious as to whether the stories of visitors being haunted and such were true. Well, honestly I do not know. As I stated before, I have not had any first hand experience. I had stayed in a number of hotels by the beach and was even there when they had a remembrance night by lighting thousands of candles on Patong beach. I even took part in the candle lighting ceremony. But to this day, all I have ever heard were hearsay. A cousin of somebody’s sister’s friend who was a neighbour of somebody’s son-in-law’s office mate was supposed to have been haunted by ghosts of people who died in the tsunami. Like most stories which came through word of mouth, such tales tend to get embellished with more details with each telling. Maybe I am just one of those lucky people whose extra sensory perception is next to nil, thereby ensuring I would never be troubled by things that go passing in the night.

Still I have always taken heed of my late great grandmother’s advice (she should know living for 108 years). If you hear a strange noise, investigate the source first before determining whether you should start running. For all you know, it could just be a monitor lizard, which is probably more scared of you anyway. Experience had shown that the faster you try to run or outrun such creatures, the worse things were going to get. And should it be a tiger, what is the whole point of running anyway? You either stand your ground or slip behind the nearest big tree, wet your pants thoroughly and pray like there is no more tomorrow, for you at least. That seemed like a much better choice than running.