The Pontianak

This is a spooky article taken from 'The Star' a local Malaysian newspaper today.


Security guard ‘slapped’ by ghosts at housing area

Monday July 27, 2009

A security guard was reported to have been slapped by ghosts in Port Dickson. It said S. Albert 32, was making his rounds of bungalow houses in Taman Indah Mas at about 5.30am on Friday when he heard noises coming from a vacant unit.

He shone his torchlight through the window and was shocked to see mysterious white figure with red eyes and long hair. Albert ran to the guards control room and informs his colleague who told him that his face had scratch marks and was bleeding.

Residents, who got wind of the incident, gathered batons and sticks to check the empty bungalow but found nothing suspicious. Policemen later broke the locks to enter the bungalow and found nothing unusual.

The crowd was left stunned when the scratch marks on Albert’s face disappeared the moment he washed it with water.
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The sighting of the mysterious figure does bear resemblance to the previous article I posted on the 9th July 2009 ‘Don’t Come In My Place’, whereby construction workers had seen a mysterious being with blood shot eyes and sharp teeth.

This cunning and sinister creature is commonly known to many as the Pontianak/Kuntilanak. Here are some details of the Pontianak:

The Pontianak, Kuntilanak, Matianak or "Boentianak" (as known in Indonesia, Short form: Kunti) is a type of vampire in Malay folklore. Pontianak are women who died during childbirth and became undead, seeking revenge and terrorizing villages.

Pontianak usually announces its presence through baby cries or usually disguising itself as a beautiful young lady to attract its victim (usually male). Its presence sometimes can be detected by a nice floral fragrance of the ‘kemboja’ (a type of flower) followed by an awful stench afterwards. The cries of a Pontianak are very tricky. The Malays believe that if the cry is soft means that the Pontianak is near and if it is loud then it must be far.

Pontianak kills its victims by digging into their stomachs with its sharp fingernails and devouring their organs. In some cases where the Pontianak desires revenge against a male individual, it rips out the sex organs with its hands. It is believed that Pontianaks locate prey by sniffing out clothes left outside to dry. For this reason, some Malays refuse to leave any object of clothing outside.

People believe that having a sharp object like a nail helps them fend off potential attacks by Pontianak, the nail being used to plunge a hole at the back of the Pontianak's neck. It is believed that when a nail is plunged into the back of a Pontianak's neck, she will turn into a beautiful woman, until the nail is pulled off again. The Indonesian twist on this is plunging the nail into the apex of the head of the Kuntilanak.

Pontianak is associated with banana trees, and its spirit is said to reside in them during the day.

Hence, in any case you do experience any of the above symptoms indicating the presence of a Pontianak nearby, you can either choose to take a nail and drive it into the hole at the back of its head (if you happen to have a nail or if you can manage to flip it over while it is furiously ripping out your organs), or you can choose to run the Hell away for your life!

Grandma's Third Eye

Before my girlfriend’s grandma passed away, my girlfriend and her mum was always a victim of regular nagging from her grandma. Mind you, it was not the normal kind of complaints that you normally received from the elders; it was the kind that you could do nothing about.

On several particular occasions, grandma would scold my girlfriend or her mum out of the blue for not letting visiting ‘guests’ into the house when they are watching TV in the living room. She would comment that they are very unkind and cruel to those 'poor people' as they had been standing outside the door for quite sometime as if they are waiting to be invited in. Upon checking the main entrance and drive way, there wasn’t a single soul to be seen. This occurs especially during rainy or cloudy days when the surroundings are gloomy and dark. Poor girlfriend and her mum will be scolded for being rude to the ‘guests’ and they will have to draw grandma’s attention away from the door.

I remember one particular scary event when I was at my girlfriend’s house visiting; grandma was inside her room all by herself when suddenly we heard her screaming and yelling angrily at someone. Initially, we thought that she was shouting at the dog next door for its constant barking. When we went up to check on her, she angrily scolded us for letting our guest wander senselessly into her private room; she demanded that we bring our friend back down to the living room as she had wanted to take a nap. When we tried to argue there were no one in the room; grandma then replied: ‘Then who is that lady dress in white sitting on my dressing table combing her hair?’... That incident really sends shivers down my spine. We managed to get her out of the room as fast as possible and bringing her to the dining room to have some snacks.

This was just some of the experience that was encountered. Grandma had since passed away several years ago. Before her passing, her third eye ability had enhanced and sometimes she could see her friends who had already passed away standing at her bedroom’s doorway. At times, she would cry out suddenly and demand the uninvited ‘guest’ to leave and not to disturb her. My girlfriend’s mum had consulted in a few mediums and temple but none had managed to ‘close’ grandma’s third eye.

I personally think that when a person is about to leave the mortal world, he/she will be able to see people from the other side as they are those who are waiting to guide you there. I often do wonder if my girlfriend’s grandma is safely and happily settled on the other side or does she still visits the house she previously stayed in wanting to be part of it again...

Devil's Portrait

NOTE: Picture attached below NOT the actual portrait!


This is an experience told by my mum’s friend (Mdm. Tan) to my mum. After hearing this story, I would prefer not to choose a room with a human portrait on the wall.

This happened a few years back when Mdm. Tan went on vacation with her husband to China. Both of them went on a tour to visit the city of Beijing. The first day after they had arrived in China, they went to visit a few places like TianAnMen Square, Forbidden City etc. and it was not until nightfall did they returned exhausted to their hotel room.

Mdm. Tan was lying on her hotel bed waiting for her turn to use the bathroom as her husband is still inside the shower. Relaxingly, she gazed around the small but cozy hotel room and noted a portrait of a beautiful girl hanging opposite the bed. If you can imagine the position, the portrait is hanging on the wall opposite the foot of the bed so when you are lying down the portrait is facing you. The portrait portrays a beautiful Chinese girl dressed in one of those ancient traditional Chinese dress stroking her long hair which is flowing over the right shoulder and her face slightly tilted to one side.

As Mdm. Tan was lying there gazing and pondering on the beautiful ethnic feature of the girl, that was when it happened. As her eyes lay fixed to the girl’s face, the portrait suddenly changes. What was a beautiful girl slowly transformed into a hideous monstrous being, Mdm. Tan described the creature having a scaly, rough skin, long tongue and fierce, piercing eyes… Slowly the creature from hell transcended from the picture on the wall and creep towards her. Mdm. Tan tried to close her eyes but as much as she struggled, her eyes remain affixed on the creature; her body was frozen and there were no sound when she tried to scream, it felt like everything had stood still. Panicking, Mdm. Tan started to recite some powerful Buddhist mantras, it was then that the beast retreated and slowly transform back into the portrait of the beautiful girl.

After the horrifying experience, Mdm. Tan got up and banged on the bathroom door, her husband who was half way through enjoying his hot bath was startled to see his wife so horrified and quickly requested the hotel reception to change their room WITHOUT a human portrait.

Mdm. Tan still gets goose bumps whenever she thinks about her encounter and to date she dare not put up any artistic portraits of human beings in her house besides those of her family members.

Be careful if you happened to check into a hotel room with a face portrait of a person; don’t stare too hard into the face, as the face you are staring at might be the Devil’s...

Don't Come In My Place

Back in 1998, when I was still a trainee engineer in one of the construction company based in Subang, I was assigned to an apartment project in Kota Damansara.

During the construction of the main building, I still remember there is a particular unit where there will be some strange 'disturbances'. This includes loud banging on the concrete wall, there were a few incidents when we heard doors slamming only from inside that particular unit when there is no strong wind; window panels being broken inside the unit despite being securely locked. It was so eerie that no workers, not even the Indonesians, who are normally the notorious and bold workers, would dare wonder into that unit alone.

Scary experiences from the workers during the construction stages, the most popular one being, during some particular day; whenever any worker passes by to do housekeeping work inside or around the unit, they claimed to see a figure of a pregnant woman sitting in one corner of the room. She will look up to glance into the worker’s eyes and vanished into thin air (some says she will jump out the window), some workers claimed that she have blood shot eyes and sharp teeth, resembling the ‘pontianak’.

Bomohs from different races and religion were summoned to assist in cleansing and to put the spirits at ease but eventually most of the practitioner gave up and concluded that the unit had to be vacated and cannot be sold out or rented out. The building developer of course, being only the profit maker and only looking to make money, gave a deaf ear and sold the unit out to an unknown buyer despite several advices from us not to do so.

When the completed unit was first handed over to the owner, the owners placed furniture and installed general fittings into the unit before they can move in to stay. After the next few days, they will find out that some furniture had been thrown around and damaged; the installed electrical fittings and wires had been ripped out of their sockets. They rearranged and reinstalled everything back but still experienced the same phenomenon the next few days. Thinking that it could be a sabotage, the owners who had already lost a lot of money refurbishing, complained to the developers. The developers assure them by placing security guards and surveillance cameras to monitor the unit. However, the guards either reported that nothing happened in the unit or had some sickness for strange reasons. CCTVs often experienced blackouts for no reason. Of course, the owners and developers did try to give some offerings and did some prayers; however it is still the same. Finally, the frustrated owner decided to just leave things as they were and shifted to another vacant unit after the developer offered them another one, nothing had happened to them since.

I had resigned from the company since then, but I heard from the current building maintenance manager that the developer had tried to rent out the unit but no tenants could tolerate the eerie disturbances and many had moved in and out; this haunted unit had become so widely known for its notorious and frightening hauntings that no one had dared to rent from the developer anymore and it had been left empty since then. Occupants neighboring the haunted unit sometimes could hear eerie, shrieking laughing and at some times wailing noises coming from the unit. How true it is, you will never know until you spend a night in the unit...

Gunung Stong's Residents

Back in 2002, I joined a mountain climbing expedition up Gunung Stong, Kelantan with 2 others friends (Zack & Lee) together with an experience local guide. Gunung Stong, for those who love mountain trekking and with the ‘third’ eye ability, will know that this particular mountain is infamously known as an asylum for ghosts and spirits, with regular sightings reported by many hikers. Prior to my virgin climb up Stong, I had not heard of any stories about the ghost or spirits that exists there.

After our continuous and energy-sapping hike up, we arrived at Baha camp site near the Stong Waterfalls to put up for a night before continuing up Gunung Stong the following day. Nearby the camp was a pool called Kolam Tuan Puteri (Princess Pool). Instinctively I got down to my shorts and jumped in to enjoy a refreshing dip. Zack & Lee joined me shortly afterwards.

We were having an enjoyable time splashing each other and fooling around until suddenly, that is when I saw it.

It was white apparition standing near the edge of the pool. I seems like it was observing and staring at us. I called out to Zack & Lee and pointed at it. Instantly, Zack hit my hand and scolded ‘Don’t point!’ At that instant, I felt a bit feverish and the apparition seemed to have disappeared. Zack & Lee feared that we might offend it as we were making a lot of noises and invading its territory.

Not feeling very comfortable, we decided to make my way back to camp, it was then I could see more and more of them all over the place!... They were ghostly apparitions, around 5-6 of them… They do not have a scary monstrous faces, but they merely appeared in a hollow, murky image. Some stood behind trees and some on the branches. There were green & white apparitions, the green ones looked more frightening than the white ones. A flowery jasmine-like scent floated in the air all of a sudden.

Even when I returned with Zack, Lee and, our guide back to our camp, the yun hei (people’s energy) was not enough; ‘they’ were still lurking around. I quickly went into the tent, dried myself up, got into my sleeping bag and zip up and hide. Even when I heard someone outside asking me whether I was OK, I kept quiet as I fear that it may not have been my friend.

The next morning I felt better, but I did not talked too much about the apparitions until we had completed our climb and returned back to base. It was then I told our guide what I saw and smelled, our guide, who turns out to be a part-time medium explained that the Stong area had many spooky sightings because businessmen use bomohs to rear spirits and the area was a kind of “storehouse” for those spirits. He personally had seen several of them almost every time he went up the mountain and had gotten used to it. This explains why he only switched on his torch occasionally during the previous day's night fall as he said “If somebody comes to your house, would you be happy if he constantly shone a light everywhere?”

So be more respectful when you do trek in jungles or go hiking up mountains. However, if you believe in spirits, they can probably get to you anywhere, anytime, not just only in the jungles.

Granted Wish From Mulu

This is a true story told to us by a tour guide (James) about 10 years back when we went on a family outing to Mulu National Park near Miri, Sarawak. Before that, my parents had already read of the tragic story in a particular Chinese newspaper, but the story was told in more detail by James who was, at that time, the tour guide for that particular fated group of people. I had tried searching for related news on the InterNet but couldn’t find any stories.

A group of around 15 chinese friends and relatives had gone on an adventurous trip to Mulu National Park, Sarawak which is one of the largest tropical rainforest national parks on Borneo Island. The 1st day started with all of them in high spirits; after all it was supposed to be a relaxing nature trip for them. James had earlier warned them during a pre-briefing to keep their voices down to a minimum as it may offend jungle spirits; however being non superstitious, the group who were close friends tend to make fun of each other and tell dirty jokes, hence frequently howling out in laughter and made funny noises as they enjoy a wonderful time.

On the 2nd day, James brought the group for a jungle trekking expedition. The group was amazed at the beauty of the nature rainforest and gentle flowing streams close by as they track along a relaxing trail. Suddenly out of the blue, someone exclaim 'WOW! What a beautiful place this is, how I wish I can stay here forever.’ A few friends quickly supported the statement and some even said that they wish to stay in this peaceful place everlastingly etc. James knew this as they also jokingly asked him if he had any houses for them to stay. The enjoyable day turn into night and soon it was dinner and time for James to brief the group on the next day’s activities. During the briefing, James had mysteriously sensed that the group was not as attentive and as excited as they had been the previous day; dirty jokes and humorous stories were missing. James thought it might had been the long day that they had trekking in the jungle.

On the 3rd and final day of the trip, James brought the group for scenary picnic trip at a pond beneath a waterfall. On the way there, the group was eerily quiet; it was a big contrast to the bubbly and noisy group the previous day. James brush of a weird feeling thinking they must have been worn-out from the 2 previous days activities. Upon reaching the edge of the crystal clear pond beside the waterfall, the group unpacked and had some food to eat while enjoy the scene. All of a sudden, James heard a snapping sound from the trees above, he looked up and horrifically saw a large tree crashing down upon them. There was literally no time to react; James quickly pushed a lady aside into the pond beside him and jump into the pond himself. The tree had narrowly missed him.

The whole event happened too fast; James had feared the worst. The fallen tree, measuring around 2 meters in diameter and several meters height had killed 6 people and critically injured a few other members. The scene was chaotic and gory, there were blood splatter everywhere; James saw a head being completely crushed by the tree with its brain spluttering out like a squash tomato, a lifeless torso was held down by the heavy tree, blood was everywhere, people were screaming in horror. A helicopter was instantly called in to transport the injured and the mentally shocked to the nearest hospital for treatment. Newspaper reports had held back many details of the incident.

Till today, no one knows exactly what happens. There were no lightning that had caused the tree to fall, no tree cutting are allowed in the rainforest. Incidentally, James remembered the few dead members... they were those who had remarked / joked that they wanted to stay in the beautiful rainforest forever. Why did the few dead people behaved strangely the day before, did they know that their death is near and imminent? Did they sensed something coming for them? James believed that it was jungle spirits who had ‘granted their request' by keeping their soul forever in the jungle. James happened to bring us to the place of the incident during our visit 1 year after it happened. Standing at the edge of pond beneath the waterfall, it is difficult to imagined that such a sinister event had happened in a place so serene, beautiful and calm...