Hungry Ghost Festival - Uninvited Passenger

This happened to me last year during the Chinese Hungry Ghost month in 2008 while I was travelling back to my hometown in Kuantan.

I remember is was a long weekend ahead (Monday off day), hence I decided to head back to Kuantan once I had finished with my work on the Friday so that I can wake up the next morning and meet up with my friends for some breakfast. It was about 11pm when I was driving my Honda City somewhere along the Karak Highway. For those who know this, Karak Highway is famous for is frequently haunting including the appearance of Pontianak and the infamous haunted tunnel where many people had perished.

I was aware of all these haunted ‘hotspots’ but the joy of looking forward to going back to my hometown overcame the feeling of fear of travelling alone and encountering spirits. After all, I thought to myself, I wouldn’t be so lucky today… How wrong was I to think of that!...

My first weird instinct came when I was driving through the Karak Highway tunnel. Suddenly I feel someone’s legs pushing against the back of the driver’s seat on my back, it was the kind of feeling you get when a person with long legs sits behind you and occasionally he will push against the cushion with his knee when adjusting his seating. I looked behind the rear view mirror but there was no one sitting behind me. Of course there is no one! I am travelling alone! What was I thinking?

A minute later, the same thing happen, something pushed against the back of the driver’s seat for a while and released it after a few seconds. It was at that point that I suspect that I had picked up an uninvited ‘stranger’. There was no where I can go now; I am travelling in the middle of a half deserted highway with whoever it was behind me! When the third time I felt the pressure on my back, I felt panicky as I was in a car with an unknown being, who knows what it is going to do next to me?

Out of frustration and fear, I loudly shouted some foul language in Chinese to ask it not to disturb me and all of sudden I saw my car’s door safety lights came on my dashboard display indicating that the right back door was opened. I was shocked as none of the doors where opened and as soon as the warning lights came on, the lights went off.

That was enough for me; I stepped on the accelerator and reached my destination half an hour than scheduled. I am definitely not stopping at the side of the highway to inspect what is behind my seat. The next day I went to the temple to get some amulets and placed it in my car. I related my ordeal to a medium at the temple and he said that I had picked up a lost spirit, the spirit was harmless and all it wanted was a ride to his destination. I almost fainted when I heard that.