Hungry Ghost Festival - The Origins

The 7th lunar month of the Chinese calendar is here! For those who are superstitious it will mean no going out at night, no swimming during this particular month period, and also no disrespect for the dead! Throughout this month, I will share encounters related to me by friends, relatives and even experiences from my own self on strange encounters with the other world during the 7th month. On today’s issue, I will blog about the origins of the Hungry Ghosts Festival.

In Chinese tradition, this month marks an important month as it the month of the Hungry Ghosts Festival; also known as Zhong Yuan Jie or simply Gwei Jie. The Chinese believes that during the whole of the 7th month, all spirits are free to roam the earth and visit their living relatives or to seek revenge on those who had done harm to them for the whole month. On the fifteenth day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar is called the Ghost Day. On this day, the three realms of Heaven, Hell and the realm of the living are open and the Chinese would perform rituals to change and forgive the sufferings of the deceased. This year’s 15th day of the 7th month falls on the 3rd September 2009.

How did the Hungry Ghost Festival come about? The Chinese legend has it that a long time ago, there lived a young man, Mu Lian and his widowed mother. His mother was a wicked woman. She often turned away beggars who came to her door asking for food. She liked to jeer at poverty stricken and under privileged people. In reality, the only person she cared about was herself.

Mu Lian, on the other hand, was a kind soul. He was a gentle person and always willing to help anybody who was in need. One day he decided to become a monk and this angered his mother. She scolded at him for being such a useless son; she wanted him to go out and work to earn more money for her as wealth and materialistic things meant more to her than anything else.

She could not dissuade her son and Mu Lian went on to carry out his spiritual training. When Mu Lian was away, his wicked mother decided to play a trick on the monks just to get back at them for taking away her son. As it is a custom to offer only vegetarian food to the monks, Mu Lian’s mother thought that it was nonsensical that these monks did not eat meat, so one day she offered some food to some monks and slipped in some non-vegetarian items.

The wicked woman was punished immediately and was sent to the depths of hell. Mu Lian came back from his spiritual training and noted that his mother had passed on. He meditated and saw that his mother was suffering in pain and hunger in the deepest part of hell. Mu Lian set out and ventured deep into the bowels of hell and soon he came upon his mother and he saw that she was sitting on a bed of very sharp pointy stakes and was holding on to a basin of blood.

Mu Lian tried feeding her some food but the food would either turn into fire or blood. It was hopeless: he couldn’t do anything for her so he left. He returned home and started to pray for forgiveness and performing spiritual cleaning at temples and holy places. After years of performing this spiritual training, Mu Lian was able to rescue his mum from the deepest hell. On the Chinese lunar 15th day, 7th month marked the day he was able to save his mother from hell. His mother was no longer a hungry ghost.

Buddha heard about Mu Lian’s prayers and was touched by his compassion. Thus Buddha decreed that once a year, the gates of hell will be opened so that the lost souls will be able to roam the earth and be fed. This is why every year on the 15th day of the 7th month in the lunar calendar; the Chinese celebrates the festival of the hungry ghost.

Food and drinks will be offered at night outside the gates of houses. This is so that the ghosts do not enter their houses and cause trouble. Lanterns are lit to help guide the ghosts to the feasts set out for them. Special paper money is also burned as offerings to these ghosts so that they can take it back to hell and spend it there. To ensure that these souls stay out of trouble; entertainment are set up including Chinese operas performing on outdoor stages and other activities.

However, be forewarned that there are also revengeful spirits that are back on earth to seek revenge on those who had caused their death...

Haunted Hotel Room

This just happened last week to my colleague while we were in Johor Bahru (South of Malaysia). This was related to me by one of my colleague, KP.

Our job scope normally requires us to travel to Johor Bahru (JB) on a monthly basis to carry out audits. We would normally put up in a particular 4-star hotel close to the city for 2 nights to carry out our job. For the past 1 year of travelling together, nothing particularly strange or eerie happened while we stayed there and this comfortable hotel was NOT known to be haunted as well. However, it was not meant to be for my colleague that ill-fated night.

Normally, there are 4 of us travelling to JB each month, but coincidentally one of my colleagues could not make it for this trip due to personal matters, so that left the 3 of us travelling to JB. We checked in the hotel on the 1st day around 6pm after a tiring day’s work and I shared a room with my regular colleague while KP stayed alone in the adjoining hotel room. Both our hotel rooms were located next to each other and can be accessed through a door in the middle. I still remember the room number clearly: KP was staying alone in 607 and we were in 609.

After the 2nd day’s work and a yummy dinner, we went back to the hotel to rest and watch TV. Soon everyone was tired and decided to call it a day. KP, staying in the other room, closed the connecting door to our room and switched off his room’s lights to sleep. Halfway through his sleep, in a state of semi-consciousness, KP felt a cool wind blowing across his face, he did not move and after a few minutes it happened again. KP describe the wind as something similar to the air breeze felt when a passing car cruise pass you while you are waiting to cross the road.

KP at once knew that something is not right as he had shut the air condition down to ‘Low’ and all the windows in the hotel rooms are shut tight. There is no way a chilly wind can enter the room from outside. Wide awake by now, KP suddenly heard the sound of something flapping and once again the cool wind was felt right across his face. The flapping sound stopped somewhere near the coffee table close to the window and ended with a sudden ‘Thump!’. That was enough to scare the wits out of KP, he turn on the lights immediately and glance towards the coffee table, but there is nothing on the floor and no sign of anything that had fallen.

KP knocked on the adjoining door to our room immediately, I was still awake at that time and he requested to sleep in our room for the night. I can sense in his pale and shocked face that something was not right and we joined both the beds to make it a queen size bed so that KP can sleep. Nothing happened after that in our room for the rest of the night.

The next morning when KP awoke and went back to his room, he was shocked to see the bed sheet and blanket of the bed next to his (which was left vacant since he was occupying only one bed) was being pulled down and messed up as if someone had been sleeping on it the whole night. My roommate and I also saw the condition of the bed and without saying a word; we packed up immediately and left the room..... Was there an existing tenant already staying in the room? Did the hotel gave us a haunted room? I shiver when I think about the incident now...

Haunted EBay Painting

I just came across this interesting yet eerie and scary article regarding a haunted painting being sold on eBay.

SOME PEOPLE HAVE REPORTED DISTURBING REACTIONS UPON VIEWING THESE PHOTOS SO BE FOREWARNED.

‘The Hands Resist Him’, also known as the Haunted eBay Painting, is a painting created by Californian artist Bill Stoneham in 1972.

It depicts a young boy and female doll standing in front of a glass paneled door against which many hands are pressed. According to the artist, the boy is based on a photograph of himself aged 5, the doorway is a representation of the dividing line between the waking world and the world of dreams and possibilities, and the doll is a guide who will escort the boy through it. The hands themselves represent alternate lives or possibilities.

The painting was first displayed in a Los Angeles gallery during the early 1970s. It was then purchased by actor John Marley (The Godfather). At some point in time after Marley's death, the painting was said to have come into the possession of a Californian couple, after being found on the site of an old brewery.

It became the subject of an urban legend in February 2000, when it was posted for sale on eBay along with an elaborate back-story implying that it was haunted. This was the original eBay ad posted by the seller:
_________________________________________________________

HAUNTED PAINTING ----- WARNING AND DISCLAIMER

DESCRIPTION:

WHEN WE RECEIVED THIS PAINTING, WE THOUGHT IT WAS REALLY GOOD ART. A “PICKER” HAD FOUND IT ABANDONNED BEHIND AN OLD BREWERY. AT THE TIME WE WONDERED A LITLLE WHY A SEEMINGLY PERFECTLY FINE PAINTING WOULD BE DISCARDED LIKE THAT. (TODAY WE DON'T!!!). ONE MORNING OUR 4 AND 1/2 YEAR OLD DAUGHTER CLAIMED, THAT THE CHILDREN IN THE PICTURE WERE FIGHTING, AND COMING INTO THE ROOM DURING THE NIGHT. NOW, I DON'T BELIEVE IN UFOs OR ELVIS BEING ALIVE, BUT MY HUSBAND WAS ALARMED. TO MY AMUSEMENT HE SET UP A MOTION TRIGGERED CAMERA FOR THE NIGHTS. AFTER THREE NIGHTS THERE WERE PICTURES.THE LAST TWO PICTURES SHOWN ARE FROM THAT 'STAKEOUT'. AFTER SEEING THE BOY SEEMINGLY EXITING THE PAINTING UNDER THREAT, WE DECIDED, THE PAINTING HAS TO GO.PLEASE JUDGE FOR YOURSELF.

--- BEFORE YOU DO, PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWIND WARNING AND DISCLAIMER. ----WARNING: DO NOT BID ON THIS PAINTING IF YOU ARE SUCCEPTIBLE TO STRESS RELATED DISEASE, FAINT OF HEART OR ARE UNFAMILIAR WITH SUPERNATURAL EVENTS. BY BIDDING ON THIS PAINTING, YOU AGREE TO RELEASE THE OWNERS OF ALL LIABILITY IN RELATION TO THE SALE OR ANY EVENTS HAPPENING AFTER THE SALE THAT MIGHT BE CONTRIBUTED TO THIS PAINTING. THIS PAINTING MAY OR MAY NOT POSSESS SUPERNATURAL POWERS, THAT COULD IMPACT OR CHANGE YOUR LIFE. HOWEVER, BY BIDDING YOU AGREE TO EXCLUSIVELY BID ON THE VALUE OF THE ARTWORK, WITH DISREGARD TO THE LAST TWO PHOTOS FEATURED IN THIS AUCTION, AND HOLD THE OWNERS HARMLESS IN REGARD TO THEM AND THEIR IMPACT, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED. ------------ NOW THAT WE GOT THIS OUT OF THE WAY, ONE QUESTION TO YOU EBAYERS. WE WANT OUR HOUSE TO BE BLESSED AFTER THE PAINTING IS GONE, DOES ANYBODY KNOW, WHO IS QUALIFIED TO DO THAT?


(Right picture: Boy seemingly trying to exit the painting)



THE SIZE OF THE PAINTING IS 24 BY 36 INCHES, SO IT IS RATHER LARGE. AS I HAVE HAD SEVERAL QUESTIONS, HERE THE FOLLOWING ANSWERS. THERE WAS NO ODOR LEFT BEHIND IN THE ROOM. THERE WERE NO VOICES, OR THE SMELL OF GUNPOWDER, NO FOODPRINTS OR STRANGE FLUIDS ON THE WALL. TO DETER QUESTIONS IN THIS DIRECTION, THERE ARE NO GHOSTS IN THIS WORLD, NO SUPERNATURAL POWERS, THIS IS JUST A PAINTING, AND MOST THESE THINGS HAVE AN EXPLANATION, IN THIS CASE PROBABLY A FLUKE LIGHT EFFECT. I ENCOURAGE YOU TO BID ON THE ARTWORK, AND CONSIDER THE LAST TWO PHOTOGRAPHS AS PURE ENTERTAINMENT, AND PLEASE DO NOT TAKE THEM INTO CONSIDERATION, WHEN BIDDING. AS WE THINK IT IS A GOOD IDEA TO BLESS ANY HOUSE, WE STILL WELCOME INPUT INTO THAT PROCEDURE.

This auction is nearing the end. I want to thank the more than 13,000 people that took the time to look at this image on ebay. I appreciate the more than 30 suggestions that I received regarding blessing the house, exorcising and cleansing. 7 emails reported strange or irregular events taking place, when viewing this image. And I will relay two suggestions made by the senders. First not to use this image as the background on the screen, and second not to display this image around juveniles or children. Last not least, thanks for appreciating the art as well.
_________________________________________________________

News of the listing was quickly spread by internet users. Some people claimed that simply viewing the photos of the painting made them feel ill or have unpleasant experiences. Eventually, the auction page was viewed over 30,000 times.

After an initial bid of $199, the painting eventually received 30 bids and sold for $1,025.00. The buyer, Perception Gallery in Michigan eventually contacted Bill Stoneham and related the unusual story of its auction on eBay and their acquisition of it. He reported being quite surprised by all the stories and strange interpretations of the images in the painting. According to the artist, the object presumed by the eBay sellers to be a gun is actually nothing more than a dry cell battery and a tangle of wires.

Stoneham recalls that both the owner of the gallery in which the painting was first displayed and the art critic who reviewed it, died within one year of coming into contact with the painting.

Puchong Haunted Apartment

During my bachelorette days, I used to move around and stay in different places as my job required me to be relocated to other areas after a project had been completed. However, I would never have thought that I had been staying in a haunted apartment for almost 2 years...

I moved into the apartment in Bandar Puteri Puchong behind Giant back in 2005. There were 4 of us sharing the rented apartment. I took the middle room and Jen was in the smallest room while the master bedroom was occupied by Anne and her boyfriend, Andy.

For the first few months after moving in, nothing much happened except that during the time when Jen was busy unpacking when she had just newly moved into the apartment, she heard a man called out ‘Woooi!’ from the living room, upon checking there wasn’t anyone in the apartment at that time as all of us had gone out to work. Occasionally things will go missing like car keys, thumb drives, TV remote controls and will reappear after 1 or 2 days, we thought that is was due to our carelessness and did not care much about it.

Then things started to get creepier in the apartment after slightly more than one year of staying there. One particular creepy incident happened during a dinner gathering of friends at our apartment. After a delicious dinner, all of us were having an enjoyable time chit chatting and drinking beer in the living room when I suggested that we play some card games. Knowing that there is a pack of cards in Jen’s room, I went in to get it. When I entered Jen’s room, I saw Jen lying under the blanket and sleeping in a side position such that she faces the wall, I asked her if she was alright and if she would like to join us for a game of cards. Jen did not response and continued sleeping. Thinking that she might have a little too many alcoholic drinks, I did not bother to disturb her and went back to the living room. As I was dealing out the cards, I joking told my friends that Jen was a lousy drinker and had knock off already, everyone stared at me in disbelief and I almost fainted when Jen walked out from the kitchen holding a Carlsberg. I managed to control my emotions as I did not want to frighten them especially Jen and it might be me hallucinating due to having too much to drink, but I was dead sure that there was someone lying on Jen's bed at that time I walked in.

That was not the end of it. Anne who was staying at the master bedroom had the worst experience. One night, when Anne and Andy were fast asleep, Anne experienced a presence as if someone’s body was pressing down on her. Her whole body was immobilized and nothing came out of her mouth when she tried to scream. Worst, Anne feel take something was being inserted into her body, it was not painful but there was a strange feeling. The presence then left and she cried out loud, Andy was shocked to see his girlfriend crying and she related the event to him.

We accompanied Anne to see a Chinese medium the very next day and to our horror, the medium claims that there is a family of 3 ghosts staying in the apartment: a man with a huge tummy, a lady and a small kid. The medium claims it was the man who had spiritually ‘raped’ Anne as she was having low spiritual energy at that time (menstruation period). Then I figure out something: The figure I had seen in Jen’s room must be the ghost of the lady and it must be the ghost child that had been responsible for hiding our personal belongings... A strong chill went down my spine when I thought of it...

The medium gave us something to get rid of the spirits but we never really made use of it as we moved out of the apartment the very same week. We terminated our tenant agreement with the owner citing other reasons; the owner was obviously startled by all of us moving out at once but we did not disclose to him that his apartment was haunted. Frankly we had enough it, as much as we had many great and happy memories, we will never forget those incidents and still talk about it till this day.