Hungry Ghost Festival - Ghost In The Kitchen

This was told to me by my uncle, Rex, during his younger days in the village back in Penang. Uncle Rex stayed in a big wooden village house with 3 other families living in the same house.

During one year on a day in the Hungry Ghost Month (7th month of the Chinese lunar calendar), uncle Rex experienced something that he will not forget for the rest of his life.

It was a hot and humid night and after helping out with some food offerings for the hungry ghosts outside the house, all the family members went to bed. On that night, uncle Rex could not fall asleep. As he was rolling around on his bed, he suddenly heard some weird noises coming out from the kitchen. Uncle Rex’s room was located such that it was next to the kitchen and the room was shared together with his siblings.

The noises from the kitchen sounds like someone was scavenging or looking for something. Out of curiosity, uncle Rex thought it was one of the family members trying to satisfy his/her hunger and he cheekily thought that since he could not sleep, he might as well play some pranks on whoever it was and scare the living daylights out of that person.

Trying not to wake his siblings up, Uncle Rex quietly opened his bedroom door and peered into the kitchen. On the far end of the kitchen, he saw a dark figure fumbling on some food and eating something. Carefully, uncle Rex got down on the floor and crawled commando-style towards the person, chuckling to himself that this is definitely going to be an unforgettable and amusing moment.

As he got closer to the dining table, where he was planning to hide under before his "attack", uncle Rex smelled a foul stench; it was something like rotting flesh. Thinking it was some leftover food from the nearby dustbin; he did not take heed and continue his commando crawl beneath the dining table.

Then, as uncle Rex was about to jump out to scare the hell out of whomever it was, his blood froze. From under the dining table, uncle Rex was able to see the feet of this 'person'. His, or IT'S feet, does not resembles that of a human’s and it looks something like horse hooves.

Uncle Rex was so terrified with what he saw and while panicking, he banged his head hardly on the bottom of the dining table and quickly darted out from beneath the dining table. He glanced towards the figure and saw that the creature had long hair but no face! He screamed in horror and the being suddenly disappeared.

All the family members woke up to the commotion caused by uncle Rex. They scolded him for trying to wake up the whole neighbourhood and for causing a mess in the kitchen. Poor uncle Rex tried to explain what he saw but was scolded even more for creating nonsensical stories to frighten others.

However, one unexplainable rationale was there was a plate of raw chicken meat placed on the kitchen counter that had been prepared to be cooked tomorrow to be offered to the hungry ghosts. Half of the prepared raw meat had been missing and some portion of the meat is strewn on the floor.

Was the figure that uncle Rex saw a hungry ghost looking for food? Perhaps it couldn’t wait for the food to be cooked and served...