Some people get paranoid when the Hungry Ghost Month rolls around. They see a “ghostly encounter” in every damn thing.
I usually don’t. I’m very aware of the principal that people see what they want to see, because people like to be thrilled and shocked and teased, so I like to underplay coincidences and strange occurences.
Therefore, I’m going to underplay this following encounter.
Encounter #1
It was on the second day of the Hungry Ghost Month, just the day after the Goonfather and I watched the documentary, A Month of Hungry Ghosts.
The Goonfather woke up to prepare for work. His alarm clock had awoken me. I remained in bed and looked around the room blearily as he walked to the bathroom.
As he opened the bathroom door and stepped in, I heard the sound of rushing water.
He kinda paused for three seconds, then stepped out again and looked at me.
“Why did you leave the tap on last night?”
The wheels in my mind creaked into overdrive trying to start up.
I tried to remember what had happened last night. My mind was a haze of sleep and confusion. I remembered that I had brushed my teeth, turned off the tap, wiped my mouth, then gone to bed.
The best response I could muster was, “I don’t know.”
Later, when I was more awake, I decided that it was only 10% possible that I had left the tap on carelessly. Turning off the tap is very much fixed into my nightly ritual of teeth-brushing. It comes just before wiping my hands and mouth.
And if I had really neglected to turn it off, I would have been able to hear it as I stepped out of the bathoom because it’s quite loud.
It’s 2% possible that either the Goonfather or I sleepwalked and turned on the tap in the middle of the night. But we don’t have a history of sleepwalking.
It’s 10% possible that it was a “ghostly encounter”.
That makes 22%. I don’t know what other possibilities there could be. Nothing really makes compelling sense.
And then, I sort of relegated this incident to the back of my mind. There are more important things to worry about in life, such as what the water bill will be like at the end of the month.
Encounter #2
Yesterday, I was out having coffee with a couple of friends. The conversation turned to the Hungry Ghost Month.
One guy was telling us that, the day before, his mum and maid had argued over who had left the tap running in the kitchen. Both of them swore it wasn’t them. So his mum concluded that it must have been ghosts.
A bell rang in my head.
Running tap!!
I recounted my experience, then, and the guys looked at me, and I looked at them… and we decided that we didn’t want to commit to an opinion.
I think none of us wanted to outright say that those were ghostly encounters because we are children of science.
It would be quite thrilling to see something supernatural in these encounters but then we can’t deny that people do leave taps running by honest accident.
I don’t know. You can read what you want to read.
Perhaps you have a running tap story to share, too? LOL.
Incidentally, Omy.sg is running a series of campaigns around the Hungry Ghost Month. There’ll be tons of spooky stories around the bilingual portal. If you’re interested, check out it out here.
Scary… :D Thanks for sharing.
Not ghost lah.. Just PUB sending people to sneak into your house to turn on the tap.
Like that then can earn more money from you mah.
haha… now you are applying the science of probability in daily life. Good for you :)
maybe my plate of spagetti can turn into a flying monster to wash its meatballs.
maybe one of you got up in the middle of the night it use the toilet and forgot to turn it off.
since you got up int the middle of the night (where ur mind is in sleep mode), u can vaguely remember what happened.
eeee…freaky.. reminds me my hostel no water supply now:(
pathetic.
hahaha that one must be a spy from PUB, unable to rest in peace, need to work for PUB to make the living pay for more!!!!
hahahahahaa
Naughty ghost wants to make you pay more for your water bill :p
Hello, Sheylara
Just dropping a note to say we came by your blog. Congratulations on your blog nomination for the Singapore Blog Awards and good luck with the results.
Perhaps one day there is a possibility for us to work together on a project. Do let us know if you are interested.
Cheers!
INRI Studio
modchip: My pleasure!
JayWalk: Wah! Why didn’t I think of that? Do you think the PUB commandeers an army of imps to live in the sewers and pop out of random people’s taps to turn them on? Scary!
Relax: Wahaha. FSM! Nice! :)
Goonmother: That’s possible, too, although it has never happened before!
pinky: Aww. I know how you feel. Really horrible when there’s no water supply even for a while.
Ashtar83: You mean like JayWalk’s PUB imps? Haha.
Mockingbird: I wonder how many people kena…
INRI Studio: Thanks for dropping by! :) Would love to work with you guys if there’s a chance to. Keep in touch!
In 1998, I left my town to visit a friend in a nearby city. Another friend of mine wanted to ‘house-sit’ for me (I didnt need a house-sitter, he just wanted to use my computer and internet.) I agreed. I got a call from him that night. He said “I am back home now, come get your keys here. I’m not going back alone. By the way, your lights are still on.” When I returned home (2 days later) I picked up my keys from him. He told me that at 3 in the morning, his first night there, he went to the washroom (as nature told him to) and found both hot and cold taps turned on full blast. He made enough effort to shut them off (which he said it didnt turn easily…and he’s pretty strong) put on his boots, and left in a hurry. I can’t explain what happened but I don’t doubt his story since he was internet-addicted, didnt have the internet at home, and had 2 more full days where he could have used it. Very strange.
Wow, thanks for sharing that story, Dustin. That’s pretty freaky! Didn’t that make you scared of your home afterwards?
no. I’m an athiest. I’ve had a ton of weird ‘inexplicable’ things go on but still have never found anything that I would count as definitive proof. I’ve long moved on from that place but that was because I hated the landlord (he’s as close to a demon as I could find :P) Nonetheless, I would love to ‘stake out’ at a haunted place to catch something on video or camera….just on the offchance that they do exist. Just because I believe in athiesm, doesn’t mean what i believe is right….and in this case…I would love to be wrong.
Haha… I used to have a demon for a landlord, so I totally know what you mean!! Well, people believe that some people are more sensitive to spirits and supernatural stuff, so they can see them, while others can’t. I think I belong to the latter!