Nang Chong Stories : A Ghostly Story

When we were young we were often scared of ghost stories.

There were many ghost stories in Nang Chong area, told and retold. There were many San Du Gui stories. Children would disappear for a few days and later re-appear in another part of the village, looking dazed, with soil sticking out of their ears and noses. However they were not able to remember where they went or even describe the ghosts which took them.


A real ghost story happened to one of our cousins. I was not there at that time. She came out of the outhouse or outdoor toilet all dazed and dumb for a few days.

there were two ponds near my grandmother's house, and actually they were between the Rubber Smoke House and the road to the Cooperative. In between the two ponds on a raised bund were the outdoor toilet and the big pig sties, standing opposite each other. The fish pond was between the Smoke house and the bund, and the toilet was after the fish pond.  So in order to be accompany the girls to go to the toilet, the boys would either lay their fishing rods or throw something into the fish pond to check the fish. None of them would go to the other side to tease the pigs.

One day, one of my cousins, who was already 14 years old was in the toilet for more than half an hour before the alarm was raised. The boys thought that something must have happened.

Indeed, they found her all dased and reclined in the toilet, but she had already pulled up her underwear.

The boys took her stiff body back to the main house and called every one.

Cousin was unable to speak and she just pointed to the toilet.

As her mother was a Christian she quickly called the neighbours to come to say prayers. It was almost four hours later that Cousin recovered from the shock.

She was able to tell us that a white girl ghost was circling outside the toilet behind her. She closed her eyes and she saw her again. Later she tried to get out of the toilet but she could not. The ghost came back and forth towards her but she was protected by the back wall of the toilet which might have saved her. After that she said she just went blank.

Her experience was a terrible one. And my aunts went to give the toilet a good wash down. As they were not Catholics, they did not use any holy water. And after that for a long time, no one wanted to use the outhouse at night.

A few years later, we were able to install flush toilets in the village homes.