Those who do not believe in the Supernatural existing in this world, would find this story that I am sharing with you unconvincing and difficult to swallow, but cross my heart and I swear to God that what I wrote is a true life experience.

I have been “blessed” with the “third eye” since secondary one. An unforgivable curiosity to look through the squarish hole of an old Chinese coin that I stumbled upon by chance had attributed to this strange ability. Since then, the coin had been blessed by a highly skilled priest to refrain me from getting harm from my strange sightings.

I will experience such sightings at least twice a year, in the month of Qingming, where Chinese pay respects to their ancestors and the ghost month. Other than that, if I can suddenly spot one wandering in the streets, it is said that my “luck” is running low and can anytime, run into any form of trouble with those spirits.

One of my most chilling encounters was the possession of an angry spirit on my being. It happened sometime back early 2003, near the lunar Chinese New Year.

I was with boyfriend visiting in one of the hospital in the East one night. We were chatting as per normal and suddenly, he told me that on the previous night, he had experienced some discomfort while he slept. He felt a strong force, pressing him against the bed, leaving him helpless and unable to move for quite some time. Even though how much he struggled to move or make noise, he wasn`t able to free himself. It was only after sometime when he managed to concentrate and said some prayers that he gained freedom.

As he was telling me his story, I realize we were not the only ones alone in the resting lounge. There was “someone” else out there, with us. However, I didn`t tell him because it is a “norm” for me to see those spirits in the hospitals.

The same thing happened to him again that night, and he began panicky. I was quite worried too then because as he was sharing with me the next day, the same spirit was with us! There couldn`t be so much of a coincidence and the spirit that was with us, some how or rather, gave me a bad feeling. I then revealed to him what I saw, describing to him how that spirit looked like too.

And I could not believe my ears what I heard from him next. He confided in me that actually, he might have knocked “someone” down the previous night, before he had experienced the unexplainable pressure on him while he was sleeping.

That night, he was driving home along a bend in front of an infamous market in Bedok area selling the best mincemeat noodles after visiting late from the hospital. From one of the side mirrors, he caught a glimpse of two men trying to cross the road. He thought he managed to swerve his vehicle but then when he drove past them, he heard a very loud “Oei” even though his windows are shut. He was unable to spot any of them through his rear mirror after that and when he parked his car, he wasn`t able to find any bumps so therefore, he didn`t sense anything amiss.

And the bizarre thing was, what I had described indeed match one of the “men” that he saw that night. For that, it indeed sent some chills down both our spines. I`ve seek help from my parents to ask for assistance from the priest. We did have a few “peaceful” days but it was disrupted one afternoon, where we were both taking an afternoon nap at his place.

I had a weird dream of the same spirit, telling me how lonely he was in the other world. Sobbing terribly and very upset that my boyfriend had “knocked” and made his companion`s spirit “vanish” suddenly, he threatened to take me away from my boyfriend as he wanted my boyfriend to have a taste of his own medicine. The dream ended with a guffaw that I could never wipe off from my memory.

I woke up in cold sweat, shivering all over. Just as I thought it was a only a frightful dream, I saw the spirit in the corner of my sound asleep boyfriend`s room, looking at me in that wicked grin and then vanishing in front of me. I shook my boyfriend up to tell him what I saw and dreamt of that very moment. He too, was overpowered by fear.

The next few nights, I had recurring dreams of the same spirit while my boyfriend would experience the same pressure on him while he slept, leaving us both with sleepless nights. I felt that something should be done, so naively, I bought the usual offerings for the dead, went with my boyfriend to the spot where he “knocked” the spirit down and tried to appease the spirit by carrying out some unprofessional ritual to burn the offerings.

On 1st day of lunar New Year that night, I remembered vividly that I had gone down to visit my boyfriend`s mother in the hospital. Because I didn`t arrange with my boyfriend earlier, he left the hospital before I reach there. This later part of the story was told to me by my boyfriend because I couldn`t remember what I did.

He also remembered very clearly that I was in tears when I called him from the hospital, telling him that I was not feeling well and wanted him to send me back home. Hence, he arrived shortly after our telephone conversation. I was waiting faithfully for him at the taxi stand, and as soon as he arrived, I hopped onto his vehicle, not uttering a word.

He asked me how I was feeling and why I wasn`t feeling well all of a sudden, but I simply ignored him. He thought I couldn`t hear what he was saying so he kept repeating his questions, but I simply kept quiet throughout. Breaking the silence, I burst into tears uncontrollably and then I would abruptly stop and look aloof at irregular intervals. At this point, my boyfriend who was driving did not really know what he should do next as my parents weren`t at home. He drove me to the Kwan Yin Temple at Bugis, which he thought it should be open at night during Chinese New Year. To his dismay, the temple was closed, but he said I got off from the vehicle and prayed in front of the gates without a word but after prayers, I gave him a very stern look.

Because my parents weren`t home, he drove me back to his house whilst waiting for my parents. He settled me down in front of the TV in his living room and was telling me about Stephanie Sun, my idol, who was on the programmes that night. ?Stephanie Sun was not my idol!” I snarled back in a different voice, and as I look at him, he told me that I look like a different person talking to him.

This must have really scared him out of his wits. He tried to coax me in handling my pouch over to him because he wanted to borrow my handphone which had the contacts of my sister. “I don`t have a handphone!” I snapped, looking at him with fiery eyes. Finally he was able to get hold of my pouch after some time as I appeared to be in a daze. He called my sister to try to know what time my parents would be coming home so that he could send me home and get proper help.

Meanwhile, I had gone into his room while he was making the call and had crouched myself in an awkward position. When he came in, I was said to be in a hysteric state, one moment crying and telling him to save me and the other moment, scolding him in a different voice. He could only watched me in fright and he kept calling my English name, hopefully that this would “wake” me up. The situation was salvaged by a phone call from my sister, who called me by my hokkein name,” Ah Ting, Ah ting, are you alright?” That was the time when I felt something within my being was drained off and I “returned” back to reality, and I immediately saw that spirit, leaving his room, in that same wicked grin.

Help was seeked from the priest and some proper rituals were performed. I thought burning some more offerings for them on our own could make the offended spirits rest in peace, so I went to the very same spot with my boyfriend on the third day of the new year and wanted to burn some incense paper for them. No matter how we tried to ignite the papers, or the joss sticks, they couldn`t light up. To make things scarier, it was a windless night. We thought the fault lies in the lighter so we bought a new lighter nearby. However, the same thing happened again. We prayed hard and gradually the papers caught fire. After that, we left for our mutual friend`s house, thinking that it was the end of our ordeal.

Throughout that night, I felt exceptionally cold and am not that kind of cold when I feel when the wind is blowing; is the kind of chill when I see those spirits. My boyfriend sent me home shortly after my uneasiness. The next day, I fall sick and was ill for 1 whole week and during one of the days that I was bed ridden, my mum had received a phone call from the priest. The priest had told my mum to keep an eye on us and had forbid us to burn anymore offerings on our own to the spirits.

Up till today, I am still wondering how the priest got to know that my boyfriend and I had went to burn offerings on our own when we told no one about the whole thing. Even though today I could still see spirits, I am relieved that the angry spirit that my boyfriend had offended unknowingly had somehow disappeared. As for my unusual ability, I will treat is a “gift” from God.