There was this incident which happened years ago in 1985 when I was in Primary 1 … till now it scares me to the core when it is being mentioned. It happened to one of my uncle’s wife who lived with my grand parent. Thank God! I did not witness it for I was told not to go there until the whole thing was completely over. It was related to me by my Mom. Okay this is what happened.

As usual around 6.00 pm, my aunt came back from work and everything was normal until her 2 years old son began to cry. It was ard 7.00 pm. She stared at him and suddenly with one hand, grabbed him by his arm. This shocked every one and then with the other hand she slapped his butt. Hearing his son wailing loudly, my uncle who had juz finished his prayer came into his son’s room. He was shocked to see his wife holding on to his son in juz 1 hand. He shouted at her and grabbed his son from her and gave her a tight slap. All the while everyone was too stunned to do anything. Some calmed my uncle down. With tears in her eyes, she stared at my uncle fiercely and without a word, dashed into her room and slammed the door shut. Everyone heard her crying softly. They left her alone to calm herself down thinking that after a while she will be ok as they thought its due to the stress at work. But noone realised that the terror was soon to began.

Out of the blue, my aunt laughed hysterically, it shocked all of us. We opened the door to see what she was doing. We got a shock out of our life!!!

She had let go of her long hair & was dancing (a kind of classical Indian dance on her bed). Mind U, we are a Muslim family and we don’t practice such dances. The first thing which came to the mind of my mum & others was that she was possessed. And they were right! Because they encountered more & more stuffs later. At times, she will just sit on the bed cross-legged, eyes wide, looking straight moving herself to and fro slowly and making sound like hmmmm….hmmmm. Another thing, whereby my mom told me was that, she rolled her eyes and her tongue occassionally. Once my mum happen to pass by her room and saw my aunt sitting cross-legged as usual with a blank look. What frightens her was when my aunt saw my mom, she hang out her tongue and it was incredibly long. The things that my aunt did terrified most of them there. She would cry suddenly for no reason and then laugh for the same. But this only happens when the long hand on the clock points to seven (i mean to say only in the evening which is our prayer time). She could not tolerate the call of prayer that she once tried to jump down from the opened window but luckily my grandad being a strong one during that time caught hold of her.

We called upon a religious man that we know of and he arrived with a group of student immeadiately. And they conduct prayers. She was screaming and asking them to stop. She was so strong that it took about 10 mens to get hold of her, and she was struggling still when they finally managed to pin her down. They asked her who she is and what she wanted. When she calmed down. She then told she was not Aisha (my aunt) but Mariamman (Indian goddess). She spoke in a man’s voice. When asked why she had come into my aunts ‘ body, she said that my aunt offended her by spitting directly infront of her temple when she was passing by it. She demanded for the blood of my cousin Rizal (my aunt’s son) or 20 chicken blood if she were to spare my aunts ‘ body & leave, if not she will remain here (in my aunt’s body) if she is not provided with what she wanted to suppress her anger.

Her request was yet another big shock to them and they refused to abide it. This went on for a very long time. To make matters worse, the neighbours of my grand parents were Indians as well. The religious teacher advised them to watch her movements and make sure she does not go out especially in the evening. It was getting quite tough to get the Mariamman out of the body as she enjoyed coming into my aunts ‘ body. The religious teacher told us that there were a few other deities inside her body as well. She was becoming more and more hysterical each day. She would be alright during the day, but will only be conquered by the Mariamman in the evening. The frequent visit of the religious man and the daily prayers helped alot. But the religious man mentioned that my aunt needed to do her part too, which means that she have to start praying everyday to keep her spirits strong. She did her prayers as told. Once she started on her prayers, the Mariamman could not enter her body as she was in full ablution but while she was sitting & reciting the Quranic verse, she told my mom that she could see the Indian goddess (who possessed her) sitting infront facing directly opposite, staring at her angrily. She later described that the Indian goddess was wearing a bright red sari with her long hair spread over, sitting cross-legged. Her tongue which was hanging down was so long it reached her chest area. Her large blood shot eyes looking angry. Her body was moving in circles with the growling sound of hmmmm…….hmmmmm….and she was trying to slap my aunt. My Aunt was so terrified that she murmured the quranic verse and keep moving left to right to avoid the slap.

On that day, they held the prayers vigorously. My mom mentioned that she and her other sisters who had all locked themselves in the other room, could hear my aunt screaming in a man & woman’s voice and the sound of banging chairs and broken glasses. Soon the scream died down. The religous man told them everything was alright now, & he also told them that he saw whatever that was in my aunts ‘ body…. was burning during the prayers. We heaved a big sigh of relief when all was well and back to normal. The religious man advised my aunt to continue her prayers everyday without fail.

Note: Names have been changed to protect the identity of those involved.