This is a real story and it terrifies my mum and I till this day.

My parents and I went on a 7-day round Taiwan trip on one of the summer holidays a few years back. It was a pretty time wasting trip, 7 days worth of sitting in a small van on the freeways of Taiwan. It was interesting in a sense that there were heaps of cemeteries near the freeway, some more elaborate then the rest. Nonetheless, a macabre scenic view.

On the later part of our tour, we were taken to a mountainous area ( if memory serves me right) with quite a number of famous springs all around. I can’t quite remember the name, but it was said to have been devastated by one of the earthquakes a good 10 years back.

By the time we got to our hotel, it was almost dinner. So we got to our rooms, and my mum and I noted how eerie it was to be on one of the highest level and facing the forest. It was really creepy. After, we went for dinner via the van ( the food place was situated on a slight hill; a good 15 mins walk from our hotel).

After dinner, we took a long stroll down the hill to our hotel, a two way street peppered with small stalls on either side of the road hawking their wares. As nightfall came, we were halfway down to our hotel at the area where there was no stalls and very little light from the street lights. I was walking in-front of my parents, and my mother in front of my father ( he has a slight difficulty walking too quick) when I felt this compulsion to turn around.

There was a man following behind my father! My first instincts was to tell my father in a stern voice to walk faster with a furrowed brow and a bit of fear; I did not want that man to harm my father due to our sudden movements or panic. My mum saw, and she yelled at my father to walk quicker too; afraid that the man walking behind my father was a thief and was trying to steal the contents from my father’s haversack ( which contained our passports and cash) and had a weapon of some sort.

My father walked slower. My mum and I were in a panic now; and we couldn’t go near my father and that man, so we just kept yelling for my father to walk faster. As we called out, the man walked even closer to my father, with his face cheeks almost touching my father’s face! Now my father is the conservative type who doesn’t thrive too much on having his personal space invaded.

I was by that time, busy trying to remember that man’s face and at the same time, look out for a passerby or any buildings that we can seek help from. The was no passerby, the nearest lighted area was a distance away and my father was this time, walking to a crawl! Imagine our frustration with our father who has a man following him so close and him walking slower even with our cries to walk faster. The best part? He knew we see him walking so close to my father and he walks even closer!

It was quite a while, a good 20 mins or more before we spotted a lighted building, and lo and behold! It was a police station! So we ran in, called out to my father, finally got my father into the police station and waited. We thought we saw a man fitting that would be criminal walking past the station, and I ran out to see where and what he was doing/going. He was gone. We figured he knew the place so he hid some where really well.

As we came out of the station, we ( my mum and I ) remarked at the ‘suayness’ of the whole event not having a single soul when we had that man following us and how many people we now see on the same stretch of road.

Of course, we nagged my father until we reached the hotel. He didn’t answer until I was telling him off in the hotel room when he suddenly exclaim: “Why you two keep asking me to walk faster?? Daddy’s legs cannot walk too fast one you know! Where got people behind me?? Nobody was behind me what! Still come and nag me some more! Don’t want to talk to you two liao, so unreasonable, still can bluff me say got people behind me!” He turned around, and went to sleep.

My mum and I were both dumbfounded. We both clearly saw the man, and yet we believed my father. We turned in rather early too instead of our usual late night smokes and runs.

After the incident, we have questioned my father again, and again, with his story never changing: there was no man walking behind him, there were only two women, nagging him to walk faster for no absolute reason that night. As for my mum and I, we realised that the walk down through the dimly lit area should have only taken us 5 mins, took us more than 20 mins to get to a lighted place. The man we saw dressed rather alike my father, and there was no way my father would not have known if the man’s cheeks were literally touching my father’s.

Until today, we have no absolute idea who or what that man is, and it never fails to raise some goosebumps every time we talk about it.