Jacob's Ladder

A Light Mist shrouded the two soldiers at the quiet sentry point. A cold breeze whispered past the trees branches waved like giant hairy fingers in the dark of the night. The stars glimmered with the shine of a meat cleaver against the black sky. The night was still, almost unmoving, uneventful. If that was true, the two soldiers would be smiling, laughing if they were in good mood. But, no one does that on sentry night. 'Did you see it?' Salim almost gulped down his words. He gripped his truncheon stick so tightly that the stick almost creaked in protest. Sweat streamed down from under his oversized helmet. he was spindly, had a small head and a small body, and even smaller guts. 'See what?' Cheong whispered. One of the few giants in this batch of recruits in the ITD (Infantry Training Depot), he towered over Salim by more than two heads. Needless to say, he was solidly built and had biceps larger than his small backside. 'If you see nothing, why are you whispering?' Salim glared at Cheong, his eyes narrowed in an effort to see his buddy better in the dark. 'Because you're whispering, lah,' Cheong whispered nonchalantly. 'That's because I saw something.' Salim broke his glare and ran a piece of tissue paper over his forehead. 'Oh, the sickening sweat.' 'What did you see?' 'I don't know. It's not very clear.' 'Then pretend you saw nothing lah.' Cheong pulled Salim towards him. 'Relax, buddy.' 'But, it's our duty to check.' 'Please lah, Salim, don't siow on (take things so seriously), can?' 'But...' 'Sit back and relax lah. Sentry id for you to relax. Talk rooster and sing Karaoke, man.' Salim let loose a string of malay expletives. 'It's talk cock and sing song, blur king Cheong.'

Cheong laughed softly. 'The world is progressing. This must progress too. Be civilized lah.' 'You, eh, really bodoh (stupid), you know.' Salim stabbed a finger at Cheong's helmet. 'Certain things don't progress. Army tradition. 'You see anything?' Cheong asked suddenly. His voice was barely audible. The colours drained from Salim's face. There seemed to be some movement under the trees near the SOC (Standard Obstacles Course). 'I... I think so.' 'I think they're headed in this direction. Stand behind me, 'll challenge them.' 'You... you dare to challenge ghosts?' 'No, I eat ghosts. Of course I challenge ghosts. You understand, as in friend or foe ghosts, lah.' Salim landed a heavy punch on Cheong's bicep and swore. 'You're sick. Don't joke now. I'm in no mood...' 'Shh...' Two shadows were fast approaching. under the pale moonlight and in the heavy mist, they seemed to glide gracefully towards them. Smoke wafted from their bodies as if they had just emerged from a burning hell. Salim squinted his eyes. Their heads seemed big, bald and hard. he had always heard about ghosts in Pulau Tekong, but he didn't expect to see any. No, not tonight, not on Thursday night when no night training is allowed. The school rule was stipulated because the spirits of Tekong roam the land and hunt for preys on Thursday. To find someone to steal a life from.

'Cheong, I'm scared.' Salim stayed behind the weightlifter. 'Relax.' Cheong brandished his truncheon stick, breathed in deeply and bellowed, 'Halt! Friend or foe?' 'G... h... o... s... t... s.' The voices quivered, rising and falling in an eerie minor scale. Two helmeted heads suddenly appeared and floated out from within the mist. Their faces emitted a pale green light. They looked like dead soldiers: probably recruits who had died during their training here. Every year there were stories about recruits dying in Pulau Tekong. Some died after a strenuous run, some committed suicide, and some simply vanished or lost their lives. many know the reason why, but simply keep it to themselves. Salim felt his tongue stiffening like a corpse undergoing rigor mortis. His grip on Cheong's arm tightened and his fingers instinctively dug into Cheong's flesh. The giant shuddered, if not for the pain, it would be for the two ghostly heads. The two heads floated towards them. Now, they were so close Salim could see the anguished look on their faces; both had a cigarette sticking out of their twisted mouths and had for their eyes only the whites without the pupils. The two heads moved unsteadily as if losing their balance. Then, they collided. 'What the fish! Yeo, you can't balance, is it?' 'Ong, how to balance without looking?'

The two men emerged from the mist and grinned at Cheong and Salim. 'You guys are sick!' said Salim, his blood almost boiling. 'Guard duty is to be taken seriously.' 'Don't siow on lah!' The duo said in unison. Yeo wore a pair of black framed spectacles and would have fooled anyone into believing that he was a goody two shoes until one sees his cheeky face. Ong, on the other hand, was born with a serious face: but, when it comes to joking, his dirty jokes always bring the whole house down. 'You two should go fly spider, man,' said Cheong as he gestured the rest to sit down. 'Blur king Cheong! It's if... spider and fly kite,' said Salim, still insistent on using the proper army terms. 'Anything lah.' Cheong dismissed it with a wave of his hand. 'Another boring night, right?' asked Yeo. 'Want to be entertained?' Ong asked eagerly. Lust shone on his eyes. Worries creased Salim's faced. 'Ong, you sure the DO (duty officer) won't charge you two for wandering from your sentry point?' 'Don't worry about Chee Keong. We're like brothers, okay. If he charges me, I'll make him pay the five thousand bucks he owes me. So, sit back, relax and be entertained.' Within minutes, Ong made the group laughed till their sides and jaws ache.

'And then, there was this man who went to this nunnery at night. You know, nuns always have funny habits. Never seen man before what. They have this weird habit of bathing at night as a group... and then, this man, he blur like sotong (squid), wandered into the bathing pool area to bath before the nuns did and... so, he had no place to hide... he acted like a statue and the nuns just...' 'Stop! Stop!' Cheong laughed harder than ever. 'I can't tahan (tolerate) anymore.' 'Me... me too.' Salim rocked from the side to side in laughter. 'Ong, you, damn funny.' 'I know.' Ong wasn't modest about it. Minutes passed as the foursome caught their breaths. Above them, the dark clouds scudded by, stopping to cover the moon. A blanket of darkness moved in to smother the island of Pulau Tekong. Camp 1, where the foursome were seated, became extraordinarily quiet. Three in the morning wasn't a time to make too much noise. Not when the spirits were roaming the land. No one would want their attention, anyway. 'You guys want some ghost stories?' asked Yeo as he adjusted his spectacles. Each of them could feel a tingling sensation creeping up their backs. The silence and the darkness made the atmosphere eerie. Coupled with the cold breeze, the time and place were perfect for something supernatural to come forth. 'You're sick,' said Salim. 'Why frighten ourselves?' 'Come on, buddy Salim,' said Cheong, 'there's no such things as ghosts lah.'

'Oh yes, there are,' said Ong in an ominous sounding tone. 'They're now around us. Listening.' Yep rapped his knuckles on his helmet on the floor. 'They like to hear us talk about them. Just like we like to hear others gossip about other people. They're clever creatures.' 'They were like us once,' Ong chipped in. 'When they die, they travel in their own dimension. From where they are, they can see us. But, we can't see them, unless they let us. Some people with yin yang eyes can see them. And I can see them.' The group held their breaths. 'Don't bull,' said Salim, taking in a deep breath to boost his courage. 'It's true.' Ong looked serious. 'I don't lie about this. I'm one of the few born with this ability.' 'I can prove that,' said Yeo. 'Just now, he saw a lady combing her hair at the top of the Jcaob's ladder.' Salim's eyes froze, looking at Yeo. Cheong grinned. The word 'ghost' didn't exist in his dictionary. He didn't even know what it meant anyway. 'We were strolling at that path,' Yeo pointed into the distance,' and the mist was rather thick there. Then, there was this wind and the branches were waving as if beckoning to us. Then, we heard dogs barking damn hard. All of us know dogs can see things that we can't. And they were barking their heads off at the Jacob's ladder.' 

'And,' Ong continued for Yeo, 'I saw her. We were quite a distance away actually. But, I could see a shadow, a very faint one at the top of the Jacob's ladder. One hand seemed to be straightening her long hair, and the other was busy moving up and down as if combing the hair.' 'Then, the three dogs stopped barking. Suddenly, she was gone.' Yeo looked at the rest. 'I don't know about you guys, but I do believe in ghosts. Ong just proved it to me.' Cheong laughed. 'Come on lah, all these are bullshit.' 'No,' Yeo pursed his lips. 'The atmosphere was real ghostly. The wind, the mist, the dogs barking. All these are associated with their appearances.' Salim remained quiet. Ong looked at him intently. Salim tiled his head to his right. 'What are you looking at?' 'Shh...' Yeo looked worried. 'Ong?' Ong nodded. There was a tinge of fright in his voice. 'Yeo, let's go. We've work to do.' Salim shot a questioning glance at Cheong, and Cheong shrugged his shoulders in reply. 'Take care,' Yeo said as he hurried after Ong. 'Be careful.' 'What was that all about?' Salim asked Cheong as he stood up. 'You ask me, I ask who?' Cheong was now standing beside Salim.

'Ask me.' The duo turned around to see who it was. There was no one there. 'Cheong?' fear ate into Salim's mind. 'G... ghost.' 'Down here, stupid!' The duo looked down and saw the duty officer, Chee Keong, squatting at their feet. 'Good evening, Sir!' The duo stood at attention. The officer stood up and shone his torch at the two recruits. 'It's morning, soldier.' 'Good morning, Sir!' 'Gentlemen, are you trying to be funny? You do sentry by sitting down, is it?' 'No, Sir!' 'How come I saw you two sitting down just now?' 'Because Yeo and Ong came over to chat, Sir,' said Salim. 'So you do sentry talk cock and sing song one, is it?' 'No, Sir!' 'Then, how do you do sentry?' 'Standing up and remaining alert, Sir!' Cheong bellowed. 'Standing up and remaining alert?' 'Yes, Sir!'

'Then, how come you two don't even know when I'm behind you?' Silence. 'You two better give me a f...ing good reason, understand?' 'Yes, Sir' 'So? Start explaining.' Silence. Chee Keong's penetrating eyes burnt into Salim's fright filled ones. The officer had bushy eyebrows and a rather prominent mole at a corner of his mouth. he was a head shorter than Cheong, but was still a giant to Salim nonetheless. 'Never mind. Knock it doen twenty first.' 'Down! One! Two!... Nineteen! Twenty! Permission to recover, Sir!' 'Tell me why you two are not alert. Do you know that if I'm the enemy, you'll both be dead?' 'Yes, Sir!' 'A soldier must always be alert at all times, you understand?' 'Yes, Sir!' 'Bloody hell! You don't always 'yes, Sir!' this and that, and don't listen.' He paused. Salim sneaked a glance at the officer, and found his eyes burning into his.

'What are you looking at, Salim?' 'Nothing, Sir!' 'Not happy with me, is it?' 'No, Sir!' 'Bloody hell! You recruits are damn lucky, you know. Last time, I look at my officer like that, I've to sign three axtras.' 'Yes, Sir!' 'Recover!' 'Thank you, Sir!' The officer circled the two recruits. 'Tell me, gentlemen, how you want to be punished.' Silence. 'You don't think you deserved to be punished, is it?' 'No, Sir!' 'So, you know that you're wrong, right?' 'Yes, Sir!' 'very good. I like responsible soldiers.' Chee Keong paced up and down, thinking. 'I'm going to punish you two according to your weaknesses. You two better tell me the truth. Who lie to me will be charged. Understand?' 'Yes, Sir!' 'Good. Salim, tell me your buddy Cheong's weakness.'

'I... I don't really know, Sir.' 'What do you mean you don't know? You're supposed to know everything about your buddy. You're not going to fight a war together with a stranger.' The officer paused. 'Drop twenty.' Salim did twenty push ups. 'Permission to recover, Sir!' 'Recover!' 'Thank you, Sir! Cheong's weakness is not believing in ghosts.' The officer nodded. 'Cheong, what's Salim's weakness?' 'He's very afraid of ghosts, Sir!' The officer sniggered. 'Salim, you seedless, is it?' 'No, Sir!' 'Very good. You heard about the Jacob's ladder lady?' 'Yes, Sir!' 'She's a nice ghost. I want you to spend the night guarding the Jacob's ladder.' Salim's face turned pale. 'But, Sir...' 'You dare to defy my orders?' 'No, Sir! Yeo and Ong, they also...' 'I didn't see them doing anything wrong. Twenty, Salim.' Chee Keong gave Salim the inverted 'V' sign. Salim did twenty push ups ans stood up after Chee Keong permitted him to do so.

'Double to the Jacob's ladder now! Move!' Salim ran as fast as he could towards the SOC, his torch bobbing up and down. The Jacob's ladder was about two hundred meters away. Visibility was low due to the heavy mist and the moon wasn't in a position to make things any brighter. Salim swore. 'F...! Yeo and Ong get nothing! Cheong gets don't know what! And I get to guard the Jacob's ladder and keep the...' Salim slowed down. Keeping the lady ghost company at this unearthly hour wasn't really his cup of tea. From behind him came his officer's shout. 'Run! I'll spot check later!' Another string of expletives polluted the air, but Salim picked up speed nonetheless. He reached the jacob's ladder two minutes later. From where he was, he couldn't see his officer and Cheong. The mist was real thick here. And the lone wild dog there was getting a little too inquisitive for his comfort. The canine brute sniffed the air and walked towards Salim. He shone his torch at it and the animal flinched. 'Back off, you bitch. Stay away from me.' Salim waved his truncheon stick maliciously at the dog. He felta surge of courage charging into his mind. 'Come any closer, I'll whack the brain juice out of your skull!' The dog regarded Salim with its mournful eyes. Tears were evident in its eyes, and it had a forlon look on its face as if it had lost her puppies.

'Stay away from me.' Salim climbed up the Jacob's ladder backwards. His bottom landed on a rung of log as his feet gave the bottom rung a push. The dog followed, climbing up the rungs one by one. When Salim reached the top rung, a chill ran down his spine and a tingle crept, up at the nape of his neck. As if synchronized with Salim's fear, the wind began to howl and the trees branches went into a frenzied dance. Dead leaves flew up from the ground like spirits breaking free from hell. The mist swirled and the surrounding turned into a vision of surrealistic images. From his left eye's peripheral vision, Salim saw a form materializing. It was a coruscating nuance of black, shimmering at the edge and solidifying in the centre. Slowly, the mass of black took form. A hand appeared first. It was pale like a dead pig's skin. A long white dress, typical of a ghost's, emerged from within the black and flapped softly in the wind. Salim froze, his breath caught in his throat and his torch dropped onto the ground. He couldn't take his eyes away from the thing. Neither could he ran away from it. He was nailed onto the Jacob's ladder like a sacrificial object. The thing really took its time to show itself. long black tresses appeared, followed by a hand which held a wooden comb. The face slowly emerged from the black like a corpse floating to the water surface. She turned to look at Salim. In spite of the surrounding gloom, he could see her quite clearly.

Her smile was so captivating that Salim smiled back in spite of the fear nibbling at the edge of his mind. She had very fine features - small mouth, small nose and a pair of mesmerizing eyes. Her porcelain white complexion accentuated her high cheekbones and provided a beautiful contrast against her jet black tresses. 'Hello,' she said. 'Hah... hah... loh.' Salim placed his hand on his crotch. He was so scared that the urine in his bladder was going to burst forth. 'Don't be scared.' She ran her comb through her hair once. 'I'm a good ghost.' Salim looked at the advancing dog and then at the lady. 'Go, Jess!' The lady waved a hand at the dog. It whimpered, turned and ran off into the distance. 'Sometimes, these rude dogs have to be taught a lesson.' Salim nodded as if he had a robot like neck that needed oiling. His body was so tensed that he panted from the exertion. 'Relax, Salim. Ree-lax... ree-lax...' Salim could feel the words penetrating his brain and triggering some calming chemical reaction. Strangely, his muscles relaxed and he suddenly felt comfortable in the lady's presence. 'Feel better?'

'Yeah.' Salim looked at the lady intently. 'You're very beautiful.' The lady smiled. 'Good ghosts usually look beautiful.' 'You mean not all ghosts are bad?' She covered her mouth with a hand and sniggered. 'People are always so ignorant. Ghosts are just people who died and has not left this world yet. There are good and bad people, why can't there be good and bad ghosts?' 'True.' Salim nodded in agreement. 'But, how can we tell the good and bad ghosts apart?' 'Like I said, good ghosts are usually beautiful. Because of the goodness in them, they take on beautiful forms. Bad ghosts, on the other hand look horrible. Some have long sharp teeth, others have worms growing on their faces, and yet others simply don't look like a ghost.' 'Have you seen any bad ghosts?' 'Yes. They are always around, waiting and searching for an opportunity to steal someone's life. Infact, there's one sitting beside you. She signaled to me to let her have you. I refused her.' Salim looked to his right and saw nothing. 'But, there's...' 'You can't see unless we let you to.' 'And you refused her...' 'Oh that. It's ghost ethics. No ghost is to infringe on the earthly connections of another.'

'Earthly connections?' 'It's a very broad term. It means anything that comes from your world and is preempted by us on a first come first serve basis.' Salim nodded his head even though he didn't understand what she had just said. He shot another glance to his right, and of all the rotten luck in the world, his wasn't particularly good. The bad ghost had decided to show itself, and perhaps fish for some compliments from Salim. 'Hello, handsome.' The she ghost put on her most endearing smile a twisted mouth of misshapened teeth gleaming like little knives. A piece of rotting flesh slid slowly from her temple down to her chin, and dangled like a hangman's bloddy rope. From within her eye sockets, white light flickered. 'Aren't I beautiful?' Scorching vomit surged up Salim's throat and would have sprayed onto the ghost, had Salim not bit his lips. 'Y... yes.' 'Don't you desire me?' The words slurred sexily. Salim would have let loose a string of expletives if the ghost wasn't sitting so close to him. Of all the cursed luck, his must have been run over by the coffin of a car smashed drunkard. 'Yes', the ghost would take him; 'no', the ghost would strangle him. Either way, his life would be drained from him. 'I... I...' Salim turned his head slowly to look at the good ghost. 'Well, handsome?' Impatience was evident in the voice. Even a tinge of threat was coming through.

Needless to say, misfortune usually comes in bulk. For the third time, of all the damned luck in the world, his must have been run over by the coffins of ten car smashed drunkards, with a few dead black cats thrown in for a good bargain. The good ghost was nowhere to be seen! 'Smooth skin.' Salim shuddered as the ghost run her long and sharp fingernails over his face. 'You use Oil of Ulan?' Salim closed his eyes and concentrated on slowing down his heartbeat. God, his heart was beating too fast. There was a shortness of breath. Sweat gathered on his body as much as fear clouded his brain. In his mind's eye, he saw death staring starkly at him. A myriad of colours spun with cyclonic force. Furious red and freezing blue, ragged bolts of blinding yellow and icicles of penetrating black. 'Allah,' Salim muttered. 'Don't act, Salim. You're not a religious man.' He could feel her cold breath on his neck. 'Now that Ling isn't here, you're all mine. Look at me.' Salim held his eyelids shut even tighter. If he looks at that foul creature again, he would die of shattered guts. 'Look at me, look at me now...' The voice dulled Salim's senses. Sound waves of uneven tones and pitch entered his ears and assaulted his brain. Somehow, the cell responded in defiance of Salim's wishes, like glasses shattering due to resonance. His eyes twitched. He could feel the eyelids lifting up and he wasn't even willing it!

'Look at me... look at me.... you desire me.' The voice changed. 'Ling.' Salim looked at the mesmerizing eyes and felt his manhood asserting control over him. 'You're beautiful.' 'Take me.' Ling pulled him over. Coldness merged with Salim's body warmth, and desire reared like a sex starved maniac. 'Feel me.' Salim could feel Ling's hand holding his tenderly. Slowly, she moved his hand to her cheek; then, downwards, to her neck, and further down to her breasts. 'You like?' Salim nodded and grinned like a drunk monkey. 'Then, you'll like my hair.' Salim felt his fingers going through Ling's tresses. 'Smooth?' He nodded. 'Good. Pull them and feel... hmm... good. Pull harder... harder still... PULL!' Salim felt their tearing from Ling's skull, making sound of an rusty zip. He stared at the bunch of torn hair - no, snakes, snakes of grey and black in his hand, and vomited in fear. The bridge between dream and reality had been demolished. Nightmare loomed. Ssss... A snake lashed out at him, and he instinctively leaned back, lost his balance and fell backwards. His helmeted head impacted a rung, knocking the breath out of him. His body followed, and soon he was sliding down the Jacob's ladder, screaming like a lunatic. Vomit burnt his throat and tongue again, erupting from his mouth like a water fountain. His vision blurred, but still he could see Ling's smiling at him. Such an endearing smile, and the sharp teeth that she had.

The bunch of snakes move animatedly like the snakes on Medusa's head. Salim couldn't do anything but look at them wide eyed. His hand seemed to have become a part of it. There was no way that he could will his hand to throw the snakes away, much less squeeze them into pulp. He simply lay on the ground, waiting for his time to end. Ssss... Venom dripped from the snakes tongues like blood from a spirit possessed tap. Somehow, Salim relished the burning sensation on his chest. He even wished for more. 'Enjoying yourself?' Ling had appeared beside him. She placed his head on her thighs and stroke his face. 'Want a kiss?' Salim nodded ans smiled in anticipation of an erotic kiss. 'STOP!' Something snapped in Salim's mind and suddenly, reality washed over him. He saw the evil ghosts rotting face over his and the bunch of snakes in his hand. More from fright than from instinct, he threw the snakes away ans screamed into the face of the she ghost. The rotting flesh dangling from her chin dropped into his mouth, and a bitter taste of dead flies and cockroaches bit into his tongue. Vomit surged and he began to foam.

'Stop it, Ah Huay! Stop, you bad ghost!' In that split second, too fast for the human mind to register, two shadows, one black and one white caught hold of the evil ghost and pulled her away from Salim. For Salim, that time and frame seemed to freeze for eternity. His mind took in the details of the event. each of the spirits wore a tall hat which was matched by a similarly coloured robe. They had very long tongues and deep set eyes. But, what really struck him was the fact that their skin colour was the same as their entire outfit, black for one and white for the other. Ah Huay wailed like a spoilt child who was being pulled away from her doll. Then, the wail died off abruptly like a siren switched off. 'Salim, are you all right?' Ling's tender face came into view. Salim nodded weakly and forced a smile. 'What happened?' Ling help Salim to rest his back on the Jacob's ladder. 'Ah Huay, that bad ghost, tried to rape you and then kill you.' Salim shook his head, trying to clear the dizziness throbbing between his ears. 'But, she looked like you.' 'Illusions, She used her magic to confuse your senses. She took on my form to entice you. In her real form, she wouldn't be desirable to any man.'

'And you left...' 'To look for help. A bad ghost always has much more powerful and evil magic than a good one. I can never outfight her. The two spirits that you saw just now were hei bai wuchang, the black and white hell constables. only they can subdue her.' 'That means you save my life.' 'No,' said Ling as she ran her comd through her hair, 'you're going to save mine.' 'Me?' 'Yes.' At this, sadness shone in Ling's eyes, and tears began to trickled down her face. 'Are you human?' Salim was surprised to see tears on someone who was supposedly long dead. 'I wish I were. But, I'm a ghost, a human gone. I belong to the other dimension.' Salim felt the dizziness clearing and his thoughts became more coherent. 'But, you can cry just like us. And, and you're so like us. How can you not be human?' 'There are some similarities because we're actually the same species. But her the similarities end. Ghosts are humans who died and are stuck. Those who are not would have reincarnated.' 'Stuck?' 'Like me. That's why I need your help.'

'Stuck? Salim said the word again like a broken record. 'my body is buried under the Jacob's ladder. I'm imprisoned under it and I can never reincarnate unless my body is freed from it. Would you help me?' 'Of course.' Salim almost melted from Ling's imploring look. 'But, how did you end up under the ladder?' 'I don't know. It was such a long time ago. My memory of it was gone.' 'How can I help?' 'Simply dig up my body from under the Jacob's ladder. After that I'll be free.' Ling smiled. 'And I'll no longer have to sit on the Jacob's ladder and comb my hair all alone. I can be reincarnated.' 'I'll definitely help you/' 'Thank you, Salim.' Ling kissed him lightly on his cheek. 'I've to report to the hell constables now.' 'Where's your body?' 'I don't know. Promise me you'll definitely find it. Thank you.' And Ling faded off. Salim touched the place where Ling had kissed and felt wetness on it. Tears of sympathy for the ghost had stained his face. 'I promise, Ling. I promise I'll definitely free you.' So saying, Salim struck the earth with his truncheon stick. Helmet off, webbing off, and he was digging the earth furiously. The torch on the ground provided little light, but that didn't worry him. The truncheon stick entered the earth again and again.

'Ling, I'll free you. Don't worry.' Emotions washed over him and tears flowed again. 'Salim!' A voice rang out and a beam of light landed on Salim. It was Cheong. 'What are you doing? Siow ah?' Salim stopped momentarily, looking at Cheong like a busy workman who hates to be interrupted, much less insulted. 'You either help or keep your damn mouth shut.' 'What's wrong, buddy?' Cheong felt as if hie mother had just slapped him for no rhyme or reason. 'You. That's what's wrong. Don't interrupt when I'm doing something important.' 'I don't understand. You're digging for what?' 'Don't ask. Help if you want, but don't waste my time.' 'But...' 'F... you!' And Salim lunged at Cheong with his truncheon stick. Cheong was caught unaware, and the blow landed squarely on his chest. He disarmed Salim and pushed him away, dropping his torch in the event. Like a mad bull, Salim charged again. Cheong leapt forward and surprised Salim with a roundhouse blow at his head. Salim ducked, feinted a right handed upper cut and followed through with a powerful left handed straight punch. The blow connected and forced Cheong to back step.

He groaned in pain. 'Stop, Salim. Why are we fighting?' Salim panted from his exertion. 'Because you're wasting my time.' 'but you're digging as if you're mad.' 'I'm not mad. I'm trying to free Ling.' 'Ling?' 'The Jacob's ladder lady. I must find her body so that she can be reincarnated. Now, you either step aside or help.' The gauntlet was thrown and Salim readied himself for the big fight. His eyes narrowed and his hands tightened into fists, draining blood from the knuckles. 'Help or fight, Cheong?' 'Stop joking lah!' Cheong waved off the challenge and laughed. 'Salim, I didn't know you damn joker, man.' 'I'm not joking!' Salim leapt forth and swung a bone cracking blow at Cheong's stomach. Cheong side stepped, and used his body mass to push Salim onto the ground. The smaller boy fell. 'Salim, are you mad?' Concern was evident in Cheong's voice. 'Are you joking or what?' 'F... you!' And Salim was up and at Cheong. The duo traded blows. A jab caught Cheong at the kidney; not to be outdone, he landed a blow on Salim's shoulder. The smaller boy stumbled a little and leapt at Cheong like a leopard. The force brought Cheong down, and the fight continued with the smaller boy on the top of the bigger. Salim's great strength amazed Cheong, and his gaunt body really belied the tons of muscles and bones he had within him.

'Salim! I'm Cheong!' 'I know.' And the blow knocked the lights out of the bigger boy. 'Stop it, Salim! Are you mad?' It was Yeo. Ong was just behind him. 'What the hell is going on?' 'No one's going to stop me from looking for Ling's body! So, get lost.' 'You're mad,' said Ong. 'No, you all are!' Salim almost snarled. 'Yeo, he may possessed,' whispered Ong. 'Salim's too small to knock Cheong out.' 'Don't whisper, you cowards. Fight me!' Salim dashed forward and tried to down the duo with a wrestler's T shape flying tackle, his two arms outstretched perpendicularly to his body. The duo ducked and countered with a kick at Salim's knees. he fell and soon the two boys were pinning him down by their body weight. 'Let me go, you f... assholes! I've to save Ling! Let me go!' A tear trickled down Ling's face. She was sitting along at the Jacobs' ladder, combing her hair once again. The night breeze was freezing even for her. But, there was nowhere she could go.

Another recruit, as she understood it, had been sent to a place those people called Woodbridge. His name was Salim. But, she couldn't understand why. All she did was only ask for his help, and nothing else. Perhaps, all those recruits had been over zealous to help; so determined were they when they promised her freedom. She sighed. Hopefully, tonight, another man could help her. It was after all another sentry night.

Airborne Story

This ghost story is particularly fascinating not just for its remarkable story line but because it did not happen in a faraway, dark castle or an old, Victorian mansion. This haunting occurred in a most unlikely place. The ghost appeared in a sophisticated, swank aeroplane a jumbo jet airliner. It all started when a spanking new aeroplane, the L-1011, was introduced in the United States. It was a new, wide bodied jumbo generation plane, the first of its kind to take to the skies. It was the pride of America's Eastern Airlines. They were the first to have it and Eastern Airlines claimed it was the most quiet, cleanest plane in the sky a master piece of modern engineering. All those who flew it, worked on it and sat in it as passengers agreed with the Airline. But each of these state of the art giant, metal birds came at a huge price a whopping twenty million megabucks a piece. But as expensive as they were, they were not accident proof. On the unfortunate night of 29 December 1972, one such plane code named Flight #401, carrying 176 passengers, all still in the festive Christmas mood, never made it to its scheduled landing at Miami International Airport. Flight #401 crashed just 20 miles from its destination. The metal bird plunged into a swampy wasteland called the Florida everglades. 101 passengers died in the crash. Many of them drowned in ridiculously shallow water because they were strapped to their seats. It was the worst single aircraft crash in American history. And finding the bodies among the wreckage of the plane in the wet, swampy wasteland was painfully slow.

When the bodies were found, many were ripped with strange, long slashes. It was only much later they realised these ribbon like wounds were caused by the edges of the Florida saw grass  There were horror stories behind the bodies that were found. One pregnant woman had her fetus pushed so far up from her womb, it ended up in her chest cavity a sight rescue workers had never seen before and struggled to cope with. But the burning question was why the tragedy took place at all. Investigators simply could not pinpoint the reason. And to make matters worse, both the Captain of the plane, Captain Loft, and his second in command, Second Officer, Don Repo, were both killed in the crash. They were the two key technical people who could have shed some light on what happened on the plane just before it crashed. ironically, it was the ghostly events that were to later follow the tragedy of Flight #401 that gave authorities the strongest clues. A few months after the crash, rumours flew among the airlines circles of ghost appearing on Eastern Airlines planes. Pilots and flight attendants as far as Scandinavia were talking about these stories. Although many flight attendants were also killed, the stories were only about two ghostly figures the Captain of the plane, Captain Loft and his second in command, Second Officer, Don Repo. The stories claimed the apparitions of the two men would appear suddenly and disappear just as suddenly. The ghostly figures were clear, solid and identifiable and seen by pilots, flight engineers, flight attendants and passengers alike.

Most of these spooky stories centered around a plane code named Flight #318, although there were a few strange stories about other similar new L-1011s. But most of the stories revolved around one particular area of Flight #318 the galley. The galley area is situated on the lower deck of the plane, where all the food to be served to passengers is stored and heated. It is really a narrow, long corridor with stainless steel ovens on both sides of the corridor. The flight attendants, usually working in pairs, heat up the food and send it up to the rest of the crew using two small lifts that connect the galley to the upper deck of the plane, where all the passengers are seated.Most flight attendants will tell you being assigned to work in the galley is a bonus. Its a quiet, cosy area, with soft lights that come from the lighting panels that spread across the entire ceiling. They work at their own pace, loading up the carts full of trays on to the two, small elevators. Their job id hassle free compared to their colleagues on the upper deck who have to cater to the never ending demands of passengers. But when the ghost stories started to surface, many flight attendants refused to go down and work in the galley alone. many others simply begged not to be posted on galley duty. The company reacted very sternly to all these stories. Any employee who went to the company with a story on a ghostly sighting was promptly bundled off to see the company psychiatrist. The workers were convinced it was the first step to being fired; so most employees who saw anything strange or spooky, despite being frightened and confused, simply refused to speak about it officially. But it still did not stop the ghostly stories from circulating. new, fresh chilling stories would surface every few weeks and spread like wild fire. it got to the point where even the American press started to report the stories in the newspapers.

then it started pulsating in a strange way. She was confused but quickly the confusion turned to raw fear, fear of the unknown. Her first instinct was to flee from there. She pressed the lift button again before she turned to her left to keep an eye on the strange formation. The 'cloud' was now the size of a slightly elongated basketball. It was beginning to form into a thicker, much more solid shape. Her mind was now a blur of confusion. She wasn't sure what to do, and the thing was still growing larger. She pushed the elevator button again. This time harder than before and she turned her face away. 'Perhaps,' she said to herself, 'if I don't look at it, it might go away.' Then she pushed the lift button again, still harder than she did before. The lift still did not come. She could still see the shape out of the corner of her eye. She wanted to look and not look at the same time. It was more pronounced than ever. by now she could feel her heart began to thump furiously and the blood rush to her head. She looked again. There was no question about it now. It was clearly forming into a face, half solid, half misty. She could not believe her eyes. Her mouth went dry and her legs began to wobble. but just then she heard the lift door above slam shut. It was finally on its way down. She swallowed hard and tried to steady her nerves. She knew she had to hold it together. The lift seemed to take an eternity to get down to her. But finally it did come. All along she knew she should not look at the strange formation to her left if she wanted to remain sane. but just as the lift reached lower galley level and the door slowly opened, she could not help herself, she shot one last, final look at the figure again.

The three dimensional image had formed a complete, clear face, a face with dark hair, grey at the sides, with steel rimmed glasses. There was no question it was a face, and no question it was wearing glasses. The image was now sharp and clear. Initially she had passed the thing off as condensation. But the evidence was now staring her straight in the face. She let out a gasp of horror and blinked in disbelief. She looked again. Yes, it was still there. The face was looking right back at her. She turned and fled into the elevator. She was so frightened and upset by then, her whole body shook uncontrollably. By the time she got to the upper deck she was bathed in sweat, cold sweat. Yet when she got up there, she was too afraid to tell anybody what had happened. She was afraid people would think she was a nut. It was months before she confided in anyone about what she had seen. She did not know the dead pilot and his second in command. But when she later went through their records, her jaw dropped open when she saw the photo of Don Repo. It was identical to the face she had seen down in the galley. But she wasn't alone in experiencing strange happenings in the galley. Some flight attendants experienced a great, cold shill suddenly come over the normally warm and cosy galley. Yet others felt the strong presence of someone else in the galley when they were actually alone there. But nothing comes close to the experience of a flight attendant when she opened the door in one of the galley oven compartments.

The face of Don Repo stared back at her. On another occasion, a crew of caterers boarded the plane to load on food trays when a sudden commotion broke out and they fled from the plane. No amount of persuasion could get them to go back in. When they were finally calmed, they swore black and blue they had seen a ghost. A uniformed officer standing in the galley simply 'evaporated' before their eyes. In the next few months, more such incidents were to follow. And they were not confined to the galley area. Infact, one of the most eerie incidents was experienced by senior crew members and half a dozen passengers in the first class sectin of the plane. Once again it occurred on Flight #318. The plane was heading from Newark to Miami. The flight crew had followed the routine drill. The normal preflight check was done before take off. The Second Officer completed his walk around and the Captain and First Officer were in their seats in the cockpit attending to flight safety measures. In the cabins, the flight attendants prepared the plane for boarding. The crew of caterers loaded fresh food containers in the lower galley, and finally all was set. Moments later the passengers, almost 200 of them were boarded, directed to their seats, and settled in for a smooth flight on the luxury jet. In the first class section the senior flight attendant, S, was making her routine head count when she found her count was off. She had one additional passenger she shouldn't have had. She went back over the seats to double check and spotted the problem soon enough. There was an Eastern Airline pilot in uniform in one of the seats. 

She immediately assumed he was 'dead heading' back to Miami. That was the term airline crew used when a pilot flew a plane to a certain destination, then flew back as passenger on another plane to his original take off station. It was a very common practice, and at times these pilots would ride in the jump seat, the spare seat in the plane used by the airline crew, after sitting in first class for the first part of the trip. But she still had to confirm this. S approached the pilot with her list. 'Excuse me, captain,' she said as she bent over him, 'but are you jump seat riding this trip? I don't have you on my list.' The captain did not respond. he stared straight ahead. 'I beg your pardon, captain,' she repeated. 'I've got to check you off either as a jump seat or first class passenger. Could you help me?' He did not even flinch. He simply continued to stare blankly ahead. S was puzzled by his reaction. She called the flight supervisor, D, to the first class cabin hoping she could clear up the confusion. When D joined her, she too was just as surprised by the pilot's strange behavior. He looked perfectly normal in every way. Yet he seemed as if he was in a daze. It worried both of them. They were at a loss as to what to do. Finally S decided to get the help of the Flight Captain himself. She went into the cockpit and laid out her problem to the Captain. Perhaps he would be able to get a response from one of his colleagues where she couldn't. The Flight Captain raised his eyebrows in surprise when he was told what had happened. He knew there was no record of another Eastern Airline captain listed as a jump seat passenger, and S told him the pilot did not seem to be holding a pass for the flight either.

He shrugged to indicate he would give it a shot and followed S out into the first class compartment. There were about half a dozen passengers in the immediate vicinity of the silent pilot, all rather curious about what was going on. The flight captain approached the seat, anxious to sort out the problem so the flight would not be delayed. With both the senior flight attendant and the flight supervisor beside him, he leaned down to address the other captain. Then he froze. 'My God, its Bob Loft,' he said. A hushed silence fell all around. The crew were stunned. Bob Loft was the Flight Captain who went down in the Everglades. Just at that moment something so extraordinary happened, no one that saw it could quite explain it. The captain in the first class seat simply wasn't there anymore. He was there one moment and not there the next. The Flight Captain was so stunned, he returned to the operations office in the airport to tell them about the incident that he himself could hardly believe had happened. There was a long delay. The plane was searched from top to bottom. But the missing pilot simply could not be found. Almost one and a half hours later, Flight #318 finally lumbered down the runaway for take off, its passenger count now checked and balanced, but with a stunned group of passengers and crew on board. A few months after that shockingly eerie event, another hair raising incident occurred. This time the police had to be called in. An eyewitness who appeared on the scene was Captain M.

It was one o'clock in the morning. Captain M had just flown in a Boeing 727 into Phoenix, Arizona. When he pulled up his plane in the airport ramp, he noticed something unusual beside him. There was an L-1011 belonging to Eastern Airlines parked beside him on the tramp. But several police cars had the plane surrounded, their rotating lights whirling around on top of the hood of their cars. That was not a common sight in any airport. Captain M was extremely curious to know why the police had the plane cordoned off. Once he had safely deplaned, he went over to the scene to find out what was going on. He discovered the L-1011 was on a brief stop over in Phoenix. A woman in the coach section had been perfectly quiet and normal during the entire flight. But when the plane approached Phoenix, she suddenly started to scream hysterically. She said a man had suddenly appeared in a seat near her. She insisted she had been looking directly at the seat when it happened. The man had not walked up to it, she claimed. He had just suddenly some into being there. He disappeared the minute she started to scream. The cabin crew could not quieten her down. She was absolutely hysterical from fear. Finally, despite the adverse publicity, they had to call in the police. She had become so hysterical, they had to take her away in a strait jacket, to prevent her from hurting herself or anyone else. There was also the spooky incident, again on Flight #318, involving a trip from New York to Miami. Again, this was witnessed by all the crew on the plane. It occurred just as the plane flew over the fatal crash site at the Everglades. A male voice came over the PA system. He announced customary seat belt and no smoking precautions to the passengers. He seemed perfectly normal and his announcement was exactly the way it was usually said, except for one thing.

None of the plane's crew had made the announcement. Neither was the PA system in use at all during that time. Initially the ghosts of both the Chief Pilot, Bob Loft, and the Second Officer, Don Repo, seemed to appear and disappear unexpectedly. But eventually Bob Loft's ghost stopped appearing. Only Don Repo's apparition continued to be seen. But his ghostly apparition was reported with such regularity, some Eastern Airlines crew started making inquiries.  What they gathered was extremely interesting. You see, when Flight #401 crashed in the Florida Everglades, the whole plane was not a write off. Some sections of the plane like the cockpit area and galley remained relatively intact. Other nonstructural equipment like electronic equipment, stainless steel oven units in the galley, even the galley elevators, were salvageable. Mind you, every component that goes towards building one of those fancy planes cost thousands and thousands of mega bucks; so it made sense for parts of the crashed plane that remained in good working order to be used in similar such new planes that were being built. Most of the parts salvaged from the plane that crashed were used to build Flight #318. Coincidentally, most of the spooky, unexplained incidents were being reported on this very plane. At first the authorities at Eastern Airlines denied any such rumors and they tried to hide evidence of this spooky incidents. Each plane has a logbook where every incident, minor or major, has to be recorded by FAA regulations.

These reports are usually accumulated in the official logbook over an extended period of time and become a permanent part of the aircraft's record. The logbook remains on the aircraft until it is filled up usually over a period of two or three months. The pilots record the mechanical incidents on one side of the page; the flight attendants do the same on the opposite side. Everytime there was a ghostly experience on the aircraft, it was recorded by the crew. But whenever new crew came onto the plane and looked at the logbook to confirm the rumors they had heard of the incident, they would notice something very strange. the pages detailing the incidents had been removed or a brand new logbook had been supplied. But when the incidents continued and the stories spread to all other airlines and started being reported in the newspapers, the authorities at Eastern Airlines realised they were fighting something too big for them to cover up. They then made a decision that would cost them thousands of dollars. The hard headed businessman at Eastern Airlines reached the conclusion that the appearances of the ghostly images was somehow connected to the fact that those planes were using salvaged parts from Flight #401 that crashed in the Everglades. The technicians working in the stock room were given orders to go through all records to find out which of the L-1011s were using salvaged parts from the plane that had crashed in the Everglades. Then they were instructed to remove and replace all those parts although they were in perfect working order. These included ovens in the galley, lifts connecting the galley to the upper deck and the PA radio system on Flight #318.

It sounds bizarre that a profit oriented company in the most Western of countries would have sacrificed so much money to try and rid their planes of ghosts, but it did happen and it is on record. But at around the same time, someone else was also trying to rid Flight #318 of its ghost but his approach was less scientific. Dick Manning, a pilot from Boston, had known the two dead pilots. Manning was an extremely religious man. He decided to do an exorcism to deliver Don Repo's soul from its anguish and put it at rest. He was convinced what he was prepared to do was the best thing for all concerned, his dead friends, the Airline and the crew working the plane. One night, he found himself flying on Flight #318. He was flying from Miami to Newark and he had over an hour to spare. He decided there and then that was the time to the exorcism. He had confided in only a handful of crew of his intentions. Two female flight attendants went into the plane with him. Quietly and confidently, he told that flight attendants to remain on the upper deck. He was convinced Don Repo's spirit was best exorcised in an area where his presence was strongest in the galley. He made his way down to the galley all by himself. His female colleagues watched him slowly get into the lift and disappear; their hearts beat furiously as they shivered with fear and anticipation at what would follow. Manning had taken only one thing with him, a cup of water. The moment he got down to the brightly lit galley, all the lights overhead started to flicker on and off. It was almost as if the spirit knew what he had come to do and it was fighting him.

But Manning was determined. He knew what he had come to do and come to hell or high water he was determined to see it through. He started to sprinkle the water from the cup all over the galley. A wind begin to blow all around him. He described it as a 30 knot wind, and as a pilot who had navigated tens of hundreds of planes, he would know what he was talking about. The atmosphere around him became chilly; then it grew colder and colder until he felt like he was standing in a deep freezer. His whole body shook from the cold, and it was at that point that he sensed it. A strong presence was in the galley. He couldn't see anything but he felt it beyond any doubt. It was frightening, and any man with lesser convictions might have given up and fled at that point. But Manning continued to sprinkle the water all around the galley. Then a shape began to form at the far end of the galley. It kept fading in and out. But slowly it formed clearly enough for Manning to recognise the features of his dead friend, Don Repo. There was no question in Manning's mind, he saw what he saw. So much so, he started to talk to him. He said, 'Don't you know you are dead? You are dead. You have lost your life. But your spirit remains here, you have not been taken to your rightful place, where you belong.' The apparition did not respond. Manning continued, 'I am calling an angel of light, and he shall take you to a place where you belong...' Then, where the shape of Don Repo was standing, there was a light. A very bright flash of light. It was so blinding, Manning had to turn his face away. When he looked at the spot again where Don Repo had stood, he was gone.

The whole atmosphere in the galley returned to normal. It was no longer freezing cold but warm and cosy like it usually was. Manning felt a sense of deep satisfaction. He knew his mission was accomplished. When he got to the upper deck, the two flight attendants rushed up to him looking really worried. They were concerned because the lights had been going on and off for several moments after he had left. Manning assured them he was alright and that he had succeeded in comforting and persuading Don Repo to go to his final resting place. But the story of the exorcism spread. Manning's supervisor called him in to his office for a chat. He wanted to know if the rumors were true. Manning was not one to lie. He confirmed that he did infact conduct a brief exorcism, but he explained he only had the best interest of everyone at heart, including his dead friend. His supervisor said, 'If I believed, if I really thought that you believed in that, I'd send you down for a psychiatric examination.' Manning reportedly looked his superior straight in the eye and said, 'I believed it. I dare you.' He was never sent to the psychiatrist. More importantly, the reports of ghostly incidents in the galley, cockpit and cabins suddenly stopped after that. For awhile there were strong rumors Flight #318 was sold or had its number changed. But on further investigation these rumors proved unfounded. The plane is still around and it's sill in pretty good nick, comfortably flying hundreds of passengers around the United States without incident.

The White House - America's Most Famous Haunted House

The White House is an interesting building. Not just because it houses the most powerful man on planet earth, the American President, but more because of the chilling accounts of hauntings in the building, reported by Presidents themselves, their families and their staff. And why wouldn't there be ghosts there? It seems only natural that in such an emotionally charged building there would be some who lived there who were so closely tied to the structure, even after their death they continue to remain bound to the building. Especially if their death were untimely... The white House dates back to 1800, and it has housed many United States Presidents who have met untimely deaths. But of all the United States Presidents killed by speeding bullet, by far the most interesting were Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy. Both were very popular, charismatic leaders, in charge at a time the United States faced many internal problems. It should surprise no one that the White House most famous ghost stories centre around one of them, President Abraham Lincoln. Understandably he would have excellent reasons to still hang around; he had heaps of unfinished business of great importance. But before I tell you about the sightings of Lincoln's ghost at the White House, I am sure you'd be interested to know a little something about Lincoln himself that I found extremely interesting. Lincoln showed an unusual interest in the Spirit World.

Lincoln's family held seances in the White House during his administration. These seances could well have started when Lincoln's little boy Willie died, just after another son's premature death. They say it was the last straw for Mrs. Lincoln. She became temporarily insane. And it may well to be soothe her feelings that Lincoln allowed seances to be held in the White House. No one really knows what happened during the seances, mainly because Lincoln's surviving son, Robert, burnt the evidence after his father's death. But I am sure it would not have been much different from our home grown ceremonies with our local bomoh. But you have to got to wonder how successful Lincoln's bomohs were. Because Lincoln's younger son, Willie, still haunts the White House. One report in the reputable newspaper, The New York Times, detailed how little Willie just suddenly 'materialised' before the eyes of President Grant's family, years after Willie had died. But that was not all. Lincoln himself was said to be psychic. It has been widely reported that he once saw a double image of himself in the mirror. One was real and life like, the other was etheric, pale and shadowy. Lincoln was convinced the double image was a warning. He was sure it meant he would serve out his first term safely, but he would die before the end of his second term. He was proved correct. But his psychic ability did not end there. Perhaps the eeriest of all his psychic experiences was a premonition he had of his own death while he was asleep. He confided hid dream to his close friend and social secretary, Ward Hill Lamon, who related it in a biography he wrote on Lincoln. He wrote of the dream as it was told by Lincoln himself:

'About 10 days ago I retired very late. I had been up waiting for important news from the south. I could not have been long in bed when I fell asleep, for I was weary. I soon began to dream. There seemed to be a death like stillness about me. Then I heard subdued sobs, as if a number of people were weeping. I thought I left my bed and wandered downstairs. There the silence was broken by the same pitiful sobbing, but the mourners were invisible. I went from room to room; no living person was in sight, but the same mournful sounds of distress met me as I passed along. It was light in all the rooms; every object was familiar to me; but where were all the people who were grieving as if their hearts would break? I was puzzled and alarmed. What could be the meaning of all this? Determined to find the cause of a state of things so mysterious and so shocking, I kept on until I arrived at the East Room, which I entered. There I met with the sickening surprise. Before me was a coffin in which rested a corpse, wrapped in funeral garments. Around it were stationed soldiers who were acting as guards; and there was a throng of people, some gazing mournfully upon the corpse, whose face was covered, others weeping pitifully. 'Who is dead in the White House?' I demanded of one of the soldiers. 'The President,' was his answer; 'he was killed by an assassin!' 'Then there came a loud burst of grief from the crowd, which awoke me from my dream. I slept no more that night...'

had fate tried to prevent the tragedy by warning him in this way? Lincoln is also said to have had a recurring dream in which he saw himself on a strange ship, moving speedily towards an indefinite shore. Infact, he always had the dream before some big event. He also dreamt it on the eve of his death. That morning when he awoke, he spoke of the dream he had had yet again. He interpreted the dream to mean some important news was on its way. It never occurred to him the important news was his own death. The strange ship carrying him to a faraway shore was Charon's boat ferrying him across the river Styx for his burial. But the million dollar question remain, did he really cross over to the Nether World? Soon after his death, rumours circulated thick and fast of a ghostly President still wandering the White House. But as one would expect, the rumours were promptly denied by the United States government. People of high political standing do not talk easily about such things as ghosts. But in the case of the White House, so authentic are the hauntings, even former Presidents, their wives and other world figures who have visited there, have freely admitted to seeing or sensing Lincoln's ghost. The bedroom that Lincoln slept in is said to be one of the most impressive in the White House, so naturally, the staff at the White House tend to put important visitors in this room. One such visitor was the late Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands. Of course when she first arrived, she knew nothing about the hauntings in the White House. But in the middle of the night she was awoken from a deep sleep by the persistent, loud knocking on the door. At first she lay in her bed, thinking she was imagining it. But the knocking continued.

When she called out to see who it was, the knocking stopped but she got no response. Soon after, it started up again. Confused and dazed from sleep, she stumbled to the door and opened it. What she saw made her head spin. The unmistakable tall and lean, bearded figure of Abraham Lincoln stood at the door, looking straight at her. She remembered nothing more because she fainted from the shock it caused her. By the time she regained consciousness, the figure had vanished. All she woke up to was the quiet hum of electrical equipment operating in the pin drop silence of the huge, old building. But that was not the only famous sighting of Lincoln's ghost in the White House. President Roosevelt's wife gave another creepy account of Lincoln's ghost in the White House in her autobiography: 'I was sitting in my study when one of my maids Mary Evans, burst in on me in a state of great excitement. I looked up from my work and asked her what was the trouble. 'He's up there sitting on the edge of the bed, taking off his shoes!' she exclaimed. 'Who's up there taking off his shoes?' I asked. 'Mister Lincoln!' the maid replied. Other maids said they saw him lying quietly in bed. And others vowed he periodically stood at the window of the spooky East Room. This room is famous for sightings of ghostly apparitions and it really comes as no surprise. Both President Lincoln and President Kennedy's bodies were placed in the East Room after their assassinations.

President Harry Truman noted in his diary in 1945 that he was once disturbed by a knocking on his bedroom door. On opening the door and finding no one there he concluded, 'I think it must have been Lincoln's ghost in the hall.' But the knocking continued to disturb Truman and the rest of his family. It always happened at night and it was always persistent. At first Truman brushed it off as the noises of an old building settling. But when the persistent knocking started to keep them up at odd hours of the night, he decided to take action. He called in an architect, General Edgerton, to investigate the sounds. The survey Edgerton carried out led to the rebuilding of the structure of the White House. According to the architect, if they had not rebuilt the structure, the building would surely have collapsed around them. had Lincoln tried to warn the occupants the White House was about to fall down around their ears? Another room in the White House said to be totally spooked in the bedroom where Lincoln's autopsy was performed. By a twist of fate, it was also the room where his son Willie died. This room has had its fair share of eerie disturbance that cannot be explained away. For instance, during President Johnson's administration his daughter, Lynda Bird, was the unfortunate person fated to sleep in this room. She did not find it a pleasant experience at all. The President's daughter often complained of strange, shuffling footsteps in the night when she turned off the lights. But worse yet, the phone in her room would ring but no one would be on the other side. 

When she checked with the White House operator, the operator would swear black and blue she had not put any call through to that room. And on further investigation this was confirmed to be true. Many White House observers are convinced Lincoln's restless soul still stalks the White House because of unfinished business. And when you come to think about it, what he started out to do many moons ago is still not finished. And the present administration is by no means anywhere near fixing the problems that divide black and white Americans. For the reason alone, it's very likely the disturbances at the White House have never stopped. But Lincoln and his son are not the only ghosts haunting the White House. Household members of the late President Taft have observed a chilling sight, the ghost of Abigail Adams, the wife of the second President of the United States way back in 1801. She walked right through the closed doors of the East Room with her arms outstretched. God knows what other apparitions reside between those ancient, troubled walls.

Hot Lips

Scotland is reknown for its pretty, hilly terrain, dotted with castles that date back centuries. In a narrow valley said to be Scotland's longest, stands Merggernie Castle. It is not one of the prettiest or oldest castles in Scotland but I call your attention to it because it has a spooky reputation linked to a double murder mystery that boggles the mind. The castle was built in 1580 by 'Mad Collin' Campbell who earned his nickname for a daring abduction of the Countess of Erroll. His madness seems to have run in the family. I say this because the ghost in the castle is the result of a fit of madness by another male descendent of 'Mad Collin' Campbell. But more on that later. Let me first tell you of the best documented sighting of the castle's resident ghost. Many moons ago there was a big house party in the castle. The owners of this impressive castle had over 20 of their closest friends over for the big do, with all of them invited to stay in the castle for two nights. Among their guests was a tall, bearded distinguished looking man called E.J Simons. Quite unexpectedly Simons met an old school friend at this party, Beaumont Featherstone. Featherstone was a short, lively little man with an infectious smile. The two were thrilled at this chance meeting as they had not met in years. They were even more surprised when they found, by a strange twist of fate, they happened to share adjoining rooms in the massive castle. Their rooms were up in the castle tower, the tallest part of the castle. this meant they had the good fortune of enjoying the splendid view of the beautiful River Lyons. But on closer inspection of their room, Simons found something even more interesting.

A strange looking door stood at the far end of the wall of his room, leading to Featherstone's room. But when Simons tried to open the door, he found it was firmly sealed. Still, his curiosity had been fired up and he wanted to know if the sealed door would lead to his friend's room. After unpacking, he went over to featherstone's room to have a look. Curiously enough, it did lead to his friend's room but only into a small cupboard. But again, the cupboard was firmly sealed on featherstone's side. It couldn't be pried open. The two men fiddled around with this strange contraption for awhile. But they simply could not force it open. It was locked solid. It was also obvious it had been sealed off for a long time. They couldn't help wondering why the cupboard was sealed and what was in it. They sat around for sometime speculating on the contents within it. When they finally managed to get a moment with the master of the castle, their first question was of course about the strange door. But the owner reacted rather oddly to their query. The blood quickly drained from his face and his lower lip trembled involuntarily when he heard the question. But he refused to answer it. Seeing how uneasy it made him feel, Simons and Featherstone quickly dropped the subject. And as the night wore on, they slowly but surely forgot all about the strange, sealed cupboard. By the time they got to bed, it was well past midnight. The two men were so tired, they nodded off almost as soon as they hit their pillows. But sometime in the early morning Simons awoke with a start. He felt a hot, feverish kiss on his right cheek.

The kiss was so hot, it made him wince. Simons immediately bolted upright in bed. His eyes darted around the big, dark room, wondering who was in the there with him. And sure enough as he strained to make out what was around him, he caught a movement at the far end of the room. A woman was gliding towards the sealed door. In the shadows of the darkness, he caught sight only the upper part of her body. From the silhouette he managed to make out, he knew it was a female with long hair and small shoulders. he held his breath and waited. The shadow disappeared through the door. He looked on in disbelief and thought himself, 'No, she couldn't have gone through it, it's locked solid.' It took awhile before he summoned up enough courage to follow her. When he stumbled over to the little door in the wall, he was stunned to find it was as firmly sealed just as it had been when he and Featherstone had inspected it just hours before. Yet the shadow woman was gone. How in God's name did she get through it, he wondered. He began to feel frightened. He could hear his heart start to pound in his chest. And the sting on his right cheek continued to burn. He was sure he would see a horrible burn on his face. he slowly made his way to the mirror, steeling himself for the sight of a horrible scar on his face where she had planted her unearthly kiss. But when he looked at himself in the mirror, he was stunned. There wasn't a single mark on his face. Instead of relief, he felt even more frightened and agitated. He climbed back into bed but he did not dare turn off the light. Instead, he kept a watchful eye on the small door in the wall, it had suddenly taken on eerie proportions.

he was terrified the ghostly woman would come gliding back. The hours ticked away slowly. At the crack of dawn he heard a steady pounding on his door. He continued to lie in bed, not daring to answer the door. but the knocking persisted. Still he did not dare to move. Finally he heard a familiar voice. It begged him to open the door. It was Featherstone. He bolted to the door and opened it, but he was shocked at what he saw. Featherstone looked pas as a ghost. He stood there trembling and then finally he spoke, 'I've had the most terrible night,' he blurted out. Simons quickly volunteered that he too had a horrific time. They looked at each other and instinctively realised they had both seen the same thing. But before they described it to each other, the decided to get a third person to hear their stories separately and compare them. They went to their host and told him what they had both seen. Their host, a normally cool, level headed person, looked visibly shaken by their accounts. He promptly moved them from the tower. Apparently Featherstone too had the identical experience. According to his account, he was awoken by a bright, oink light in the room at about two am. he saw a female hovering at the foot of his bed. She came along the side of the bed and bent over him. At first he lay there thinking it was the housekeeper walking in her sleep. But when she continued to stare down at him with an unearthly fixed gaze, he began to feel uneasy. The fixed stare on her face was cold and hard and it chilled him to the bone. He decided he would have to raise himself from the bed. She quickly retreated away from the bed. it was only then he realised who she was.

She was a ghost, she had no legs. She only had an upper body, yet she glided with great speed towards the small cupboard, just opposite the foot of his bed; she disappeared into it in the blink of an eye. The poor man shook with fear at what he had just seen. Nearly an hour passed before he mustered the courage to get out of bed and walk towards the cupboard that had so fascinated him and his friend just a few hours before. He took a deep breath and pulled at the door's handle. This time it flew open but it was empty. The cupboard was a small, bare space with no place to hide and no way to escape. Yet she was gone. He searched the rest of the room thoroughly, but she was nowhere in sight. That was just one of the more well publicized sightings of the ghostly woman of Merggernie Castle. Many have seen her before and after the luckless Simons and featherstone. The reason behind the appearance of this mutilated spectre is a horrendous murder. And a rather senseless one too, I might add; which brings me back to the streak of madness that ran through the Menzies clan who built the brick palace. One of the chiefs of the clan resided in Merggernie Castle hundreds of years ago. He was by nature a man who had difficulty controlling his emotions. Bur being a chief, ha had no problems landing himself a beautiful wife. A woman with a figure and face that made heads turn wherever she went. But he was obsessively jealous about her. One day the paranoia reached such a pitch, he lost his head and murdered his beautiful, young wife, high up in the castle tower.

when sanity returned to his unstable mind, he began to plot a way to hide his hideous crime. His first priority of course was to get rid of the incriminating evidence. He promptly cut her corpse up in two. This helped him to hide the body in a chest standing in the cupboard that had been built into the wall of the room. Then he sealed the cupboard from prying eyes. Satisfied nobody would find her body there, he moved swiftly to step number two. He gathered the servants of the castle around and announced he and his wife had decided to travel abroad for some rest and relaxation. then during the night, under cover of darkness, he made off without the servants seeing him off. Finally, he returned to the castle a few months later and conveniently announced in an appropriately distraught fashion that his wife had met with a terrible accident. She had drowned while on holiday. The servants grieved for their young, sweet mistress and he joined in with a few crocodile tears of his own. When he was satisfied his story had been bought by the castle staff, he slowly made his way back to the castle tower where he unsealed the cupboard with the horrible secret. Late in the night, when the rest of the castle was fast asleep, he took the tower half of the rotting corpse from the cupboard and stole down the long, windy tower stairs, out to a nearby churchyard where he buried it. By the time he got back to the castle to cart off the rest of the body, the first rays of daylight had started to filter through the dark skies above. It was too dangerous to finish off the job. He decided to bury the rest of the body the following night. But it was not to be.

The following night his body was found in the tower, the cause of death was never determined. Who dunnit? No one can say for sure. but we can assume it was probably a person who found out the true reason for his wife's disappearance and avenged her death. Or could it have been his wife herself who returned from The Great Beyond to exact her own revenge? If only the cold, grey stones of Merggernie Castle could speak, we could at least solve part of the mystery surrounding the macabre murders that took place high up in the castle tower...

Galamis Castle - The Mother Of All Secrets

Nearly all the residences of the British Royal Family are reputedly haunted. So I guess it's no real wonder the Royal Family have a lively interest in the occult. After all, don't they say seeing is believing? But how do I know this juicy piece of gossip given that the Royals don't know me from a bar of soap? It really comes from a Frenchman by the name of Francois Veran who has close ties to British Royalty. He says he has reliable information that seances have taken place in Buckingham Palace. What's more, Queen Elizabeth II has confided in friends that her late father, King George VI, has appeared to her after his death. The Queen has seen her dead father no less than six times. It is common knowledge both father and daughter had a particularly close relationship before he passed on. But what many do not know is the promise he made his daughter before he died. King George VI reportedly assured his daughter he would always be with her in her hour of need. But even Queen Elizabeth could not have guessed how seriously he meant it. He has stuck to his word, even from The Great Beyond. But the Queen is not the only member of the Royal household with ties to psychic phenomena. Princess Margaret, the Queen's sister, is also interested in psychic research. Prince Philip, the Queen's husband, has gone one step further. He has boldly gone as far as lending his name as patron to a research effort by a leading parapsychologist, Dr. Douglas.

And of course, we all know how Princess Diana often consulted mediums about her future. You can't help wondering why there is such a strong interest in matters to do with the Other Side among the Royals. Could it have been sparked by the hauntings that surround them in their everyday life? Take for instance Windsor Castle in Berkshire, the official residence of the Royal Family. Windsor Castle is said to be haunted by at least four royal ghosts. The most famous apparition and perhaps the most persistent, is a female phantom who stalks the rooms of the Queen's Library. The domestic help and the Royal Family have come to accept her presence as commonplace. But others are not that relaxed about her. There is a famous documented incident to do with this ghostly apparition that relates to a particular lieutenant from the Grenadier Guards, Lieutenant Carr Glynn. He was casually reading a newspaper in one of the rooms of the Queen's Library when he saw something from the corner of his eye that made him look up. A lady stood straight ahead of him, dressed in black. She wore a black dress with a lace scarf of the same colour over her hair and shoulders. She certainly was not dressed like a female domestic helper in the Castle. The lieutenant wondered who she was. As he sat there looking straight at her, she walked across the room and right past him. He remembered hearing the sound of her shoes on the polished wooden floors. But although he sat there looking at her, she did not even glance at him. Yet she was so close to him, he could have reached out and touched her as she walked past him and disappeared into a corner. He assumed she had gone into the adjoining room.

As he sat there puzzling over who she was, within moments a castle servant walked into the reading room. The lieutenant could not resist finding out who he had just seen. He knew the servants in the castle not only knew the ins and outs of the palace like the back of their hands, they also knew of every soul who came and went from the building. The lieutenant casually asked the male servant the identity of the lady in black. The servant raised his eyebrows in surprise, indicating he knew of no such person. He also insisted he had not seen anyone enter the room the lieutenant was in. But the lieutenant was adamant. He insisted there had been a woman in the room with him seconds before the servant had entered. To prove he was right, he rushed into the next room to produce the lady in black he had seen only minutes before. That room had no exit by which the mysterious lady in black could have left. She would have had to come back into the room where the lieutenant was sitting if she wanted to leave the Queen's Library. But the room was empty. The lieutenant was stunned by her mysterious disappearance. He walk back into his room looking rather shaken. On seeing the lieutenant so upset the servant looked hesitant, as if he knew of something he did not want to let on. But finally he nervously cleared his throat and spoke up. He said the lieutenant must have seen the ghost of Queen Victoria. She has been seen on many occasion walking across the library exactly the way the lieutenant had described.

So there you go. Mind you, there are other royal ghosts that still haunt Windsor Castle. And there are more such phantoms if you start to count the servants and foot soldiers of years ago that still walk the castle grounds. But as creepy as all this sounds, Windsor Castle cannot quite match the ghostly reputation of Galamis. Galamis Castle, in the heart of Scotland, has the dubious honour of being by far and away the most haunted Royal Castle. The castle's mysterious ghosts range from a tongueless  female phantom to a supposed vampire. It is the family home of Queen Elizabeth and the Queen Mother. Their ancestors have held it for six long centuries. And it is not hard to see why the castle has such a spooky reputation when you look back into its long and brutal history. But let me first introduce you to this massive mansion through my eyes. When I first set eyes on Galamis four years ago, it was a warm summer's day. The sun's rays bounced off the castle's massive high walls of reddish stone and seemed to give the place a fairy tale like feel to it. There were throngs of people milling all over the place. I wasn't surprised. You see the castle is open to the public between the summer months of July right through September. Many come because they are fascinated with the castle's spooky mysteries that date back to when it was first built in the second half of the seventeenth century. But the mass of people milling around the place when I first went there gave it a rather festive air. But coincidentally, four years on when I headed back there determined to investigate the ghostly background of this old and brooding castle, it was almost as if the building knew I had come to uncover its dark and ugly secret.

Gone were the crowds, and even the sun had deserted the castle. The sky overhead was dark and threatening and it seemed to cast a menacing, evil quality on the whole castle. The bricks that once looked so warm and pretty now looking grey and sinister. The massive castle loomed before me cold and gloomy. I almost lost my nerve to proceed with the whole 'investigation'. Galamis seemed shrouded in a sullen, gloomy veil of secrecy and it sent a sharp, cold chill right down my spine. But why does this castle have such a deadly reputation? Some believe a good luck family charm brought to Galamis centuries ago by a man who married into the family is responsible for the castle's evil history. The charm in question, mind you, was a mere cup. But they believe when it was moved from its original home into Galamis Castle, instead of bringing luck to those who owned it, it bestowed doom on them instead. And we thought we Singaporean were a superstitious bunch. If you are wondering what sort of doom we're talking about, well, you'll have to multiply by a thousand fold the doom and gloom in any Chinese serial on TV. For starters, the chap who brought the dreaded cup to Galamis Castle was killed in a duel. And remember the famous Macbeth? He was chief of the Galamis clan. And it was here in Galamis that he is believed to have stabbed Duncan. The murder took place in a gloomy room still known as Duncan's Hall. And I don't have to remind you of what happened next, I don't think. Remember Lady Macbeth, the master mind behind the murder? Well, she went stark raving mad, didn't she?

She was obsessed with the stain of blood she could not seem to get off her hands. But Macbeth and wife were not the only ones that drew blood under the doomed roof of Galamis and later paid for it in blood themselves. Malcolm II was also assassinated at Galamis seven years before Duncan. For generations the very real stain of Malcolm's blood remained on the floor. Then there was Janet Douglas, widow of the sixth Lord of Galamis. She was accused of attempting to kill James V of Scotland by witchcraft, in collaboration with her son and her second husband, Archibald Campbell. The trio were sentenced to death. But Campbell fell to his death while trying to escaped from his prison. His death was merciful compared to Janet's. She was tossed onto a burning stake. Legend has it that Janet was a young woman in the prime of her life. She was also a kind and stunning beauty, much loved by the people of Galamis. And they say she suffered her fate with 'manlike courage'. But it seems Janet has not quite quit Galamis. Her ghost has been seen by many surrounded by a lurid halo floating above the castle clock tower...

Tall Tale

With all these gruesome deaths in Galamis Castle, it is no surprise other ghostly phenomena are also commonplace there. A well known incident at Galamis involved a young mother and child. They were staying in the castle for a few days. On the second night they were there, the woman noticed something strange while she was reading in bed. A cold blast of wind suddenly stole into the room and exactly at that moment, the lights in her room flickered and went out. She felt a cold stab of fear as she was certain someone else was in the room with her. The mother had to put her young, four year old to sleep in a cot in the room next door. She had left the bedroom door connecting the two rooms open, so she could keep an eye and ear out for her child. What she saw by the dim light in the child's room scared the living daylights out of her. A tall, hulking male figure walked out of the room she was in, straight into her child's room. Just as she saw this, she heard a frightened shriek from her child. As petrified as she was, her maternal instincts overpowered her fear ans she wasted no time in rushing to the side of her child. She found the child alone in the room, quivering in fear. He insisted a giant had leaned over the cot and stared at him. Many others who have stayed in the castle have said they have either seen or dreamt of a man whose description is almost identical to the letter. They always recall a huge man, with a very long beard and a huge stomach. But there is one other chilling detail they always add about this demonic man. Although his stomach would rise and fall as he breathed, they insisted he was a ghost for one simple reason. His face was that of a dead man.

Face To Fate

But a more bizarre tale at Galamis Castle has a strange twist. A guest at the castle was up late one night when he decided, out of the blue, to look out the window of his bedroom. He saw a black coach drive up to the castle and pull up right below his window. There was nothing unusual with that, except that when he later reflected on it he realized the coach had been noiseless. In the silence of the night it had not made a sound, not even the usual crunching of wheels. A few minutes passed before the driver of the coach decided to look up at him in the window. The coach driver gave the guest a very cold stare, flicked the reins of his horses and raced off into the darkness of the night. The guest was taken aback by his face, it was horribly scarred. The next morning the guest remarked to the Lord of the castle, Lord Strathmore, 'You had a very late arrival last night.' He then went on to describe what he had seen. On hearing the story, the blood seemed to drain from Lord Strathmore's face. He replied very quietly that no one had come to the castle late that night. There was an awkward silence that hung in the air after that remark, but the guest decided to let the matter pass. But a few weeks later when the same guest was staying in a hotel in Paris, the incident came back to haunt him. He was on the third floor of the hotel when he pressed the button for the lift. But when it came, he was so shocked at who he saw, he did not get into the lift. The lift operator was a splitting image of the coach driver that had come to Galamis that late night. When the guest recoiled in shock at the strange coincidence, the lift operator gave him the same, cold stare he had given him in Galamis and impatiently slammed shut the door of the lift. But an instant later a cable in the lift snapped and the lift hurtled down the shaft. All the occupants in the lift were killed in the crash.

Top Secret

In another incident at Galamis, a dean of a prestigious university, Dr. Nicholson, confessed rather unexpectedly at a dinner party that he had had a frightening experience at Galamis Castle when he stayed there overnight once before. He saw a strange man in his room in the middle of the night. The man was tall and distinct and he materialised from nowhere in the dean's locked room. He wore a long, dark coat which was fastened by a clasp at the throat. The figure hovered near his bed for a fleeting moment but after a few seconds, he vanished through a wall. When the dean confessed the incident, his friends around him ribbed him for his fantastic imagination. But there were two people at the dinner who were not laughing, the Lord of the castle, Lord Strathmore, and the dean of another university. There was a long pause before the other dean spoke up. He said quietly and confidently, 'I too saw the exact, same figure when I stayed in that room on a previous occasion.' No one laughed this time. After hearing this and believing the very two incredible witness, both the bishop and the Vicar of St. Paul's Knightsbridge, who were also guests at the dinner party, offered to hold on exorcism at the castle.

Strangely enough, Lord Strathmore, Lord of the castle, refused to allow the exorcism. Yet he looked visibly afraid. But as hard as they tried, they could not convince him to proceed with the ceremony. Obviously he knew something he would not or could not tell. This brings me to the secret of Galamis that I find absolutely fascinating because of the chilling mystery behind it. You see, the castle has a secret room that is perpetually locked, and the entrance to it is blocked with a wall of stone. In this room lies a secret so horrible, the Royal Family refuse to reveal it. Infact, the whereabouts of this mysterious room, the passage to it and and the secret locked within it, is known only to three members of the Royal Family at any one time. Because it is a secret room an the passage to it is a secret, only the Lord of the castle, his heir apparent and any third person whom the two of them trust, know the route to this secret room and the horror that lies within. This secret has been passed down to the present Royal Family since I kid you not, the seventeenth century. And when one of the three people who knows the secret dies, the remaining two, by an oath that have taken, nominate a third person to share the secret with them. Heavy stuff, don't you think? But it gets creepier when you start speculating what this dark secret could be. There are so many possible theories spinning around, it's hard to decide which could be right. But let me share with you three of the most popular. 

The walls in Galamis Castle are rock solid thick to the tune of 15 feet in some places. And somewhere between these walls lies the Galamis secret, a mysterious room where a previous Earl is supposed to have kept hidden a family shame. He fathered a hideous monster, a son born half man, half beast. This is by far the most popular theory put forward as the secret of the hidden room. It has been reported in the British newspapers. The deformed chil was result of a curse laid on the family; they were so embarrassed by it, they kept the child hidden away. Too far fetched, I hear you say? Aha, but wait. There is one historical fact that lends support to this legend. You see, in the drawing room of Galamis Castle stands a huge portrait of the first Earl and his sons. The painting shows the Earl, two boys and a peculiar little dwarf. People say the monster lived in the castle for 150 years, kept hidden in the secret room. He only left the room to crawl about in the dead of the night. There is a strong rumour in circulation that he imprisoned monster died in 1921, so the length of time it must have survived does bring in a paranormal element. But others believe the secret has nothing to do with the Royal Family directly, but rather it has to do with a faithful servant that served the family for many moons. The servant his a monstrous secret for years but was eventually caught out. He was a blood thirsty vampire. When the truth was known, he was locked in the secret room where he remains in a motionless trance, his ancient flesh uncorrupted and his blood thirsty appetite waiting to be slaked with the unsealing of his vault like prison.

But another, more horrific theory about the secret, sealed room dates back to feudal days. back then there was a bloody war in Scotland between two family clans, the Lindsays and the  Ogilvies. During the battle between the two clans, the Ogilvies were defeated. Soon after, a group of defeated Ogilvies turned up at Galamis Castle and begged for protection. The Lord of the castle did not want to fall foul of the desperate Ogilvy clan. But at the same time he knew if he was found helping them, he would be in the bad books of the Lindsays. So he reluctantly invited the grateful men in and showed them to a remote room in the castle. He assured them they would be safe there and he then locked them in the room. And there they stayed for hundreds of years. They were not found until Victorian times when the door was unlocked and the beholder swooned on seeing what was left of the imprisoned group of men. A group of skeletons lay in the room, their bony arms between their teeth, starvation having driven them to eat their own flesh. They say their frantic knocking can still be heard to this day. Whichever story you choose to believe, the fact that the secret room in Galamis Castle exists is beyond doubt. But those who know the secret will go to great lengths to protect it. Some guests at Galamis recounted years ago how they tried to secretly locate the mysterious room while their host was away in Edinburgh on urgent business. Mind you, Galamis Castle has over 100 rooms. So it was no easy task for the mischievous guests. But they devised an ingenious method. They hung a towel out of the window of every room it was possible to enter.

They confirmed they did see a window without a towel. But while they were trying to locate the room, the Lord of the castle unexpectedly returned. The guests said he was emerged when he found out what they had been up to. But when you hear stories of what happens to those who do find out the Galamis secret, it makes you think more than twice whether you would want to be counted as one of them. There is story that goes back years about a servant girl who happened to stumble on the deadly secret in Galamis. When the relevant people found out, they did the unthinkable to the girl. They cut her tongue and amputed her hands at the wrists. She was then deported to a mountainous region in Italy where a group of monks were paid a large sum of money to maintain her. The monks say they believe she had been mutilates in this way for one reason alone. She would never be able to reveal the terrible family secret at Galamis. But perhaps she is still trying. One of the ghostly apparitions sometimes seen at the castle is the very frightened face of a girl at a high window, believed to be the poor, mutilated young girl. This story is corroborated by information given by one of the wives of Lord Strathmore, Mrs. Maglagan. She related what happened when her husband became the new Lord Strathmore and he was told the family secret by the lawyer and the agent of the estate, after the funeral of the old Lord. He later came to Mrs. Maglagan and said, 'My dearest, you know how often we have joked over the secret room and the family mystery. I have been into the room; I have heard the secret; and if you wish to please me you will never mention the subject to me again.'

But that is not all. The new Earl was determined to improved the castle, and one of his plans included the construction of a staircase from the lower hall known as the crypt to the chapel. While the family were away in London, one of the workmen hired to do the renovations accidentally stumbled on an ancient door that locked as if it had not been used for ages. Curiosity got the better of him. He opened it and walked in. There was a long, dark passage ahead of him. He took a few steps forward but then he suddenly stopped. He sensed something that so frightened him, his curiosity evaporated all at once. He lost his nerve altogether, turned around and fled out the door faster than he thought he could ever run. Once he got out the door, he felt compelled to report his finding to the Chief of Works. Breathless and bathed in sweat, he approached the Chief and blurted out what had happened. On hearing his story, the Chief turned a ghostly shade of white. His upper lip trembled as if he was holding back a scream. He immediately ordered the work be stopped and the construction crew leave the premises. But the man who walked through the door was not allowed to leave. The Chief of Works telegraph the Earl in London and his lawyer in Edinburgh. Both of them got back, they interrogated the workman as to what he had and had not seen. The workman and his family were then subsidized and forced to emigrate. No one heard from him ever again.