A Scary Camping Evening

It was in 1971, I was in my late 20s. I was then staying in Rose Hill, Mauritius, not married yet and staying at my folks. One day, my dad came home with a South African couple. He met them while coming back home and they were tourists visiting Mauritius with their back bags, tents and sleeping bags.

Mauritius was still safe in that period but independence was given by Great Britain in 1968 and a civil war had just come to an end a few months before. Two communities had fought for some political reasons.

Anyway, my dad invited them home to sleep over for a few days. I remember the guy had a big blond beard. He was very kind, his wife was as well, but I forgot her face.

We decided to organize camping during a week end on the west coast of Mauritius, in a place called Flic en Flac. This place which is now pretty developed was at that time very wild with just a few houses.

We went on a Saturday morning, found a nice place to put a tent and organized the day. The South African man and his wife were very good swimmers and divers.

We spent a lot of time in the sea, catching fish, crabs, some lobsters which were getting scarce then (we don't find them anymore by the coast), and cooked all these goodies on a small homemade barbecue set.

All of us, Mum, Dad, the couple and I really enjoyed the day.

The sunset was beautiful, it was warm, we were in summer and everything was perfect. When night came, we prepared a nice barbecue with chicken, beef and pork and a few shrimps we had caught earlier.

The night was starry, my dad was happy and drunk and the couple was obviously having a great time. Since we were not fluent in English, (I was improving then) communication was a bit difficult but we could make ourselves understand with gestures and sometimes drawing on the sand. It was a great fun seeing my dad trying to converse with them with a very limited knowledge of English.

Anyway, it must have been around 9pm. We were all seated on the beach, watching the ocean as well as the starry sky by the campfire. It was so beautiful.

Then we started to hear like a complaint. We could not determine the origin of the sound but it was like a woman wailing. It was faint but clear since the place we were was wild and remote. The wailing was not constant but would be heard from time to time. We put it on the sound of some sorts of animal (since we were not people living on the coast thus being ignorant of animals which could be active at night).

We were seated on the beach facing the ocean when suddenly, we noticed someone coming out from the sea on our left at about 30 - 40 meters away. It looked like a woman with a long white dress just walking from the sea to the beach. We could not see her face but could guess she had long hair. The only lights were the stars and our bonfire.

She silently walked straight and disappeared from our view in the vegetation. We found this very odd. I knew it was not normal but did not know what the others were thinking. My dad was drunk and watched the scene with a little smile on his face. I think he was lost in his thoughts. We all looked at each other and did not know what to think. I tried to check if there was a house where the woman walked to. I just stood up and walked towards the sea and looked on my left to see where she went. There was only green, bush and trees. There were no lights or any constructions around. I was now scared because I was realizing that we must have seen a ghost.

I walked back to the bonfire and sat and told everyone that I did not find any house there. We stopped talking and everyone kept alert. We could now hear all the little noises of the night. We heard faint crackling like someone or an animal quietly walking on dry leaves. Then suddenly we heard loud flapping noise on a tree nearby. It looked like large birds (pigeons or bats) flying away. It scared us. Then my mum told me quietly she felt that something was not right. I and she were feeling watched.

The couple was looking around with their glass in there hands. Then, suddenly, something heavy fell in front of us on the beach at about 5 - 6 meters. I stood up to see what it was but could not find anything. Everybody stood up and looked around. Nothing was found. Despite the fact that the night was clear and sweet, the atmosphere had changed. Apart from my father who was in a trip because he was too drunk, we were all scared by then. The couple talked between them and I could not understand. They seemed quite concerned about the situation. I did not know what to do. Could we stay there or maybe go to sleep or maybe we had to leave! That was a pity. We were enjoying such a nice time before seeing that woman.

Then in the middle of the night, we heard this bone chilling scream like a woman being attacked. It seemed close to our camp. We were on our feet with eyes about to pop out from their sockets. My heart was pounding so loud that I thought others could hear it. The couple started to put pick up their stuff and my dad followed them. Mum and I packed away everything quickly. As we were doing so, some coconuts fell and roll on our camp as if someone had thrown them away. We were now scared to death and no one would talk.

We heard running on the beach then in the woods but could not see anything. We quickly put stuff in the car and it was not easy because we did not have a big car and we had taken time to pack things so that they could fit in when we came down. Now we had to pile up things. The worst was the barbecue. It was hot and dirty and we did not want to leave it. I burnt myself twice while trying to put it away.

While we were packing away, things were happening around us. The screams seemed to originate from different places and there was a lot of noises going on.

We all got into the car practically one upon the other with stuff on us. I decided to take the wheel because my dad was too drunk.

As we moved away, we got a shock! We saw a woman dressed in white standing by the little lane looking at us! It was bone chilling! I stopped the car. She was standing at about 4 to 5 meters away. I did not know what to do. I was too scared to move closer to her but it was the only way out. We waited a few minutes as she was standing there staring at us. I heard my Mom praying and the South African couple mumbling something between them. Suddenly, we heard a "bang" like something hit the car behind. We all turn to see what had happen. The atmosphere was very tense and I think my dad was becoming sober very quickly. He was now swearing.

We did not see anything behind but when I looked forward, the woman was not there anymore. But the scariest thing happened. She was now standing by my door looking at me. I can't describe the utter fear which took hold of me then. I released a scream (my throat was sore several days after) and pushed the gas pedal. I think everybody screamed then. But with panic, the car choked and the woman was still there looking at us. I remember not seeing her eyes or features because it was dark. I switched on the car again and drove off as fast as I could. The poor car got shaken on the dirt road. We reached the main road relieved and shouting. What the hell had we seen and experienced.

Fortunately, Rose Hill is not far from Flic en Flac but when we reached the town, the car broke down. The fan belt of the car had broken and the engine stopped from overheating. We were in the seventies, no cell or any towing services available a Saturday evening.

The couple and my Mum walked home which was not far. My dad and I stayed by the car. At home, Mum phoned a friend of my dad who was not staying far, to tow away our car. We finally reached home at around 11h30 pm completely exhausted. My Dad's friend who had helped us was invited to have coffee and we told him what had happen. Then he said that this place in Flic en Flac was haunted and several people encountered with that woman. He said that we were lucky because there had been accounts of people walking to the sea like being in trance and never coming back, getting drowned by possession (really scary and unbelievable). Some would be hurt by objects being thrown to them. A woman apparently lost her baby while being pregnant. She was a few weeks away from delivery but after coming to that place and seeing the ghost, she had pain in her tummy and started to bleed a few hours later. She had to go through surgery where they noted that the baby had died.

These events would not always happen but would take place randomly.

The South African couple stayed 2 more days at home and left. We never saw or heard of them afterwards.

I later discovered that there was a cemetery on the other side of the road (not too close to the road though). I never new who that woman / ghost was but it seem that regularly she would come out of the ocean and walk to the cemetery. However, in the late 80's, there was no accounts of seeing her up to today. I think that the urban development has made it / her, change her plans...