A Day In Mersing

A thrilling story... For the those who belief in the existence of the other being.

My whole family were very excited about the trip to Kluang, Johor. The journey took us longer than expected as we had children with us and we needed to stop along the way as the kids needed to use the toilet often and we had to break along the way for snacks, lunch, etc.

It was almost late at night when we reached Mersing. All of us were very, very tired and we needed some rest. Well, we took things for granted for not booking the hotel rooms earlier because it was almost the end of the school holidays; therefore, we thought we would be able to get rooms to stay. How unfortunate for us, we were driving around and around almost for an hour to all the hotels in and out of town but none was available. Then we finally reached a chalet (so called).

The men managed to get two rooms, one room for the men and the other room for the women and children. The men gave the ladies the choice to choose the rooms. We were a group of four ladies, three children, and three men. My sister-in-law and I entered the first room. Standing outside the room itself gave both of us an uneasy feeling. We both inspected the room and felt a very eerie feeling out of nowhere. Then we walked out of the room and gazed at the number engraved on the door. We saw the number...No. 13. We looked at each other but did not say anything.

As we were walking out of the room, I saw an old lady who might be in her 60's or 70's standing nearby the room and shaking her head from left to right as though she had something to say but trying to indicate it in her own gestures. Then we took a look at the next room and although the room was really run down, it looked okay, I guess, and we decided to take that room as the kids were all falling asleep one by one.

I told my husband that we will take the 2nd room and the men said that they will be playing poker to kill time and will get a better place to stay the next day to catch up with their sleep. I whispered into my husband's ear not to sleep in the Room No. 13. He asked me, "Why?" but I evaded the question and strictly told him not to do so and I will tell him the reason the next day.

It was almost 2 am in the morning. We washed up and changed and finally, we went to bed. Around three in the morning, I suddenly woke up from half asleep as I heard a knock on the door. Then I listened again and then about two or three minutes later, I heard the knock on the door again, this time three knocks continuously, and even louder than before. It was really scary. My mum-in-law woke up and she said she heard the knocks as well. I took a peep from the closed window by moving the curtain a little and saw nothing / no one. I thought the men were trying to play a prank on us. Then I settled down to sleep again. Mum-in-Law was too tired to pay attention to what was happening around her.

Another three knocks were heard. This time the knocks were even more louder. My mum-in-law did not wake up this time. And then, I smelt a light incense smell in the room. I was so frightened. I peeped outside again and the guys were not to be seen anywhere. Maybe they went to have a meal nearby. I held my pillow closer to me trying not to wake up anyone.

Then a little later, I saw a black figure flying around the room with its hands folded. (You see, I am gifted with the third eye just like my mum and grandma. I can see the other being living in the other world and have encountered similar events.) It held something in its hands and I realised it was a small baby kind of figure. Then it turned and looked at me. Its eyes were all white without the black pupil. I was unable to scream or speak. It kept on looking at me with somehow a sad look... As though it was deprived of happiness.

I chanted my prayers and held on tight to my pillow trying to remove my gaze from the figure and then... It disappeared. I was unable to sleep after that and did not dare to leave my space on the bed until I saw some daylight!

The next morning, when my mum-in-law and sister-in -law woke up, I told them what happened. Mum-in-law asked me not to tell anyone as it will frighten the kids. My father-in-law later told us that as he was taking his morning walk around the area, he came across a Muslim Cemetery just behind the Chalet. This explains the haunting, I guess. Maybe the spirit that I saw was from the cemetery after all!

Before leaving Mersing, I approached the old lady that I saw the night before. She was really old. I stopped her as she was walking down the pathway to the hotel lobby. I asked her, "Makcik, sorry to disturb you, I wanted to know why you shook your head when I came out of that Room No. 13?" The old aunty was a little reluctant at first and upon my persuasion, she told a story, a story beyond the graves which was eerie and unbelievable.

The place that we stayed in was to be one of the most favourable place of stay in the 80's. On Valentines Day, 1985, there was this couple who booked into the Room No. 13. The couple did not look very happy. There were loud screams and exchange of harsh words heard from the room from the time the couple checked in. The old makcik who was the cleaner overheard the conversation between the couples. The girl was pregnant and the man refused to marry her as he was already married.

Later that night, he left her alone in the room and drove away. The girl ran after him trying to catch up with him and she ended up in the cemetery. The makcik heard some screams from the cemetery and some of the workers from the area ran to girl's aid. She was gasping for breath. The workers carried her to the Room No. 13 while waiting for the ambulance to arrive. She was bleeding from waist downwards. The baby she was carrying died in her tummy and she bled to death. She died before the ambulance arrived. The boy never returned to claim her body. His identity was not never known to anyone as he registered himself with a fake identity.

The police came to take reports and her body was left at Mersing Hospital for days. Her case was said to be a closed file. She was said to have died of bleeding profusely due to a miscarriage, a natural cause of death. The police was unable to link her death to her boyfriend. She was told to be an orphan and ran away from the orphanage who refused to do her last rites. Therefore, the villagers decided to bury her at the cemetery.

Since that day onwards, there were some people who have seen her spirit roaming around carrying a baby especially at three in the morning, crying... Room No. 13 was never rented out since that incident. The workers purified the place with holy water and brought the Ustaz (a Holyman) from the mosque to bless the place. But still, there were disturbance in the chalet.

The old aunty added on that sometimes when a pregnant woman is around the cemetery she is vulnerable to the evil spirit and the girl must have been striken by the evil spirit. Her own version of the story, I guess, olden days believe...

She said that we were offered Room No. 13 that night because we looked really desperate for a place to stay. That is why she stood outside to make sure we never took that Room No. 13.

I was shocked to hear that story. I related the story to the adults: some believed, some did not, but I totally believed the truth in it because I saw the figure of the girl and the unborn child that night!

We left Mersing that morning for Kluang. I will never ever forget that experience in Mersing until today.

May the poor girl's soul rest in peace... God Bless Her soul and her unborn child...

THE END