Krepostnoi
Increasingly disenchanted
- Joined
- Jul 9, 2012
- Messages
- 4,324
The first of what will certainly be irregular, and possibly a series: we were invited by friends to stay in Port Dickson over the weekend, PD being the closest stretch of coastline to the KL konurbation (apologies: this is the Klang valley, not the Kerrang valley). On hearing of my Fortean interests, my friend pointed out the following dilapidated house on the main drag through PD (the image is not mine, it's from Google Streetview, but I can confirm that it still looks more or less the same as of a couple of days ago).
The sharp-eyed among you will note that the property is To Let. Apparently it never stays tenanted for very long. The story goes that a young woman of Chinese descent was working as a maid there. She was raped by her employer, and in her pain and humiliation hung herself in the building. At the funeral, her family dressed the body in red garments, which is apparently not only a form of protest at the turn of events, but also enables the vengeful spirit to remain in the material realm and haunt those who wronged it. I was not told exactly how the haunting is supposed to manifest. Nevertheless, the building remains unoccupied. This is relatively recent history: the unfortunate young woman went to school with my friend's sister, so it would have happened no more than 30 years ago.
If it's a wind-up of a gullible foreigner, I'd be surprised: it's not in my friend's nature, plus she raised the matter quite casually in the car, and her brother chipped in as though it was common knowledge (they both grew up in the town). It was a very naturalistic performance, if performance it was.
ETA I realise this is rather thin gruel, but I am rather taken by the detail of the red funeral garments: a social protest and also practical magic!
The sharp-eyed among you will note that the property is To Let. Apparently it never stays tenanted for very long. The story goes that a young woman of Chinese descent was working as a maid there. She was raped by her employer, and in her pain and humiliation hung herself in the building. At the funeral, her family dressed the body in red garments, which is apparently not only a form of protest at the turn of events, but also enables the vengeful spirit to remain in the material realm and haunt those who wronged it. I was not told exactly how the haunting is supposed to manifest. Nevertheless, the building remains unoccupied. This is relatively recent history: the unfortunate young woman went to school with my friend's sister, so it would have happened no more than 30 years ago.
If it's a wind-up of a gullible foreigner, I'd be surprised: it's not in my friend's nature, plus she raised the matter quite casually in the car, and her brother chipped in as though it was common knowledge (they both grew up in the town). It was a very naturalistic performance, if performance it was.
ETA I realise this is rather thin gruel, but I am rather taken by the detail of the red funeral garments: a social protest and also practical magic!
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