Ghostly Tips

I have heard many scary encounters of travelers and some tales still freak me out at times. I had  experienced weird encounters too but I usually choose to ignore 'them ' and the fear just went away.

Before I begin, I recalled a story from a friend regarding her experience in an eerie hotel that looks like an old castle in Europe. I am a big fan of horror stories but I am also a very timid person. I remember listening to her story with high concentration where she described that first night.

Walking up the old creaky staircase, she could not help but kept looking behind her back. She finally found her way to the room and the layout room was really awkward. The ceiling was slanted downwards with the bed facing the window. Outside the window was no view but slow moving trees. Lights were dim in the room and she could not get to sleep despite the long hours on flight from Singapore.  She laid in bed with both hands behind her head. She could not help but stared at those moving trees in the dark. As she was dozing off, she felt a hand creeping up on one of her hands. She froze and tried to struggle out of the bed but she could not move. Seconds later, she realized that it was her own hand that touched the other hand. Apparently, one of her hands went numb while lying on it for long time and lost its sensation!

I rolled my eyes and burst out laughing when I heard the ending. It started out really creepy but turned out to be her self-imagination. Sometimes I feel that way too, but there are definitely times where we just couldn’t explain.

Being a rather superstitious individual, here are some tips for travelers:

Knock on the hotel door before entering

I am sure that you have heard this plenty of time. Although I am travelling very frequently on work trips, I find myself still knocking on the door before I check in. Some believe that if you knock before entering, you are giving “them” some time to disperse before you walk in. Also, that would prevent you from seeing “them” if they are around. Well, to me, I really just want to make sure that there is NOTHING OR NOBODY in there. I am half superstitious and also half rational that it makes sense to knock in case there are people in the room. I have friends who walked into a room and found clothes lying on the bed, meaning that someone is occupying the room. It turns out that the hotel staff has allocated an occupied room to them! Hence, it is probably better to knock than to find a naked couple in the room J

Keeping the lights in the bathroom on

Bathrooms are known to be the “dirtiest” or creepiest place and many believe that spirits hide in there. The advice is to keep your bathroom lights on even when you go to bed so that “they” do not sneak out from there. I do that all the time simply because I am short-sighted and I need to pee at night! I rather have the lights on so that I can take a quick pee and jump back to bed. Whether you believe that “they” are in there or not, it makes sense to me to just keep it on at night. Being in an unfamiliar place, you would probably feel more comfortable and at ease with some lights on without disturbing your sleep.

Placing one shoe upwards and one shoe downwards

If you have visited a temple, you will see the folks tossing some sticks and two red stones for fortune telling. I cannot remember what they call that but the fortune stick is for you if the one red stone settled upwards; and the other settled downwards. This is supposedly the position which will ward off evils nearby. The other theory is that you should not place your shoe neatly in a hotel room since there may be naughty spirits which will play and mess up your shoes. This is pretty weird to me but I am someone who simply kicks my shoes off once I changed into the bedroom slipper so it really depends on where it lands J

Most of us have heard knocking noises in room despite really late at night. Several of my friends had similar encounters and some called the receptionist to confirm if there is an on-going renovation or someone in the room above- turns out to be negative for both. Sometimes, it may be a little hard to explain. I believe ignoring is the best solution and pays no attention to any weird sound (unless you hear people knocking on your door which may be the hotel staff!). If you are a religious person, praying may help to ease your fear as well. If you are not, just tell the “noise” to go away and mostly, it will go away. If you can’t decide, keep some lights, call a friend or keep the TV sound on. Do anything that will ease your fear. Are these self imagination or supernatural encounters? You tell me.