Short Ghost Stories

H.a.n.t.u.

The purpose of invoking hantu to come forward in these two short ghost stories, is to see their creepy effect to merit the proverbial saying "jahat seperti hantu".*

The Broken Hornbill

The tribe of Iban hero, Radin is plagued by smallpox. Radin knows the culprit. It is a hungry ghost that has been bothering him since he returns from a victorious warfare. Radin makes up his mind to kill the ghost. One night, Radin rolls himself inside a mat. When the ghost appears, he dashes out and slashes the ghost into pieces with a machete. Then Radin goes to sleep. Before closing his eyes, he hears something fall to the ground. The following morning, Rading finds out the answer. The ghost has smashed a hornbill carving and scatters the pieces on the ground. Hornbill is considered a divine protector of the Ibans. This way, the ghost demonstrates that it is more powerful than Radin! Consequently, Radin and his tribe have to move to another area.

Hereditary Ghost

A rural community in Perak was carrying out an execution. Villagers tied up hands and feet of an ancient Malay dame, hooked her neck to the fork of a long pole with which she was gradually pushed into a river. Her cries and pleadings, were in vain. Executioners reported seeing a lizard crawling out of her nostril as she was drowning. That, they believed to be a "bajang" appearing in the form of a lizard. Hence, the executed is proven guilty for keeping an evil spirit that plagued their village with diseases.

The scenario above was adapted from one of the stories written by Sir Frank Swettenham. Bajang is thought to be an evil spirit especially harmful to children and usually takes the form of a large polecat. Where does bajang originate? According to Malay superstition, The Creator broke the clay He used in His first attempt to create humans, from these fragments came evil spirits including the bajang.

Bajang is said to reside in the body of buried stillborn child. In the darkness of night, a human standing in front of the grave may lure a bajang out of its abode by certain black magic incantations, to acquire it. The owner of a bajang feeds it with eggs and milk during full moon. Failure to do so will turn the hungry bajang against the owner. An acquired bajang also has to be inherited by the next generation at the death of the original owner, otherwise....there are eerie tales of bajang reviving a dead owner in his grave, turning him into zombie. Really...why would a person want to keep a bajang for the sake of harming his enemies and then he is obligated to pass the bajang to his children or grandchild who may not want it at all, doesn't that make him as evil as the "hantu"?

In the dark rain forest short ghost stories like these abound, if you dad is a lumberjack like mine, he swears they are true...

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