Confession by J Written by Eugene Tay Confessor was first introduced to me in Oct 2020 when I was researching on supernatural encounters in Punggol for a Halloween feature special. J is a Punggol resident and had a harrowing encounter at Punggol Point but was too embarrassed to talk about it on record. This is my attempt are retelling the story she shared with me. - Eugene Tay This incident took place around the beginning of the lunar seventh month as I was coming home from a birthday gathering at Punggol Point. I live relatively close by, and by close by I mean that it would take me about twenty minutes walk to get back. The alternative would be to take a Grab back but at that time of the night, ten-ish almost eleven, it's not easy to get one. I reckoned that by the time I waited to get a cab, I would have already arrived home by foot. I took the only road leading out of Punggol Point and then made a right turn to an adjoining lane. I am aware that most people who are not Punggol residents would equate this place with the supernatural because of its sordid history and colourful urban legends but if you have lived here long enough, quite frankly, the place isn't as scary as how people made it out to be. Also, I'm one of those who never read ghost stories or watch horror movies. I don't fancy the idea of paying money to scare myself silly. So for me, my first thought, even though it was the hungry ghost month, was not one of the supernatural. When Christina [a common friend] asked me to watch your YouTube channel, I politely declined. Which was why when this.. this.. whatever you call it, this haunting happened to me, it took me about a week before I realised something was very, very wrong. when this haunting happened to me, it took me about a week before I realised something was very, very wrong. On my walk back home that night, I heard the cries of what sounded like it came from a young girl. The sound seemed to be coming directly on my right, It was as if the person was standing right next to me. Initially, I brushed it off as an insect but the sound persisted and continued following me. The next part is interesting. Telling you this story is already making my hair stand. I begin to hear voices - lots of voices talking at the same time - coming from my left. The crying got even louder. I was having stereo quality haunting. There were houses around me but not a living soul in sight that could have made those noises - and mind you - they were not sounds that came from the surrounding, they were right beside me. That's when - call it natural defence mechanism kicking in - I started to panic, and for no reason, I went from curious to frightened. Not just the normal fear of the unknown; what I felt was a full blown anxiety attack. A sense of desperate urgency to run away. After that I didn't know what happened to me. When I opened my eyes next, I was lying by the side of the road looking up at faces I've never met before. When I opened my eyes next, I was lying by the side of the road looking up at faces I've never met before. Apparently I had been screaming and acting erratic before falling unconscious. A young couple living nearby came out to make sure I was looked after. I was out for less than ten minutes but I felt utterly exhausted and my body felt numb. My mind however was on high alert. It was a strange sensation though, like what my brain thought and how my body felt seemed misaligned. I went home showered and crashed. That night I encountered sleep paralysis for the first time. I saw shadow people standing in my room, around my bed. They were talking at the same time; I couldn't make out what they were saying but their chatter got increasingly louder in my head until I almost blacked out from a severe migraine. I know that if I tell people what happened to me they will think I'm just having a nightmare and they will tell me it's not real. On a logical level, I know it's not possible for it to be real, but the emotions I felt and the memories that appeared in my head were so real, so painful, that I spiralled into depression as if those thoughts were event that actually happened to me. That night and every night after for almost two weeks, I was raped in my sleep. At around 4 a.m. each night, I would wake up in fear, paralysed in bed with a blinding migraine, and then I would feel like the spirit of the crying girl was inside me struggling and screaming for help as I watch the shadow people took their turns with her, using my body. I could feel everything but I couldn't do anything. I just shut my eyes and prayed, and when it was over and when I could move again, I would wake up crying hysterically. I could feel everything but I couldn't do anything. I just shut my eyes and prayed, and when it was over and when I could move again, I would wake up crying hysterically. The first few night it happened, my husband woke up startled and tried his best to console me. I would continue crying hysterically till sunrise and then the emotions would dissipate. After the third consecutive night of this same weird encounter, we went to visit the GP to see if there was anything wrong with me. We visited three different doctors throughout the week and all of them said that physically I was fine and there were no physical evidence to explain the phantom pain I felt at night. I was afraid to go to sleep and tried to stay up but that didn't help. The more tired I was the easier it was for 'them' to take over my body. Every night at around 4 a.m. I could feel their presence around me and there's nothing I could do to prevent the episodes. By the second week, my husband was getting frustrated and told me not to talk rubbish. When faced with something he couldn't understand, his knee-jerk response was aggression. I felt alone in this and couldn't talk about it to anyone. Even if someone was willing to listen, I don't even know what it was i'm dealing with to be able to articulate my thoughts coherently. Needless to say I had no interest in intimacy whatsoever and that put a further strain on our marriage. Trust me, Googling up for help on such a topic is pointless. You won't get any answers out there on the internet. By the end of second week, I'm practically moving around half dazed from lack of sleep. At work, I still put on a front and acted professionally. Throughout the day I seemed to be getting emotions out of the blue that aren't mine. I know that because I would suddenly breakdown in the middle of the day and cried over my dead baby. I don't have a dead baby or ever had an abortion so where were these thoughts coming from?! One of my colleague apparently have the third eye. We weren't very close so it came as quite a surprise when he approached me on a Thursday afternoon to tell me that I need to take a flower bath. When I pressed for a reason, he eventually relented and said that he could see a spirit of a woman that was attached to me, hiding in my shadows. He could see a spirit of a woman that was attached to me, hiding in my shadows. I didn't know what to make of it to be honest, and at this point I was emotionally and physically exhausted. The last thing I need was for someone to come up to tell me even more problems. I did not take the flower bath as recommended but fortunately a week later, the strange nightly episodes ceased entirely, and for once, since the start of the seventh month, I slept peacefully. Life went back to normal. My husband feels that my odd behaviour and sleepless nights were just due to my hormonal changes or work related stress. I cannot shake off the uncanny coincidence that my colleague was able to pinpoint that there was a spirit of a girl following me. I certainly did not talk about my experience to anyone. So that's something I find it hard to explain. I don't necessarily practice in seventh month rituals but being Singaporean, I am aware of the taboos our grandparents told us. What are the chances that the haunting started on the first day of seventh month ended exactly on the last day? I think what happened here is that J crossed paths at an exact time where a traumatised spirit was reenacting its past and somehow got itself tangled up with J. J being a sensitive person ended up taking on the imprint of this spirit and with it, the emotions and memories that came along. - Eugene Tay
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