Sunday, September 05, 2010

Hungry Ghost month stories: Banging Door in the Office

This was a story told to me by my colleague who was left alone in the office during the middle of the 7th month.
(yes, scarily, that is the same office I am working in as well and I do feel fortunate that I was out of the office at that time)

This incident happened two weeks ago, on the 15th day of the Hungry Ghost (7th month in the Chinese Lunar Calendar).
S (a pseudonym for my colleague, not real name), was in the office at that time.
Most of us were out for meetings with clients, presentations, service and support in the factory or on site.

Since she was our admin and office support, she is usually in the office for the whole day.

The whole day was just like any other day for her, and it was soon 3pm in the afternoon.

S was sitting at this desk whereby her back was facing this conference/meeting room (right behind her).
The conference room is used for trainings, and well, conferences/meetings, of course.

The door is always kept closed since this is a branch office and trainings are more of a sporadical nature.

At about 3pm that afternoon, she heard the door hitting itself again and again like there was a wind pushing against the latch at the side of the door.

Initially S thought it was the other conference room's door (the smaller room in the other office space.
Then the hitting/banging got louder and she got up and went to the conference room to check on the windows.
The first thought on her mind was that the windows may have been left open by the cleaners or someone.
It was funny though because we have almost never, opened the windows in this particular conference room.

When she opened the door and went in, she saw that all the windows were tightly shut (or rather, locked).
In fact, even the blinds were as usual, down and covering the windows from the sunlight.

She thought nothing of it, and just closed the door behind her when she walked out of the room.

S is a Chinese, and she was aware of the 7th month being the Hungry Ghost month, but at that point, it did not hit her about the date on that day (which, was probably a good thing).

She was not one who observed the lunar dates on the calendar and it did not occur to her that it was the 15th of the month at that time.
When she noticed that the neighboring offices and people praying and burning incense and joss sticks and putting food outside on the road, she just assumed that it was due to the festival or custom for the entire month.

It was only when she left the office for home that evening and reached home that it struck her that it was the mid of the month for the 7th month; which means that day itself was the Hungry Ghost festival!

She shuddered and realized that it could be something supernatural with the door banging in the office earlier!

Otherwise, how do you explain the banging of the door like it was caused by the wind when the door was always tightly shut and the windows too?
Seriously, she described that the door sounded like it was hit repeatedly by the wind and it was deciding between closing or opening.

How, now, is that possible when it is always tightly shut in its latch?

Another thing, she mentioned that after she checked and closed the door behind her, the banging just kind of stopped.

Hmmmmmm.....something to ponder upon? A mere coincidence or again, a figment of imagination?

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