2 Encounters With ghosts

Do you believe in ghosts? But whether you believe in ghosts or not, my story is about an encounter with ghosts. As I understand it, these are ethereal body forms of people who have died and are yet to transition peacefully to the other side. Before I tell you my story, let me talk about my uncle, the night watch who escaped from being devoured by ghosts.

My uncle was employed as a night watch at the main grave yard in the small sea side town where I grew up. He did not love this job but because he had no other skills and had to do something to take care of his wife and five kids, he opted for this activity. The grave yard can be quite an eery place in the night with buried corpses as companions, you know. So, my uncle decided quite early that he will live up to the task. He secretly decided that every night, he will drink himself to sleep with a locally brewed alcoholic drink that sold for pennies a shot.

It was common to hear the creepy sounds of crickets or some other animals hunting for food very late in the night. But until this very night of his encounter with ghosts, all had been rather calm. On this particular night, my uncle was short on cash. He had just spent so much on school fees for his first son and with the the wages still two weeks away, he could not buy his normal quantity of the local brew. Besides, though he was a regular, Mammy Yosa the seller, boldly refused to grant him any credit. So, uncle quickly downed the small quantity he had and tried to fall asleep.

But try as he might, sleep eluded him. He could only feel drowsy. It was way past midnight that he suddenly became aware something was amiss in the grave yard. He could hear voices, human voices or what seemed like human voices. Perhaps ghosts populated this grave yard after all, he thought to himself!

From his vantage watch post, he listened keenly to what was being said.

``One for you, one for me. That which is black we share, that which is white we keep aside for later’’ He could distinctly make out this conversation but what did these ghosts mean? He was dark skinned. Did it mean these ghosts had some sinister plans about him? What could he do? He knew he couldn’t fight with ghosts, and any attempt to escape would only attract their attention. So, what should he do? These questions rushed through his mind as he burst out in cold sweat. If only he survives this encounter, he promised himself he would resign and look for any other job other than this.

The conversation by the ghosts continued for quite a while as he listened, frightened to his bones. “Now, let’s go collect the other black one’’, one of the voices said. And he heard their footsteps coming towards his direction. Uncle Sipowa, could no longer bare it, so he ran for his life. The ‘ghosts’ too, surprised at the sudden sound of someone running, also took to their heels. The more Pa Sipowa ran, the more the ghosts gained on him. The two groups ran towards the same direction until uncle Sipowa got to the main road which was lit by a street lamp. There, almost out of breath, he slowed down a bit to regain his composure. But when suddenly he heard ‘hey you!’, uncle Sipowa reignited his speed. He ran until he got to his house breathless. But were they really ghosts that chased Pa Sipowa? I will come to that that shortly, but let me tell you my story with ghosts.

I really saw them with my own eyes. Mark you, I was just nine years old at the time. I lived with my parents, brothers and sisters in a small plantation camp. A small modest family, but we had no electricity. Electricity in that camp was from a thermal plant and only the well-to-do were connected to the grid. The rest of the camp tenants used hurricane lamps at night. The houses were built in clusters of five to eight with a common bathroom and toilets separated into male and female sections. Therefore, if one had to use the toilet in the night, a family member obviously had to accompany the person with a lamp. As for other needs like urinating, all one did was open the door and take a leak outside in the darkness.

There were times when one of my elder brothers would disguise himself with a white bedsheet wrapped all round his body in wait for us as we returned from the toilet in the night. He would then suddenly pounce on us with a scream and we would run home shouting ``ghosts, ghosts``.

On this particular night however, I woke up wanting to pee and shook awake my elder man with whom I shared the bed. It was past midnight on a bright moonlit night so we didn’t need to go out into the court yard with a lantern. As we stood there easing our bladders, my brother suddenly perceived figures in white at a distance. There were six of them at the road junction, about thirty meters away from where we stood. He quietly drew my attention to the figures who seemed to be in a deep conversation. As we observed them while trembling from head to foot, their headman according to our judgement, suddenly pointed at each direction of the road to which one of the white clad figures went.

We didn’t hear exactly what they were saying in the stillness of that night but their babbling seemed to be in a strange dialect which we considered only ghosts understood. When finally, the chief ghost pointed at our direction and one of them made to come our way, we bolted back to the comfort of our home and banged the door shut. As our parents in the adjoining room enquired what the fuss was all about so late at night, my brother just said ‘ghosts’ and everyone slammed their mouths shut. We all managed to sleep as best as we could fearing for our lives but nothing happened until the morning.

As we discussed the phenomenon the next day with some other neighbours at the public bathroom, we were surprised to hear concurring voices to the effect that over the previous days, people had been complaining of their encounters with ghosts after an unfortunate accident in the distant hillside where a light winged aircraft from God knows where had crashed into tall trees during bad weather. Apparently, the pilot had dropped too low in foggy weather and as a result, had crashed the aeroplane, killing all onboard. Whether these were the souls of those victims roaming the countryside in search of eternal peace, one couldn’t tell.