Lately in this micro blogging site I frequent, I’ve seen many people post their ghostly encounters – maybe it’s happened to them, or they’ve heard it from someone else.
I’ve noticed that in Southeast Asia, people tend to believe in the ‘otherwordly’ encounters more. Yes, India has a ‘glorious tradition’ of ghost stories, but somehow, most people I know usually brush them aside.

Another thing is that, even though I am highly spiritual and believe in a pure higher energy, somehow, I am not as much a believer of ghosts as I think I should be. When I read these stories, I am torn between believing them and being extremely skeptical!

I remember this time, when I was in college; a friend of mine introduced us to Planchet. For those who don’t know what it is, Planchet is a way you call spirits to answer your questions. You write all the letters of the alphabet plus numbers from one to 10 on a sheet of paper and then using a coin, call the spirit. This could be any wandering spirit or a specific one. Then one by one, everyone asks the spirit questions, who answer it by moving from one coin to another. Once you are finished, you thank the spirit and ask it to leave. The spirit leaves by moving the coin to the outside of the sheet.

We started doing this at my place a few times and then one of us (I forget who at this point) had the brainwave to call my late aunt. When she came, we asked questions and then when it was time to leave, she refused to go. We got real scared and then had to call my mum to ask her to get the spirit to leave. Till date, I am not sure if there really was the spirit of my late aunt or was it one of us who were manipulating the coin? After that day, I refused to do any more of Planchet.

In my part of the world aka Southeast Asia, lots of people believe in the existence of spirits, especially in public places like hotels. From what I’ve read, here is what you should do when you go to new places aka hotels:

1. Knock before you enter the room: This shows courtesy and manners to the ‘anyone in the room’. Apparently this is to let them know someone is coming in so that they leave the room.
2. Avoid corner rooms: Apparently ‘otherworldly people’ like to be in these empty rooms and so try to avoid staying in such rooms.
3. Let there be light: As soon as you enter the room, open the curtains and switch on all lights. This is to brighten the room and dispel darkness. If you come in after it’s dark, switching on the lights will do the trick.
4. Occupy all beds: If you are a single traveler, try to get a room with a single bed. If that’s not possible, then use the second bed to keep your things. An empty bed signals an invitation for ‘someone’ to use it while you are in the room.
5. Don’t touch any religious book if it’s open to a specific page: Apparently this indicates a presence in the room and the religious book open at a specific page indicates protection to the room.
6. Flush the toilet before you use it for the first time: The idea is to dispel any negative energy in the room that was there before you came in.
7. Don’t sleep facing mirrors: A bit difficult in hotels and especially if you move a lot at night. This belief is based on the fact that good luck will be reflected out when you sleep facing mirrors.
8. Place shoes facing opposite directions: This is to confuse any spirits in the room who can locate you based on the direction of your shoes.
9. Avoid the number 4: The Chinese believe that the number 4 sounds like death, so they avoid rooms and floors with this number. Some hotels in the region do not have the 4th floor or rooms ending in 4!
10. Leave a light on while sleeping: This is to keep spirits away as they are discouraged by lights. So leave a small light – maybe a toilet light or a night light when sleeping.

These are some of the common superstitions here in Southeast Asia, especially when it comes to hotels. I’d love to hear any others that you may have encountered! Do share….