Our Haunted Wooden House

This happened before I was born, the story I got from my mom.

I was born in Riau, Eastern Sumatra in 1971. At that time most of the island was covered by woods and jungle and Riau was not an exception. My father was working in a company based in Rengat, Riau. Several months after my parents got married; they went to Sumatra to start a new life as a family. My mom was pregnant of me at that time.

When they arrived in the small town near a city of Rengat, they went to a small house prepared by the company. It was actually not a small house, but a big stage house made by wood. It was a typical house in that area, since there were lots of wild animals still wandering around. But it was divided into two small houses. The other part of the house was occupied by a widow with a small boy. The town itself was located near a jungle a deep and dark jungle. Any transportation to the nearest city was by using a boat through the Indragiri River.

The widow, Mrs. Sue, which was the name I gave her, baked traditional cakes for living. She was often heard busy with her crockery while she was making the cakes. One night my father was still awake reading a book. While he was enjoying the book he heard some noises from next door that sounded like Mrs. Sue was busy making the cakes. Please note that the house was divided only by boards, so we could hear what other people do next door. My father felt it a little bit strange since it was midnight and wondered why Mrs. Sue was still busy at this kind of time. But later on he thought that maybe she got lots of orders for the following day. Then he decided to ask Mrs. Sue in the morning for some cakes for breakfast.

So next morning my father asked Mrs. Sue for the cakes. He wanted to have with his coffee. But Mrs. Sue said she hadn't made any yet since her son was sick and they went to bed very early. Actually she was heading to market to buy the ingredients. My father replied that he heard last night until midnight. So he thought it was her making the cakes. She didn't show any surprises when my father said that. She just nodded and smiled.

They had many strange experiences there. One time they decided to take a picture in front of the house. The result was surprising. On the picture it showed my parents standing in front of the house with a tree behind them. Beside the tree and the house, there was a big black shadow figuring a human form. It looked like it was starring at the camera. I was shown the picture when I was a kid but later on when I tried to see it again I just could not find it anywhere. So sorry, because I'd really love to show it to you all in this site.

When my mom was getting bigger, the company decided to send my parents to another house which was located in the city. This meant that they had doctors and a hospital in the city. While they were having their farewell lunch with Mrs. Sue and her son, she told my parents about the house.

She said the house had sad stories. A young man hung himself in the bed room and also there was a lady who died in childbirth. All this happened in the part where Mrs. Sue and her son stayed. Some nights when they were asleep they were woken by strange noises in the house. Some of which was her kitchen equipment falling. Mrs. Sue saw a figure of a man open their bed veil and look at them like he was checking on them. First time she got so scared but since she didn't have any money to look for another house, she just tried to get used to it and live with it.

Not many people wanted to stay there a long time. She was surprised and also worried when she saw my parents arrive. She was surprised that there were people who would be her neighbors which really made her happy. But she also worried because she saw my mom pregnant. She's worried that the evil things would harm my mom and her baby. I will post another stories about this kind of evil later.

There were lots of stories of strange things that happened during my parents stayed in Riau. Not only in this small town but also in other places they stayed before they went back to Jakarta. But those will be in another post. As for Mrs. Sue and her son, may God bless them wherever they are now.