the ghosts of Malta

Unbelievable Ghost Encounter

I was running some errands for my mother one Sunday morning. I think it was back in the year 2011. As far as I could remember, it was somewhat between 10am and 11am. I think I was buying some needed ingredients for the food my mother was making for lunch from a nearby store, about one block away from our house.

It was a Sunday, and as usual, I woke up very late, so I wasn’t using my eyeglasses at the time considering that I hadn’t taken a bath yet. But I still could see fairly enough to go outside and buy some stuff.

As I was heading home, I saw someone familiar standing about five or six feet away from me. The bright light from the sun prevented me from seeing clearly what was before me. So I squinted my eyes a little bit to confirm who the familiar face was.

It was my old neighbor. He was just standing there and staring at me. I couldn’t understand why he was doing that. I was an introvert (I still am) so I didn’t initiate any conversation. It was really awkward and uncomfortable. I looked behind me to see if I was the one he was looking at. But there was no one else there . I tried not to make a big deal about it.

So I went home and while we were eating our lunch, I told my parents and my brother about the incident. My brother found it funny and laughed about it. My parents stopped in their tracks.

Then my father asked me which neighbor I was referring to. And I answered, “The neighbor living two houses away from us�. Then he shook his head in disbelief. And my mother delved in, saying I must have made a mistake. But I insisted that he’s the one I saw, although, I wasn’t persistent about it because I thought it wasn’t really a big deal. Then, my mother said in a soft voice, as if afraid that someone could hear her, “He died just yesterday.�

I couldn’t move. It was as if the cold from the drinks we were having at that time was transferred all throughout my spine. It was unbelievable. My parents changed the topic immediately. But I was really bothered because I knew what I saw.

The next day, as I was heading to school, I saw a black cloth veiled around the front of our neighbor’s gate. Veiling a black cloth on one’s house only meant someone in the household just died.

It shook me up pretty bad. I tried to convince myself that it wasn’t true what I saw. That I just couldn’t see clearly because I wasn’t wearing my glasses at the time. But I knew I was only fooling myself.

I did not go to his funeral, btw. I was scared.