Real Life Paranormal Experiences Part 2

The Hiding - Pooj Dlaab

Told by Louu_Vangg

This is a short but spooky story engraved in my childhood to this day. When I was younger, around the age of seven or eight, my sisters and I would always play a game called "Ntses CiajLos Ntses Tuag" which in Hmong language, literally translated to "Alive Fish or Dead Fish". The game was to be played in a dark room or at night where one person is blindfolded and the blindfold is twisted in a circle three times. If the blindfolded person said "Alive Fish", then once the game started, everyone can move or run around and the person had to essentially "catch" them and guess who that person was. But if the person chose to say "Dead Fish", everyone was to find a position and stay there. The blindfolded person would have to feel for one person and "catch" them if you would presume to call out their name or guess who it was. 

Since I grew up in a rural village in Thailand where we didn't know of phones or cellular devices yet, all mysisters and even cousins chimed into the game which we weren't aware was spooky atthe time. Asian cultures especially tend to be very religious and superstitious so this game wasalways banned by our parents because we learned as we became older, that all the Hmong adultswere aware of entities that tagged along in the creepy game. Yet we still always played anyway...until one game that stopped us from ever playing again. 

I remember playing my Last Dead or Alive Fish game like it was yesterday. All my cousins and I played, roughly around four boys and other girls not including me. One of my cousins was chosen to be blindfolded. Keep in mind, this was way past sunset and back then, everywhere was safe so our parents didn't mind us coming home a little late. We played in tall fields of wheats with barely any trees around and if there were any, they were all really spaced out and thin. The first few games went by like usual and as time passed, we decided to play one last game for the day. I sort of hesitated because I remembered feeling really tired but finally decided to play. 

This time, one of my male cousins, Tou, was blindfolded. He yelled out "Dead Fish" so of course we couldn't move. I remember squatting beside a small rock down the road with my cousin named Mai. We could hear Tou's footsteps coming closer and closer and tried our best to hold in our laughter so no sound would be made. Suddenly, his footsteps became faint so we assumed he had changed directions. Since all of the players separated, and it was Dead fish, all that was heard were the night crickets. I remember feeling anxious as I began complaining why he hadn't found someone yet. It got serious really fast and since I was one of the older kids there, I ran out with Mai and called for everyone to come out. They were all present, except Tou who was missing. 

From this moment on, fear became really really clear. We got very worried and even thought of running home to get my dad or uncle to help us find my cousin. Everyone began crying, and we searched for Tou for about fifteen good minutes but with no luck. I decided to tell two of my other male cousins to run home and get my parents and their parents because we couldn't find Tou. It all became a blur and since I was crying, all I remember from there were the flashlights of my parents and grandparents as they nagged all of us and called out for my cousin's name. They rummaged through the tall wheatfields and the search felt like an eternity. It lasted a while but my mom and aunty took all thechildren home while the men continued searching. 

The next morning, all I heard was a lot a lot of crying and weeping. They did find Tou's body but he was extremely pale and had a few scratch marks. On that day, our families did a spiritual relieving called "Ua Neeg" which is still common and occurs to this day, where a Shaman man or woman went to retrieve one's lost soul back or find where they've been taken. It was finalized that Tou had touched an entity or ghost, what Hmong people called "Pooj Dlaab". The entity wanted to play with Tou but since it was not human, it could not and decided to take the spirit of Tou. When he was found, he was still conscious but just very scared and became severely sick. Usually this is a calling that one has been in touch with something that isn't human, even today as well. The reason why Tou did not die or was not fully taken by the Pooj Dlaab was because he had a strong "Dlaab Neeg" or ancestral holding that looked out for him, especially with the fact that he wore his guidance or protective wrist bracelets. Aside from that, we were scolded very badly and from there never played anymore, not even when we all came to the United States. 

Moral of the story is don't ever play this game especially if you are of Hmong ethnicity, and if you still do, play in daylight because you never know what might be in the dark wanting to pull you away. 

And just a few fun facts, you'll most likely see a Hmong person wearing red or white wrist bracelets and even more commonly protective metal, gold, or silver ones shaped around their wrist. Picture inserted above. 

Another fun fact or a more informative fact which I believe can affect almost anyone and not just the Hmong is that when you go anywhere besides home or to relatives, and are preparing to come home after a long day, make sure to never say, "Everyone let's go home." Rather, call out each individual by their names  because you never know you might even invite back home unwanted guests or rather, ghosts.