This story took place in a small town in rural Vietnam. It was told to me by my uncle. People in that town lived in houses very near to one another. There were houses built closed together with a mere 5 feet wooden fence separating their backyards. The backyards double up as their kitchen.

Back then they didn't have that great of a refrigerator to keep their meat from getting spoiled. So, the only way for them to keep their meat was to put salt on the meat and store it in the kitchen at the backyard. They didn't have any special container to put it in but just inside a shelf on the table. Everything was well and peaceful in that small town until something strange happened to a family.

On the night when it all started, the housewife of that family routinely store their extra meat in the backyard. The next morning, as she was making breakfast, she found the piece of meat missing. Furious, she went around asking everyone in the family where or what did they do with the meat. Nobody knew what happened to that piece of meat and they didn't give it much thought too. The housewife, too, although a bit upset, just went to the market and got more meat.

That night, she did the same thing again with their extra meat, but this time she kept it in a different shelf to make sure no one would take it away. The next morning, she went to the backyard and checked but again found the meat missing.

By then, she was very upset. She complained to her husband that their meat was stolen two nights in a row. They decided they should investigate further to solve the problem. The husband suggested that they stay up that very night and keep an eye at the backyard. They were determined to catch the culprit that very night.

That night, the couple sat by the window overlooking their backyard. They turned off the lights after their children had gone to bed to make sure no one can see them from outside. It was a hot, full moon night with only the sound of cricket and owls howling. Everyone in the small town was already in bed by midnight, except, of course, the couple who was getting more and more anxious.

It was slightly after 1am when the couple saw the shadow of a person jumping over the fence into their backyard. Under the bright moonlight, they could work out it was a woman though they couldn't see exactly who she was. Then, the woman walked closer and towards the piece of meat sitting in the shelf just a few feet away from them. 'Once she got her hands on the meat, we will rush out and catch her red handed,' the wife whispered to her husband.

As the woman reached out for the meat, the couple slowly moved towards the door, however, they were stunned by what they saw next. The woman was holding on to the meat and eating it raw! Under the bright moonlight also, they saw who the woman was. She was actually the old lady from next door. What gave them the creeps was the way she looked. The old lady looked as if she had been possessed. She was taking big bites and tearing the meat apart with her sharp teeth and fangs. After finishing up the meat, she just ran and jumped over the fence like a strong youth.

The next morning, the couple went over to their neighbour's house to consult with them over what had happened. Of course, their neighbour was shocked to hear what had happened, and refused to believe that it was the grandmother of the family who did it. The neighbour told them that it was impossible because the old lady had been very ill for the last couple of days. The couple thought they have been mistaken and didn't give much thought to the old lady.

That night, the husband and wife went out of town for some dealings. They left their one year-old baby at home with a babysitter. By midnight, the babysitter had put the baby to sleep and was sitting in the living room waiting for the couple to come back. The couple, however, did not come back until almost one o'clock. Just as they stepped foot into the house, they heard a loud scream from the baby's room followed by an agonising cry. The three of them rushed to the baby to see what had happened.

As soon as they got into the room and turned on the lights, the parents' darkest fear came true. The old lady from next door was on her meat hunt again. However, there was no meat in the backyard that night. So, she had come into the baby's room and was gnawing at the baby's arm instead! The old woman was clearly possessed by a demon. Her pale face and fangs showed it all. She had no sense of what or whom she was eating.

The wife gave out a loud scream and the husband rushed towards the old lady to push her away. The old woman fell off the bed and jumped out through the window. The husband grabbed his son and dragged his wife and babysitter out of the house. They yelled for help from the neighbours and soon a few people had come out. The husband explained what had happened while a doctor attended to the baby. The neighbours were equally shocked but they were determined to get the demon. They rushed to the old lady's house but found no one at home. So, they broke into the house, running from room to room looking for the old lady, but she was no where to be found. They all ran back out to see if she have got out of the house. One of the neighbours spotted someone on top of the roof and started to call out for the others.

The neighbours surrounded the house and tried to get her down by throwing rocks at her. However, the harder they try the louder she would laugh at them. So, they decided the only way to get her down and to get rid of her at the same time was to burn down the house. They moved whatever valuables out of the house and started burning the house from inside. Stubbornly, the demon was still on top of the roof. Everyone was standing around the house seeing it burn down with the old lady on top. As the house was burning into an inferno, the demon is still up there, taunting at them and running around up on the roof. Soon, she was trapped in the fire. As the house collapsed, the old lady fell down with the house. They all heard a blood-curdling scream that is so evil. And then there was silence and that was the end of it. The next day, they searched the burnt down house but couldn't find any ashes. All they found was a very small skull. Nobody knew what happened to that old lady or her family. Rumours had it that they had moved out of town and the old lady had died before that night. What the people saw that night was the demon that had taken over the body of the old lady.

This story may have sound like a story in the movies, but it did really happen in a small town in Vietnam long ago. Sometimes in life there is a lot of unexpected things. Seeing ghosts or listening to a ghost story is one. But, there are more out there than just ghosts. You see, my opinion is ghosts don't really hurt you, but demon. Now that's another story. They are as good as deranged lunatics.

Next Story: Devils of Kota Belud

Owl's Ghost Stories © 2000 by Will Ong Email: penangowl@geocities.com