My Very First Blog

It's that time of the year again! Yes, I am talking about the Hungry Ghost Festival.

For the benefit of my Western readers who may be unfamiliar with this event, Hungry Ghost Festival is  a period during the 7th month of the Chinese lunar calendar when souls and spirits of the dead are set free to wander the earth. It's a yearly custom for people in parts of Asia to appease these spirits with certain rituals and feasts.

This year, the Hungry Ghost month begins on August 17th and lasts till September 15th. To the Chinese, there are a number of taboos that are observed during this period.

Read More : 10 things NOT to do during the Hungry Ghost month.

Although the Hungry Ghost Festival peaks on the 14th day of the 7th month of the lunar calendar (or August 30th, 2012 according to Western calendar), the ghosts are already walking amongst us. Be afraid, be very afraid.....

How did I know that ghosts are already wandering the Earth? The proof lies in these unexplained photos which I took the past week.

I took all these photos using my iPhone 3Gs, so please excuse the poor quality.



The above is a picture I took from Casa Damansara condo in PJ. It shows the back part of Tropicana City Mall. Nothing wrong with the picture until I took another one, but a closer (enlarged) shot.



Can you see a lady standing there? Looks more like a ghost to me!



What do you think? She looks sort of transparent to me. More like a ghost than a human, no?

Last week, I was chilling out at a cafe at Mont Kiara in the evening when I noticed someone peering from outside the glass window. The person looked rather odd so I secretly snapped a photo of him.



I have to say he looked more like a shadow than a real person but from inside, it's hard to really see.

I brushed it aside, and forgot about it until a few moments later when I looked up and got a shock of my life! The same person appeared to be looking directly at me!!



Despite being chilled to my bones, I managed to take a snapshot of him. I did not know how long he stared at me, but it was really, really long. I could not even remember what happened after that. Somehow he disappeared while I was still in a state of shock.

Now I have driven past the nice waterfall at Bangsar South many times and had admired it each time. But last week, while waiting at the traffic light near this waterfall, I decided to take a snapshot. When I reached back home, I looked at the photo I had taken and noticed something.



Can you spot a face peering out from the waterfall?

What do you think? Was it just my imagination?



The worst experience I had was while at a shopping mall in PJ. Or more precisely, inside the shopping mall's toilet. They say never go to the toilet alone at night.

Well, I was washing my hands after doing my business in one of the cubicles when I saw this!

 

What will you do if you see this? Will you freak out?

If by now, you are still thinking I saw these ghosts, then you are too easily fooled! Hahaha!! Let me make a confession - NONE of these photos are true.

I created them using the Ghost Capture app in my iPhone. LOL!

Those of you who have read my blog post Ghosts In My Photos last year would know very early on that the ghosts here are all fake. That's why I named this post 'More Ghosts In My Photos' - some sort like a sequel. I hope you had enjoyed reading it. Haha!

Now here's a YouTube video of the HauntedFace app in my iPhone. Enjoy! Make sure the volume is turned on.



Scary? Well, you can take anyone's photo and change him or her into a horrible looking ghost with this app. But I would not dare try. Haha!

Over the years, I have taken many photographs with strange and unexplained objects or entities in them.

Since it is the Hungry Ghost Festival this month, I thought it would be the perfect time to show you all those "ghostly" photographs. It is especially timely as at the stroke of midnight tonight, the Gates of Hell will be thrown wide open to let all those hungry ghosts roam the earth!

Yes, if you do not already know, 12am tonight marks the 14th day of the 7th lunar month in the Chinese calendar, which is the peak of the Hungry Ghost Festival. Be afraid. Be very afraid...

All the photos shown here were taken either with my old Sony Ericsson C902 mobile phone or my current iPhone 3Gs, so please excuse the not-so-good quality photos.

This is a photo I took last year at the KL Convention Centre. Those of you who have been there will recognize this long corridor leading to Traders Hotel. I and my friend had gone to SkyBar at Traders Hotel that night and on the way back, we walked through this corridor.

My friend had gone to the toilet and while waiting for her, I snapped a picture of the corridor just for fun. It was only the next day I noticed there was something unusual with the photo. Can you see it?



That dark figure on the right side of the photo - what is that? It looks as if it's someone dressed in dark robes walking towards me. But I did not see such a person when I took the photo!

They say many cinemas in Malaysia are haunted. If it's the cinema in Summit Subang, I will be quick to agree as I had felt uncomfortable the last time I went there. But do you believe if I tell you now that GSC Signature in The Gardens is haunted?

Look at this photo which I took inside the GSC Signature lounge. Can you see someone standing at the end of the row of chairs on the left?



Or was that just the light playing tricks on my eyes?

And how about this picture which I took on the same night in the GSC Signature lounge?



What is that ghostly white figure flying out from the chair near the curtain?

That's not all. One night my friend and I watched a late night movie at GSC Signature. If you have been to GSC Signature, you will know that on leaving the cinema hall, you will pass by this glass window overlooking the Gardens Mall below.

It was past midnight when our movie ended. As we walked out of the cinema hall, we passed by this glass window and I decided to take a photo. As I was taking the photo, I suddenly saw that face reflected on the window! Can you see it?



I quickly turned around but there was no one behind me! When I turned back to face the glass window, the face was gone! Somehow I managed to capture that haunting face in my iPhone. My friend freaked out when she saw this photo!

Two years ago, I was at Genting Highlands with another friend. I was waiting for my friend who had gone to the toilet at Highlands Hotel near Starbucks. While waiting inside the lobby of the hotel, I snapped this photo. When I reached home, only did I see it! Can you see it - that white female ghost at the ceiling?!



Another time - probably 3 years ago - I visited Genting Highlands with yet another friend. We were resting at the lobby in Resort Hotel late one night. There were not many people at the lobby at that time. I accidentally snapped this photo where a white figure was crawling on the floor.



Surely that can't be my imagination? This reminded me too much of those "japanese" or "korean" horror movies so needless to say, I was totally freaked out!

I love to go jogging in the park. One of the parks I frequent is Taman Lembah Kiara in Taman Tun. I dislike crowds so I normally go when there are not many people around.

One afternoon, I went there to jog. There was no one around at the time. As I reached the suspension bridge, I saw this blue figure standing at the bridge!



At the sight of the blue figure, I froze in fright. It appeared to be slightly transparent. Luckily I managed to regain my composure and quickly snapped a photo of it before running the hell away!

After seeing all these photos, do you believe in the existence of ghosts? Did my photos freak you out?

OK, I have a confession to make.

None of the photos above are true. Haha!!!

Yes, perhaps I have tricked some of you but I am pretty sure I did not trick all of you. If you have been using the Ghost Capture app on your iPhone, you will know how I created those ghostly images on my photos! LOL!



It was quite a fun app! All you need to do is to snap a photo or retrieve an existing photo from the picture library in your phone, add in the ghost you like (there are over 30 ghosts to choose from in the paid app), manipulate the size and position of the ghost, adjust how sharp or blur you want your ghost to appear and voila! You have a ghostly picture to share with your friends!



The only qualm I have about this app is that all the ghostly images they provide are Western ghosts! I would have preferred some Chinese or Japanese ghosts as they are more scary! Haha!

There is another app which I would like to share with you all as it is quite a scary app. When I first downloaded this app on my iPhone, it gave me quite a fright. There was a picture of this girl.



I don't know about you but this picture of the girl already seems to frighten me. She looks like a person who is dead, don't you agree?

And then as I looked at the picture, it began to change...in a horrible way.



The face then turned hideous and it was accompanied with ghostly wail and screams that were too terrifying to describe!



If you have a weak heart, do not ever download this app! The girl has now changed into an ugly ghost that will send chills down the spine of anyone who look at her!



Now the fun part of this app is you can take anyone's photo (including your own) and change the face into a horrible looking ghost! Not that I want to do any such thing! No thanks! Haha!

The app is called HauntedFace available for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad.

Although all the ghosts in the photos which I took and shown earlier in this post are fake and were created using the Ghost Capture app, there is however one photo in my collection that is genuine. I took this photo while walking the suspension bridge at FRIM 2 years ago.



Is that my imagination or is it a long haired lady in dark glasses wearing a robe or something on the tree trunk? What do you think?

Some bloggers had asked me why I have this practice of uploading all my photos onto Photobucket or Slide before putting them on my blog. Well, there is only one reason I'm doing it.

If I were to upload my photo directly from my computer onto my blog via Blogger by clicking on the "Add Image" icon, here's the result.



Now compare the same photo which I uploaded onto Photobucket first before placing on my blog. What do you see?

(Press Ctrl and + on your keyboard to enlarge for a better comparison)



Is the second photo much clearer and sharper? I wonder why? Anyone knows? And that is my reason for using Photobucket!

There may be other advantages of using Photobucket which I am not really aware of, but this is the main reason I use Photobucket. To keep the image sharp.

Let's do a comparison with another photo.


Kenyir Lake photo added to blog directly from computer via Blogger "Add Image" icon.


Kenyir Lake photo added to blog from Photobucket.

It's such a big difference, don't you think?

I would like to point out however, that if you were to click onto the not-so-clear photos which I added directly from my computer via Blogger, you would actually get to see them enlarged or in wall paper size with sharp images.

Whereas, it is not possible to click onto the photos which was uploaded on Photobucket. So I guess this is one of the disadvantages of using Photobucket?

Do you upload your photos onto any image hosting sites online first before posting them onto your blog? Or do you add your photos directly from your computer?