An Encounter with the Twilight Zone
by Bon Jin Chow

This experience happened to me about 25 years ago. The year was 1973 sometime in December and I had just finished my Higher School Certificate examinations. My friends and I organised a trip to spend 1 night in Maxwell Hills(now known as Bukit Larut) located near the northern town of Taiping in Perak. It was a big group of about 30 people and we were all young and very delighted and enthusiastic with the trip. We went up the hill station in groups of about 10 in Land Rovers. The trip took about 30 minutes.

We had booked the bungalow called `The Nest' and this bungalow was owned and run by a Christian organisation. One of my friends were connected with the church and so he got the bungalow at subsidised rates.We had an enjoyable time preparing meals in the kitchen while some took a walk nearby to take in the fresh mountain air. We played games after dinner and we had great fun together.

All too soon 10 O'clock came and the electricity was cut off. (The hill station administration stopped the generators every night at 10 O'clock. We had come equpped with candles and so the candles were lighted up. After sometime,many went off to their respective rooms to sleep. The boys shared 2 rooms and the girls 1 room. Because of the big group some also slept in the hall.

I remembered I was with 3 other people; 2 girls and a boy and we were chatting late into the night with candles lit in the hall. At about 12 midnight I excused myself to go to the toilet. Just before leaving I jokingly told my companions that I hoped I won't meet a ghost. I distinctly remembered going into one of the rooms where the boys were sleeping and crossing the room to go to the toilet at the far end of the room. There was nothing sinister or ghostly and I did my business. After that, I went back to the hall to resume the conversation with my companions. We only slept at about 3 O'clock that night.

The next morning after breakfast at about 11 O'clock we cleared up to leave. I was given the responsibility to check the rooms to make sure that we did not leave anything behind.As I was checking the rooms I realised that all the rooms did not have a toilet except for one room. And in this room the toilet was at the near end to the door. I was confused and I checked and rechecked the rooms but they were correct and the toilet that I went to at the far end of the room did not exist.

Until today, 25 years later I still cannot find an answer to the mystery. Which toilet did I used that night? Did I enter into the twilight zone in the house? I do not know but it still puzzles me until this day. This is a true story.

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