Cindai

Story told by:
Sara de Souza
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A friend of mine told me this story back in 2001. The origins of this story is unknown, so I can't have any confirmation whether or not this was true. But even still, it was a very chilling story that still spooks me to this day.

Apparently this happened in a boarding school in the Klang Valley.

It was late at night and lights were out hours ago. A girl, whom I will name Lina, wanted to use the toilet but was too afraid to go alone because it was dark. So she got her friend, who I will name Mariam, to follow her. The toilet was one or two levels below their room floor.

Because I'm guessing it is an old block, it was not well-maintained and the lights were not working well. Only the moonlight provided just enough light to see. All the toilets were the squatting-type. And all the locks on the doors were busted, so Lina asked Mariam to stand watch in front of the door in case anyone else comes into the toilet. This was to prevent anyone opening her cubicle while she was inside.

So in Lina went and closed the door behind her, with Mariam leaning against the wall opposite the door. Then she started to sing "Cindai", a popular song sung by Siti Nurhaliza out of boredom.

A few minutes passed by and Mariam started to get worried because there was absolute silence.

"Lina? Lina ada apa-apa tak?" (Lina? Are you okay?)

A few seconds after that, the door opened slightly. Mariam breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that Lina was just about done. "Haii, apa la Lina nih, menakutkan Yam ajer." (Geez Lina, you scared me)

But even that, the door did not open fully nor did Lina make any sound. Mariam started to get even more worried.

"Lina? Lina?" She called out. Nothing. So she took a step front and pushed the door open.

She saw Lina sprawled on the floor in a pool of blood, her head pulled back, her dead eyes meeting hers. One of her leg was in the toilet hole. And there was something about her body, like it was deflated. Like she had no bones in her.

Mariam screamed bloody murder and ran out of the toilet. She went and looked for the Ustaz, a male religious teacher. They came back with a few other school staff to see the gruesome sight.

The Ustaz tried to pull out Lina's leg from the hole but it was stuck - like something on the other end is hanging onto it. After so long of trying, they decided they have to cut it loose. A staff brought a small hand saw from the workshop and cut her foot off.

After examining the body further, they realized that in fact she had no bone left in her body except for head. How that happened was unexplainable.

The next morning the workers cleaned all the toilets in search for an answer, but there was none. The Ustaz said a few prayers under his breath but they decided to lock that toilet for good.

I heard that the lagu Cindai itself has something spooky going on with it. Apparently Siti Nurhaliza herself had some weird things happen in the studio during the recording of this song. Unexplainable background noises went on even when sound technicians confirmed that there was nothing else in the whole studio that could cause that. And I heard somewhere that the lagu Cindai had some kind of eerie history, past or message behind it, but I'm not sure anymore.

The story may or may not be true, unfortunately nobody can help verify it for me, but I know for sure I'm careful I don't sing that song especially at night.

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Footnote added 20th April 2009: I just found out that "Cindai" also means "Pontianak" or "Banshee." Maybe that's why people feel weird when singing it?