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I would tell you a tale that is too
unbelievable to write as a true story. I am going to call it fiction
for the unbelievers. I also have been an unbeliever until now. She
has told me some pretty incredible stories over the past four years
that we have been married. I know that if you really believe in
something it can be very real. I have always had a sense that there
was something strange about this country since my first visit. The
people there care nothing about leaving the country permanently.
The country is one of the poorest countries in the world. It is
almost as if the whole country is controlled by some force that
keeps it together even in the worst of times. They are happy even
in these extreme levels of poverty based on US standards. Teti is
from one of the richer families. Her dad was leader and professor
for Islam. She has always lived near to the city. But even in the
city you have the influence of customs from the older times. Teti
has told me of a snake goddess that lives in one of the caves along
the beaches. She has also told me of people that look like humans
but are really cat people. I guess the first real slap in my face
on reality was a picture I took. On one of my earlier visits Teti
took me to this place where there was a pool of crystal clear water.
Legend has it that the fish that live in this water are not real.
They are the ancestors of people that have died. She told
me that sometimes the fish are not even there. This is strange since
the pool was about the size of an average swimming pool with no
exits that I could see. It is a natural pool of water. I remember
that the water was also very cold. This is strange since, as you
know Indonesia sits directly straddling the equator.> It is
said that people that have eaten the fish have died. I took a picture
of the fish through the water. I did not see anything unusual about
the fish at that time. I left Indonesia a week later and had the
pictures developed in the Singapore airport. To my surprise the
picture showed ghostly images on the top of the water. The images
were white and had mouths full of teeth. They were shaped like fish.
I have been back since and took pictures but saw nothing. Teti has
another picture of an area that is supposedly the home of the snake
goddess. Across the picture there is a burn mark in the shape of
a snake. The most recent events have started to make me worry about
how far reaching this power is. I went there in January for vacation.
I had a wonderful time just lounging around and we went to the beach
for a week. Before I came home her adopted brother, David took us
out into the jungles to a school where they teach Islam. While we
were sitting on the couch talking to the headman a cat came in.
It was just a small sweet little cat. Teti told me later that the
cat could assume the form of a lion in the night. We ate dinner
and talked some more. After a little while David said he wanted
to go into town to visit some friends. Two of the students came
with us. It was along way out of the road of rock to the highway.
I drove for maybe ten minutes. There across the road was a tree
that had not been there when we came in. It was kind of strange
since it seemed to be a strong green tree and there had been no
wind. We got out and tried to move it. The students said we should
go another way. I knew from the looks of the road we were on that
I did not want to take the second choice way. I convinced one of
the students that we could cut the tree. He produced this huge machete.
After maybe fifteen minutes of chopping we were able to pass to
one side of the tree. We went on into town without further incidence.
On the drive back the students said I had to blow the horn before
I crossed the bridges. This was to let the evil spirits know we
were approaching. I got back to the house. We sat around and
talked for sometime. One of the students brought in some kind of
tropical fruit. I could not bear to eat it since it had ants crawling
all over the fruits skin. I hate ants, unless they are fried. We
were given a small room where Teti and I slept. In the middle of
the night I awoke to pitch-blackness. I tried to turn on the lights
in the room but they would not come on. I got up and looked out
of the window. There was a balcony off the side of our room. I saw
what looked like a pair of large yellow glowing eyes. It appeared
to jump from the balcony to the ground. It then went back and forth
on the ground below our window. I awakened Teti and she saw it also.
By this time it had entered one of the smaller houses next to the
house where we were sleeping. We could see it going back and forth
through the windows. I never actually saw a body of any sort. I
only saw the glowing eyes moving through the darkness. The next
morning we asked the headman. He said that no one else had seen
anything. He also said that the lights were never turned off at
night.
I returned to
the US and Teti was supposed to follow me a week later. The embassy
saw where she had overstayed her tourist visit requirements while
here the previous visit. This was due to a new baby girl we just had
that year. I had applied for residence for her here but it went to
the wrong office. They said we would have to apply for an immigration
visa. After that things have been getting crazier and crazier. Teti
began to feel like someone was trying to kill her. She is sure that
someone that practices black magic has been paid to make her die or
go crazy. In Indonesia it is not as easy as just killing someone.
She started noticing strange things happening around the house. At
first it was just small things like one night someone tried to break
into the house. She went to someone and had him come to the house
to pray that the evil spirits in the house would leave. The man that
came to the house acted real stupid. He just wanted to lounge around
and eat and basically did nothing. I was back in our home in the US
by this time. It was around this time that I was awakened at midnight
by a horrible sound coming from the basement. I got up and went
into the basement. On the wall beside the door leading into the basement
was a strange red sticky substance freshly sprayed along the wall
for about two feet. I saw a black cat run down the stairs. I chased
it to an open window where it jumped on top of the window. It then
ran past me back up the stairs into the house. I went back into the
house and heard sounds of things being knocked into the floor. I followed
the sounds through the house. It had gotten quite. I looked everywhere
until three in the morning for the cat I could not find it anywhere.
I thought that maybe the cat had ran back to the basement and gotten
out of the house. The next day I went to work as usual and saw no
sign of a cat when I came home. I kept feeling strange like there
was something watching me. I made another search that evening for
the cat. I looked under beds and in the culverts. I sat around all
evening and never heard a sound of the cat in the house. I went to
bed. At midnight I was awaken again by the sounds of things being
knocked in the floor. I lay in the bed and watched the hall outside
of my bedroom door. I had begun to leave the light on since I have
been alone in the house with my wife and daughter stuck in Indonesia.
After maybe five minutes I saw the cat in my room at the foot of my
bed. I got up and chased it though the house. It did not run very
fast. It was almost as if it wanted me to catch it. I was afraid because
cats can do some pretty good damage with their claws. I grabbed a
large bed spread from the closet hoping to catch the cat and put it
out of the house. When I went to look for the cat again I could not
find it. Everything was quite again I looked everywhere. By
this time I was starting to let black cat superstition start to worry
me. It was also so strange the cat only appeared at midnight. I felt
worried for some reason about my wife and daughter. Normally I would
not call her at this time of the morning. I called her and found out
that they had to rush my daughter to the hospital the previous day.
Her skin and tongue had turned blue and she was having hard time breathing.
I knew then that I had to get rid of that cat. Superstition had full
control of me. I felt that I could imagine how those Salem witch hunters
must have been so crazed to kill so many people. I prayed to God that
I could find that cat. It was so strange. It was as if I was led right
to where the cat was. I went to the kitchen and their sitting behind
the trashcan was the cat. My first thought was to kill it with a knife.
I grabbed a knife from the kitchen drawer. I pulled the trashcan out
so I could see the back of the cat. I then stabbed as hard as I could.
It was if I had hit a statue. It was solid. The cat just walked out
from its hiding place and to the living room. It jumped on a table
and started knocking things in the floor. I grabbed the blanket that
I had to capture it with. I thought if I could throw the blanket over
it I would be able to release it from the house. It was not running
very fast and I was able to throw the blanket around it. I felt as
if I had a hold to a lion instead of a small cat. It pulled away from
me and I continued to chase it from one hiding place to another. I
decided that it was impossible to get this cat out of the house safely.
I grabbed a baseball bat. I then trapped it behind this huge cabinet.
I pushed the cabinet catching the cat between it and the wall. I felt
almost crazed. It was as if I felt that somehow this cat was tied
to my daughter being in the hospital. I began to beat the cat in the
head with the baseball bat. At first it did not seem to even care.
This went on for an hour. I could not beat the cat to death. I finally
was able to catch the cat by the throat and force it to the floor
where I held it until it stopped breathing. I tossed the cat away
in a plastic bag onto the back porch. The next day I halfway expected
to find the cat had came back alive and escaped but it had not.
I have been having strange dreams. One night I dreamed that
two lions were outside of my window. I could here them roar and the
dream was in color. Things in Indonesia had not gotten any better.
Teti kept finding strange things in her house. She found several snakes.
She found small worms in our daughter's hair and hers. This is strange
since my wife is one of the cleanest people I know. She takes a bath
two or three time a day. Finding worms in your hair in the middle
of the city is not usual. Several times she has been talking in what
sounded like some mans voice. She said she remembered it but it was
not her speaking. Teti found another lady whom is supposed to have
special powers. She brought her to the house to pray over the house.
The lady went through the house and found a lot of things that are
used in black magic hidden in obscure places. Under the water pump
she found a prayer written on a piece of paper to a demon. Her adopted
brother was staying in the house at this time. Teti began to worry
that he was behind all of this. I think they were almost fighting.
A few days later she caught him going out of the door with our infant
daughter. She asked him where he was going. He just sat our daughter
down and glared at her. He then left the house and has not been back.
I was told that if I could come to Indonesia that the embassy there
could process her immigration visa in one month. In April I went there.
At the front of the house Teti showed me what she thought was an oil
well. I smelt of it and discovered that we had kerosene seeping from
the ground. This was right at the front gate. I told her that it was
probably from a spill since not far from the house was a station that
supplied kerosene. We went to the lady's house that was supposed to
be helping. She took us to a small room where she began to prepare
herself. She began to speak with such strength in Arabic prayers like
she was possessed. Later Teti told me this was the spirits that allow
her to do this. The next day we went to the embassy for the visa.
They then wanted me to apply for a waiver for her overstay in the
US. I turned in all of the papers they said was required. They gave
us some more papers, which they said Teti would have to bring with
her to the interview. I returned to the US and waited until mid June.
I received a letter from someone in Singapore saying that they could
not approve the visa unless we could prove extreme hardship. It also
stated that family separation and financial difficulty was not considered
as extreme. I called my congressman and told him what was happening
His office said to return the papers with my answer and send him a
copy. He forwarded this to Washington. Teti has gotten to the point
that she cannot sleep in the house at night. She went to a family's
house in the city that was supposed to be very religious. The man
has a small group of followers whom he teaches Islam. They pray for
hours without end. After a few days she tried to move back to the
house. Again she could not sleep at night and was getting very sick.
She went back to the families house and stayed there a while longer.
It seemed that things were getting worse there.She moved out into
one of the villages with a family that is strong for help people with
problems of bad spirits. At first she seemed to be getting better.
She would still find worms in her hair and our daughter's hair. She
would not be able to sleep well at night. All during this time she
has kept telling me it was like something was inside of her. Sometimes
she said she could feel something moving in her stomach. One night
she saw a small black girl in her room. She did not get a good look
at the girl. I call her twice every day. After a week she told me
she had moved again. She was feeling that these people were not helping
her at all. This time she has moved to another family that is supposed
to have special powers for white magic. I am happier now because I
can tell by her voice that things are better. Every week they go into
the mountains to a special teacher. The last few weeks she is much
stronger. I keep hoping any day now to get news from the embassy that
she can come for the interview. I know if I have her here everything
will be OK. I trust completely in our one God the god of Moses to
protect my family and me. I know that the spirit of Christ is strong
in the world today and that spirits are real. There are good spirits
and bad ones. I feel that in Indonesia there seem to be more bad ones
than good.
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