My parents once told me that one night, they were talking late at night until midnight. Everything was quiet. No one else was up, as hardly anyone stayed up that late.

Suddenly, they heard a baby start to cry from far off.  To their surprise, the baby's cry got closer and closer to them. They thought that maybe someone was out walking with their baby, and that baby was crying. Seeing that it was very very late already, this was a strange notion as well.

The baby was sounding as if it was right next to them now, when, to their shock, they saw not a baby but an old lady with snow-white hair, wearing different clothing from them. Not bothering to find out more, they just ran straight home!

The next morning, they heard that one of the old ladies in their neighborhood had just passed away at around 5:15 am. When my parents told their story, other people also said that they saw her last night around midnight as well. They all heard the baby cries as well, and when she was close to them, they all said that she was very ugly...

Just a note, this story has been extensively modified from the original, to make it more clear. Don't worry, all the facts and stuff have been preserved. ^^ If anyone would like to see the original e-mail, just contact me. Anyway, this story is...well, interesting. I'm not sure what the author meant by 'different clothing', but I suppose it illustrates the fact that the old lady...wasn't from our world! Great story! I wonder what the baby's cries meant as well...Just for your info, the Malay Pontianak announces her presence through baby's cries, so maybe...

Update: 20th March 2005

The contributor of this story replied back, saying that the person has a different clothing from normal people, because apparently, the old lady was wearing a religious type of clothing that people from that particular culture wear when they pass away. As for the baby crying, I'm not quite sure of the explanation and the author never did get back to me, but it was something about when a person passes away, he or she comes back to visit...as a baby perhaps?