Spooked - Dad and the Three Caskets

Episode Date: August 25, 2022

Spooked's own Annie Nguyen shares her family’s ghost story. When her father got the call from his siblings and cousins back in Vietnam, asking him to help them find their ancestors’ missing caskets, he got on the first plane out of California. But when he got there, he realized they needed to call on higher powers to help them locate the long-lost grave sites. BIG love and thanks to Poppa Nguyen, for sharing your story with us! Produced by Annie Nguyen, original score by Renzo Gorrio, artwork by Teo Ducot Translation by George Q. Nguyen - please note the translation was condensed for clarity. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

If you could split yourself in two, and everything you want to do, your twin could manage in your stead, while you stay home, asleep, in bed to fight the shadow no one knew. Or would you curse? You're traveling. The dark path of spooked. Stay. People often ask, how it is I get to tell the stories I do on this show. When my people get mad at this glimpse behind our tightly closed doors,

this peek behind the curtain. And the truth is, my family, they don't listen to this program. In fact, I doubt my mother and father know it exists. I'm not saying it's a secret. It's like anything else in my family. Just another thing you don't talk about. And the notion of me openly discussing the mystery, diving into the very moments that make the least sense.

Wow. I know that mine is not the only family where this simply isn't done. A thing is, or it isn't. When you're not discussed the shade in the chair at the dinner table? No. You simply pull up another chair beside it. And ask someone to please pass the salad. That is enough.

Don't look it in the eye, talking words about it, naming it. for what it is, not us. That way. But I wonder sometimes if perhaps we should ask, who is that at the dinner table with us? What do they want? Spook starts. This is special.

This is family. Tell everyone to leave you alone for the next few minutes because unlike our normal modus operandi. Spook producer, Annie to win, she didn't go too far afield for this story. No, not today. Because today, Annie asked her own father to tell her a secret. And now we know where Annie gets it.

My dad's always really good at picking up the phone and helping out whenever I need him. He's there for any car problems, big house moves, and he's always there to make sure I have a steady supply of dried shrimp. I know that my dad loves and cares for me, but it really bothers me that when you get us both in the same room, he and I don't really talk much. I usually try to ask him about car mechanic work and his past life in Vietnam

but he gives me a quick answer scarves down some food and runs into the living room to check on the sports game but one day I started talking to him on the phone about Spooked and I asked my dad about his experiences with ghosts I thought it wouldn't go anywhere but I was wrong and he started talking My, my, my, my, my, my, my, my,

did my, go back you. Did Grandma ever tell you any scary stories? Yeah. My mom told me once, when she was walking alone late at night, she saw this figure, and then she realized it was a ghost. Some baka so-am? And when you heard the story, like, were you scared? Ba.

I, but you're scared. Me? No. I'm just scared of heaven and hell. I'm not scared of ghost. But how about now? Do you believe in ghosts or not? I don't believe in ghost. But there is this weird thing that happened.

In 1995, 30 years, you're all right. In 95, I went home to Vietnam. My brothers, my sisters, we were all together at my dad's. home. We're all sitting at a super long table, we're eating dinner. You know, it's like a party. You know, over 20 people, you know, a lot of people. So friends and family from all over the village came to celebrate my dad's homecoming. It's a big deal because it's a small village.

At most, there were 20 homes there, so everyone was really close. Like when there was a flood, most of the village huddled on my grandpa's place on the top floor. People looked out for one another, and they also partied a lot. In Vietnamese, there's a word just for eating, drinking, and hanging out. Binyo. There's chicken, duck, pig, and shrimp, meat, meat, hell. There's chicken, duck, pig, and shrimp.

It's loud and chaotic. People are eating and drinking, talking, smoking. But I don't smoke. And then at the end of dinner, the real reason that everyone is here comes up, finding the lost caskets. My eldest brother says, the graves that Dad buried a while ago,

they're missing. We don't know where they are. What had happened was the Communist Party forced my grandpa to move the family graves so that the party could use the land to farm. My grandpa had moved three of our family's coffins. Auntie number six, Nguing Thie Thung. My dad's younger sister, Nguing Thi Han,

and his older brother, Nguing Huay. My grandpa took care of the graves, but when he got sick, he had to stop. And when he died, the whereabouts of the graves died with him. And this was a big problem. In our culture, we believe that the dead helped the living, and the living helped the dead. For the dead to do well,

Afterlife, they need the living to do a slew of rituals, like taking care of the graves, lighting incense, and cooking their favorite meals. In turn, the dead protect the family. But because the graves were missing, the family started experiencing a series of unfortunate events. People say if you lose the graves, your kids can't make a living or do well in school. Like in my house, everyone is worrying. My sister, she is always sick And my brother had a daughter that passed away in a freak accident Then other bad things happened

We often think back of the missing graves So my siblings So my siblings went to a psychic And the psychic said that the arm of the dead people They hate us They're upset that we're alive and not taking care of our dead ants ancestors, so they curse us. While everyone is arguing about what to do,

my dad's eldest brother speaks up. We need to find the coffins, so let's split up. So we go from person to person and divvy up the task. But I say to everyone, if we don't know where the coffins are, how are we even going to bring anything home? My cousin, I don't know, where we'd never, I don't know, I'm going to bring it. My cousin, she said, there, my cousin, that, my cousin, that, my cousin,

My cousin says there's this teacher who can help. Long ago, she was a regular villager, but one day the dead possessed her. Then she had this ability to speak to the dead. When my dad's cousin says teacher, he doesn't mean like a school teacher. In Vietnam, teachers an umbrella word for people who are deeply in touch with the spiritual world. You go to them to get back at your ex, curse your landlord, or find the dead. That's the kind of teacher my dad's cousin was talking about. My cousin says, my son went to that teacher.

What had happened was he had just bought land. Then he built a house and then late at night my son's wife had gone to bed. But she had been woken up by two shadowy figures that kept walking back and forth in their house. They seemed like two ghost children. She was horrified. So my cousin met this teacher and the teacher said, That house you built, there are two dead people buried underneath there. That's why they wander the house.

So my cousin asked, how can I get rid of them? And the teacher said, you need to gather their remains and relocate their bodies somewhere else. My cousin, was he able to dig up and find the bodies? Yes, two people. There were two corpses They scoop them up and they buried them somewhere else After that, the family never saw the two ghosts again After everyone hears this story, we all agree that we should visit this teacher

And then everyone says that I should be the one to go Because they say that I am lucky But I also want to go, like deep in my boyfriend, body, I am curious. The next day my dad hops on a moped and zips along the highway, passing rice paddies and tobacco fields. Then he turns on to the long dirt road, and finally he arrives at the teacher's house.

I arrive in the evening, and her house is pretty shabby. There's a huge crowd. A lot of people go, like 200 people. They're all waiting outside to go in. So I have to stay overnight. I sleep outside. Then finally, in the morning at 11 a.m., they call my name. They call my name.

Ja-din-co-A-Huang-Huang. But in the room, they're thawed many. They thaw Phat. Once inside the home, I start to think, this is odd. She prays to so many gods. Like, there are so many altars and incense. I can't imagine how anyone could pray so much.

Then we go upstairs, and the teacher tells me to pray. I start praying. She lights an incense. I do the same. She smiles. She looks so gentle and relaxed. Then she asked me, What do you need?

I tell her, my dad has three coffins that were buried in the sand, but we don't know where they are. Is it possible for you to channel him so we can find the graves? She says, In your house, there is a special altar for one of your important ancestors. Bada Tocco, why didn't you talk to her? Why did you come here?

I said, I don't know, I just heard that you're the person that finds lost grace. But now that I know, I'll go ask Bataoko. But since I'm already here, can you give me some advice? She puts her hands together and praise and starts mumbling something. I have no idea what she's doing, but she keeps on mumbling. And then her hands and feet start shaking. All of a sudden her body just changes. I look into her face and it isn't rosy anymore.

It's so pale. Her eyes are bulging. It's not normal. Then in my dad's voice, she says that you're going to be like a manoe. Then in my dad's voice, she says, Son, is that you? I say, yeah, greetings, dad. Then he asked me,

when did you come home to Vietnam? Then I wonder, how does this lady know that I came home? Well, since you've come home, are you doing good? I say, I'm doing well. Are your kids well? I say, they're doing good. Then I say, how is mom down there? Is she well? He says,

She's doing well. All my brothers and sisters are here too. Okay, I want to speak to mom. But he says, you can't speak to her. She's busy. She's not home. She's out having fun. Then the teacher starts shaking and my dad says, All right then, I'm leaving.

Then the teacher returns back to normal. She asked me, You came here to find out of Maw, you came here to find the graves, right? I say, yes. Can you please show me? She said, oh, she'll talk about her, she.

She lights incense and all of us. She lights incense, and all of us. sudden, she looks like she's getting possessed again. When I look into her eyes, they look off. They're bulging and they look harsh and mean. Then she asked, Sir, what village do you come from? The person talking isn't her.

She's speaking very formally. She doesn't sound happy. It's different. I told her I come from Sumjai. She says, You need to go to the village tomorrow. Go down the main road and at the very end make a right. Then go down half a kilometer where you will see two huge tombstones.

Turn right. There you'll see a giant palm tree. From the palm tree, step forward five steps. there you will find the graves that you are looking for. She starts shaking again. And then she is done. After hearing everything, I was shaken. It all seemed so unexpected.

It felt like I was sitting right in front of my dad. So with her body shaking and her face changing colors, weren't she scared? Nah, I was normal. Not me, no. Other people might be scared, but I just sat and answered whatever was asked. Oh my God, you're lying. If a person gets possessed and their voice changes, aren't you a little bit scared?

No, I'm not scared. My body is super awake. I'm not scared of that. Some, okay. That's me. But, yeah, lots of people would be scared. So I go home, I let everyone know what went on. Now, even though the teacher tells us that we should leave tomorrow,

our stomachs are so hot and impatient that we want to leave right away. So we leave at midnight on our mopeds. It's difficult to see, so we take our. our flashlights. We go to the exact spot the teacher describes. We dig and dig. But we can't find the graves. So we go home.

We go back to the teacher and she tells us to bring her a handful of dirt from that spot. So we bring her the dirt and she says, Yeah, this is right. Now go home and do it again, but first go pray to Batoko. She will possess one of your family members. And that person will help you out. At 6 a.m., five or six of us head to the spot.

Before going out, we asked for help at Batoko's altar. Before going to go to myo, we'd go to Mio to Mino to Mio. There's what to help to me. Then we take a few mopeds and head out. Your uncle's Honda has a sidecar and in the side car there are three new coffins We drive along the path that the teacher showed us On the way

I look around and I see cemeteries and palm trees And finally arrive at the white sand and beach We find two tombstones We look right and there's that super big palm tree We take five steps to arrive at the spot Just like the teacher said We all huddle up and set up incense, candlelights, wine, fruits. We arrange it on the sandy floor and start praying.

Then I light an incense and say, We come here to find the lost caskets. We burn the paper, gold and money. We sprinkle medicine and salt. Then right when we finished praying, my nephew starts shaking. He looks like a crazy person. I think he got possessed by Batokou. Then he jumps to a spot and he starts clawing at the dirt with his bare hands.

He hits the floor. And we marked the dirt to remember that spot. Then he calls him. at a second spot and we mark that spot. He scratches at the third spot and we put something there as well. Then, Batoko Lise my nephew's body. She disappears and he looks normal again. But after he was finished being possessed,

did you even ask or check to see if he was okay? No, no. No asking or checking. Whatever he clawed, we just marked the spot and started digging. My sibling starts digging at the first mark. Someone else brings over one of the coffins so it's ready to go. My younger brother digs about three feet deep and then he says, Oh, brother Huung, we dug it up.

I can see the casket. I can see the casket. I say, okay, let me see. Everyone crowds over. It looks exactly like a coffin. I said, keep on digging. Let's finish and find all three. Only then we will know.

Then we go to the second spot. We dig and we hit a large plank. And that plank turns out to be another old coffin. When I touch it, it falls apart. I said, okay, the third spot. We dig and find the third coffin. Just like the teacher said. After seeing the coffins, I think...

The teacher was right. So we finish up. We head out, and that night we go to Batokko's altar with fruits. And soon after, you know, I returned to the U.S., and ever since my family in Vietnam, they've been taking care of the graves. But isn't there maybe a chance that someone put fake caskets there? No. No. When we dug, we found the coffins. How could it be fake? But why do you? How did you know that it wasn't someone else's casket?

Well, we had to believe. If we didn't, what was the point of going? So now that you were able to find it, was your family luck restore, did anything change? Yeah, like, about a year and a half later, the house was finally peaceful. We had a sister that was sick and then she was no longer sick. And did your life change? My life, it seems the same. But when I think about it, there is this weird thing. When I think about it, it's a little bit more thing.

Whenever I run out of money, suddenly money comes in. And whenever I beat football And I'm going to win football And then it's always And it's hard to get on football And lose all my money The following week There's tons of extra work that comes in

My dad's usually super busy with sports And it's hard to get FaceTime with him So I was surprised that we talked for over eight hours And towards the end I realized that one day my dad would also die, and that I'd need to take care of him. So I asked him where he wanted to be buried. He said next to his parents in the village.

Then I asked him if he minded where I was buried. He said he'd love for us to be buried together so that we could stay together in the afterlife. But that ultimately, it was for me to choose. Shortly after... Okay, some do that. He got Ansi a bad day. the basketball game starting.

No, not yet. I need to ask one other question. Do you have time? Or should I ask another day? No, let's just do it once. You speak so much. Are you hungry? No, not hungry. Just ask whatever you need. And let's finish. We sure love your daughter, Annie Nguyen, who produced this story. And loving thanks as well to our voice actor, George Q Nguyen.

Please understand that the translation was condensed for clarity. The original score was by Renzel Goryo. It was produced by Annie Nguyen. Now Spooksters, we walk this dark path together. Spook Season 6. Maybe your father has a story, too. A story he's hidden from you until now. Tell me about it.

spooked at snapjudgment.org. There is nothing better than a spook story from a spooked listener. Of course, the very best way to let the dark side know you spooked is by sporting spook gear, the t-shirt of your dreams available right now at snap judgment.org. And remember, if you like your storytelling under the bright light of day, if you like storytelling that will change your life, get the amazing, stupendous, snap judgment podcast,

it's storytelling. with a beat. Spook was created by the team that senses the change in season deep in their bones. Everyone except for Mark Ristage because he's a shorts guy. There's Anna Sussman, our chief spooksters, Eliza Smith, Annie Nguyen, Nguyen, Nguyen, Chris Hanrick, Lauren Newsom, Leon Morimoto, Renzel Goryo, Davy Kim, Teo de Kott, Marissa Dodge, Zoy Frigno, Tivney Delisa, Ann Ford, Doug Stewart, and Isaiah Sims. The Spook theme song is by Pat McSedy Miller.

My name is going to Washington, and remember, even if you think you know someone, they're always holding one story back. Just like the shadow keeps a secret or two in reserve. You too, you need a plan B. The best courts of action I can advise is to never, ever, never, ever, never, ever turn out.