Tuesday 19 April 2016

P - Pam Ashbury & Pocong - Fictional Phantoms #AtoZChallenge 2016


Welcome to my blog today for the letter P in the AtoZChallenge and my theme of Fictional Phantoms. I have two dangerous ghosts for you today, one from Western tv and one from the Asian film industry. I hope you enjoy their creepiness.

Pam Ashbury (Rose Red)

Now Pam (Emily Deschanel) does not start off as a ghost. She is a touch-know, a psychic who can read things about an object or person just by touching them.

She is part of a group put together by Joyce Reardon (Nancy Travis) to investigate the house, Rose Red, in the excellent TV mini-series of the same name, written by Stephen King. The house is not only haunted, but inside it people disappear. Unfortunately for Pam, Rose Red like to eat it's guests and it is not long before she ends up one of the permanent residents.

Once taken by the house she is used by it to lure other members of the party to their doom. Quite timid and a little uptight when alive, dead she is happy to play the tempter and the bait.

Come back for R to meet another resident of Rose Red.

Pocong (The Real Pocong)

Now I have to admit I have not seen any of the films that contain a Pocong, but they are too interesting to pass up. If you would like to know more about a particular film, The Real Pocong is one and I have linked to a full explanation of the film.

A Pocong is an Indonesian/Malaysian ghost which is caused by not properly dealing with the dead. This ghost is the soul of the dead person which has become trapped in their shroud.

A traditional shroud (kain kafan) is used to wrap the deceased and tied over the head, under the feet and on the neck. If the ties are not correctly released after 40 days the soul is trapped and will reanimate the body to come after those who have not looked after it correctly. Because the shroud is knotted under the feet, the ghost cannot walk correctly and therefore hops.

The Pocong seems to be especially popular in the Indonesian horror industry.

Would you come back to haunt people if your body was not treated correctly after death, or does that seem like too much hard work? Would you visit a haunted house with a reputation for disappearing people?

~*~
My Other Blogs
I am sharing blogging duties with my sister, Sophie, on two other blogs for the AtoZ as well :

And Sophie also has her own blog in the AtoZ too:

~*~
Other People's Blogs
Don't forget to check out the other participant in this years AtoZChallenge. Click on the image to visit the main site and see the full list.

39 comments:

  1. Pocong sounds like an interesting ghost. Although I might laugh if one hopped toward me.

    ~Ninja Minion Patricia Lynne aka Patricia Josephine~
    Story Dam
    Patricia Lynne, Indie Author

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    1. It's like Chinese hopping vampires - I'm not sure I can take them seriously :)

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  2. LOL, I don't think I would want to visit any haunted house, yet alone one that was known to have disappearing guests :)

    betty

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    1. Me either :) I'll leave the houses that eat people to others!

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  3. Definitely don't want to visit the haunted house! I'm not too sure about the hopping, but I guess if I was the one who tied the knots incorrectly I'd be running!! Actually I'd probably be running anyway!

    Mars xx
    @TrollbeadBlog from
    Curling Stones for Lego People

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    1. I think running away sounds like a very good idea :)

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  4. The Pecong looks terrifying, but if I saw a ghost hopping like a rabbit, I think I'd collapse in giggles. Don't know how I missed Rose Red. I'm a big Stephen King fan. As for going into a reputed haunted house where people have disappeared? I think I'd just watch the YouTube video, thanks.

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    1. Hopping must be a real drawback to being scary :) Can you imagine ghost therapy - "They all laugh at me..." Rose Red is the only one he has written specifically for TV rather than converting a book, so it might have snuck in through unusual channels :)

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  5. The Pecong looks terrifying, but if I saw a ghost hopping like a rabbit, I think I'd collapse in giggles. Don't know how I missed Rose Red. I'm a big Stephen King fan. As for going into a reputed haunted house where people have disappeared? I think I'd just watch the YouTube video, thanks.

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  6. The Pecong is interesting. Can't imagine a hopping ghost!
    I loved the movie Rose Red! I remember it well...

    Good fictional phantoms today Tasha, as always. :)

    Michele at Angels Bark

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    1. Thank you :D I love Rose Red - I keep rewatching it. Not as much as my sister though, I hate to think how many times she has seen it now :)

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  7. Gosh, the Pocong sounds freaky as heck!

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    1. It does, doesn't it. Would not want to meet them.

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  8. Another really weird Asian ghost! They are the coolest!

    Piper Presley
    P is for Pseudonym: Blogging From A to Z

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  9. I'll have to watch this miniseries! I do love Emily Deschanel. Also, as an archaeologist, I wish I had that psychic power...

    @TarkabarkaHolgy from
    The Multicolored Diary
    MopDog

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    1. It really is a good one. No more educated assessing, just knowing - might be an awful lot of information at once though :). I've always thought psychometry might be a blessing and a curse.

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  10. I might be tempted to visit a "haunted" house, but as to coming back for revenge, that's just too much trouble.

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    1. Probably better in the long run just to let it go :)

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  11. I own the DVD for Rose Red but have not watched it and now I cannot think why. Thanks for the reminders.

    @Kathleen01930
    Meet My Imaginary Friends
    #AtoZchallenge

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    1. It is well worth the watch - spooky and entertaining :)

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  12. I would visit a haunted house but not at night. I need to re-watch Rose Red.

    Susan Says

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    1. The problem with Rose Red is it doesn't care if it's day or night, only if you're tasty :)

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  13. I have never watched Rose Red, but it was one that caught my eye fleetingly in the past. I'll have to check it out. As to the Pocong, it seems like a really interesting form of zombie or ghoul.

    The Immarcescible Word

    Frox'n'Fox

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    1. It's a good mini-series - good characters and scary effects, I thoroughly recommend it.

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  14. I am not a fan of King, but I did enjoy Rose Red. Not familiar with Pocong.

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    1. Rose Red is my favourite of his on the screen, right up there with Salem's Lot and IT.

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  15. Good ghosts today! And I'm not familiar with either one. Love finding new spooky things.


    @mirymom1 from
    Balancing Act

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    1. Rose Red is definitely worth a watch - I've not managed to find Pocong with English subs yet though.

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  16. So a pocong is like a zombie? I guess those things are popular everywhere, in some form or other.

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    1. It was in a list of ghosts, so, to tell you the truth, I'm not sure if it's a zombie, or something in between. I can't find a movie with one in with English subs :)

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  17. I am a big chicken! I guess it would depend how I was mistreated...

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  18. I hav enever heard of neither of these stories. Especially the first, by Stephen King. How is it that I knew nothing about it?

    @JazzFeathers
    The Old Shelter - Jazz Age Jazz

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    1. It was never a book, he wrote it straight for TV, so maybe it fell down the cracks?

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  19. I don't know about haunting - it would feel too intrusive on my loved ones. I have watched a programme about people visiting haunted houses and it was pretty scary! I don't hunk I'd want to... although, our last house, our 2 year old daughter asked us who the man was who just walked into the living room. She said he was grey with a flat hat on. She later showed us a man in a cap on the street, said it looked like that. (She was very able speaker.) We weren't scared of living in OUR haunted house!

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    1. Our house is/was haunted too, but we never saw her, only heard her and saw when she moved things around. We think she might have moved on now.

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  20. If my wishes for a Woodland burial are ruined, then I'm coming back as a vengeful nature spirit...and forget about hopping. I'm trading in my wheelchair for a velociraptor...

    https://rolandclarke.com/2016/04/19/p-for-phytotoxins-atozchallenge/

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  21. Both fascinating and new to me. A house that consumes its guests; interesting concept!

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