If you've not heard, the latest local movie to dominate the box office is 'Misteri Dilaila'.

The horror-thriller stars Zul Ariffin, Rosyam Nor and Elizabeth Tan, and it revolves around a young couple who heads to a villa in Fraser's Hill for a holiday.

However, things take a very dark turn when the wife goes missing, and strange paranormal things start happening.


Sounds pretty spooky, right? And you what's even spookier? We found a few Malaysians who've had real life 'Misteri Dilaila' experiences.

(OK, not the wife missing part; just the spooky ghostly happenings)

We've heard from people who work in the hotel industry that most hotels will have at least one resident ghost, but till we heard these stories, we didn't quite believe them.

*All the names were changed to protect the storytellers' privacy

The kid and the headless ghost

It was supposed to be a quick but jolly getaway to a popular hilltop resort for John and his friends when they were still in college. But the horrors one of them faced marred what should have been a fun story to reminisce on as they grew older.

"One of my friends, V, was born with the third-eye; which means she is used to seeing ghosts and unexplainable things.

"On the way to the resort, we were laughing and having fun, when V suddenly kept quiet and refused to talk. Once we reached the resort and parked our car, V asked us to go ahead and she'll catch up later," said John.

The rest knew something was up at that point as they knew about her 'gift', so they didn't question her.

A while later, V joined the group and that was when she told them what happened: on the way up the hill, she had said, when the group passed a temple she spotted a little boy spirit standing by the side of the road.


As they passed him, the boy jumped onto their car and hitched a ride with them, sitting on the car boot. That was when she suddenly kept quiet, because the boy was staring at her through the rear window.

Once they reached the resort, the little boy jumped off the car, ran to V, and gripped her arm.

That was why she asked her friends to go ahead first. The little boy spirit held on to her arm until they made their way to the indoor theme park, and he ran off. V even showed the group bruises on the arm that little boy had gripped her.

"We had goosebumps when she related that story to us, but little did we know, she would encounter a much scarier spirit later that night," John said.

Being broke college students, John and his friends shared a room at the resort. V had a bed to herself, while John shared a bed with a guy friend, and the other guy slept on the floor.

At around 11pm, when everyone were getting ready for bed, V told the rest she was going to refill her water bottle at the water dispenser located in the hallway.


When she opened the door, she stopped dead in her tracks. She stood at the door for a moment, then slowly, she closed the door and made her way back to the bed, her water bottele still unfilled.

When asked what had happened, she refused to say anything. So, her friends knew in that moment that she had another encounter.

"We switched off the lights and went to bed, kinda glad she didn't tell us what happened because we didn't think we would have been able to sleep that night if she had.

"It was in the morning when we were having breakfast that she told us what actually happened," John said.


When V opened the door, she saw a tall figure standing outside the door of the room right opposite her. She told her friends that the figure was knocking on the door but when it noticed that she could see it, it stopped knocking and slowly turned towards her.

"The scary thing about this figure is, V told us, that it was HEADLESS! Just as V recovered from her shock and about to close the door, she could hear a faint whisper: 'Have you seen my head?'," John shared.

That was when V freaked out, closed the door, and went to bed.

"I know this sounds like a made up story like 'Haunting of the Hill House' but we trust our friend V. We did a quick search online and we found out that we weren't the only ones who've seen the headless figure roaming the hallways of that hotel," John said.

After that experience, John and his friends tried not to stay in that hotel again - and not wait until night to refill their water bottles.

The painting that watches you sleep

It was a charming old mansion turned into a hotel, like many others in the touristy island of Penang. Sharifah and her boyfriend checked into separate rooms.

Most of the rooms at the hotel had pictures of ladies clad in traditional clothes. Sharifah got one without but her boyfriend's room had a picture of a lady over his bed.

All was well but as night approached and both settled in for the night, they started getting uncomfortable.

"He kept saying that he felt like the lady in the picture was staring at him. He couldn't sleep," she said, adding that they were keeping each other company over the phone.


"At one point, he said he could feel his bed shaking," she said.

That was when he decided to remove the picture and leave it outside the door, hoping that it'll help with his feeling of unease.

But later that night, he heard somebody knocking on his door. Too afraid to open the door, he continued lying in bed waiting for morning so he could leave.

"From my room, I could hear dogs whimpering at around 3am. I also heard the tap running in the bathroom attached to my room.

"But I was too lazy to check and I also didn't want to lah," said Sharifah.

Needless to say, both checked out the next day despite having booked the rooms for two nights.

No good night sleep

"This happened when I was on a work trip to Jakarta. We always stay at the same hotel because it was right next to our Indonesian office and that was the only time something weird happened," said Aruna.

She shared that she was sleeping soundly, alone, in a room on the 13th floor when she felt somebody jumping onto the bed.

Aruna jolted awake but didn't want to open her eyes.

"I was just really tired and wanted to go back to sleep. I was pretty sure it was not human because nobody wanting to do something bad to me would be so obvious," she said.

But the 'creatures' had different ideas.


She started feeling severely cold and clammy hands poking at her, first with what felt like their fingers, but later palms.

"The thing is, I often have sleep paralysis especially when my sleep pattern changes too much. So I knew what I was experiencing was not that.

"I was scared initially but got really annoyed because I kept feeling the pokings just as I was about to drift off into deep sleep," said Aruna.

She proceded to tell the ghostly beings off for disturbing her slumber and they stopped. So, she went back to sleep and never had a repeat experience in that hotel after.

The curious military man

Ahmad and his family were in Penang for a holiday and checked into a room in a hotel that used to be a government quarters.

"It was a 100-year-old building, I think. It was really old lah. You know how the old buildings are. It was dark and didn't have proper lighting," said Ahmad, adding that the gloom made the hotel seem very eerie.

That night, Ahmad's parents slept on the double bed in the room, while he and his siblings slept on the floor.

"All my siblings and I slept fine but the next day during breakfast my mum told us that she couldn't sleep well," he shared.

His mom told the family that she had dreams where a man in full military regalia was staring at her.


"It wasn't antagonistic or anything...more like curious," he said.

But that wasn't the creepiest part. Soon after his mother ended her story, Ahmad's dad just looked at her and said that he had the exact same dream.

What were the odds?

The family, thinking that the odds were not very favourable to them, decided to check out early despite being told that they won't get their deposit back.

You better not run

This is the story a group of friends who decided to go on a camping trip to Teluk Nipah, Pangkor a few years ago.

Atan, who shared the story with us, said that it was common knowledge that people used to release their otherworldly pets into the wilderness near the Buddhist temple there.

"If they don't release the creatures, their kids will inherit the creatures and that is not good," he said.

Atan added that the group was fooling around and having fun after setting up camp until it started raining heavily later in the day.

The rain was so heavy and the wind strong, their tents got badly damaged. This forced the group to move to another camp site across where they were.

"It was an old campsite. Once the rain stopped, we started cooking and we had eggs.

"This was when the camp owner's sister came over and asked us for some eggs. So, we were like OK, why not and gave her a fried one but she wanted a raw egg.

"We were weirded out but gave it to her. She just knocked the top part and drank it raw! All the while, she was staring straight at us creepily," Atan shared.

He added that she asked for another one right after, and proceeded to repeat her actions.

"Her brother came over then and took her away. We later learned that she was possessed recently and they did some prayers and stuff so she was OK. But it seemed like whatever possessed her came back," he said.

The camp owner stayed longer to hang out with the group and while everyone was talking, Atan noticed a white creature flitting around their campsite.

"I saw it but ignored je la kan. I thought it was just me, but then I looked at my friend and realised he saw it too," said Atan.

The camp owner later asked the group if they have thrown away the leftovers from their dinner and they said no. He then told the group to leave the leftovers near a tree if they wanted to get a good look at the creature.


"So, we did. And we were just sitting around watching for it and it came, this white creature with bloodshot eyes.

"But, one of the girls freaked out and ran into the tent. Apparently, you're not supposed to do that," said Atan.

The group then retired for the night into their 10-person tent and one of them slept by the tent flaps to keep watch.

"We were all sleeping fine but the guy by the tent opening felt a hand caressing his face. The next day, his face had a huge mark that looked like panau (white spots caused by fungal infection).

"We packed up the next day and left," said Atan.


Loved these stories? Then you're going to adore watching 'Misteri Dilaila'. It is currently showing in all cinemas nationwide and here's the coolest thing: the movie actually has two endings.

Have any creepy holiday ghost stories to share? Creep us out in the comment section below, guys!