Hmong Ghost & Supernatural Stories: The Girl By the Shore

This story happened shortly after we moved from Wisconsin to California. To welcome us, my relatives took our family on a fishing and camping trip at a quiet lake in the mountains, about an hour from Fresno. That’s where my sister and I experienced something strange and supernatural.

At the campsite, my parents and uncles fished by the lake while we kids played nearby. One of my cousins suggested we play “follow the leader,” and soon all of us joined in.

We started the game at the campsite, but soon we wandered onto a trail into the forest. My oldest cousin led us, sometimes running ahead and yelling that a “poj dab” was behind us, which made everyone chase after her. I was the youngest and had trouble keeping up.

After running a few times, I got tired and stopped playing. I was too worn out to keep going, so I asked my older sister to stay with me.

While we caught our breath, we could still hear our cousins laughing and shouting ahead. After resting for a few minutes, we decided to keep going.

We walked for about five more minutes before my sister suggested we turn back, since we didn’t know where the trail led. I agreed right away, and we both headed back.

After what felt like half an hour of walking, my sister suggested we leave the trail and cut through the woods, since we’d been walking for a while. Not knowing any better, I agreed, and we left the trail.

About ten minutes later, I realized my sister didn’t know where we were going, and we were lost in the woods. I started imagining the worst and thought we might die, which made me cry quietly. I could tell my sister was scared too, but she pretended everything was okay.

Luckily, not long after, we spotted the lake again. Seeing it was a huge relief and gave me hope. My sister suggested we go to the shore to look for our parents or someone else.

As we got closer to the shore, I noticed something moving to our right. I looked over and saw a little girl playing by the water, about fifty feet away. She was squatting and tossing small pebbles into the lake. I watched her for a few seconds before telling my sister, who was already looking at her.

My sister and I waved at the little girl, hoping she’d notice us, but she kept facing the water and didn’t see us. Still, we felt better knowing we weren’t alone and thought maybe she or her parents could help us get back to our campsite.

After waving our arms several times without luck, we got desperate and started calling out to her, but she still didn’t notice us. She just kept sitting by the shore, tossing pebbles into the water.

I told my sister we should walk over and ask the girl for help. My sister thought for a moment and said no, thinking the girl probably heard us but was ignoring us. She suggested we keep walking along the shore until we saw someone else or a family member fishing.

I didn’t want to get lost again, so I begged my sister to let us go over to the girl and ask for help. After thinking it over, she agreed.

Just as we were about to walk over to the girl, I suddenly felt the urge to throw a rock into the water. Maybe it was from watching her do it, but I wanted to try it too.

I quickly looked for a rock, grabbed the first one I found, and threw it as hard as I could toward where the girl was sitting. My sister and I watched it splash into the water between the girl and us. As soon as it hit the water, we both saw the girl suddenly turn her head to look.

My sister and I froze at what we saw. Whatever it was, it wasn’t a little girl or even human. We saw a creature about three feet tall, dressed in what looked like black clothes. Its face and hands were almost completely black, except for some blue spots on its face. It had two eyes darker than its skin, but no mouth, nose, or ears. Its fingers were longer than humans’, and it had pitch-black hair.

It stared at us for a few seconds, then slowly turned its body to face us. As it stood up all the way, it vanished instantly.

My sister and I screamed as loud as we could and started running and crying when the creature disappeared. I was so scared that I don’t even remember what happened next or how we got back to camp. My parents later told me that a relative was fishing nearby and ran over as soon as he heard us scream.

He said we screamed like someone was about to kill us, and he knew right away something bad had happened. When he found us, we looked like we’d seen a ghost. We were so scared we couldn’t even tell him what happened.

A few years later, when my sister and I were teenagers, the relative who rescued us shared a part of the story we hadn’t heard before. After finding us so upset, just as he was about to take us back to camp, he heard a loud splash in the water, like someone had thrown a big rock. He looked but only saw ripples. Then, a moment later, someone threw a handful of pebbles into the water, which scared him and so he quickly left the area.

Thinking back to this incident, I sometimes wonder if something was watching over us that day. What if my sister and I had walked over to her? Would that thing have taken us into her world? Why did I suddenly want to throw a rock into the water? So many questions that would never be answered, but I do believe that maybe something really was watching out for us on that day.

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