Some people believe in ghosts or super natural spirits, while others don't. But whether they believe or not, most most people are curious to find out what is in an "haunted house", and whether it's really haunted at all. When I was a child, many people and even the press used to tell stories of the ghost houses of Kuwait and the many strange things people experienced in them. The most popular of these 'haunted' houses was located at the junction of the Fourth Ring Road and Fahaheel Expressway. Unfortunately it was demolished. However, there are still several popular and well known 'haunted houses' in Kuwait.

As a journalist, I have a desire to know. A curiosity to discover and seek out the stories of Kuwait. So one quiet weekday night, I set out to discover the secrets of one such haunted house in Kuwait. The building is located in Salmiya, opposite the Gulf Road. The complex was likely once a school, with three buildings surrounded by an almost destroyed wall.

The building is now completely shuttered and there is no entrance open to the public. The courtyard wall, now mostly disintegrating though most of holes in the wall have been patched with bars and secured with chains and locks. Before arriving at the place, the weather was warm. But when my colleagues and I came near the building, the weather suddenly turned windy. My colleague murmured the breeze was a sign of ghosts or goblins. It wasn't a full-moon night, but the moon and stars were bright and clear.

We started investigating the place while waiting for our third colleague. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a man quickly entering the place. My colleague didn't believe what I saw, and we approached the door that I saw him entering through, which was also locked with chains. We went near it and called if there was anyone there. Suddenly, an Arab man came out and said he was the haris (guard) of this place, claiming he even slept there.

I asked him if this building was haunted and if he ever saw any demons there. He said "yes", then quickly said "no". He seemed nervous and scared of strangers. I asked if we could enter and check the place, but he said this was not allowed. When I asked what was he doing in this place and why couldn't we enter, he said his kafeel may punish him, as he is guarding marble and porcelain material in the building.

So I told him we will come back, and we left to wait for our colleague. When he arrived, we went there again, but the haris didn't open the gate although we called out to him and knocked the door. After taking a few photos from the outside and going back to our cars to leave, we saw the haris re-emerge. We convinced him to let us in, but he warned us not to take photos of the stored material and not stay for a long time. We took a few photos, but couldn't check the whole place out from inside, as many areas were damaged.

There was graffiti on the walls and a few empty bottles in one of the buildings. Anticlimactically, we didn't find any demons or ghosts - just an abandoned building possibly being used for the storage of illicit goods.

By Nawara Fattahova