Pioneer Malaya-era pulp horror fiction author's scary stories return to haunt

'A Mosque In The Jungle' is a best-of collection of Othman Wok's horror stories, which he wrote in Bahasa Malaysia for the 'Utusan Melayu' newspaper and 'Mastika' magazine (from the 1950s to 1960s). They were later translated into English in the 1980s. Photo: Epigram/Filepic

The dismembered body of a murdered woman is brought into the mortuary, her severed feet still adorned with brass bell anklets.

In the early hours of the morning, the coroner hears the tinkling of bells. To his horror, a pair of feet jump out from under the table, wearing the dead woman’s anklets, and run out of the door.