Awesome or Off-Putting is a weekly delve into cryptozoology, ufology, aliens, medical marvels, scientific wonders, secret societies, government conspiracies, cults, ghosts, EVPs, myths, ancient artifacts, religion, strange facts, odd sightings or just the plain unexplainable.

Imagine, if you will, that you are a burglar of the utmost skill. You patiently search neighbourhood after neighbourhood looking for the perfect house to rob – and then you find one. There are at least ten newspapers on the front porch, mail is spilling out of the box and there are two cars in the driveway with at least a foot of snow covering the both of them.

You breeze on into their living room, fill a pillowcase with all their valuables – but then you can’t leave because a freaking ghost won’t let you.

Literally.

A Malaysian newspaper carried a story recently about a family that went on vacation. Well – actually it was more about what happened at their house while they were away.  There isn’t a lot available to give definitive specifics on the matter, but it’s crazy none the less.

You see, apparently a burglar picked their empty home for a looting. He went in, gathered up everything that wasn’t nailed down… then every time he tried to make it to the door he was pushed down by something only described as a ’supernatural figure.’

MSNBC has a touch more:

“A burglar who broke into a house claims he was held captive by a “supernatural figure” for three days without food and water, officials said. Police official Abdul Marlik Hakim Johar told The Star newspaper the house’s owners found the 36-year-old man fatigued and dehydrated when they returned from vacation Thursday… The man told police that every time he tried to escape, a “supernatural figure” shoved him to the ground.”

That’s a fresh story too – MSNBC’s telling of it is dated Dec 13, 2008. We’ve used all our resources to search for more info on the matter, but who really understands that dewey decimal system anyway? Seriously – what’s with all those randomly placed dots? We always get frustrated and then walk away none-the-smarter for our experience.

Still, that’s right? The rest of the web is abuzz with the supernatural aspect of the story. not us – we’re more concerned with the fact that this demon creature seems to have seriously violated the burglar’s basic human rights.

Three days without food or water? That is completely unacceptable no matter what his hostage’s chosen profession. And what’s with tall the pushing? At most the banshee should have asked his victim not to leave in a semi-stern voice.

Hopefully more detail will emerge in the next few days – like what does the resident family think of the strangeness? And if it was new to them did they still move back in? See – these are the types of questions most of Malaysia absolutely refuses to ask.