Shenton Way Haunting (No longer just a fake video)

I've spent a year plus working in a company on the outskirts of Shenton Way in 2004. The building name is Bestway Building located opposite MAS Building. Though the building was very old, the good food in the canteen made up for it.

Due to the international nature of our business, we are required to call different parts of the world and this includes the US, Middle East & Europe. My boss never did insist that I stay back late in the office to make my calls though (We can make the calls from home and claim it from the company). A few months later, a new manager was employed and she started arranging us into shifts just to make sure all overseas markets are covered properly.

Then the stories started to roll in.... after 10pm+, you can hear paper ruffling at the end of the office (All your other colleagues have left and that section's lights are all switched off), you can hear children's laughter as they run along the corridor but you can never see them, and one colleague reported having spoke to a new cleaner lady at 5am+. He commented she was early for work and that he had never seen her before. She smiled and said she had been here for a long time but it's just that he never saw her before. At 7am, the usual cleaner lady came to work and he was puzzled but she confirmed that she was the only cleaner lady employed by the company. Interestingly, she said he's not the first to have seen the "other" cleaner lady.

The shift system only lasted a week before my manager stopped it because she did hear the children's running & laughter herself.

Overhead bridge outside the Chevrons

Today's tale is shared to us by my ex colleague and a very good friend, Jovita.

Jovita had a late night outing and was on her way home in a taxi. The time was close to midnight and the taxi was driving along Boon Lay Way when Jovita suddenly noticed a spooky figure in white standing above the overhead bridge, looking downwards. Naturally Jovita screamed, closed her eyes and the taxi driver asked why.

When the taxi went further down the road, Jovita told the taxi driver not to drive her home (As initally planned) but to bring to her to a very crowded place instead(For the fear that she is being followed home by that thing). When she told the taxi driver what she saw, the taxi driver remembered that he was told a similar story before but didn't believe it initially till he found it too coincidental that my colleague had seen the same thing at the same place! In the end, both of them spent the next 45 minutes in a nearby Macdonald's to calm down.

United Square (Formerly known as Goldhill Square)

In my younger days, I was working as a games promoter during my school holidays, in a departmental store in Goldhill Square (Now known as United Square). We were given one day off in a week and whenever it’s our off day, another promoter will be assigned to take over for that day. The promoter that is assigned to take over my duties coincidentally is a good friend of mine, Doris.

Doris called me after her shift, and asked me out for coffee (I find that very strange because usually after a day’s work, we’re usually very tired and surely, we’d like to go home to sleep). I agreed and we went to Newton Hawker Centre, together with another mutual friend of ours, Sunil.

Doris wasn’t her usual chirpy & cheery self. It took quite a lot of coaxing before something came out from her. As new stocks arrived today at the store, Doris had to spend time moving and stacking them neatly into the racks in the storeroom. This task sounds simple but it takes somewhere between 30 to 45 minutes to complete this strenuous job. While she was in the storeroom stacking, she saw a horrific supernatural sight….

At this point of time, she broke down again and we stopped the conversation totally as we could see she was greatly affected. (Till the last day we met, I have not been able to successfully bring up the topic without affecting her) Needless to say, she refused to be assigned back in that particular departmental store and I was lucky to have avoided stock replenishment!

Sunil later also shared a story with me about that shopping mall. He had parked his car in the mall’s carpark one day and went shopping with his brother. After they were done, they went back to the carpark to get the car and drove off. Although it was a small carpark, they could not seem to get out of the same floor. This is probably what some people would call “Ghost covering your eyes” and I have heard several stories of people unable to walk out of a particular place but this is the first time, about a car. They finally got out after more than a hour.

Before you start avoiding United Square after this tale, let me assure you that this happened in the 80’s and in the last 2 years, I have been frequently going to this shopping mall and the carpark is very well routed. If you really can’t drive out of the same floor in 5 minutes…. Start praying!!

Spiritual Possession

This happened during my teenage days. I was an avid computer gamer then and whenever my mum had planned for an evening of prayer sessions at home, I feel deliriously happy. Prayer sessions are basically invites for her friends to come to our house to visit, pray together and have food. What makes me really happy is…. I don’t have to study that evening and can stick to my PC playing games till they leave!

There was one evening, my mum came to me and told me “Son, tonight we have a prayer session and there will be a very special guest joining us. I hope you can join us at the prayer, if not, please go to your room to study or play games. Whatever it is, I want you to remain calm.” I didn’t understand the last sentence but the euphoric feeling of getting permission to play PC games all night made me forget about all else!

The guests arrived (About 30+ pax) and I headed straight into my room (As instructed by my mum, I can’t close my door because that is perceived as a sign of rudeness). The prayers started and less than 5 minutes later, I heard someone laughing in the midst of the prayer drone. The laughter sounded sinister and went on despite the prayers. At this point, I was very curious to find out who is so laughing so rudely and stuck my head out of my room. In the middle of the living hall, was a Chinese lady in her 40s, she is surrounded by other devotees who are all kneeled down and continuing their prayers despite the strange happenings. It seemed normal initially, then I saw her face suddenly turn dark purple and she started laughing again! She swayed and swayed as she was laughing. At this point, I freaked out, went into my room and locked the door. I only opened the door when the very last guest left at 1130pm and went straight to mum for answers.

My mum explained that this lady regularly allowed spiritual possessions 2 years ago. When she decided to stop doing this, some spirits left but some of the stubborn ones stayed with her and will disturb her during her sleep, strangling her at times and disrupts her daily life. It was then, she turned to religion in the hope that these evil spirits will leave her. My mum told me that I had missed the last part since I had closed my door. The lady got up from her kneeling position, and trudged forward, with her hands propped out as if she wanted to reach out to the Buddhist Talisman to tear it but everytime she tried to do that, she was repelled away as if there was an invisible force field. She only went back to being herself after half an hour or so and didn’t have any recollection of what happened. 

That purple face coupled with that laughter stayed in my memory till today…..

Family Member

Since childhood, my wife, PT & Carol has been the best of friends. Carol who is a HK citizen lives with PT as she is studying here. Besides spending time out in the malls, the trio does regularly house visits. All these changed when PT’s dad passed away and my wife stopped going to PT’s house totally.

A few years ago, Carol came back to Singapore for a social visit and naturally she would stay over at PT’s house during this period. Together with my wife & PT, we went to the airport to welcome Carol. I drove PT & Carol back to the former’s apartment and naturally as the only guy among the 4, I offered my help with the luggage. My wife told me to help bring Carol’s luggage up while she stays in the car as she is “tired”. I found her behaviour strange (Especially since they have not met each other for months now) but didn’t think further.

PT opened the door and I was told that I can leave the luggage at the front door and go off now. I went downstairs back into my car. As I was driving back, my wife asked me “Was anybody at home in PT’s place?” I replied “No.” My wife asked again more specifically “Did you see her dad?” Amused by what my wife asked, I replied “Didn’t you mention that her dad passed away several years ago? So why would her dad be home unless she has a stepdad now?” 

Apparently, my wife has stopped visiting PT’s house after her dad’s demise because PT’s dad didn’t really “leave”. He has living with them all this while and prior to his untimely death, he was a cheerful man who had an extreme sense of prankish humour. He remains the same till this day! He’d stroke your hair, turn off the lights when you’re in the toilet/bathroom, make the phone ring and and when you pick it up, he’ll tell you it’s a joke.

The power of salt

I saw a very useful post on an internet forum, www.siamamulets.com made by "mindfulness" and with his gracious permission, I share this information with all my readers.

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Take a handful of sea salt plus a handful of glutinous rice(UNCOOKED) and step with your left foot out and throw out the handful of rice while asking them to go (shout loudly if necessary but avoid saying "Huat ah") and throw it at all corners.(Dark corners or places damp and dark are especially bad) 

Take a bucket of water with sea salt mixed with pomelo leaves and use it to mop to the house house daily. Put a saucer of coarse salt at the toilets window. Keep them dry and replace where necessary.

At all areas of the house where it is dark, especially dark corridors, install bright lights and turn them on day and night for 7 nights. If windows are available at dark corners, open them during day time and let the house absorb more sunlight. 

Grow two ports of pomegranate plants outside main door, do not use cactus. 

Go to those Fortune Centre near Middle Road and buy 3 things: 

1. A "shi gan dang" and put in front of your main door or in a place where it faces your main door. It blocks entry to certain things from going into your home.

2. A long wooden sword made of peach wood. If you are able to, get as many as you can with the long one facing the main door and smaller ones on the room doors facing out. These things are GOOD!!! Even a wooden flute with red threads/fastenings will be good.

3. A coin sword made of coins of course interwoven with vermillion threads. Get this from places where they blessed the items. 

Someone tried this alt method - Now all is quiet, wife no bad dreams, kids don't wake up at night and they don't feel any presence lurking around. 

Salt is the best cleanser if nothing else is available.

Neighbouring house

My in laws have been living in their existing HDB flat for over 20 years now. One of their neighbours (2 flats away) moved out of their flat more than a decade ago and the flat was left vacant for more than 6 months.

Nobody thought much about that house till finally one day, a couple moved in. On the very first night that they spent the night in their new house, they came knocking on my in-law’s door and my wife was the one who responded to the knocking.

“Did anybody die in our house before we moved in?” the couple asked. By this time, almost all of the members of my in-law’s family are awake (They’re pretty much light sleepers). “No, not that we know of anyway” was the reply from my in-laws. We didn’t ask what they meant but that was the last time we saw that couple again.

After that couple, many other couples moved in (We lost count how many). We never saw them again after their first night too. Then things got interesting! 3 guys in their 20s or 30s moved in. OK. Guys should be braver especially since these guys looked like they have gone thru NS and would have some kind of experience with spooks anyway. They broke the record. 2 nights! The 3rd day morning I saw them moving out their stuff.

Next family…. This man in his 40s, seems like a rich guy, thick gold necklace, gold rolex but unfortunately, not too friendly look and avoided looking at us (Me in particular because I wanted to tell him to move into this house, try staying a night before telling his interior designers to carry out the extensive renovations that he planned. He & his family moved in after the renovations were done but again, you never see them after their first night.

Then one morning, there was a chirpy young man walking past our flat and he greeted us “Good morning, my name is John and I will be your new neighbour in #08-XX”. My wife & I gathered enough sense to walk over to his apartment, asked him out of the house (We don’t wanna go in!) and warned him about the history of all the past owners/tenants. He told us he is strong in his Tibetan religious beliefs and would not be too affected by these things. He had placed religious artifacts throughout the house, regularly invited Tibetan monks to the house for prayers and so on. One day, I asked him about the “thing” that was in the house. He proudly said that it is gone forever… I asked him what was it, he said “nothing nice to tell you but lets just say he/she is annoying, breaking things in the house, opening and slamming doors, moving chairs…”

By the way, I think this is the 11th year he has lived in this house now!

A story from my sister

One of our relative family comprising of our uncle & aunty lives in a nice 2 storey but old house. They didn’t have any children but they adore my sister and she was their favourite child amongst our extended family. Very often, my sis would spend the weekend with uncle & aunty. 

Although the main bedrooms were located on the second floor of the house, there was this little room on the first floor, where my sister liked to sleep in. Uncle & aunt knew she loved this small little room, decorated it a little and put a bed in there for her. This room had remained as my sister’s room during all her stays. This room is also coincidentally below the uncle & aunt’s bedroom.

One day, my uncle had passed away and very obviously we were all sad and mourned for him. My sister had not visited aunty for a long time after uncle’s death but it was several months later, when my sister contacted our aunt and offered to accompany her for the weekend. The only difference to the house now was that aunty had shifted her bedroom to the next room. Her ex-bedroom is now locked. When night fell, my tired sister went to her little room and fell asleep there.

In the middle of the night, my sister heard very distinct footsteps on the ceiling and it seemed to go on forever interrupting her sleep. My sister went upstairs and tried to open the locked door but it didn’t open. My aunt must have heard my sister and came out of her room. My aunt hushed my sister and told my sis to sleep with her for the night. Aunt refused to answer any questions but kept saying she’s very tired and wanted to sleep. “If there is anything to ask, please ask them tomorrow.” my aunt said before falling asleep.

The next morning, the questions flowed and aunt was truthful. My aunt missed her husband very much but decided not to bury him and she wanted to keep him close to her. His coffin is placed inside the locked room (Their ex bedroom). Those footsteps my sister heard were those of my uncle’s. Although uncle was someone we loved dearly, particularly my sister, but she cannot handle the thought of staying in the same house where his coffin is placed and definitely, not when she can hear him walk around in the middle of the night.

SBMT Mar 1990 Intake

This incident happened after my earlier haunted shift (
http://truetalesfromthedarkside.blogspot.com/2008/09/my-1st-experience-with-supernatural.html ), to 2 other guys from the same platoon as I am.

After that scary shift, both Abdullah and myself were very pleased to hand over our duty to the next shift personnel. As this happened more than a decade ago, I can't recall their exact names but lets call them Ahmad & Saiful. Little was made known to us when the both of them came back from their guard duty early, one was in great shock while the other refused to say much. The real story was only told to us by Ahmad a few days later.

The both of them were covering 1st wing (similar to us) and they walked behind a particular building which was deserted. Saiful saw that the armskote door was ajar and out of boredom (Perhaps?), he went to push the door close and walked off. As he walked away from the door, he heard it creak open again.... (Quick lesson on armskote doors:- These metal security doors are several inches thick and are very, very heavy.) How could such a heavy door open by itself?

Again, Saiful went to push the door shut.... Something inside him warned him to move aside and he did quickly step aside and right at that moment, the door seemed like it was kicked out of it's ledges and fell to the floor! There were many discarded old cabinets placed around that area and they started shaking violently, doors slamming & opening... Saiful was stunned by what was happening and stayed rooted where he was but fortunately Ahmad was quick thinking enough, grabbed Saiful and pulled him away.

When they arrived back to the guard house, Saiful was in total shock. He was not responsive to anybody or anything, while Ahmad was in tears & panting from all the running and dragging of his buddy. Saiful spent the next few days resting at medical bay (Or home, I can't really recall this part) and Ahmad only brought out his courage many days later to share this tale with us.

Khuman Thong

I'm a Thai Buddhist and naturally in my earlier days of unfamiliarity & curiousity about the child god, Khuman Thong, I was tempted to find out more. There were many stories that I've heard about KMT, some were true but most of them were either overly exagerrated or misconceptions.= (The seocnd group is usually told by non KMT keepers).

During one of my visits to a Buddhist supplies shop in Fu Lu SHou, 2nd story to buy incense, when I was browsing thru the showcases to admire the different types of Buddhist statues, I saw a very nice KMT. Due to it's intricate design, handcrafted from black colored wood, this KMT stood out from the rest and I liked it the instant I saw it. It's face projected a very happy but yet serene look.

However I didn't know of it's authenticity or if it had any power at all (As they are fakes made and sold in the market for commercial reasons). I muttered very softly "KMT, I'm not sure if you are real. If you are real, please give me a signal." Right after the last word was said, I felt a very distinct pull on the back of my shirt. I looked behind me but there was no one behind me. I was not scared at all but smiled back and said "Thank you".

Although I liked that particular KMT a lot, there was no way I could have accomodated him/her at that point of time as I was living with my in-laws and they would have been very adverse to anything that is "not normal" to them.

Ghost seeking help

While on the topic of hotel ghosts... here's another one shared to me by my ex boss, Andy.

Several years ago, Andy went to KL for a project meeting. After a long & tiring day shuffling between 3 offices in KL, extended meetings etc.. He finally had the chance to rest and reached his hotel room at close to 11pm. He quickly filled the bathtub with warm water and laid down inside. He closed his eyes as the warm water seemed to relax his tired body.

Suddenly there was a splash of water in the tub and Andy looked around the tub on what could have fell inside. Andy roamed his hands around the bottom of the bathtub and surprisingly he found a wallet. He looked up at the ceiling to see where the wallet could have fell from but couldn't figure. He opened up the wallet to check it's contents but there was nothing else except for an identification card of an Indian Malaysian. He put the wallet at the side of the bathtub and didn't think much of it afterwards. He dried himself, put on his sleepwear and went off to sleep after that.

Later that night, Andy was awoken by someone knocking on his door. He looked at his watch, it was 1230am. He thought to himself: "I didn't order for room service and my clients didn't know my room number so who could it be?" He went to the door, peeked through the peekhole and saw a familiar (But cannot recall who he was) face. Andy put on the latch and opened the door.

The familiar face spoke out "Don't be afraid. I am already dead and am a ghost but I am not here to harm or scare you but I need a favour from you. Please help me." Andy was stunned and still thought it was all a joke but continued listening.... "The wallet that you picked up from the bathtub belonged to me and inside there is my identity card. Go to the address and tell my family that we have communicated and tell them they do not have to worry for me anymore. I was involved in an accident while building this hotel, died but they have never found my corpse." Andy didn't know whether to believe any of this, but he did recall that the face of the ID card belonged to this ghost. He told the ghost that he was unable to help him and told him to request this help from someone else. He didn't think much but went back to sleep.

The next morning when he awoke, the whole incident at night felt like it was part of a dream. To verify the truth, he went back into the bathroom to look for the wallet. It was nowhere in sight. "OK, so it was really a dream...." he thought.

When he was about to leave his room, the chambermaid arrived at his door, greeted him and asked if he needed to clean his room. Andy said yes and for some strange reason he blurted out "If you do find a wallet inside the bathroom, please help me put it on the dressing table." The chambermaid then said to him "Almost every new guest that lives in this room says this to me or leaves a message for me to look for this wallet......."

Room 610

This story came when we sidetracked during a meeting with my Director of Research this morning.

She was an ex-flight stewardess and quite a newbie then when it happened. It was a routine flight to Japan and they are always staying at this particular hotel. The entire 6th floor is reserved only for flight crew and they are free to choose whichever room they want to stay in. The more experienced ones always chose the ones that are furthest away from room 610 but this information was never made to new crew.

She randomly chose room 609 and went to her room to rest early as she was very tired. At exactly 2.30am she was awakened by loud noises coming from next door. Initially it was just soft banging of the walls but the banging got louder and louder till it was shaking slightly. She called the reception on the phone to make a complaint. She was half expecting the hotel staff to reply to say that they will call the occupants in room 610 to lower the volume but the receptionist told her that they will change a room for her and told her to stay in her room and they will get someone to come up to usher her to her new room.

My frightened colleague now figured out what was happening and stood near her door, the banging seemed to follow the wall where she stood and she distinctly heard the toilet being flushed repeatedly.

Very very soon, she heard footsteps of an anxious hotel staff coming and she was ushered to a different room, very much further away. While the hotel staff declined to comment, she found out from her other flight crew colleagus that this room is never used by anybody and you can alway hear loud banging of walls.

A reader's contribution....

Here's an encounter shared with us by Aie

This story was related to me by my mum-in-law. My parent-in-laws used to live in Kampong Chantek in the 1960s, somewhere near Stevens Road there. They would do their grocery shopping at the 'pekan' (a central marketplace) on every Monday. My dad-in-law (To be known thereafter as FIL) would give a ride to my mum-in-law (To be known thereafter as MIL) on his gentleman bicycle (we usually call this kind of bicycle, 'basikal apek') and they would do their shopping before heading home.

On one of those Mondays, while on the way home, my MIL slapped my DIL's thigh and told him to stop. Apparently, my MIL saw a rubber ball just sitting there by the side of the path. My MIL told my DIL that she wanted to take the ball and give it to my brother-in-law to play. My DIL forbade her, giving the reason that the ball might belong to someone.

The pathway was deserted and there were no houses or kids in sight. My MIL said that due to those reasons, she was sure that the ball had been lost and there was no way of tracing the owner. She got off the bicycle and headed towards the ball. Now here's the funny thing. The moment she wanted to grab hold of the ball, the ball rolled away.

Thinking that the wind blew the ball away (even though she did not feel any wind at all), my MIL chased after the ball. Every time she almost touched the ball, the ball always managed to roll away from her. The ball passed by some bushes and stopped at the foot of a tree in the forest.

My MIL was certain that now she can get the ball. As she bend to pick it up, the ball started rolling UP THE TREE! Her eyes followed the ball until it stopped on a branch. As her eyes rested on the ball, she suddenly realized that what she at first thought was a branch next to the ball, was actually a wrinkled hand with long fingernails. A white cloth could be seen and with that, long wavy black hair at the top. No face could be seen.

My MIL was flabbergasted and stood rooted to the ground. It was only when she heard a soft, shrill laughter that she could turn and bolted away from the place as fast as her legs could carry her. Once out of the forest, she jumped onto the bicycle metal bar and shouted in panic, urging my dad to cycle off fast.

My DIL sensing something wrong, quickly did as he was told. Once they arrived at home, my MIL jumped off the bicycle and ran off into her room. My DIL followed her from behind and asked her what happened. My MIL was mumbling incoherently and she had developed a fever when my DIL touched her forehead.

Needless to say, from that day forward, my MIL has never picked up anything that is thrown away or found (things like balls, furniture, toys, etc. But if it's cash or jewellery, I think she will still pick it up.

My mum's second contribution

Back in the 80s, my mum rented a shop space in Orchard Plaza, 4th floor in one of the corners. I have always loved visiting the shop after school for many reasons. I’d stay late till the shop closes and go home with mum. One thing I’ve noticed but never really bothered about it was that her staff (BTW they’re all females) always never go to the ladies toilet on the 4th floor. I thought, maybe that toilet was ridiculously dirty and thought no further.

Eventually the shop had to close down and my mum finally revealed the story to me about the 4th floor ladies toilet (She didn’t want to scare me unnecessarily). Most of her staff had sighted “something unnatural” but nobody wanted to talk about it. They would normally tell those who have not experienced it personally “Do not use, toilet not clean” but no details were shared. Those who didn’t believe it, would go but came back with the same advice to share with new staff or those who don’t know. My mother has not experienced anything so far because she has decided to play it safe and use other floor toilets.

This arrangement worked fine until one night. My mum was all alone in the shop, almost closing time. She had been tolerating a tummy ache for a long time already and she could not hold it back any longer. As she didn’t want to risk losing any customers, she decided to try the nearer 4th floor toilet, finish off and run back to the shop.

With an open mind (She’s still a skeptic of supernatural stuff despite her earlier experience with the black cat mentioned in an earlier episode), she ran to the toilet. When she was near the door, she had a very unnatural feeling (Raised goosebumps, hair standing etc..) but still determined to stick to the gameplan of go in, bomb and run out. As she went in, there was a lady standing right at the last wash basin in the toilet. She had long hair and was looking at the mirror, applying lipstick but in a weird, repeated circular manner. This lady was a total stranger (My mum is very sociable and practically knows everybody working on the same level) but my mum didn’t have any more time (Or tolerance) to even bother further.

She ran into the cubicle, finished her business in quick time and got out of the cubicle. The lady in white is still there! Applying her lipstick in that same weird manner. As my mum rushed to the taps to wash her hands (There was only 3 wash basins in that row and the lady was not too far away), in the corner of her eye, she thought she saw the lady turn her head towards her! Quickly she muttered in mandarin “I did not cause you any harm, or participated in any of your personal grievances. Please do not harm or scare me.” My mum then slowly turned her head towards where the lady once stood……

The lady was gone. There was no way that lady could have walked past my mum and exit the door without my mum knowing. My mum, although was already frightened (Being a very curious person), went to check out the other cubicles (They were all empty) before leaving the toilet. When my mum emerged from the toilet, the food stall owner told my mum “This toilet very “dirty” and cannot use! Next time use the toilet downstairs. When I saw you rushing inside, I was so worried for you and actually wanted to get a few people to go inside the toilet together if you didn’t come out soon.” My mum said she saw “someone” inside and asked if the food stall owner saw that “someone” coming out a while ago. The food stall owner replied “The only person I saw going in and coming out from the toilet was you.”

After this incident, my mum started believing in supernatural stuff, and no, she never went back into that toilet ever again.

Haunted school in Bishan

A story shared by my colleague, Ling.


It was 6.30pm and we were close to the end of the school day. We had gathered in the assembly ground, awaiting to sing the school anthem before official dismissal. Then suddenly there was a very distinct scream coming from the technical block. The scream was piercingly loud and was repeated “Help me!”

Naturally many students looked up to see what is happening, including myself. We couldn’t see the source of the scream but suddenly the technical building block changed colour to dark red. Students & teachers all witnessed this phenomenon. The principal then swiftly assembled us, and dismissed us in a quick, fuss free manner.

This may seem unbelievable but anyone who had studied in Whitley Secondary School in 1994, would have seen this phenomenon with their own eyes.