Ball & chain ghost or did Santa come early this year?

A few years ago, my childhood friend shared a few experiences with us after moving in to a new office premise. Daniel runs an advertising firm and he has been moving office premises once every few years once the lease expires. A few years ago, he moved his office to a prime location just outside the city, along Scotts Road, just beside a 3/4 star hotel.

In advertising, it is very common to see them working late past the usual office hours to complete certain projects, especially when the deadline is approaching. His staff does not usually leave till at least 8pm almost every night of the week but my friend noticed that ever since they have moved to the new office, his staff never stayed past 7.30pm. He didn’t think much of it till he had a project that needed immediate attention and obviously no one was able (Or willing) to stay back late to complete it. He rang his girlfriend and she offered to drop by the office to help him out.

It was about 9pm+ already and they are rushing to complete the job. Daniel left the room momentarily to go to the gents and his girlfriend continued on. Just after he left the room, she thought she had felt a tug at the jacket she was wearing. She dismissed it because she thought she had a long and tiring day and her fatique has caused this hallucination. Just before he came back, she felt another tug, this time was very distinct! She panicked but just as she was about to run out of the room, Daniel came back. She was still unsure of the incident so she kept quiet and didn’t say a thing. The evening went by without other occurrences.

The next few nights, his staff again declined with valid reasons on staying back to complete work and his girlfriend had office issues of her own, Daniel had no choice but to stay behind by himself to complete the job. During these nights, he felt himself being nudged from behind, or had his shirt pulled out but the worse was hearing “someone” dragging something that sounded like a ball and a chain just outside the office. Despite all these happenings, he did not really see anything although he did wait for the “ball and chain” dragging to go past his office room. The sound ended just outside his office room and stopped there.

Needless to say, he moved out quickly (And thankfully) once the year long lease expired.

Keeping them away from your home

This article was taken off a discussion in Arofanatics forum (Contributor: Ariesdram) when another fellow member asked what are the best preventive measures against unwanted "guests"....


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.

I tried this on a few of my friends place. 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. If after this cleansing process the place still feel strange, there are more drastic measures.

Skeptic turned believer

I remember it was several months ago when I had caught a short documentary clip about a supernatural skeptic visiting a haunted house.


He was so confident that there are no such things as ghosts, he came across as arrogant. This was perhaps one of my most favourite clips I have watched, because it makes you wonder either there are really supernatural stuff or this guy has perhaps the best acting skills across the entire planet! (I have not seen anybody with a better reaction to fear than this guy)  For last 10 days, I have been scouring youtube but with limited success for this clip but with enough persistence, I finally succeeded! Here's the link.... enjoy!

Deja Vu

Jess, a former colleague and a good friend of mine shares with our readers today an experience she has had at the beginning of this year.

One evening, Jess’ boyfriend decided to get away from the hustle & bustle of city life and drove the two of them to a reservoir nearby Yishun, and parked their car at the car park near some bushes. The time was 11pm+ when they reached there.

They were enjoying the love songs being played through their car audio system and chatting when suddenly Jess noticed something from the corner of her eye. Her attention shifted onto a man wearing an orange coloured T-shirt, a few metres away from their car. The man suddenly ran and disappeared into some dense bushes. Jess thought this would have been a strange thing for anyone to do but didn’t think much of it. Just seconds later, she noticed the man was standing at exactly where he was initially when she first saw him. Again he ran and disappeared into the same spot. Her boyfriend noticed Jess’ odd behaviour and asked if anything was wrong. She asked him if he had seen anything, he replied no but she felt that this 2 incidences happened right in front of the car and there was no way he could have missed both. She didn’t want to raise any alarm bells to scare her boyfriend and suggested they drive off to somewhere else.

Her boyfriend protested and grumbled about leaving the spot but suddenly remarked “Did you just see that? This guy just dashed into the bushes!” She was very sure she didn’t see it this time as her eyes were fixed around the frontal area of the car, half expecting another occurance. She hurried him and they drove off to a less remote area before she told him about her earlier sightings.

A girl named Annie

Today's contribution marks my collaboration with a very prominent and internet active figure in Taoism, Mr Yeo B T (More popularly and affectionately known as YEOBT in internet circles). With his given permission, I hereby present to you one of his many exciting stories. This slightly edited story was about Annie....

Human beings are intelligent creatures. We are so intelligent that we can cook, eat, work and we are thinkers. We have questions... which came first? The egg or the chicken??? Does God really exist? Many questions but some will never be answered. So are we really intelligent? If God really exists, i wish i could ask him why am i here to suffer? Weren't we taught that we are to go through punishment in the hell for all the sinful things we had done in life before we get to be reborn again? If that is true, shouldn't my sins be nullified? If my sins are nullified then why am i here to suffer? Why am I not starting afresh then? If God really exists, I would request to be in the heaven and not here again. I know no one can answer these questions. I wish i was never here. i know i can't change the fact. It all happened when a man didn't use protection and the woman got pregnant. The baby inside was me. I never got to see my biological father. To make the matters worse, i was sent to my grandmother when i was juz a baby because my mum need to work and has no time for me. My childhhood life was very carefree becos my grandmother is an addicted gambler and she spends most of her time on a mahjong table than on me. When she is happy and won some money, she would buy many taoist statues home to worship them for better luck. But if she lost heavily, she would sweep them all away and leave them under a tree in our apartment block below instantly. Maybe becos of what she did, the retribution affected me. If you are old enough, you may still remember that during the early 80's, some of the lifts on the ground floor in the HDB were installed with CCTV and a small TV set would be installed outside the lift for people waiting outside to see the activity inside the lift car. That was to curb lift robbery. I was once waiting for the lift at the foot of my block, I saw someone inside the lift coming down. But, when the lift car opened, there was no one inside. I was too young to feel frightened then. I didn't bother to tell anyone becos i don't have anyone to talk to and no one bothers about me. However, things got worst after sometime. I start hearing someone talking to me so i answered them back. But people around me says i am crazy 'siao'. It was only after one of my grandmother manjong kakis brought me to a temple that saved me for awhile. I was told that my body was possessed with spirit. And that they can ward it off but the solution is only temporary. Becos my body is sort of weak and it can be possessed by the spirit easily. The long term solution is, i have to get a master which is a deity to possess me, another word means i have to be a medium so that the stateless spirit cannot own my body.
We went through numerous times of unsuccessful trance before i was finally possessed by Qian Shou Qian Yen Guan Yin. the god of mercy with thousand hands and thousand eyes. i was 17 then and i went thru juz only primary education. But i could read chinese poem without script and write chinese graphy very well like a pro. Behind every successful temple is always women. With the helps of the mouth of the manjong aunties, words of our temple spread very fast n wide. Many visitors came to our temple juz to take a closer glimpse of me possessing the rare Qian Shou Qian Yen. Some visitors were purely Buddhists. They were there juz to seek direct enlightenment from the guan yin. Many whom are also very young professional. The temple were usually so crowded that peoples were so closed to me and i could feel their existance even when they are standing behind my back becos they were blocking my thousand hands movement. Of course, they were not doing it intentionally becos they can't my virtual hands. However, i feel very tired everytime after i detrance becos the load of the thousand hands were so heavy for me. It was very stressful for a young little girl like me. How many times or how many years do i have to go thru this? I'm only 17. I decided to quit after few months becos i cant take the stress in my body anymore. With little education, i found a job as a waitress in a music pub. With little family bonding, i felt love for the first time easily. With little knowledge of evil in man (i mean some men) i fell unreservedly for him. juz when i thought the weather is fine for the day, it rained and we went without any raincoat. I got pregnant and I was not ready for this. Thus, i aborted the baby. Not only that, my body was weak and painful due to the abortion and I was heartbroken. Just when i'm down and am in need of his love and support at this time, he dumped me. Why does this have to happen to me?

My mother married to a man who was a Christian and she has since baptised. She invited me to live with her so that i could continue to enjoy the home cooked food. I started to feel the family bonding and love after all these years. I getting more mature and the invisible wound in me also started to heal soundlessly. Then, i met John at work. Although John doesn't have a stable job but he was always there for me. Waiting for me in a quiet corner in my working place everynight just to see and send me home. He showered me with lots of love. His sincerity touched me deeply and soon our love blossomed. Financially, John is poor. He has no bright future but he gives me lots of love and care that i have been lacking since young. In return, i didn't mind giving him all i have in exchange for the love i've always wanted. I started paying his debts. From his handphone bill to his football gambing debts. I didn't mind doing that becos money was not important to me but, i was wrong again. Due to the nature of my job, i met many male customers. John started to feel insecure and he feel worried that i might leave him for someone better and therefore he plant black magic on me so that i could be controlled by him. He used the spirit of my aborted child to control me whenever i'm not with him. I would feel sick, restless and moody but when i got back by his side, i felt energetic. It was weird but no one felt anything was amiss with me. As such, this dragged for sometime until people around me started to realise that i sometimes talked to myself. As for me, i know i was not talking to myself. I was talking to a boy. I always see him around. Sometimes playing by himself, sometimes come near to me and then we'll talk. For this, my family sent me to the Woodbridge hospital. I scolded the nurses there for restraining me. I struggled to break free from them and they tied me up and isolated me on a bedpole. My mother and her family are Christian and therefore question like spirit and black magic would never come into her mind. They thought i was too stressful with work. It was my cousin that saved me. My cousin is a Buddhist. There was once when she was in the hospital visiting me, she saw me talking to someone she cant see but my eyes was looking down. She suspect that it is a child spirit talking to me. Quickly, she recalled that i had a history of abortion. As a Buddhist herself, she also believing that child spirits would continue to stay within their mother if ritual for them to re-incarnation is not done after abortion. (Chinese believe that once a foetus is formed in a woman, it has live. That's why, the age starts counting from the month the woman got pregnant and that explained why every Chinese age is added with one more year above the date of birth) With the help of my cousin, the hospital staff was cooperative enough to let me discharged to seek consultation from a medium. By appointment, we went to Dua Ya Tua with my mother. Dua ya was firmed tat the child spirit i saw and talked to was a result of black magic. The child spirit is harmless but i need to do 3 years of ritual for him so that he can be directed back to where he came from. For now, Dua Ya Pek has since broke the spell and instructed the child spirit to stay outside the temple and he will bring him back with him after the session. My mother was beside me.
She asked " i saw black image in our home too, was that the child?" Dua ya says " what is your date of birth, let me check for you". She replied "cannot, my religion dont believe this". Dua ya than answered "then why you ask???" When i stepped out of the temple, i saw the child standing at a corner mean for the wandering soul. I took a glance for the last time. I had not only removed his foetus in me, i had also removed his chance of reincarnation. What i cant remove from him is his sadness. I wanted to say sorry to him but i didnt'tdare not to. I know it would not help ease his pain. I will repay by performing 3 years of ritual for him. I know that is not enough but that is what i can do for him for now. I sincerely hope all the young people out there don't do what i have done so as not to live with only regrets.

Last visit before the long journey

Today’s tale is shared by my Filipino colleague, Mr. S Yamzon.

There was an evening (Before he moved over to Singapore for employment), his sister & him were watching TV in the living room when his sister told him that there was someone sitting outside their garden. S peeked through the house windows and could see (Very faintly) an old man sitting on his grandfather’s favourite chair. However, it could not have been his grandfather as he was sick and was being taken care of in a facility many miles away. The spooky thing was, the “stranger’s” silhouette seems to resemble that of his grandfather. Unable to ascertain the stranger’s identity, he made a call to the village’s security and asked for assistance.

Right after he hung up, there was an incoming call. It was S’s father. His grandfather had passed away peacefully just minutes ago. S ran back to the window but could not see the stranger in the garden anymore. When the security arrived, they informed my colleague that they did not see anyone coming past them or even coming into the village. Could this have been his grandfather’s last visit before his long journey?

New incident along Upper Thomson Road - 2011

My daughter was involved in a latin dance performance in Yishun sometime in Feb/Mar 2011.  The show had ended after 9pm+, we had our dinner and headed back home.  Both my children were tired and had fell asleep soon after getting into the car.

Our route was to drive along Sembawang Road leading into the infamous Upper Thomson Road and onwards.  My wife was her usual chatty self during the earlier part of the journey till we reached Upper Thomson Road.  She went totally quiet!  I took my eyes off the road for a short while to have a look at her.  Her eyes were shut but I knew that she was not asleep. (For readers who are unfamiliar with my wife in earlier experiences, she is able to see an occasional supernatural being)  I suspected that she must have seen something and I just left her alone.

A nice song was playing on the radio and I was singing along to the song while tapping the rim of my steering wheel.  Right at this moment, I felt an unnatural chill as if someone had placed his/her hands onto my shoulders.  I didn't think too much of it.  Suddenly, my wife said in a loud and stern voice..."DRIVE VERY SLOWLY, CAREFULLY & FOCUS ON THE ROAD!".  I reassured her that I am already driving very slowly and carefully.  She said again "FOCUS ON THE ROAD & NOWHERE ELSE!  BE CAREFUL!".  Nearer to the Tagore Road junction, I had the chill on my shoulders once again, this time very very distinct!  Again, I didn't want to think too much of it and scare myself.  When we had reached home, immediately I asked my wife what she saw.  

She told me that when we had just entered Upper Thomson Road, she could see a few apparitions scattered over the area in front of us.  It was still manageable for her at that moment until one of those things came closer to the front of the car and the head appeared inside the car, right above where my steering wheel was and was staring at me!  It was exactly that moment that my wife had shut her eyes and told me to FOCUS!  She didn't open her eyes till we reached home so I was unable to find out when that thing "left" or what did it do to me that could have explained the sudden chills.

Haunted new condo in Bedok (Part 1)

Today's tale is a contribution from a reader, AG.

The first experience happened in 1988, the second year after shifting to a new condo in Bedok South Ave 3. I can still remember this particular day as it was my O levels maths exam. 

Inside the house, there is this long corridor outside my bedroom. On this day, I woke up at 6am and mum was preparing breakfast in the kitchen. As i approached the door, a huge white shadow flew past me. Out of curiousity, I followed the shadow to the balcony and there it was, standing beside the railing. The next moment, i jumped over the railing and vanished out of sight.

I stood there frozen for a moment before letting out a loud scream.

2nd experience will be posted tomorrow.... stay in tuned but at the mean time, help me keep this blog going by clicking on my advertisers' ads please. Thank you.

Haunted new condo in Bedok (Part 2)

The 2nd encounter happened a year later at the very same house. This gets weirder as it happened in broad daylight.

I came back after meeting some friends in the morning and went back home. My house had a back yard with a low lying fence separating it from the common corridor.

While unlocking the fence, I noticed someone standing in the kitchen. On closer look, it was an old lady drinking water from a cup standing in front of the basin. She turned around and faced me. Instantly I shouted at the old lady as I don't have any old folks at home. The old lady got startled and dropped the cup into the basin with a bang. What really shocked me was that the old lady vanished right before my eyes!!! 

I went to look at the basin but found nothing there. My sis came out from her room and ask me what happened. We quickly packed up, left home and went to school extra early that day.