More Singapore Stories III BY Rozie

This story happened when I went to Singapore to visit friends, not long after spending several years living there. There was me, and my three friends, two Eurasians and a Caucasian, J,G and D. D got a crush on this one guy and she learned that this guy and a bunch of his friends were going camping at Bukit Timah Natural Reserve by the quarry (sort of like Bukit Shahbandar with a gigantic unused pool) and since we were all hanging out she managed to convince us to go and join them. The me, J and G figured ok, we'll go for the day and leave before evening. We packed some food and clothes and went.

I remembered we swam in the quarry, jumping off the cliff especially the boys who were showing off their daringness. The water in the quarry was murky and it was amazing that it never occurred to us that anything dangerous could have been in the waters, for all you know they could be spikes of wood or metal that could have impaled us as we jump in.

By evening we dried off and had a fire started and we did the old cooking by the camp fire thing, I remembered burnt marshmallows... and the guys were wrapped up in their own thing and ignored us girls and I wanted to head back to civilisation. Somewhere at that time, I had a fight with D, I can't remember what it was about anymore but I got fed up with her, stood up and started walking back into the forest to get out of the place. I remembered I just wanted to get far away from her. J and G came after me and I think J managed to get D to join us and just leave the place.

We didn't even have a torchlight to help out make our way out but somehow we did. It was a still night, nothing was moving, no wind, no crickets noise, it was quiet. All of the sudden I smelt something sweet and floral, like the smell came up from behind. We were walking in a single line and I was up front, J was behind me. "J, are you thinking what I'm thinking?" I asked her.

"Yes... G?" and G replied, "Yup."

D asked us, "What are you guys talking about?"

None of us answered and we sped up. We dare not run we just walked faster. D complained we were moving too fast, and we just told her to keep up. The smell got stronger. Dogs were barking in the distance and I was praying we get out of here safe and trying not to imagine anything. I warned the girls to keep looking ahead. D was still bitching when all of the sudden she stopped talking. Can she finally smell it? We didn't ask and just continued.

Finally we managed to get out of the forest and into a clearing, the barking got louder and the four of us walked side by side. We could see street lights in the distance and made me feel slightly better but it was still far from safety. Ahead of us we saw the dogs, probably about a dozen in numbers barking straight at us. Oh crap, and we need to get pass them to get out. I told the girls to just continue walking ahead, I figured we can always fight off the dogs if need be than trying to fight whatever was behind us that's giving off that smell that just seemed to threaten to engulf us.

As we got closer to the dogs, I wondered why they didn't lunge at us, they just stood there barking their heads off. The four of us walked right by them and I realised the dogs weren't interested in us, they were barking whatever was behind us! As soon as we passed the wall of dogs, the smell stopped. The dogs continued their barking and we got onto the main parking area as quickly as we could and onto the road and hailed a taxi and get out of there.

Since we were staying at J's place, we took the precaution of making sure we washed our feet and walked around the house three times before heading indoors. After we got ready for bed we started talking of what happened earlier. D said she at first had no idea what we were talking about when we were in the forest and she wondered why we were so quiet and was moving quite fast, when suddenly she smelt something sweet from behind her was when she finally understood what was happening. J, G and I were impressed, because we always wondered whether Caucasians get affected to, now we know, cos D is a blonde haired blue eyed orang puteh and the four of us almost had our first encounter with what I assume now was a pontianak.

More Singapore Stories II BY Rozie

When the Brunei Government acquired a piece of land from Singapore an embassy or referred as a high commission for Commonwealth countries was built along Tanglin Road just outside Orchard area. The first impression people got when they saw the embassy was that it looked like a fortress because of the way it was built and the gates around the compound...

The local Singaporeans, especially the taxi drivers in the old days never like that place, there were stories of them picking up a lonely female passenger or she's carrying a baby in the middle of the night only to find her disappear and leaving behind leaves and stones in the back seat when they reach their destination, usually near an old graveyard which had been relocated, and the passengers would always originate near the location of the current embassy now. I remembered that plot of land has always been empty because people were scared. In a way I think the Singapore government got a good deal as they managed to get rid of that particular plot, but that's my theory.

I remembered after we moved into the residence that was built in the compound next to the embassy building the house had three levels. The ground floor, first floor and the basement. The first floor was cosy as it had only three bedrooms and a small family room. The ground floor was mainly the large living space with two guest rooms on the left and the kitchen, dining rooms on the right of the space. And the stairs leading down to the basement on your way towards the guest rooms. The basement was basically a large open space, with the intention for the place to be used for entertaining as it also have a kitchenette which links up with the main kitchen via a dumb waiter, and the dumb waiter have an intercom. One of the stories was came from the maids, when they're in the main kitchen, they would hear noises coming from the intercom like people talking, and they very well knew there was nobody home at that time, let alone in the basement.

Another story was in the room I stayed in, it was late at night, I was up reading a book, all was quiet. I had large windows on two sides of the room and one side overlooked the embassy, and the other window lead onto the roof of the house, and the curtains were drawn. All of the sudden I heard three sharp knocks coming from the window that overlooked the embassy, I know very well it's impossible for anyone to knock on the window without having a ladder at least. I debated on whether to flip the curtain to look or pretend I didn't hear anything. Curiosity got the better of me and I took a look. All I saw was the pale yellow glow of the street lights outside casting shadows all around. I tried to see if there was a figure or anything to indicate a presence that might have lead to the knocking, a bird at least. Nothing. I went to bed with the lights on that night.

There was one time I had a friend who stayed over, she and I were were really into ghost stories and was really into that whole True Singapore Ghost Stories books that were really popular. At that time, I had positioned the bed between the door and window which faced each other, basically you open the door and you're looking straight out the window, so the bed is in between. It was a double bed so I was sleeping facing the door and my friend was facing the window. That night, half asleep, I remembered vaguely that the door was slightly ajar, and I remembered locking the door and thought oh she must have gone out to get a drink or something and went back to sleep. I woke up again when I felt like as if somebody was blowing across my ear, this cold wind, and I thought she was trying to freak me out, and I wasn't going to give her the satisfaction she woke me up and ignored it and fell back asleep. The next morning I asked her why on earth was she blowing across my ear for when I was sound asleep. She looked at me all quizzically like as if I've gone mad, because as far as she was concerned, she was asleep and didn't wake up at all until morning.

Remember the story of the dark figure that was sitting by the steps at the colonial house in the previous entry? Well, I guess it must have followed us when we moved. This time it was the steps that lead to the pool that was on the other side of the embassy. The security guard was doing his rounds and was just descending the steps that was leading towards the pool when he saw a dark figure sitting on the steps. He thought it was his buddy as there are now two guards on duty at any one time, and approached the figure. As soon as he was next to it, the figure rose, looked at him straight in the face and disappeared. The other security guard came around looking for his buddy when he didn't turn up after a while, only to find him passed out on the steps.

These happen to be the few incidents that was involved when I was staying there, wasn't there for long as my parents got sent of somewhere else and I went back to Brunei to continue my schooling, I don't know if there were anymore incidents regarding the embassy and surroundings, probably are, just haven't heard about it. Wouldn't it be great if we do...

That Old Colonial House BY Rozie

When I was a kid, my parents were diplomats for Brunei and got sent to
Singapore. The first house we stayed in was a colonial place behind
the botanical gardens, (the area doesn't exist anymore thanks to
Singapore ongoing development). It was an old place and big grounds,
pool and a tennis court which other people in the area would borrow to
use. The guest room was at the end of the house, next to the study
where on weekends we have an ustaz who would teach us kids mengaji and
ugama. That part of the house was creepy, it felt creepy. Guests who
have stayed in that room would tell us the next day that somewhere in
the night they felt this heavy weight lying on top of them. It doesn't
happen to everybody but to most people. I myself have taken naps in
that room (kirakan case memberanikan diri), and even though it was
still and quiet and at times I woke up around maghrib, I didn't
experience anything.

Also with this house, one incident was near the tennis court, since
the house was on a hill, you'd have to go down the stone steps behind
the house and pool to get there. One night the security guard was
doing his rounds and there were some lights leading down the steps,
enough to make your way but not enough to light up the place. He saw a
dark figure sitting on one of the steps, he thought maybe one of the
neighbours must've had a late tennis game and was the last one to go
and hadn't gone yet. He approached the figure and as soon as he was an
arms length away, the figure stood up and just flew off.

The house has a separate garage which included two rooms, which were
used as the drivers rest room and where they have their meals and
beds. (My mother only told us about this after we came back to Brunei
many years after), when we were in Singapore, my grandfather passed
away, and somewhere after that, my parents had bought marble batu
nisan to be brought back home to be placed on his grave, in the mean
time the nisan were placed in the garage until we went home for the
holidays and bringing them back with us. She said that when the
drivers had to work overtime at night, they would hear knocking sounds
coming from the garage, and this continued until the nisan were
brought back.

In front of the house was a large tree which seemed to grow
horizontally. Us being kids would use our imagination and I referred
to it as the tree ship and played around the tree in the afternoons a
lot. Little did we know there have been sightings of the white lady at
night playing in the same location, and our bedroom window overlook
that tree and I don't ever recall ever seeing it, but the security
guards does. I would have sleepovers with my friends and we would go
on a watch to see if we could catch a glimpse of the lady, never did.

I think the best story regarding that house has to be this one, the
security post is just outside the gates of the house, the road leading
towards the gate is hilly and curved in. We have about two or three
guards and they take turns each night so there is always one in the
compound. One night, he was at his post, a little guard house with
windows on all sides, enough for one person, when he noticed something
marching up the road. As the something got closer he saw a troop of
WWII soldiers, I can't remember if they were Japanese or not. For
those of you who don't know your history in World War II Singapore was
one of the places that were bloodied by the Japanese occupation and
many soldiers died. And since the area we were staying in was a
colonial era, I wasn't surprised when I heard this story. Anyway, the
guard saw a ghostly troop of soldiers marching up the road, what made
the whole thing freaky was the troops were marching up to the gates of
the house! And since the guard house was just outside of the gates,
the poor security guard had witnessed the whole thing. When the troops
reached the closed gates, they just stopped and stood still...
Waiting... That was that to the story because the security guard
fainted, and he was woken up by one of the drivers in the morning who
came to work and was told the whole story.

After a couple of years, the Government of Brunei acquired a piece of
land where the current embassy now stand. And that's another batch of
story regarding that place, to be continued!

Brunei Hall Ghost Stories Ep Finale BY Rozie

The last one I could remember was a story about this guy who came to
study, just before he left home, a spirit decided to attach to him and
follow where ever he goes. When he landed in London and stayed in BH
the spirit went with him. The guy was always unwell and sick and
people reported of seeing a woman walk in his room or thought seeing
him with a woman next to him, and when asked who the woman was he
didn't know who they were refering to. There was someone in the hall
who got the third eye and told him about the woman that was always
with him. They say the guy went back to berubat and never came back.

I have very mild experiences it seems.... will write more spook
stories of the time when I was living in Singapore.

Brunei Hall Ghost Stories Ep5 BY Rozie

Also heard about possession stories, group of girls in a room were
hanging out when on of them started acting funny. When they realized
she was possessed they ran out to get the warden. He came back with
several others and it took a while to subdue the girl as she was
fighting them when they tried to hold her down but they couldn't get
it out of her. Apparently this girl selalu kena such things because
one day her father was sitting in the lobby when he found out that it
happened to his daughter and flew straight over. Apparently as I
stepped out of the lift the father recognized me as he was a neighbor
one time.

Brunei Hall Ghost Stories Ep4 BY Rozie

A cousin of mine was staying in the transit room, at that time it was
on the topmost floor and all you could see were the rooftops of other
building, one night he came back to his room and the curtains were
still opened, and as he passed by the window he saw a figure cross
legged floating outside looking in. There were other versions of
figures floating outside windows, pontibabies and such like. And there
were stories of toyol like creatures roaming around the corridors when
a spat of stuff gone missing from various rooms and suspected that one
of the hall residence must have brought one over.

Brunei Hall Ghost Stories Ep3 BY Rozie

It was subuh and this guy went to the surau which was in the basement,
before prayer started he felt he needed to go and headed to the
toilets nearby, it was said that when he sat on the toilet in the
middle of doing his business in front of him was a wall of hair coming
down , he looked up and saw a woman in white looking down at him
smiling. He ran out screaming and people found him sprawled in front
of the toilet entrance with his pants still around his legs.

Brunei Hall Ghost Stories Ep2 BY Rozie

My room at that time was on the second floor at the end of the hall.
So you can imagine... my own experience was a bit strange because I
wasn't sure if it was a dream or not. My roommate was out and I slept
on the lower bunk, it's a small room where it only takes three steps
to walk from the door to the bunk beds. I slept with my head pointing
towards the window and was facing the main door. I wasn't sure if my
roommate was coming back that night so I didn't chain the door like
I'd normally would and went to bed. I'm a light sleeper and thought I
heard the door opening and opened my eyes a crack and saw the light
from the hallway out lighting the door as if it was left ajar. Figured
roommate must have just come back and closed my eyes to go back to
sleep. After a while I opened my eyes again and this time saw the door
closed and a figure standing against the wall adjacent to the door
opposite the door to the bathroom. It was dressed in white and looked
like it was facing away from me because all I could see was hair in
the dim light that was coming in through the window from the street
lights outside. I thought must be one of the girls in the hall playing
tricks so I closed my eyes again, pretending to be sleeping so I can
catch them in the act.

When I opened my eyes to see I saw the figure standing in the middle
of the room now. hair covering the face and was just below shoulder
length. Quickly closed my eyes again so whoever it was still thought I
was aslepp. Opened my eyes and this time the figure was right next to
me, and I still couldn't see her face. And it finally clicked, maybe
this isn't a real person after all and was starting to feel slightly
freaked out plus the stories I heard before came rushing in and that
didn't help. Kept my eyes closed and I could feel the brush of her
hair on my face and I peaked to see and the figure was bending over me
and shut my eyes real tight.

I then felt a pressure on my temple and in my mind I was thinking,
what the hell, it's kissing me! And then the pressure got stronger
like as if it was sucking. Thinking it could be someone playing a
prank maybe I could scare the crap out of them by all of the sudden
screaming and jumping out of bed. Only to find out I couldn't move a
muscle. I tried to baca baca and even the words wouldn't form in my
mind let alone speak. Panic setting, in I faught the sensation and I
managed to make a sound and the figure jerked and stood straight up.
In a blink of an eye it was gone. I wasn't sure if I was dreaming, or
it happened. Needless to say, I didn't sleep in my room for the next
three nights and everybody kept asking for the story. Right after that
I kept looking for such supernatural happenings to justify what I
experienced.

Brunei Hall Ghost Stories Ep1 BY Rozie

These stories are about ten years old now, just bits and pieces of
what I've heard and my own stories while unfortunately living there, I
can't remember if any of the facts are true anymore but makes a fun
story to read, why else would you guys be visiting this blog right?

One of the stories I heard while first moved to BH in London was that
the building used to be a psychiatric wing of a hospital, because of
it's former life that's how the Brunei government managed to buy the
building for cheap and converted it to a hall for students. That's a
bit of background for you. So they say, in one of the rooms on the
second floor, room at the end, which end I don't know, was occupied by
a girl, she was about to either go in or out of her room when the
bathroom door ajacent to the door of the room swung open and the girl
got dragged in, nobody knew by what and the girl had never said, only
thing was they say her personality changed and she was spooked out
majorly.