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Singapore Urban Legends… Myth & Mysteries
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Myth busterThe truth is out there. Writers from The Straits Times Life! explore urban legends
Who says spam mail is destined only for the trash can? Some seemingly absurd yarns have ended up in a book launched by The Straits Times Life! yesterday.
Titled Singapore Urban Legends: Myths & Mysteries, it was inspired by the many tall tales that landed in the computer Inbox of many journalists who write for both Life! and The Sunday Times’ LifeStyle section.
These include: Will an asteroid wipe out the world when it comes crashing down in 2019? Can a man add years to his life by ogling buxom women?
Their curiousity piqued, nine writers ran 18 urban legends by a slew of sources, from the police and doctors to self-styled paranormal researchers, to separate fact from fiction.
Nine of the stories in the 92-page book were published in The Sunday Times’ LifeStyle section from February to April. The rest are new tales that tackle other myths such as: Will harm befall those who step on religious offerings by the roads? Can you die if you mix durian with alcohol?
Journalist Sandra Leong, 24, who contributed three stories to the book, says the toughest part was ‘getting people to help because many didn’t want to perpetuate rumour or myth’.
‘But I enjoyed piecing everything together to come up with a coherent and readable tale,’ she adds.
SINGAPORE URBAND LEGENDS: Myths & Mysteries is on sale at major bookstores, Buzz kiosks and selected newsstands at $10.50 each (includes GST).For correspondent Mak Mun San, 35, fun came in another form. For her story on rumours of Bishan MRT station being haunted, she posed as a ghost for a picture that accompanied the article published on April 17.
‘You should have seen the terrified faces of the few passengers there,’ she says. The book, she adds, is meant to provide answers and entertain.
‘It is not the ultimate ‘solution’ to the urban tales. Read it and you may be inspired to have a crack at solving the mysteries yourself.’
Singapore Urban Legends: Myths & Mysteries is on sale at major bookstores, Buzz kiosks and selected newsstands at $10.50 each (includes GST).
Meet the writers of the Urban Legends book when they hold a book signing at Borders on Saturday from 5 to 6pm.
HERE are excerpts from three stories in Singapore Urban Legends: Myths & Mysteries.What goes into the gravy at the old Satay Club?
Rumour has it that to keep customers coming back for more, satay hawkers went to great lengths to spice up their gravy.
The story went that they borrowed from black magic rituals and added ‘special ingredients’ like dirty underwear and soiled sanitary napkins.
‘I’m not sure how it began,’ recalled bank officer Janice Chen, 32.
‘But when I was a kid, I heard from a friend who, as usual, heard from a friend’s friend and so on, that someone had gone to the gravy pot for a second helping and fished out a soiled sanitary napkin.’
We first checked with Mr Fahmi Rais, who heads the department of spiritual research at Singapore Paranormal Investigators. The group, which has about 500 members, deals with paranormal activity.
Mr Fahmi has studied Malay superstitions and magic for the past 25 years.
He was not aware of the Satay Club rumour, but said the use of ‘personal wares’ like underwear and sanitary pads to win favour with people is a popular Indonesian ritual.
These rituals, he said, date back to pre-Islamic times and are steeped more in tradition than religion.
‘Genitals, underwear, sanitary napkins – they are considered dirty things. The dirtier something is, the more potent the magic is said to be,’ he added.
Would pairing alcohol with durian kill you?
Marrying durian and drink is said to cause indigestion, flatulence, stomach discomfort and even death in some cases.
Rubbish, you say? Not if you hear service engineer Mike Thiah tell it.
The 35-year-old once drank vodka at a barbecue after having durians at home.
‘I threw up the whole night and my lungs felt as if they were being squeezed,’ he recalled.
The ordeal left him with a sore throat and a cough for a week.
Some say the problem lies in the compounds found in the two, which can cause havoc when mixed.
Others believe that since both are considered ‘heaty’, the body is unable to cope with the surge of heatiness.
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) expert Zhu Wen Jun said there is no scientific or chemical criteria when classifying food.
‘It depends on the effect the food has on balancing the ‘yin’ and ‘yang’ forces within the body,’ said the dean of TCM College at Pearl’s Centre.
‘Any imbalance of the two forces will result in illness or pain,’ he said.
Durian, he added, is high in vitamins and protein, and is a ‘heaty’ food which boosts the body’s ‘yang’ energy.
Alcohol is also heaty, so the two could clash and cause discomfort.
‘But I don’t think it will lead to death,’ he said.
And not all alcoholic drinks make bad company, it seems.
Is there a little girl who lurks in cinemas here?
Freelance projectionist Nicholas Joseph, who has been in the business since 1968, said he spotted a ‘shadow of a young girl’ in the projection room of a movie theatre in Tanjong Katong where a friend was working.
The theatre has since closed.
‘I won’t say I believe in such things. But if they do exist, they won’t disturb you if you don’t disturb them,’ he added.
Mr Charles Goh, the founder of Asia Paranormal Investigators (API), said another popular myth is of cinemas saving theatre seats for ‘hiah di’.
‘Hiah di’ is Hokkien for brothers, but can also be used as a term of respect for spirits.
The ticket auntie at old theatres had floor plans and would mark out the seats we chose in blue crayon.
But there would be seats marked in red,’ he said. ‘And when I sat close to those seats, I would find them chained up.’
The API is a group that researches the supernatural.
Cinema operators explained that, yes, some seats are ‘reserved’ in their multiplexes. But there is a simple, down-to-earth reason for it.
The seats are for last-minute emergencies, such as relocating patrons – living ones – who discover they have faulty seats, or when one seat has been assigned to two people.
This was especially common in the past when seat allocation was done using paper plans and pens instead of computers, as it is today.
(abductboy’s note: I was giving my own experience as a kid when I asked the auntie manning the ticket booth in a cinema in Chinatown. It was just a small cinema and I was 1 of the 1st few to buy. I asked why there was already a row in front marked out when I am the frst few. She gave me a real disproving look and asked me not to ask. So I purposely bought a ticket right next to the marked out. And I found them chained up. Actually you can’t sit on them cos it can’t be folded down due to the chains. I didn’t know what it meant, just felt strange that they were chained up, never thought of ‘ghosts’, never had or felt anything funny. Only during the internet era when I read about it on the web that I recalled.)
The cinema I spoke about was the Oriental Cinema. It stopped running a long time ago and this is what it is now.
http://www.sph.com.sg/news/latest/press_051209_002.htmlSingapore Urban Legends: Myths & Mysteries
A new book by The Straits Times Life! that compiles 18 of the most enduring local urban legendsSingapore, Dec 9 2005 – There are many stories floating around that sound both improbable and plausible at the same time.
You know, things that supposedly happened to the friend of a friend of a friend.
For instance:
➡ Did someone really die after mixing durians and alcohol?
➡ Did someone really fish out a sanitary pad from the gravy at the old Satay Club?
➡ Did someone really see a mysterious little girl and her toys at the Golden Village multiplex at Plaza Singapura?These are among the most enduring urban legends that have made endless rounds among Singaporeans.
But who can say for sure if they are real?A group of journalists from The Straits Times Life! can.
To separate fact from fiction, nine writers ran 18 urban legends by a slew of sources, from the police and
medical experts to perpetrators of these yarns and even paranormal researchers.Their riveting exposes are compiled in a 92-page book which details the investigation process and
satisfies the busybody in us all.Nine of the 18 stories were published in The Sunday Times’ LifeStyle section from February to April this year,
and the series won an in-house award.The rest are new tales that will send a familiar tingle down your spine.
As they say, the truth is out there, and the book has uncovered some of that truth.
Singapore Urban Legends: Myths & Mysteries goes on sale at major bookstores, Buzz kiosks and selected
newsstands from Dec 10, 2005. Priced at $10.50 (inclusive of GST).The authors will hold a book signing session at Borders on Dec 17, 2005, from 5pm to 6pm.
For more information, please contact:
Ms Tee Hun Ching
Copy editor
The Straits Times, Life!
DID: 6319-5382Here’s 3 of the urban legends articles from the Straits Times Series.
➡ Halls of Horror
➡ Is Bishan MRT ‘Unclean’
➡ Charlie, we may have CompanyOf cos the Book has 18 stories!
So grab a copy today!
Read a truncated version of the 3 stories here.
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Singapore Urban Legends… Myth & Mysteries
STI Home > Lifestyle > Read > Story
Myth busterThe truth is out there. Writers from The Straits Times Life! explore urban legends
Who says spam mail is destined only for the trash can? Some seemingly absurd yarns have ended up in a book launched by The Straits Times Life! yesterday.
Titled Singapore Urban Legends: Myths & Mysteries, it was inspired by the many tall tales that landed in the computer Inbox of many journalists who write for both Life! and The Sunday Times’ LifeStyle section.
These include: Will an asteroid wipe out the world when it comes crashing down in 2019? Can a man add years to his life by ogling buxom women?
Their curiousity piqued, nine writers ran 18 urban legends by a slew of sources, from the police and doctors to self-styled paranormal researchers, to separate fact from fiction.
Nine of the stories in the 92-page book were published in The Sunday Times’ LifeStyle section from February to April. The rest are new tales that tackle other myths such as: Will harm befall those who step on religious offerings by the roads? Can you die if you mix durian with alcohol?
Journalist Sandra Leong, 24, who contributed three stories to the book, says the toughest part was ‘getting people to help because many didn’t want to perpetuate rumour or myth’.
‘But I enjoyed piecing everything together to come up with a coherent and readable tale,’ she adds.
SINGAPORE URBAND LEGENDS: Myths & Mysteries is on sale at major bookstores, Buzz kiosks and selected newsstands at $10.50 each (includes GST).For correspondent Mak Mun San, 35, fun came in another form. For her story on rumours of Bishan MRT station being haunted, she posed as a ghost for a picture that accompanied the article published on April 17.
‘You should have seen the terrified faces of the few passengers there,’ she says. The book, she adds, is meant to provide answers and entertain.
‘It is not the ultimate ‘solution’ to the urban tales. Read it and you may be inspired to have a crack at solving the mysteries yourself.’
Singapore Urban Legends: Myths & Mysteries is on sale at major bookstores, Buzz kiosks and selected newsstands at $10.50 each (includes GST).
Meet the writers of the Urban Legends book when they hold a book signing at Borders on Saturday from 5 to 6pm.
HERE are excerpts from three stories in Singapore Urban Legends: Myths & Mysteries.What goes into the gravy at the old Satay Club?
Rumour has it that to keep customers coming back for more, satay hawkers went to great lengths to spice up their gravy.
The story went that they borrowed from black magic rituals and added ‘special ingredients’ like dirty underwear and soiled sanitary napkins.
‘I’m not sure how it began,’ recalled bank officer Janice Chen, 32.
‘But when I was a kid, I heard from a friend who, as usual, heard from a friend’s friend and so on, that someone had gone to the gravy pot for a second helping and fished out a soiled sanitary napkin.’
We first checked with Mr Fahmi Rais, who heads the department of spiritual research at Singapore Paranormal Investigators. The group, which has about 500 members, deals with paranormal activity.
Mr Fahmi has studied Malay superstitions and magic for the past 25 years.
He was not aware of the Satay Club rumour, but said the use of ‘personal wares’ like underwear and sanitary pads to win favour with people is a popular Indonesian ritual.
These rituals, he said, date back to pre-Islamic times and are steeped more in tradition than religion.
‘Genitals, underwear, sanitary napkins – they are considered dirty things. The dirtier something is, the more potent the magic is said to be,’ he added.
Would pairing alcohol with durian kill you?
Marrying durian and drink is said to cause indigestion, flatulence, stomach discomfort and even death in some cases.
Rubbish, you say? Not if you hear service engineer Mike Thiah tell it.
The 35-year-old once drank vodka at a barbecue after having durians at home.
‘I threw up the whole night and my lungs felt as if they were being squeezed,’ he recalled.
The ordeal left him with a sore throat and a cough for a week.
Some say the problem lies in the compounds found in the two, which can cause havoc when mixed.
Others believe that since both are considered ‘heaty’, the body is unable to cope with the surge of heatiness.
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) expert Zhu Wen Jun said there is no scientific or chemical criteria when classifying food.
‘It depends on the effect the food has on balancing the ‘yin’ and ‘yang’ forces within the body,’ said the dean of TCM College at Pearl’s Centre.
‘Any imbalance of the two forces will result in illness or pain,’ he said.
Durian, he added, is high in vitamins and protein, and is a ‘heaty’ food which boosts the body’s ‘yang’ energy.
Alcohol is also heaty, so the two could clash and cause discomfort.
‘But I don’t think it will lead to death,’ he said.
And not all alcoholic drinks make bad company, it seems.
Is there a little girl who lurks in cinemas here?
Freelance projectionist Nicholas Joseph, who has been in the business since 1968, said he spotted a ‘shadow of a young girl’ in the projection room of a movie theatre in Tanjong Katong where a friend was working.
The theatre has since closed.
‘I won’t say I believe in such things. But if they do exist, they won’t disturb you if you don’t disturb them,’ he added.
Mr Charles Goh, the founder of Asia Paranormal Investigators (API), said another popular myth is of cinemas saving theatre seats for ‘hiah di’.
‘Hiah di’ is Hokkien for brothers, but can also be used as a term of respect for spirits.
The ticket auntie at old theatres had floor plans and would mark out the seats we chose in blue crayon.
But there would be seats marked in red,’ he said. ‘And when I sat close to those seats, I would find them chained up.’
The API is a group that researches the supernatural.
Cinema operators explained that, yes, some seats are ‘reserved’ in their multiplexes. But there is a simple, down-to-earth reason for it.
The seats are for last-minute emergencies, such as relocating patrons – living ones – who discover they have faulty seats, or when one seat has been assigned to two people.
This was especially common in the past when seat allocation was done using paper plans and pens instead of computers, as it is today.
(abductboy’s note: I was giving my own experience as a kid when I asked the auntie manning the ticket booth in a cinema in Chinatown. It was just a small cinema and I was 1 of the 1st few to buy. I asked why there was already a row in front marked out when I am the frst few. She gave me a real disproving look and asked me not to ask. So I purposely bought a ticket right next to the marked out. And I found them chained up. Actually you can’t sit on them cos it can’t be folded down due to the chains. I didn’t know what it meant, just felt strange that they were chained up, never thought of ‘ghosts’, never had or felt anything funny. Only during the internet era when I read about it on the web that I recalled.)
The cinema I spoke about was the Oriental Cinema. It stopped running a long time ago and this is what it is now.
http://www.sph.com.sg/news/latest/press_051209_002.htmlSingapore Urban Legends: Myths & Mysteries
A new book by The Straits Times Life! that compiles 18 of the most enduring local urban legendsSingapore, Dec 9 2005 – There are many stories floating around that sound both improbable and plausible at the same time.
You know, things that supposedly happened to the friend of a friend of a friend.
For instance:
➡ Did someone really die after mixing durians and alcohol?
➡ Did someone really fish out a sanitary pad from the gravy at the old Satay Club?
➡ Did someone really see a mysterious little girl and her toys at the Golden Village multiplex at Plaza Singapura?These are among the most enduring urban legends that have made endless rounds among Singaporeans.
But who can say for sure if they are real?A group of journalists from The Straits Times Life! can.
To separate fact from fiction, nine writers ran 18 urban legends by a slew of sources, from the police and
medical experts to perpetrators of these yarns and even paranormal researchers.Their riveting exposes are compiled in a 92-page book which details the investigation process and
satisfies the busybody in us all.Nine of the 18 stories were published in The Sunday Times’ LifeStyle section from February to April this year,
and the series won an in-house award.The rest are new tales that will send a familiar tingle down your spine.
As they say, the truth is out there, and the book has uncovered some of that truth.
Singapore Urban Legends: Myths & Mysteries goes on sale at major bookstores, Buzz kiosks and selected
newsstands from Dec 10, 2005. Priced at $10.50 (inclusive of GST).The authors will hold a book signing session at Borders on Dec 17, 2005, from 5pm to 6pm.
For more information, please contact:
Ms Tee Hun Ching
Copy editor
The Straits Times, Life!
DID: 6319-5382Here’s 3 of the urban legends articles from the Straits Times Series.
➡ Halls of Horror
➡ Is Bishan MRT ‘Unclean’
➡ Charlie, we may have CompanyOf cos the Book has 18 stories!
So grab a copy today!
Read a truncated version of the 3 stories here.
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