Singapore Urban Legends – Myths & Mysteries. By Straits

[Anonymous]

Singapore Urban Legends… Myth & Mysteries
STI Home > Lifestyle > Read > Story
Myth buster

The 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.html

Singapore Urban Legends: Myths & Mysteries
A new book by The Straits Times Life! that compiles 18 of the most enduring local urban legends

Singapore, 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: 6319-5382

Here’s 3 of the urban legends articles from the Straits Times Series.

➡ Halls of Horror
➡ Is Bishan MRT ‘Unclean’
➡ Charlie, we may have Company

Of cos the Book has 18 stories!

So grab a copy today!

Read a truncated version of the 3 stories below:-

[Anonymous]

Published in the Sunday Time, March 6, 2005

WHO’S THAT GIRL?: Among the wild tales of cinema “ghosts” is that of a “little girl” and the toys she leave behind.

What lurks in darkened cinemas? Plenty of ghost tales, as LifeStyle finds out.
By Karl Ho

IT IS the last show of the night and all is quiet inside the cinema hall save for the steady drone of dialogue emanating from the screen.

A little girl sits in the front row of the hall, alone. All of a sudden, she giggles wildly.

Her features are indistinct, shrouded by the darkness.

But when the lights come on later, the little girl has disappeared. The only evidence of her existence? A clutch of toys left behind on the seat.

Or so the story goes.

Cinemas, it seems, are not just favourite haunts of the living, but also the dead.

Any movie-goer worth the salt in his popcorn would have heard of the myriad supernatural tales revolving around Singapore ‘s cinemas.

One of the more prevalent legends currently being circulated in Internet chatrooms like is of the ‘little girl’ in Golden Village Plaza ‘s multiplex at Plaza Singapura.

Apparently, she has been spotted sitting in the front row of cinema halls 7 and 10 during the first and last shows of the day.

Story has it that cinema staff would find toys in these two halls. When they leave the toys by the exits at the end of the night, the toys would be gone the next morning – yet reappear in the front seat after the last show the same night.

Like any other urban myth, this one changes with every retelling.

Movie industry insiders LifeStyle spoke to gave differing takes on the creepy tale and its origins.

One version has it that gynaecological and paediatric clinics once occupied the space where the halls now stand.

Abortions were said to have taken place there, hence stories about patrons hearing sounds of children playing in the background during screenings.

In fact, taller tales have it that priests have performed cleansing rituals in the hall.

Armed with this information, LifeStyle set out to investigate.

If you enjoy reading this truncated article, remember that the Book contains 18 such urban legends unique to Singapore only.
So, why not buy and own 1 of the Singapore Urban Legends book now?!

[Anonymous]

Published in the Sunday Times April 17, 2005

UNHOLY PRESENCE: Faceless spirits and a headless ghost are among the spooks that supposedly inhabit Bishan Station.

Bishan was once a cemetery, and there is no shortage of stories of ghosts at the MRT station.
By Mak Mun San

* Article truncated to keep within 15% of published report.

Cemetery Station

Subways have traditionally been a favourite backdrop for ghost stories because they are ‘underground, dark and eerie’, says Mr Charles Goh, 37, the founder of Asia Paranormal Investigators (API).

Set up in 2005, the API is a group that researches the supernatural.

‘Darkness is one thing that people fear. Long tunnels that go underground and through unknown areas which may include cemeteries are a sure place to have ghosts, if they do exist,’ he adds.

It is a well-known fact that Bishan used to be a Chinese cemetery called Peck San Theng.

Founded in 1870 by immigrants from Guangdong province in China , it literally means ‘jade hill pavilion’ in Cantonese.

But it is difficult to ascertain if the MRT station sits on former graves.

A spokesman for the Land Transport Authority would confirm only that a cemetery used to be located in the Bishan area.

But the tombs were ‘exhumed before the town was developed and many years before the MRT station was built in the 1980s’, she said.

According to the Kwong Wai Siew Peck San Theng website (http://www.kwspecksantheng.com), 100,000 graves were exhumed in 1982 and 1983.

Today, the Kwong Wai Siew Peck San Theng columbarium, which holds 45,000 urns, is just a stone’s throw from Bishan MRT station.

API’s Mr Goh says this is probably why the station has long been associated with a certain headless ghost, which supposedly haunts the place by boarding or alighting there.

Another version has the ghost sitting in the last car, with his or her decapitated head placed on the next seat.

Mr Goh launched an investigation one night many years ago out of curiosity, but it yielded nothing except ‘goose pimples’ as the station was ‘quiet and empty’.

Still, he dismisses the e-mail that LifeStyle received as just another urban legend.

‘The most damning evidence is that this is Singapore . No MRT can bypass a station without repercussions. Even a single complaint will raise an uproar,’ he says.

* Article truncated to keep within 15% of published report.

If you enjoy reading this truncated article, remember that the Book contains 18 such urban legends unique to Singapore only.
So, why not buy and own 1 of the Singapore Urban Legends book now?!

[Anonymous]

Published in the Sunday Time April 24, 2005

HALT, WHO GOES THERE?: Legend has it that after the ghost of Charlie Company was spotted standing among some trees, subsequent route marches were diverted to avoid the area.

A recruit who died during basic military training was said to haunt the barracks in Pulau Tekong.
By Karl Ho

IF YOU’RE a national serviceman, you might have heard this story. During a route march once in Pulau Tekong, a soldier from Charlie Company disappeared. Tekong is the offshore base where recruits undergo basic military training (BMT).

One of the toughest training exercises, the route march sees soldiers laden with combat gear marching distances of 3 to 24km.

Despite a thorough search, he was only discovered the next day along the route march trail. His entrails were laid out next to his body, alongside his full pack and rifle. Although he was subsequently cremated with full military honours, his spirit refused to leave, or so the story goes.

In the dead of night, recruits have reportedly heard the dead soldier shouting for Charlie Company to fall in. Some have even seen him by the bed he used to occupy.

On a subsequent route march by another company, the officer-in-command was said to have spotted a soldier standing among some trees in a distance. Subsequent route marches were then diverted to avoid the area.

The story goes on to say that priests who were sent to Pulau Tekong to investigate suggested that a third door be added to one side of the dead soldier’s barracks so that his restless soul could ‘escape’.

At the time, most of the barracks in Pulau Tekong were single-storey rectangular blocks with wooden walls and zinc roofs. At each end was a door and double-decker bunk beds and metal cabinets lined the two sides. After the third door was built, reports of the sightings ceased.

Gruesome truth or a hoax perpetuated to scare fresh-faced recruits?

The Charlie Company urban legend has been a talking point since the 1980s, and has been circulated extensively on Internet chatrooms like military.sgforums.com. It was also re-enacted in the homegrown television series Incredible Tales in March last year.

Titled The Third Door, MediaCorp said the episode was one of the most popular in the 13-part programme and garnered higher ratings than those for popular sitcoms such as Phua Chu Kang.

Like all folklore, this urban legend changes after every retelling. One version has it that when the soldier was found, he had been impaled with an entrenching tool that soldiers use for digging trenches.

When LifeStyle contacted an army veteran to verify the story, he had a good laugh.

Mr Wee Kia Pak, 60, was with the Singapore Armed Forces for 30 years. He retired in 1994 as a lieutanant-colonel. He was also the commanding officer of the then Infantry Training Depot in Pulau Tekong from 1983 to 1987. He said he had neither seen nor heard about the bunk or the ghost.

‘In all my years at Tekong, I’ve not seen anything out of the ordinary,’ he said.

The Defence Ministry (Mindef) declined to discuss the urban legend. A spokesman also said Mindef has no official records to show that the three-doored bunk exists.

But I have seen it. I did my BMT in Charlie Company on Pulau Tekong in 1993. My quarters were in the old camp which is now used for field training. Recruits now bunk in the new Schools 1 and 2, which opened officially in 1999.

During my BMT, the three-doored bunk – at the edge of the parade square – was diagonally across from my quarters. It was used as a lecture theatre-cum-storage space.

Armed with information and personal experience, I set off to investigate if Charlie has had any unwelcome company.

If you enjoy reading this truncated article, remember that the Book contains 18 such urban legends unique to Singapore only.
So, why not buy and own 1 of the Singapore Urban Legends book now?!

Read also API Founder, Charles Goh, own research into his Tekong Mystery.

[Author]

Posts

[Anonymous]

Singapore Urban Legends… Myth & Mysteries
STI Home > Lifestyle > Read > Story
Myth buster

The 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.html

Singapore Urban Legends: Myths & Mysteries
A new book by The Straits Times Life! that compiles 18 of the most enduring local urban legends

Singapore, 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: 6319-5382

Here’s 3 of the urban legends articles from the Straits Times Series.

➡ Halls of Horror
➡ Is Bishan MRT ‘Unclean’
➡ Charlie, we may have Company

Of cos the Book has 18 stories!

So grab a copy today!

Read a truncated version of the 3 stories below:-

[Anonymous]

Published in the Sunday Time, March 6, 2005

WHO’S THAT GIRL?: Among the wild tales of cinema “ghosts” is that of a “little girl” and the toys she leave behind.

What lurks in darkened cinemas? Plenty of ghost tales, as LifeStyle finds out.
By Karl Ho

IT IS the last show of the night and all is quiet inside the cinema hall save for the steady drone of dialogue emanating from the screen.

A little girl sits in the front row of the hall, alone. All of a sudden, she giggles wildly.

Her features are indistinct, shrouded by the darkness.

But when the lights come on later, the little girl has disappeared. The only evidence of her existence? A clutch of toys left behind on the seat.

Or so the story goes.

Cinemas, it seems, are not just favourite haunts of the living, but also the dead.

Any movie-goer worth the salt in his popcorn would have heard of the myriad supernatural tales revolving around Singapore ‘s cinemas.

One of the more prevalent legends currently being circulated in Internet chatrooms like is of the ‘little girl’ in Golden Village Plaza ‘s multiplex at Plaza Singapura.

Apparently, she has been spotted sitting in the front row of cinema halls 7 and 10 during the first and last shows of the day.

Story has it that cinema staff would find toys in these two halls. When they leave the toys by the exits at the end of the night, the toys would be gone the next morning – yet reappear in the front seat after the last show the same night.

Like any other urban myth, this one changes with every retelling.

Movie industry insiders LifeStyle spoke to gave differing takes on the creepy tale and its origins.

One version has it that gynaecological and paediatric clinics once occupied the space where the halls now stand.

Abortions were said to have taken place there, hence stories about patrons hearing sounds of children playing in the background during screenings.

In fact, taller tales have it that priests have performed cleansing rituals in the hall.

Armed with this information, LifeStyle set out to investigate.

If you enjoy reading this truncated article, remember that the Book contains 18 such urban legends unique to Singapore only.
So, why not buy and own 1 of the Singapore Urban Legends book now?!

[Anonymous]

Published in the Sunday Times April 17, 2005

UNHOLY PRESENCE: Faceless spirits and a headless ghost are among the spooks that supposedly inhabit Bishan Station.

Bishan was once a cemetery, and there is no shortage of stories of ghosts at the MRT station.
By Mak Mun San

* Article truncated to keep within 15% of published report.

Cemetery Station

Subways have traditionally been a favourite backdrop for ghost stories because they are ‘underground, dark and eerie’, says Mr Charles Goh, 37, the founder of Asia Paranormal Investigators (API).

Set up in 2005, the API is a group that researches the supernatural.

‘Darkness is one thing that people fear. Long tunnels that go underground and through unknown areas which may include cemeteries are a sure place to have ghosts, if they do exist,’ he adds.

It is a well-known fact that Bishan used to be a Chinese cemetery called Peck San Theng.

Founded in 1870 by immigrants from Guangdong province in China , it literally means ‘jade hill pavilion’ in Cantonese.

But it is difficult to ascertain if the MRT station sits on former graves.

A spokesman for the Land Transport Authority would confirm only that a cemetery used to be located in the Bishan area.

But the tombs were ‘exhumed before the town was developed and many years before the MRT station was built in the 1980s’, she said.

According to the Kwong Wai Siew Peck San Theng website (http://www.kwspecksantheng.com), 100,000 graves were exhumed in 1982 and 1983.

Today, the Kwong Wai Siew Peck San Theng columbarium, which holds 45,000 urns, is just a stone’s throw from Bishan MRT station.

API’s Mr Goh says this is probably why the station has long been associated with a certain headless ghost, which supposedly haunts the place by boarding or alighting there.

Another version has the ghost sitting in the last car, with his or her decapitated head placed on the next seat.

Mr Goh launched an investigation one night many years ago out of curiosity, but it yielded nothing except ‘goose pimples’ as the station was ‘quiet and empty’.

Still, he dismisses the e-mail that LifeStyle received as just another urban legend.

‘The most damning evidence is that this is Singapore . No MRT can bypass a station without repercussions. Even a single complaint will raise an uproar,’ he says.

* Article truncated to keep within 15% of published report.

If you enjoy reading this truncated article, remember that the Book contains 18 such urban legends unique to Singapore only.
So, why not buy and own 1 of the Singapore Urban Legends book now?!

[Anonymous]

Published in the Sunday Time April 24, 2005

HALT, WHO GOES THERE?: Legend has it that after the ghost of Charlie Company was spotted standing among some trees, subsequent route marches were diverted to avoid the area.

A recruit who died during basic military training was said to haunt the barracks in Pulau Tekong.
By Karl Ho

IF YOU’RE a national serviceman, you might have heard this story. During a route march once in Pulau Tekong, a soldier from Charlie Company disappeared. Tekong is the offshore base where recruits undergo basic military training (BMT).

One of the toughest training exercises, the route march sees soldiers laden with combat gear marching distances of 3 to 24km.

Despite a thorough search, he was only discovered the next day along the route march trail. His entrails were laid out next to his body, alongside his full pack and rifle. Although he was subsequently cremated with full military honours, his spirit refused to leave, or so the story goes.

In the dead of night, recruits have reportedly heard the dead soldier shouting for Charlie Company to fall in. Some have even seen him by the bed he used to occupy.

On a subsequent route march by another company, the officer-in-command was said to have spotted a soldier standing among some trees in a distance. Subsequent route marches were then diverted to avoid the area.

The story goes on to say that priests who were sent to Pulau Tekong to investigate suggested that a third door be added to one side of the dead soldier’s barracks so that his restless soul could ‘escape’.

At the time, most of the barracks in Pulau Tekong were single-storey rectangular blocks with wooden walls and zinc roofs. At each end was a door and double-decker bunk beds and metal cabinets lined the two sides. After the third door was built, reports of the sightings ceased.

Gruesome truth or a hoax perpetuated to scare fresh-faced recruits?

The Charlie Company urban legend has been a talking point since the 1980s, and has been circulated extensively on Internet chatrooms like military.sgforums.com. It was also re-enacted in the homegrown television series Incredible Tales in March last year.

Titled The Third Door, MediaCorp said the episode was one of the most popular in the 13-part programme and garnered higher ratings than those for popular sitcoms such as Phua Chu Kang.

Like all folklore, this urban legend changes after every retelling. One version has it that when the soldier was found, he had been impaled with an entrenching tool that soldiers use for digging trenches.

When LifeStyle contacted an army veteran to verify the story, he had a good laugh.

Mr Wee Kia Pak, 60, was with the Singapore Armed Forces for 30 years. He retired in 1994 as a lieutanant-colonel. He was also the commanding officer of the then Infantry Training Depot in Pulau Tekong from 1983 to 1987. He said he had neither seen nor heard about the bunk or the ghost.

‘In all my years at Tekong, I’ve not seen anything out of the ordinary,’ he said.

The Defence Ministry (Mindef) declined to discuss the urban legend. A spokesman also said Mindef has no official records to show that the three-doored bunk exists.

But I have seen it. I did my BMT in Charlie Company on Pulau Tekong in 1993. My quarters were in the old camp which is now used for field training. Recruits now bunk in the new Schools 1 and 2, which opened officially in 1999.

During my BMT, the three-doored bunk – at the edge of the parade square – was diagonally across from my quarters. It was used as a lecture theatre-cum-storage space.

Armed with information and personal experience, I set off to investigate if Charlie has had any unwelcome company.

If you enjoy reading this truncated article, remember that the Book contains 18 such urban legends unique to Singapore only.
So, why not buy and own 1 of the Singapore Urban Legends book now?!

Read also API Founder, Charles Goh, own research into his Tekong Mystery.

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