King George V School in Seremban

Japanese occupation in 1940s, the school was used as the Japanese Military Police Headquarters by the Miyazaki Butai regiment. The dressing room beside the stage in the school hall were reportedly used as torture chambers.

 

KGV an old photo – old and majestic

Lady in a Red Dress

Mei Foong just drove back from Seremban, about 2 hours from Kuala Lumpur, after spending the day with her in-laws. She was with her 3 year old daughter and her husband who was driving.  As it was already 7 pm, she was hurrying to go back to her home as her daughter was feeling a bit unwell.

She was travelling on a side road near Cheras when their car had to stop abruptly due a maze of cars. Actually the parked cars were parked in a haphazard manner near a neighborhood house. Her husband said that they must be having a Chinese wake. A Chinese wake is when people come to pay their respects when a person dies. Of course they are provided with drinks and naturally they get to gamble.

Mei Foong abruptly said, “Gostang” (meaning to reverse) the car and to look for an alternative route.  They eventually found another side road and it was about 7.30 pm and getting dark. Suddenly with the car headlamps on Mei Foong saw a lady in a red Cheongsam (a formal Chinese dress) walking in the same direction as their car.

 She asked her husband to stop the car. Frustrated he asked her the reason for stopping the car and she replied there was a woman walking by the street. Her husband then shook his head and claim that he did not see anybody. She rolled her eyes tiredly and she peered at her rear mirror and saw the woman in her blue cheongsam in the darkness. Before she got to say anything…the lady in red cheongsam disappeared!!!

She had a high fever for 3 days after that incident.

E & O (Eastern & Oriental) Hotel in Penang

The Sarkies, Indian entrepreneurs, set up the E &O (Eastern & Oriental) hotel by the sea in 18884 in Georgetown, Penang. 
Stories abound that it is haunted.

Hysteria

A girl was sent home from school early. Apparently, almost 20 students in her school were acting 'hysterical'. The more superstitious among them, of course, believed that these students were possessed by various spirits.

I'll let you read the 'official explanation' for these incidences in the scans of the front page of our national newspaper below, but rumors say that some of the girls were playing 'Spirit Of The Coin' - similar to the Western 'Ouija Board' - in a toilet that was already reputed to be haunted.
They asked the spirit that they had invoked on how it died (murdered, naturally), whether it was angry over its murder and whether it was still angry now. The spirit had answered 'YES' to the last two questions. Scared, the girls ran out of the toilet without ending the game, i.e. telling the spirit to leave. When they came back later, the board they had used was gone, either thrown away or just simply disappeared, no one knows.
In another version of the rumors, the girls were apparently unable to send the spirit away, as they had used blood, which I suppose makes the spirit more powerful? Anyway, there were various incidences of 'hysteria' after that, until two weeks later, the number of 'hysterical' students was so large that the school was forced to close early.

It was announced that the school authorities have engaged “religious practitioners” to calm the students. 

Convent Light Street in Penang

Ghostly Neighbor in the United States

Ghostly Neighbor in the United States

When I was studying in Fort Wayne, Indiana in the United States, I stayed in small apartment from the campus in the 1980s. It was a happy but stressful time and our neighbor was called Mrs. Sheperd. She was over 70 years old and she stayed by herself since hers husband passed away years ago and she did not have any children. Every now and then were treated with homemade cookies and cakes when we came back from our lessons. She led a very active live as she use to go to the mall for a groceries and to library for books. I left after two years as we found another place.

We were upset once we found up that Mrs Sheperd has passed away suddenly. We had a friend, named Sharon and her sister who was looking at a place to stay. She eventually got the tenancy agreement signed and got her stuff packed together with her sister.

My friend and I helped her to move her belongings to Mrs Sheperd’s apartment. When I was unpacking in Mrs Sheperd’s place, I cannot help feeling remorse and sadness for not being there for her to be left there alone on her dying bed. Anyway we were happy for Sharon and her sister for finding that place.

I was busy with my studies and after a week, Sharon called to ask us to come over. We went over the next night, where we were told of some strange occurrences. It seems that Sharon and her dog, a Yorkshire Terrier, had heard sounds in the living room. Her Yorkshire Terrier would bark and kept staring at a particular corner of the living room, which Sharon pointed to us the direction.

I was a bit surprised when she pointed at the corner because Mrs Sheperd used to sit on her favorite seat and read her story books (She is an avid reader). Suddenly, while Sharon was retelling her tale, there was a sweet unique aroma in the living room, the same distinctive smell of Mrs Sheperd’s perfume like roses.

We were all quite not knowing what to say when Sharon announce that she is willing to accept the noises and the aroma. It reminded her of her grandmother and it feels safe.

When I left the United States to return to my country after completing my degree, I dropped by to say goodbye to Sharon and her sister. I had also had opportunity to say goodbye to “Mrs Sheperd”.