Five spooky places to experience the supernatural

With the start of the hungry ghost festival tomorrow, the horrors of the night are beginning to awaken. Here are five spooky places that are bound to give you the creeps. If you are afraid of spooky things, turn away now!

1. Matilda House

Built in 1902 by Irish Lawyer, Joseph William Cashin, the Matilda House, or Istana Menanti (meaning “waiting place” in Malay) is located just a short distance away from Punggol MRT.

Occupied till the 1970s, the house has been abandoned for close to 40 years now, and it is said that those who step into the house meet with ill-fated accidents soon after. A widely known story amongst the Punggol locals involves three workers who once tried to enter the Matilda house to perform repair work. Mysteriously, each one of them died soon after entering the house.

2. Abandoned railway track near Sunset Way

Known mostly for fantastic photo-taking opportunities and notorious blood-sucking mosquitoes, the abandoned railway near Sunset Way is one of the lesser-known haunted areas in Singapore.

The place might look pleasant and rustic in the day, but when night comes, the trees and general run-down feel of the place really bring the spookiness-level up. Many couples who have done wedding shoots there in the evenings have reported sightings of an elderly couple who seem to appear just after sunset.

3. Bukit Brown

More commonly known as Kopi Sua (Coffee Hill in Malay), Bukit Brown is a Chinese burial place that was opened in 1922. A fun fact: it was actually named after George Henry Brown, the first owner of the land.

Surrounded by greenery, there have been frequent sightings of pontianaks (or white figures) sitting or hiding behind the trees. Muffled laughs and screams can often be heard in the graveyard throughout the day. A slightly more intriguing sighting would be that of a long-haired woman in a cheongsam, who is said to patrol the graveyard at night.

4. Brunei Hostel

Just looking at this place will give you the creeps. Dilapidated and formidable-looking, it is easy to see why people so commonly refer to it as the haunted hostel. Built in 1958, the four-storey hostel was meant as housing for students from Brunei studying in Singapore.

With that in mind, residents in the area have frequently reported a bunch of boys making a racket in the field just next to the abandoned hostel at night. What makes it creepier is that groups who go in for photo-shoots in the day often recount ‘a bad feeling’ when going deeper into the hostel, and the feeling of being watched.

5. Old Changi Hospital

Decayed and extremely unhospitable (oh the irony), this has to be one of the scariest places in Singapore to visit. Built in 1935 as a British barracks and hospital, it was more famously known for its use as a prison camp during the Japanese occupation.

Countless stories of sightings have been reported, amongst which are the famous “shadow people” encounters. It is said that in the movie Haunted Changi (which was filmed at the hospital), the crew members were able to capture live footage of these shadowy figures, coupled with various other eerie sounds in their recordings.