It is said that spirits exist on different planes, but occasionally we come across them in places more attuned to their energy. In some places they linger longer when they leave life abruptly and unwillingly. This is a list of some of Malaysia’s top haunted spots from the least to the most scary. Ready to get chilled?
8. Mona Fandey’s House
This story is more gruesome than haunted. Mona Fandey is an insane practitioner of black magic. She told Mazlan Idris, a state assemblyman for the constituency of Batu Talam that she will give him unrivalled power. Acting upon her promise, she got him to lie down on the floor, covered him with flowers and told him to ‘close his eyes and wait for the money to fall from heaven’. With his eyes close, she coolly chopped off his head.
She thereafter chopped his body into 18 different parts and buried them in a storeroom near her house in Pahang. During her hearing, she was extremely happy and cheerful throughout the trial; and before her execution she uttered “aku takkan mati” (I will not die). Her house is purported to be heavily haunted from all her black magic acts.
7. Highland Towers, Bukit Antarabangsa
Even the most elite of developments are sometimes struck by disaster. Highland Towers is one such case where many of its occupants were killed in the midst of their everyday activities when a landslide occurred.
This is an internal story is of an acquaintance who personally knew a family of three inclusive of a baby living here; a family and their maid. The madam was in the kitchen preparing food, the sir in the toilet bathing and the maid on the balcony carrying the baby. Being from the Philippines she was well acquainted with earthquakes. The moment she felt the building moving she screamed for her madam and sir; but being where they were, they could not escape. Fortunately the unit was only on Level 2.
Still carrying the baby, she jumped off the balcony and ran away just in time before the condominium collapsed. Watching the building fall into pieces and hearing screams of terror, she watched the demise of Highland Towers.
With sirens wailing in the background and not knowing what to do as she did not have her passport nor money she walked barefoot all the way to her employer’s parents house with the baby. Needless to say, they thanked her eternally for saving their only grandchild of their only child, raised her salary, gave her a private room in their house and she became more of their family member than a maid.
6. First World Hotel, Genting Highlands
This is a place that undoubtedly has the most number of unhappy spirits, from jilted girlfriends who committed suicide to desperate men spending their last dollar on a turn of hand in the casino. The entire 21st floor is said to be haunted, there is no lift button for Level 21, and lifts generally always skip that floor. Rumours have it there there was a corpse found under one of the beds last time, and yet another rumour states the murder of a prostitute for the reason that the entire floor doesn’t exist. But no one knows why and neither will the staff reveal the reason behind this oddity.
Other popular commonly spotted spirits in Genting Highlands includes the lady in cheongsam with long hair who was supposed to have been jilted by her boyfriend when in Genting Highlands and then committed suicide by jumping off the balcony.
There have been stories of lone male travellers encountering her in the middle of the night when at the First World Hotel, leaning over them while they were sleeping and glaring at them. There are also stories of couples who encountered her separately in ways that were meant to convince the female that her boyfriend was cheating on her. Perhaps this is her way of trying to make history repeat itself and get a companion in the afterworld…
5. Bukit Tunku, Kuala Lumpur
Rich man’s place but rich people do bad things to get money? Bukit Tunku is home to all the richest of people in Malaysia but is purported to be haunted with the most ‘pontianaks’. All taxi drivers will never pick up a lady or child from Bukit Tunku in the evening or night, nor send lady or child to Bukit Tunku at night when looking for customers.
4. No. 8, Jalan Turi, Bangsar
This is the location of a famous bungalow. A bloody case of homicide occurred here where the bodyguard of an American family chopped up two children and their maid on 23rd April 1992 and dumped their remains in the house’s septic tank. Freely admitting to his crimes, to this day passerby still see shadows of children at the gate staring out sadly in the twilight, and occasionally they still hear screams of children pleading for help…
3. Pudu Jail, Kuala Lumpur
This is a jail that has now been demolished, and its grounds have been exposed to nature and all the harsh elements for over a year to clear all its negative vibes and unhappy spirits. But at one point of time, this jail used to be holding cells for the most notorious criminals who were often sentenced to death. After it was no longer used as a jail, the grounds were opened to public with tours given; where visitors still heard screams of no longer living people from hanging chambers, unexplained cold spots in corridors and a disturbing vibe.
2. Silverpark Resort, Frasers Hill
The highlands are always said to host the most spirits because of their relative isolation despite throngs of visitors during peak seasons. One of the blocks at this apartment is not meant to be rented out. Here is a story of a family who stayed at this block before, a family of four with a caretaker.
According to the caretaker, there were children pulling her hair at night when she was trying to sleep, and suspecting foul play on the children’s side she woke up to see nobody around. The father of the family heard sounds of a ball rolling across floor, people on the balcony and sounds of children feet running across floor in daytime with not even a shadow to account for it. The unit was also extraordinary cold. Needless to say, this was their last ever visit here.
1. Karak Highway
While it is not a property, Karak Highway is nevertheless a location which cannot be missed from any haunted Malaysian list especially after the 1990 Kuala Lumpur-Karak Highway crash which killed 17 people when a passenger bus crashed into a tanker lorry, FRU riot police car and 10 other vehicles.
There are many stories of spirits roaming these highways, and of the many well known spirits on this road is a yellow Volkswagen which goes around at night without a driver, appearing to drive very slowly in front of you and making you overtake it; of which if you look, you will realise there is no driver. Don’t bother overtaking it, as according to the stories it will just appear in front of you again in a few hundred metres.
There is also the Lost School Boy who will be wandering along the side of the road. If you try to talk to him, he will just continue to ask you, “Have you seen my mother?” over and over again. Legend has it that there was an accident where his mother was flung out of the car while the glass and windshield pierced his eyes thus killing him. To this day, his ghost is still looking for his mother.
And perhaps the creepiest story? A radio deejay received a call from a listener late one night on air. Sounding depressed, the caller told his story of how he got into an accident where his car went down a ravine on the side of a highway. He told of how he watched his parents, wife and children die in front of him and then watched himself die as well before the line cut off.
Attempting to call the caller back, the deejay was unable to make contact. Both listeners and radio deejay brushed off the entire experience until the next day when the newspapers reported an accident on the Karak Highway where a couple, their parents and children died in an accident when their car went down a ravine. With a chill running down his spine, the deejay rushed back to listen to the radio recording - only to find an eerie silence.
There are so many more famous haunted places such as Villa Nabila in Johor where a boy entered the mansion ghost hunting in fun, disappeared and woke up back in his friend’s house with no memory of what happened in the haunted house nor knowledge of how he got to his friends bed, or an apartment in Precinct 18 of Putrajaya where you go to sleep in your own bed and wake up randomly in another bed in the same house.
Hauntings are usually created by gruesome accidents which cause angry and dissatisfied spirits to linger around. We are sure you have heard your share of horror stories equivalent to these or worse. Come share with us your hauntings below…..
(Written by: Diane Foo Eu Lynn, 7th April 2016)
