For one of the most developed nations in Asia, Singapore is surprisingly full of haunted stories. Li Kim explores the history and the legends behind various locations in Singapore which are notorious for hauntings. From the now defunct “death houses” to parks where vicious murders took place, Li Kim, accompanied by a spirit medium, visits these places to see what energies remain.
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TVTranscript
00:00 (dramatic music)
00:02 - I remember the month to be April, 1971.
00:08 I was actually attending a relative's funeral
00:13 and then her body was actually moved
00:16 to Segoe Lane, the death house.
00:18 My father, together with my sister and myself,
00:22 went to the funeral parlor.
00:24 The parlor was actually shared by different families.
00:27 We saw there were three deceased bodies
00:31 and they were not separated by screens
00:35 or anything like that, but they were just laid out
00:37 in different rattan kind of beds.
00:40 My sister and I wanted to go to the bathroom,
00:42 so we actually have to walk into the hall
00:46 and pass the deceased bodies.
00:49 Before we could reach the back of the unit,
00:52 we were nervous as children.
00:54 We tried not to look at the bodies,
00:55 but when I entered this back room,
00:57 at the corner of my eyes,
00:59 I saw that there were two chairs.
01:01 I could actually see two persons sitting there.
01:04 They were all dressed in white.
01:06 (dramatic music)
01:09 (alarm ringing)
01:13 (dramatic music)
01:16 (screaming)
01:22 (laughing)
01:28 (screaming)
01:38 (dramatic music)
01:41 I could not see whether they were men or women.
01:47 I could see that they were just all dressed
01:49 sort of like very long white robes.
01:52 And as I turned my head,
01:54 I could actually see the two figures
01:57 actually lean backwards.
01:59 And I could actually see with my own eyes
02:02 that they zipped right into the wall.
02:06 I could even see their feet going into the wall.
02:09 I was very, very shocked.
02:10 I was like replaying what I saw in my head,
02:14 trying to believe whether I really saw that or not.
02:16 - Death is a non-negotiable outcome
02:20 that all living beings and creatures
02:21 must eventually experience.
02:23 But because we are uncertain as to what happens
02:26 at the time of death or after,
02:29 many ceremonies, customs, and religious beliefs
02:31 have been crafted to help us cope with our own mortality.
02:35 No matter how modern we become,
02:37 we still find death scary,
02:39 which may explain why ghost stories
02:41 such as those told by Madam Elsie Wong
02:44 may become an acceptable explanation of life after death.
02:47 In this episode, we will revisit the gloomy past
02:51 of Sago Lane that is now hidden behind
02:53 a modern outlook of shopping malls
02:55 and is also a tourist attraction of Singapore.
02:58 We will also explore the spirit world
03:00 using technologically advanced devices and tools.
03:04 (eerie music)
03:06 - As we've all heard, Sago Lane is remembered
03:10 as a place of horror and fear.
03:13 I'm curious if there were sightings and hauntings.
03:16 What were people's experiences here
03:20 in what they call the Lane of Death?
03:22 Can you explain to me what was the Sago Lane before
03:28 during the times of the death houses?
03:31 - Sago Lane was a stark contrast from the present day
03:35 because it was known as a street of death.
03:38 Whereas now, it's essentially a mall
03:43 for the edification of the tourists.
03:45 In the early days, Sago Lane is full of people
03:50 who are from China, very poor.
03:53 They are either driven out of China
03:56 or forced to go from China to Singapore
03:59 to eke out a living.
04:01 So sometimes along the five foot way,
04:03 you'll find dead bodies are being placed there
04:08 on a bench, not covered.
04:12 It's very scary.
04:14 You see, most of these people operating the death industry,
04:17 they would take an ordinary shop house.
04:20 They use the ground floor for funeral services.
04:24 The second story is for religious rites.
04:27 - Oh.
04:28 - The top level is more like operating a death house
04:33 where you find people who are found to be terminally ill.
04:37 So they're left there,
04:38 practically leaving them there to die.
04:41 - From what you are telling me also,
04:43 that people are left there to die,
04:46 either neglected or they have no family.
04:48 - You see Sago Lane also in two levels.
04:52 In the daytime, there might be hawkers.
04:54 At the same time, you can hear every now and then
04:57 a funeral service going on
04:59 with the bands playing a lot of music.
05:01 At night time, so it's very macabre, very mysterious.
05:06 And when you walk, you walk with a sense of fear.
05:10 Then you see the Taoist monk,
05:13 the priest and all that praying until 12 o'clock.
05:16 There's always fear of ghosts and things like that,
05:21 and spirits.
05:22 - The atmosphere of death generates fear,
05:25 and this is transferred to the tales of ghosts and spirits,
05:28 whether they are true or not.
05:29 I'm now going to speak to someone
05:31 from the industry of death itself, Mr Wong,
05:34 a paper offerings maker from Sago Lane
05:36 before the death houses were banned in 1961.
05:39 These paper images like joss paper, ghost money,
05:42 houses, cars, boats and clothes
05:44 are burnt and offered to the deceased
05:46 because to the Chinese,
05:47 it is believed that life exists after death
05:49 in the netherworld.
05:54 - In this business, there are things I've never seen before,
05:57 including what you call ghosts.
06:00 But I've heard that family members do receive dreams
06:02 from the deceased, asking for houses, cars and other items.
06:07 To me, it is not my job to find out if it is true
06:11 that the departed did ask for these paper offerings.
06:14 But so long as we feel peaceful,
06:16 we just do what is needed for our loved ones
06:19 who have passed on.
06:20 - The services of these death houses
06:23 were mainly for people that were without family or abandoned.
06:28 Would you say that?
06:29 - Not necessarily so.
06:31 There are some rich families that will conduct the funerals
06:34 and wakes at Sago Lane.
06:36 You must understand that other than being death houses
06:39 for those who are terminally ill,
06:41 these were funeral parlours that offer services to anyone
06:45 for their convenience.
06:47 If they are rich, then they can afford to burn bigger houses,
06:50 cars and afford a bigger funeral procession.
06:54 - I have heard and I've read about workers of that time
06:58 in the 40s, 50s.
07:00 Some of them worked as nannies to families.
07:04 And after the children all grow up,
07:06 these nannies have no place to go.
07:09 (speaking in foreign language)
07:09 - In the olden times, these Amma or nannies from China
07:13 were very hardworking, earning a lot of money
07:15 to be sent home.
07:17 But as they grew old, since they were not married,
07:20 they had no one to care for them in Singapore.
07:23 With whatever money left,
07:24 it will determine how big the paper houses
07:27 we can burn for them.
07:28 - When you walk past these death houses,
07:30 you must have felt something.
07:33 - For me, I have not felt or seen anything.
07:36 Maybe because I'm in this paper offerings business
07:39 for so long that I am numb.
07:41 Outsiders can feel sad or scared,
07:44 but I have seen death for so many decades
07:46 that I'm immune to it.
07:48 - People like Mr. Wong, who is from the industry
07:51 of the dead, do not fear and won't even exaggerate
07:53 on the presence of ghosts.
07:55 Like he said, he is numb.
07:57 But does it mean that upon death,
07:58 there is no afterlife in the spirit world
08:00 when a whole business industry exists to support it?
08:03 - That a pregnant cat cannot jump over a body
08:07 because it will awaken the dead.
08:10 (dramatic music)
08:13 - When I was young, I used to play near the death houses
08:24 in Sago Lane.
08:26 I was scared, but also curious.
08:28 The undertakers also liked me
08:31 and allowed me to be around when they worked.
08:34 One night, as usual, dead bodies were laid down
08:37 on the floor of the five-foot way.
08:39 There is a belief that a pregnant cat cannot jump
08:42 over a body because it will awaken the dead
08:46 and it will jump around like a zombie.
08:49 For some unknown reasons, a pregnant cat jumped over a body
08:52 and it stood up and started to jump.
08:55 The undertaker immediately took a broom and knocked it down
08:59 and it fell, but I was so frightened
09:01 that I hid under the table.
09:03 If it catches you, you'll be dead.
09:07 - Sago Lane is often remembered
09:09 for its notorious death houses that are packaged
09:11 with a string of ghost stories.
09:13 But someone's got to do the job
09:15 of handling the affairs of the dead.
09:17 By 1961, the death houses were stopped
09:19 by the government of Singapore.
09:21 And in mid-1970s, the remaining parts
09:23 of this nostalgic lane were demolished.
09:26 Joshua Komaroff was the architect involved
09:28 in the designing and building of a set
09:30 for a ghostly-themed outdoor stage play
09:33 about the Sago Lane and the Ahmas.
09:35 Let's see what was his experience during this production.
09:38 During this whole pre-production process,
09:41 did anything paranormal happen to you
09:44 or any member of the crew?
09:46 - Well, it was definitely a spooky process
09:48 in the sense that we were starting
09:49 to look back through history,
09:51 but the death houses themselves were a very kind of dark chapter
09:56 in the nation's history in a way.
09:58 But I was aware that the members of the cast,
10:02 the members of the crew, the contractors,
10:04 the actors, and everyone else involved,
10:07 I would say they stepped very lightly around that area.
10:10 They were very careful about it.
10:12 They were aware that it was a special place.
10:14 They were aware that it had a special history,
10:16 and they had a lot of respect for that history.
10:18 So people were, I would say, cautious
10:22 and a little bit concerned
10:25 because the play itself reenacted ghosts emerging
10:30 in the alleyway between the death houses
10:32 and telling their life stories.
10:34 So in a way, there was a sense that maybe this was
10:38 almost asking for something to happen.
10:42 (creature growling)
10:45 - How did you view all this history
10:48 that you were digging out?
10:49 And how do you see that history still prevalent
10:53 in today's modern time Singapore?
10:56 - It was very interesting to see how the wakes
10:59 and all of the ceremony and all of the symbolic work
11:02 that people were doing helped to find that time
11:06 and make that passage between somebody who was living
11:08 and somebody who has passed away.
11:10 I think there's still a tendency,
11:11 there's still a desire for that,
11:12 that a lot of those practices help people
11:15 to go through the phases of mourning to some extent.
11:18 Nowadays, it seems very rushed.
11:21 The cremation process is very quick,
11:23 but we still have the wakes,
11:25 and we still have a lot of those traditions.
11:26 And I think that that keeps a lot
11:28 of that kind of culture alive.
11:30 (eerie music)
11:32 - After visiting the past,
11:34 I am curious about what is happening now in the spirit world.
11:37 Do spirits in human form exist,
11:39 or is it just a psychological healing
11:41 for us to cope with the loss and death?
11:43 Let's find some evidence about the existence
11:45 of these spirits.
11:46 And a good place to start is to visit the cemetery
11:49 together with Singapore Paranormal Investigators.
11:52 - Jasmine, tell me what is SPI and what do you guys do?
11:58 - So what we do is that we investigate
12:02 into paranormal happenings.
12:04 People will say, "Oh, there's ghosts,"
12:06 or "There's some kind of entity."
12:10 We are there to investigate and to find out
12:14 whether it is logically experiencing,
12:18 or are there other factors that are affecting,
12:20 maybe some more scientific level,
12:23 affecting the person's emotions or physical well-being.
12:27 - So therefore, what SPI does is,
12:32 other than investigate a location
12:35 which is claimed to be haunted,
12:36 with spirit sightings,
12:39 you also give an answer to the person
12:44 who's actually complaining to you?
12:45 - We will give a report to,
12:48 the person may decide what to do next.
12:50 - SPI's role is to actually just to investigate a location
12:56 with the equipment and techniques that you have.
12:58 - Right, right.
12:59 We're just a reporter, you know, we observe.
13:03 - The SPI team, the Paranormal Zone crew and I
13:05 are headed to one of the oldest cemeteries in Singapore
13:08 to find out if anyone from the other world
13:10 will show their presence.
13:12 - Are you able to speak with us?
13:17 (buzzer)
13:22 (dramatic music)
13:25 - So sometimes along the five foot way,
13:35 dead bodies are being placed there,
13:38 not covered, it's very scary.
13:41 - One night as usual, dead bodies were laid down
13:44 on the floor of the five foot way.
13:47 For some unknown reasons,
13:48 a pregnant cat jumped over a body
13:50 and it stood up and started to jump.
13:53 - Hello, welcome.
14:00 Is this to meet my team members?
14:02 - Hi.
14:03 - Yeah, I'm Fin.
14:03 - I'm Fin, hi.
14:05 - Terrence.
14:05 - Terrence.
14:06 - Yasser.
14:07 - Hi.
14:08 - Nice to meet you.
14:09 - Anna.
14:10 - Hi.
14:10 - From your research, what's the happenings here?
14:11 - From my research, the whole place was a coffee plantation
14:16 and there were some myths going on back then
14:19 about a young lady who supposedly caused the death
14:22 of her father and grandfather.
14:24 And so she was thought of to be bad luck.
14:27 You know, after a life of being discriminated against
14:31 in her dying breath, she did say that, you know,
14:34 anyone who says the word coffee again will pass away.
14:38 And so eventually this whole place
14:39 could not grow any more coffee plants.
14:42 And so it was converted into a cemetery.
14:44 - That's very interesting.
14:47 All right, so I think we can walk around and have a look
14:51 and see what we can pick up or sense.
14:54 We are now at a famous Chinese cemetery in Singapore,
15:01 which SPI has conducted previous investigations.
15:04 Through our discussions and observations,
15:06 we have decided to set up our research point
15:09 at this particular location,
15:11 as we may have felt certain presence here.
15:13 Is it true?
15:15 Can these devices record any evidence?
15:17 Let's find out more.
15:19 - I'm from SPI, Singapore Paranormal Investigators.
15:29 - And my name is Lee Kim and I'm from the Paranormal Zone.
15:32 - Right.
15:33 With due respect to this place,
15:35 and if any of you are around,
15:37 we gather here to research into the unknown.
15:39 We have also brought our gadgets,
15:42 equipment and tools to gather data
15:46 that can help us in our research for the paranormal.
15:50 From that ghost meter,
15:57 that I'm pointing the lights towards the device.
16:00 If you can, can you indicate to us your presence
16:06 by answering one blink for yes,
16:11 two blink for no.
16:13 If you want to speak to us,
16:26 you can tell us what you want to say now.
16:33 (suspenseful music)
16:36 Are you able to speak with us?
16:42 Are you able to speak with us?
16:46 (buzzing)
16:53 - Can we hold something?
17:04 - On it.
17:05 (heart beating)
17:08 - After waiting for more than an hour,
17:15 we seem to have made contact with the spirits
17:18 as we might have seen flashes of lights from the device.
17:21 Desmond took some pictures with his camera,
17:23 hoping to capture any forms of unknown phantom energies
17:26 in the area.
17:27 Upon checking through his camera,
17:29 we discovered certain phenomenon that cannot be explained.
17:34 - Wow.
17:35 - Maybe it's...
17:37 - The picture captured by Desmond
17:55 seemed to show the feature of a human face
17:57 and also a row of spirits watching us.
18:00 Does this mean that the spirit was once human
18:03 and proves there is afterlife?
18:05 - I think what's more there...
18:09 - More there?
18:09 - Yeah.
18:10 - What does it say?
18:17 Died 23rd January, 1930.
18:21 Wow.
18:23 Makes sense.
18:24 - By the 1930s,
18:25 the Chinese people would probably start to look
18:29 a lot like Chinese people today.
18:30 Era of the pigtails was already over.
18:32 This was quite close to the First World War.
18:35 So you can imagine that people were getting
18:37 a bit more modernised at that time already.
18:39 - From what we can see over there,
18:41 the face of this man that Desmond and I saw
18:44 is basically a man who has his hair about this length
18:49 and somewhat here is very highly shaven.
18:52 - Yes, the high forehead thing.
18:53 - Yeah, so I'm actually thinking
18:56 when the pigtails had to go,
18:58 the first cut was about...
19:00 - That, yeah, absolutely.
19:01 - You know what I mean?
19:02 - Yes, absolutely.
19:03 - We will not conclude as to whether we did
19:07 or did not obtain evidence of a spirit
19:09 through this photograph,
19:11 as there are other factors at play.
19:13 Therefore, we are going to put this picture
19:16 under further enquiries and analysis.
19:19 So going back to this photo, I see six.
19:23 - I see one, two, three, four, five.
19:28 What I did earlier was that I converted this picture
19:31 that I had of my own into an HDR format.
19:35 Just that face, I HDR'd it
19:37 and then I sort of like smoothed out
19:40 the rest of the background
19:41 and the face actually really made a lot of sense right there.
19:44 - Do you have that?
19:46 Where's your HDR of it?
19:48 - It's in my phone.
19:49 Do you want to see it?
19:50 - Yes.
19:51 - Let's see now.
19:52 Okay, here we go.
19:54 Boom.
19:57 Okay, you can take a look.
19:58 - Oh, yeah.
19:59 - Can you see it?
20:00 I even circled it for you.
20:02 - Oh.
20:02 (laughs)
20:03 - So everything outside the circle
20:04 is still normal in this mode.
20:06 Everything inside the circle is an HDR,
20:08 high dynamic range image.
20:12 - Did we find proof of afterlife, ghosts and spirits?
20:16 My answer is that what we found
20:17 was probably an unexplained phenomenon
20:20 that was recorded by a camera that could be a spirit.
20:23 Unless a spirit or ghost appeared and spoke to us
20:27 saying it is from the unseen world,
20:29 it is difficult and a struggle to give anyone
20:31 an absolute conclusion of their existence.
20:34 What do you want to believe?
20:36 In this episode, I have witnessed and learned
20:41 about our perceptions of death
20:43 and how they influence our possible opinions
20:46 and experiences of ghosts.
20:48 A place with a bleak past, like Sago Lane,
20:50 is claimed to be haunted, but upon deeper understanding,
20:53 it could also reflect our psychological fear of death.
20:57 But as I researched more, I also discovered
20:59 that many people do believe in demons and devils.
21:02 What are they?
21:03 And how do they fit into our visions of spirits and ghosts?
21:06 - Like there are some bears here watching us.
21:11 I feel like something like running.
21:16 (dramatic music)
21:19 (dramatic music)
21:22 (dramatic music)
21:25 (dramatic music)
21:27 (dramatic music)
21:30 (dramatic music)
21:56 (dramatic music)
21:59 (music fades)