Supernaturally KL

Yes, some would have thought my next posting would be of my experience of going back to working 9-5 after more than two years of freelancing.

No. This time I would like to touch on the supernatural and KL’s share of it. I have posted some months back of my experiences with the supernatural when I was little, especially of the house I lived in in Melaka, which has been turned into an arts activities center. There was always this apparition of an old lady inside the house…and it was not limited to night time only.

Where I lived in Melaka back in 1970-1971

I went to a famous missionary school here in KL for primary education (among my classmates from Standards 4 Merah through 6 Merah were Harith Iskandar Musa, a famous local stand-up comedian; Andri Aidham Badri, a well-known lawyer and partner of Kadir, Andri & Partners; and Mizan Yahaya who is now married to one of the Sultan of Johor’s daughters, and an immediate senior was Ronald Chiew, MD of Protemp Group of Companies). I remember an episode where one junior of ours was scared shitless when he saw something evil at the backstage of the hall where we normally have our daily afternoon assemblies. After that, I think it was Andri, another classmate of ours called Zamri Ridzwan, and I, went to the backstage to look for the apparition.

My father’s official residence at the Lake Gardens (it is now part of the Memorial Tun Razak complex) had its own share of stories. I remember when we first moved in, there was this huge tree in our backyard – and from it, this white apparition would swoop down and hover outside the window of our bedrooms. When I was 16, during one of the school holidays, I had my bed shook ala The Exorcist. I would hear voices inside the walls of my room, and even inside the door cavity. The verandah overlooking Lake Gardens had its own inhabitant – a woman in white, much like the one seen in The Ring or Ju-On.

Our guardpost on the hillslope going down was always abandoned come sunset. Several guards have been spooked by what they say was a pontianak. Those days there were lots of sightings of this type of apparition in that area especially at night, although I never saw one despite jogging there every night from 11pm onwards for months preparing for my military basic training. But at that back road from the National Mosque going towards Bukit Aman, I remember two guys on a motorcycle seeking refuge at our guardhouse after being chased by a pontianak on that road.

Pontianak in Tampines – can you see it?

But I remember one incident back in December 1978, the night Malaysia was to have full colour television transmission. I followed Haris Hussein (now Datuk Haris Hussein, son of former PM, the late Tun Hussein Onn) and his father to Angkasapuri for the switching ceremony and we travelled in the escort car. The police radio blared about this guy in Setapak shouting for help as he was being hounded by a pontianak near where Danau Kota is now (that area was filled with trees and abandoned mining pools then).

Kenny Hills is quite a haunted place. While Spooky Corner reported on a ghost riding a motorcycle frequenting that area, I remember a friend who was involved in shooting a drama there telling me about how they had to leave all their equipment that night when a white apparition was seen flying around above them before sitting on a branch of a huge tree. If you want to know the exact location of this spot, up Kenny Hills is a lonely road that has a TNB sub-station at a junction with an abandoned bungalow next to it. Across the bungalow is a huge tree on the hill slope. That’s the tree. Well, I will personally vouch for how true this story is because I went there several times back in 2002 and saw it.

Langsuir

My daughter, Hana, has seen this type of ghost at least twice. Once outside of our house in Bukit Rahman Putra – it flew outside her window, and the second time was when the 4×4 she was travelling in during one of the 4×4 outings she went to broke down after sunset. The thing was standing outside the car door next to her. This was in Hulu Yam somewhere.

If you travel down Jalan Damansara towards KL, after the exit to Jalan Duta heading towards the Parliament, before the junction to Duta Vista (The Duke) motorists used to be spooked by a “woman” – and this was back in the 1980s.

There are three hospitals in KL that are haunted. Well, I know one very famous hospital where, if you enter a lift (elevator to some) at night and just peek out, a head would be peeking back at you from the other elevator shaft. That, I have personally seen. While next to this hospital is a famous specialist center, and this was related to me by a friend last night. His father is virtually a permanent resident of this specialist center. One night, he wanted to go down for a smoke after his father was already asleep. He entered the lift and saw a little girl looking up at him. He never thought anything of it but noticed the girl had this poke mark on her throat, and wondered why was this girl still up and about at 3am.

Ju-On

A private hospital across this specialist center, has a hotel next to it. Guests do not dare to open their curtains as something would almost always be seen hovering outside.

Even amidst the hustle and bustle of Chow Kit, around a decade ago, several people were reported in the papers to have been chased by a huge black supernatural figure. However, if you go there now, you would almost always get chased by huge black figures, especially if you are a woman – especially at night, although not limited to night-time only. Go figure that one out.

But whatever it is, KL, as colourful as it is, may be bathed in lights. But in the dark spots and grey areas, sinister beings lurk.