Pontianaks, Toyols and even water ghosts. We’re no strangers to spooky stories growing up, often told by parents to scare us into behaving or by friends for the good ol’ rush of adrenaline that comes from getting scared senseless. Check out some of the stories we gathered from people who’ve had spine-chilling encounters with the paranormal. Real or fake, you decide.
#1 “Uncle”
This actually happened to my younger brother when he was a toddler. I was twelve at that time and this incident happened in my house. During that period, my younger brother loved playing with his ‘imaginary friend’ and would often play hide-and-seek or catching around the house in the afternoon and sometimes at night. When quizzed on who his special friend was, his reply would only be ‘uncle’. My parents and I let him be and attributed these little games to his colourful imagination. However, we started getting worried when these interactions became more personal. An incident I recall clearly was when he offered a cup of water he was drinking from to an unseen presence in a dark room while he innocently asked “Uncle, do you want a drink?” My parents decided to call in a friend of theirs who was adept at all things supernatural to try to chase ‘uncle’ out of the house. During the ritual, my younger brother ran around playing games with the unseen presence again, this time with a more worried expression on his face. He mentioned that ‘uncle’ was angry and that ‘it’ wanted to catch him. My parents then asked “how do you know uncle is angry?” His reply made the hairs on the back of our necks stand.
“Because ‘uncle’ came up to me and did *this*”. My little brother balled his fists and placed them on his hips while pulling the ugliest face he could, while grunting in a low voice.
My parents and I were so freaked out and hoped that this evil presence could be driven out as soon as possible. Thankfully, my family friend managed to drive the spirit away. He mentioned that it was a passing spirit that followed us home during one of our late nights out and had taken a liking to playing with my little brother. This prompted the spirit to linger and eventually take refuge in our house. Ever since then, my family vowed to cut down on our late night outings to avoid a repeat of such an incident!
#2 Playing with fire
My friends and I pride ourselves on being daredevils despite being a group of four girls. We love seeing the shocked look on our friends faces when we tell them about the many horror ‘hotspots’ we’ve explored all around Singapore. So late one night, the four of us yet again decided to go ‘ghost hunting’ together, this time at one of the cemeteries around Singapore. When we arrived at the said location, we felt unusually nervous and hesitant to enter the area even though it wasn’t our first time going on these night escapades. However, being the self-proclaimed leader of the group, I urged them to enter with me and begin our ‘hunt’.
Throughout the walk we became increasingly frustrated that we could not spot any paranormal activity and I started remarking loudly to my friends that this place didn’t live up to its hype. Just then, I accidentally kicked a bunch of offerings placed on the ground near one of the gravestones, scattering the items everywhere. I brushed it off and jokingly taunted that this would give more reasons for the spirits to appear and punish me for my wrongdoings. The night passed without incident and I sent my girlfriends home accordingly. After parking my car, I started walking towards my block but had a strange and uneasy feeling of being watched. This feeling dogged me throughout my lift ride up to my floor and even up to my doorstep. As I was unlocking my door, I suddenly heard a very feminine giggle behind me, from the area beyond my parapet. Panicking, I fumbled with the keys but managed to enter the house, slamming the door behind me. I washed up and ducked under the covers of my bed in the lower level of a double decker bed that I shared with my younger sister. I must have drifted off asleep after a while, but I was jolted awake by the sound of the same feminine giggling again, this time from the inside of my room. Shivering with fear, I saw a pair of legs dangling and swinging casually from the top deck of the bed! What made it worse was that I realised my sister was overseas on a school trip and would only be back next week, so it couldn’t be her. Muttering all the prayers I knew, I kept my eyes tightly shut until the morning light. Thankfully, nothing else happened but I learnt my lesson. Playing with fire will get you burnt!
#3 Mysterious visitor
This particular incident happened to my friends and I at a class chalet that we had. It was a fairly ordinary evening that started off with a barbecue and ended with the usual activity us guys enjoyed – trying to spook each other with the best ghost stories. Our storytelling session carried on late into the night and it was almost 2 AM when we decided to venture out around the chalet area to grab supper. By then, some of our classmates decided to go home as well, so only five of us were left to stay on for the night.
As we were walking back to the chalet after supper, my friend Adam* and I noticed something strange. As our chalet was two-storeys high, we could see that the room light on the second storey was still switched on and that there was a figure standing by the bed. Our other two friends were absorbed in conversation while our friend John* seemed absorbed with something on his phone. Gulping, we decided not to alarm anyone and entered the chalet as per normal. John and our two friends decided to sleep upstairs that night, but were puzzled about why the room light was switched on as they distinctly remembered switching off the lights before leaving for supper. Needless to say, Adam and I decided to sleep downstairs that night. The next morning, Adam and I decided to come clean with the rest of our friends on what we saw as we were walking home from the chalet the night before. As expected, they laughed at our story claiming we were hallucinating from the lack of sleep. John then left to take his shower in the toilet upstairs, but quickly ran back to us with a pale look on his face. He urged us to come with him to the toilet to take a look at something. Bracing ourselves for the worst, we followed behind him to see what had caused such a reaction in him. Littered around the sink were strands and strands of long black hair that could only belong to a female. My friends and I were from a boys school, so there were no girls at the chalet since last night. Also, no cleaners had entered the chalet since last night as we had not checked out. It was safe to say that we were one of the earliest guests to check out from that chalet that day!
#4 Uninvited guest in the toilet
This happened during my National Service days, but I won’t reveal which vocation nor unit I belonged to. The level my bunk was located on was infamous for many paranormal activities. This included things like hearing children’s laughter outside of the doors, or small feet running up and down the hall in the middle of the night. We were simply told to ignore it as ‘what you don’t bother will not bother you either’.
Anyway, my story involved a scary incident that happened when I visited the toilet one night. It was in the middle of the night when I woke up with a full bladder. Failing to wake my buddy up, I decided to venture to the toilet at the end of the hall on my own. As I walked to the toilet I realised that the automated light was not switched on, meaning that it did not detect any movement and hence there was nobody else in the toilet. I felt uneasy but decided to carry on anyway. When I entered the toilet, I automatically headed for my ‘favourite’ cubicle all the way at the end due to fact that it was more spacious than the rest of the cubicles. As I edged closer to the cubicle, I strangely smelt the sweet fragrance of jasmine which was unnatural in such a place like the toilet. Nonetheless, I continued inching slowly towards my desired cubicle ignoring all the warning bells ringing in my head. When I finally pushed open the door to the cubicle, I got the shock of my life. Squatting on the toilet bowl was a strange, black and hairy creature! What’s worse was that the moment I made eye contact with this creature, ‘it’ started screeching in a very high pitched voice. I could barely register who or what this foreign entity was as my adrenaline took over and my quivering legs whisked me out of the toilet at top speed. My terrified screams woke my bunkmates up as I jumped straight under the covers in fear, but they needed no explanation. That night on, nobody else dared to visit the toilet without the company of at least one other person.
*Names have been changed to preserve anonymity.
Featured Image: Andrew Amistad on Unsplash
Do you have any encounters of the paranormal kind that you’d like to share? Share them with us in the comment section!
More related stories: 8 Terrifying Movies That Will Follow You Into Your Nightmares, 5 Real-Life Accounts Of Valentine’s Day Dates Gone Terribly Wrong, 8 Easy Psychology Hacks To Get Ahead In Life
