Pulau Ubin: Joint Expedition

Last Saturday, the 13th of June 2015, saw the coming together of a few local paranomal groups as they took on Pulau Ubin in a joint overnight expedition. Groups in participation are: Destinasi Kebenaran, Sumpahan MJ12, KMS and D'Unknown.

(Pulau Ubin is an island off eastern Singapore, and considered the last kampung in Singapore. The setting here is akin that of 1960s mainland Singapore.)

With a combined group of 36 men and women, we set off on the trail at approximately 9pm.

A stark difference between Pulau Ubin and mainland Singapore was the non-existence of street lights or lamp posts. As seen from the photos on this post, our source of light were torchlights and handphone camera flashes.

In the darkness, the human eye sees very little. But combined with intuition, sometimes you may get a lucky shot, as follows:

We stopped a little while in a open, water catchment area for the DK crew to film the introduction segment of this trip. Save for the voices of the emcees, guest participants and cameraman, the air was still and silent.

After about half an hour here, we moved along, back on trail. Ten minutes into the walk, I noticed that the people immediately in front of me had stopped walking. Those on the very front, however, was seen rushing forward and checking both sides of the intersection that was ahead of us.

Apparently, what had happened was that while walking, the team members in front had spotted a 'penunggu', or a spiritual entity that guards a place. Abang Man, a DK member, had then moved forward and performed the necessary, in seeking the penunggu's permission for the group to proceed on with the trail.

Following which, Arif managed to capture a pocong on camera:

This took place near here:

As we passed this intersection and back into the forest, I noticed that despite the path being wider and hence the trees further from us, the temperature had taken a plunge. There was a chill I felt as I walked down this path.

About 300m away, we came to another intersection and a resting hut. Here, emcee Arif conducts an interview with Pak Wari, an esteemed healer with over 20 years' experience. 

In the photo below, two entities were captured in the background, observing our activities.

By now, we had walked an estimated 2-3km.

What now laid ahead in our route was a Muslim Cemetery, which was one of the hotspots of fierce spiritual activities. For safety, we walked in a formation where females walked in the middle, while males walked in front, behind and to our sides.

Unknownst to me while I took the photo at this location, an entity watches us as we explored this first cemetery for the night.

(Do you see a face with two eyes on the top left hand corner of the photo? Not edited as editing somehow makes the face disappear)

What we discovered, however, was a grave freshly dugged.

Partially visible is a batu nisan, or tombstone, as seen above. It is not known if the corpse has been removed or is still in the grave, however bits of white cloth can be seen peeking out from the soil.

From here, we walked to the second, larger cemetery with visibly more graves. The air was tense, not sure if it was the atmospheric energy, or the energies of nervous, anxious women in the group.

Here, Abang An, from DK, performed a 'tarikan', where he retrieved the below tool from beneath the soil -- much to the amazement and awe of others present. It is believed to be hundreds of years old and used for protection. It is now in the possession of DK.

It was the first time I witnessed such an event, and I know it was not going to be the last.

After covering an approximate 6-7 km in 5 hours, we finally concluded the expedition at 230am, with sore feet, aching muscles and a desperate need for shower, hydration and sleep.

Nevertheless, if indeed there was a need called the need for spiritual exploration, it was not satiated, but instead, grew, that night.

Looking forward to the next one!

Virgin Investigation with Destinasi Kebenaran (Pasir Ris Tower)

My interest in the otherworldly started as soon as I knew how to read. Enid Blyton and Roald Dahl were alright, but I obssessed over Russell Lee. He made my hair stand, and expanded my imagination to near-paranoia, but still, I continued reading.

It's been a long while since I held any of his books, but my affinity for the paranormal has led me to search every avenue, from movies to libraries to Youtube, to maintain my regular dose of the other dimension.

Last Saturday night, I met with an old friend, Arif, who brought me to meet with local paranormal group, Destinasi Kebenaran (referred to as DK henceforth). A little backstory, DK was founded approximately 10 years ago, with the vision to investigate places involved with paranormal mysteries, and to rake the truth, separating man-made fiction from events that truly happened.

We convened with the team slightly before midnight at Pasir Ris Park. After introductions were made and a short briefing by the founder, Abang An, we set off for the Pasir Ris Swamp at 12.03am.

As we approached the entrance to the swamp trail, I had a brief flashback of my last walk here with the Singapore Paranormal Investigators in conjunction with Republic Polytechnic's Halloween Night programme, in 2006. I remembered being thoroughly freaked out, or maybe I was just feeling the energies of everyone else.

The darkness beckoned, and entered the trail we did. The air was still, the only sounds were of our footsteps and the occasional low-voiced chatter among the group. I did not come prepared with a torchlight, but was offered one by a member of DK. Unfortunately, barely minutes into the walk, it stopped working. My vision, from then on, was aided only by the light from others' behind, who were occasionally flashing their lights in the swamps, and at the trees on both sides of the swamp, in the hopes of catching a glimpse of an otherworldly being.

Truth be told, I do not know how much we walked or how much time passed till we came to our first destination, the infamous Pasir Ris Park Look-out Tower. Here, it was just as dark, if not even darker than the route leading to it, as not a single lamp post was in sight. The only light was the moonlight and the quick flashes of light from the team's cameraphones.

There are variations to the story of the tower, first being of a jilted, heartbroken female who took her own life from the top story of the tower, and another, of a murder of a couple. Both versions are available online. But more importantly, are the many accounts of hauntings at this spot.

I was intimidated by the fact that a suicide had possibly taken place at the very place I was standing, it gave me the creeps. I mean, it takes a lot of rage or sadness for someone to inflict violence upon themselves. You don't expect a soul with that much negative energy in life, to be cordial in death. Right?

Fortunately, my ego refused to let me be a wuss surrounded by the team of 13 men. Furthermore, I was not really feeling anything, I was frightened only by imagined possibilities and not what was in actual. So up the tower I went, an estimated 4-storeys in height. As the crew discussed the footage they would take, I snapped away on my phone, hoping to capture something, anything, on screen.

From the standing area in the middle of the top floor of the tower, I walked towards the area to the right of the staircase, and this was where I felt the hair on my legs stand. Strange, because I was dressed in long pants, and if I was feeling cold, I would have goosebumps on an exposed part of my body, which in this case, should be my hands, should it not?

At this point, the team's cameraperson captured a lady entity on screen, right behind the area behind me and Arif. Was the entity the lady who ended her life by leaping off this tower? We had to find out.

(Paragraphs here onwards have been typed 3 times, as the words kept on disappearing after every save. Freaky? Maybe. Annoying? Very.)

We came down from the tower and headed towards an area to the right of the tower which Abang An pointed out to us as feeling rampant with energies, also the same area from which the female entity was captured on our cameraman's screen. It led to yet another path into the swamp area, and we sauntered again into the forested darkness.

After a few hundreds of metres, we came to a resting point, at approximately 1am, which was to be where the presences were summoned. 

A hush fell over the group as Abang Man proceeded to walk a little further from us, and began chanting a mantra, calling on present entities to come forward.

A few minutes later, an entity entered the body of Wan, apparent as he started clawing at the wooden flooring, on his knees. He did not respond as another team member greeted, "Assalamualaikum". This is indication of a non-Muslim entity in possesion of the human body, as a Muslim entity would not fail to respond with "Waalaikumsalam".

Arif stepped in to enquire if the entity knew of the tale of the female who lost her life from the tower, to which it hissed, "Kenapa kau tanya aku? / Why are you asking me?"

Prodding further, Arif asked of the mystical happenings in the vicinity, to which the entity replied "Sundel bolong". The entity in possession of Wan's body claimed to be a sundel bolong, only one of the many present with us at the moment. When asked where were the rest, the entity turned 45 degrees toward its left, indicating that the rest were at the back, on the roof of the resting point.

As for the story of the girl who jumped to her death from the look-out tower, the entity offered, "She had problems, so we influenced her to jump".

Wallahu alam.

(Next post: Marang Trail, Singapore)

Watch PROMO: Dunia Lain Destinasi Kebenaran