Midnight Cadet: A True Story

The following is based on true events, as experienced by Naz DK Sergeant, a senior member of Destinasi Kebenaran.

(Narrated by Naz, edited by me)

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"It was 1996, I was serving National Service. My BMT training was in Nee Soon Camp, Echo Company, with my bunk located on the 4th floor of the Echo Company Building.

It is common knowledge that in the army, we have to switch off the lights at 23:59, after which, we lay in our bunks in total darkness. The first week passed, followed by the second. Nothing happened.

However, on the third week of my BMT, my bunkmates and me were sound asleep when I was awoken by the sound of someone running along the corridor. I did a timecheck, it was past 2 in the morning. As my bed was located by the window overlooking the corridor, I could see if anyone was walking or loitering outside. Curious to find out the source of the sounds, I slowly peeked through the window...

... I saw the figure of a man dressed in Full Battle Order (full Army equipment), running from end of the corridor, to the other end. I wondered, who could this be?? And why was he doing this, because no one is supposed to be up and about after 23:59!!

I could not tell if it was one of my platoon mates. In the darkness, I could only make out the body. As I watched him run towards the other end of the corridor... he suddenly CLIMBED OVER THE PARAPET AND JUMPED DOWN!!

"Oh my God!!!" Thinking I may have just witnessed a suicide, I quickly got up from bed and ran to the spot I last saw the figure, and looked down to where he would have landed from the jump.

THERE WAS NO ONE.

By now, I could feel the perspiration on my forehead and goosebumps all over my body.

Without a second thought, I rushed back to my bed and covered myself with the blanket. I could not sleep a wink after that, that night.

Till today, I do not know if it was a ghostly apparition, or my imagination. Only God knows."

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!

Possessed: A True Story

The following is based on true events, as encountered by Abang Man, a member of Destinasi Kebenaran. He is also a healer with 20 years' experience. May his efforts in healing those in need of spiritual help be rewarded with abundance by the greatest Creator of all. Amin.

Bismillah.

(Original account by Abang Man, translated into English by me)

"Not too long ago, I received a call to help a man who had been possessed. On arriving at the patient's residence, I saw that many of the man's relatives were already there. After talking to them and asking a few questions, I asked to see the patient, who was in the bedroom.

As I made my way to the bedroom, I was stopped by the patient's mother, who called me over to the kitchen. Once in the kitchen, she asked, "How much is your payment?", to which I countered, "Makcik, why are you asking about payment?". She then explained that prior to my arrival, they had seeked help from four other spiritual healers. The first healer had requested $10,000 for payment. The second had asked for $8,000, the third, $6,000, and the fourth, $3,000. I was the fifth. To her question, I responded, "Makcik, I'm not here for the money, and if God wills, I will help you heal your son". Hearing this, she agreed to allow me to proceed.

As I arrived at the door to the bedroom where the patient was, I was shocked to see the state that he was in. The patient had both legs and arms bent, postured like a frog, and mouth that could not say anything except, "Auuungg... auuungg..". I supplicated silently and wondered, "Ya Allah, what is wrong with this servant of yours?"

I began my healing session with a process called 'scanning' to find out what had happened. What I saw was that the patient had gone fishing with his friends and relatives. However, during fishing, the patient's fishing bait had gotten stuck in between some corals. To free his line, he had forcefully tugged on his equipment, and took a step back for balance. While doing so, he had unintentionally stepped on a frog. Annoyed with its presence, the patient had cussed the frog and kicked it away. After which, he continued fishing. However, upon reaching home, he had collapsed and fell chronically ill.

I continued with the 'scanning', wondering why one simple incident with a frog would cause the patient such an extent of illness. It was then it came to me that the unfortunate frog that the patient had stepped on and cussed, was the beloved animal of an otherwordly Princess of the sea that they had gone fishing in. Therefore I tried to spiritually reach the mentioned Princess, to request that she remove the illness that she had cast over the patient.

She replied, "As long as my pet frog is not healed, the patient will suffer". I urged her to forgive the patient for his actions towards the frog. After much negotiation, she finally agreed, with (undisclosed) conditions. I proceeded to accede to her given conditions and with God's grace, the patiently immediately rose from bed and announced, "I'm hungry". To this, I asked him, "What's your name, and what's your mother's name?". He responded correctly, in a weak voice. The patient's brother and I then helped him to the living area, where he was given food, as he had not ingested any food for close to a month. In the period he had been ill, he had only consumed milk for sustenance.

A few of the patient's relatives asked me, "What happened? What had happened to him and what had caused him to be possessed?". To which I replied that it does not matter, and what matters is that the patient is healed and well. It is all in God's plans.

I then informed only the patient's mother of what had actually happened. With praises to Allah, the patient has now fully healed and does not go fishing anymore.

The moral of this story is:

1. Be careful what you say - do not be a loose canon.

2. Money is not, and cannot get you everything.

Allah commands, and it is.

Kun fa ya kun."

Virgin Investigation with Destinasi Kebenaran (Marang)

After the conclusion of the investigation of the suicide in Eastern Singapore, we headed to South of Singapore, to recce a certain trail that has been reported to freak out joggers, regardless of time of day.

The main road, located approximately 30 metres away from this trail, was still lightly buzzing with traffic at 3am. However, as we took our first steps upslope, I became conscious of the sinister, unwelcoming atmosphere. In comparison, the earlier location, though I was fully aware of its hauntedness, did not give me a threatened feeling as did this trail.

About a 100m climb upslope later, we came across a colonial building in the darkness of the surrounding trees.

Said building is standing behind the guys in the above photo, but infortunately not visible in the photo. It is unknown if the building has living occupants.

Moving on from this spot, we climbed another approximate 100m, before we arrived at a spot that according to Abang An, was most rife with spiritual activity.

We stopped for the crew to film, hovering around closely, watching. During the shooting, someone suddenly called out a DK team member, "Boy!". I turned around to where I recalled Boy standing, somewhere a mere 5m behind me and saw Boy's form writhing while standing. Apparently an entity was trying to enter his body, and the member who shouted out for him was now at his side, aiding in the removal of the unwelcomed spirit and discarding it into the forest below us.

Upon completion of the shooting on location, we turned back and went down the trail, back to our starting point. It is here that Abang An told me how on a previous trip here, they had met with a guardian of the location, or a "penunggu", who had denied them entry into the trail. When pressed further, all the trees in the surrounding area, started shaking violently. The only thing was, it was a still, humid night and there was no wind.

According to Abang An, the encounter took place approximately 2 in the morning. This time, however, we did not experience as violent a reaction from the spiritual entities dwelling the area as unfortunately we had arrived a little too late, at almost 4 in the morning.

Perhaps next time, we might get lucky.

*Edit: After publishing this entry, I went through the photos taken at this location and found this:

What do you see? What do you think it is?

Wallahu alam.

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)

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I Had a Dream

Backed up against a corner, by a semi-circle of men in black suits. I could tell what was gonna happen, even though it was a dream. Then Specimen A, you came, and spoke words to me that I now dont remember. You spoke them as you stood facing me, and then you went on one knee.

Everyone was watching. I was so happy, in my dream. And then came a female, to relay a message -- that my father did not approve, he thought you were defective. You start to walk away, and my emotions took a 180° turn. I cried and clung on to you because obviously, I didnt want you to leave.

Now I'm awake, I cant even decipher who you are. But more than anything, it has left me perplexed. It was not about the crowd, or the concept of a proposal, it was not about Specimen A, or parental disapproval.

What has left me floored is how easy it is for anyone to walk away. Like how easy it has been for me to walk away from things, situations and people. It may be part choice, but more often than not, it is a decision made so as to avoid being hurt.

Because we know, being hurt sucks.

I understand now. I understand that is not all about ego, because sometimes it's part self-preservation, part self-defence.

And why do living things mate? To maintain a succession in a world where only the strongest survive.

As for the people like me? I guess the Universe thinks that it is unnecessary for our DNA to persist beyond our existence.

It's a Sad, Sad Situation

This society, we work like clockwork. Invisible strings, pushing and pulling, whipping you into action. Wake in the morning, run for your bus, rush for the train, work in access, rush back home and repeat.

As I stand by the sidewalk, watching everyone scurrying past, I knew that next to none actually enjoyed this routine. Where is the fire that ignites the soul, spurring you to do whatever it is that you do? No, I know you do not enjoy the office. No, I know you dread what is coming. You dread the day, you hate the routine. But why do you do what you do? Why do you let yourself fit the mould?

The mould created by the mothering G. You let their ideals squeeze, shape and make your life. My heart sincerely goes out to all of you, to all of us.

What do you really want to do? What inspires and sets your soul on fire? What would you do, if we were not told that success is working to the last drop of strength, and splurging your gains on everything latest because we live in a world where consumerism is the social order? 

My soul aches, for you, for me, for us. Because if it does not strike you the way it so painfully strikes me, let me tell you: We are lost.

We are a generation so educated, so wealthy and technologically advance, but we are lost.

All of us, we are people, yes we are people. But we are souls too. And in this society, our souls have been forgotten, because our egos have been fed to such a magnitude. That we forget, our souls are what we truly are, and our souls are the only thing we have, when we time weakens, destroys or finally removes the earthly body that we carry.

My soul, it has been ignored and denied long enough. I too, have been a victim of somebody else's ideals, and this is where it stops. Ask me what I wanna do, I will tell you - I want to run barefoot in the grass and feel the earth beneath me. I want to lay on the sand, feel the sun's rays on my face and seawater tickling my feet. I want to write to my heart's content, and I wanna capture the beauty all around me and immortalize them in photos. I want to do whatever it takes to make my heart sing, and I want to live, and love. 

We hang on to the familiar, for we fear the unknown. But who knows what magic awaits us when let go of the comfortable, and allow our souls and intuition to take over the driver's seat. It is scary, without a doubt, but the possibilities are endless. 

Everyone has a choice to the way they lead their lives, but I, for one, will not live, only to regret on my deathbed. My soul is bigger than it is allowed to be right now, and it is time to grow.

You only live once.