By now, Halloween festivities at places like Haw Par Villa, Mount Austin in Johor Bahru, and more are in full swing. Of course those are fun and all, but how about some real life Singapore ghost stories thrown into the mix to further spook up your Halloween?
From jumping Chinese vampires to disappearing old men, and even a large creature of the night, we asked you guys to channel your inner Russell Lee and recount your scariest real life phantom experiences and y’all really served!
These are their stories, edited for length and clarity.
1. The Giant Owl
This happened during my National Service (NS) days in 2009, when I was posted to a camp near Lim Chu Kang. Some might be familiar with that camp, however it is no longer an army camp anymore.
I was on Company Orderly Sergeant (COS) duty on Sunday and it was after ten at night. I was on the phone with my mum as she called to check up on me while waiting for the other personnel to report back to camp.
As I was about to leave the bunk located on the higher floor and with my mum still on call, I came across a huge owl perched on the porch in front of my bunk. When I say huge, imagine this: I am around 1.85m tall, and this owl was easily around my height or taller.
The owl turned its head 45 degrees to stare at me directly and I reversed back into the bunk, frantically saying some prayers. My mum, having heard me through the phone, kept asking if I was alright. However, I didn’t want to worry her so I assured her that all was fine.
I gathered the courage to exit the bunk and it was then that the owl flew away flapping its huge wings, disappearing into thin air.
– Lee
I suppose the size of that owl will not meet HDB’s pet requirements.
2. Playing Hangman
When I was younger, I used to live in Woodlands. Every night, I would see an old man hanging by my room window. This terrified me as I was facing the window and sleeping. I decided to face away from the window, when I realised that my cupboard had a mirror and I could still see him in the reflection.
I went and told my parents about it who brushed me off by saying that I just have a creative imagination or a scary nightmare every night. Eventually after we moved out, they told me that an old man actually died in the house and that they just didn’t want to scare me.
– Unclepls
Talk about bringing a more realistic definition to the game of hangman. Do you think OP did not guess the right vowels and consonants in time?
3. Extra Company
I live in a condominium apartment, so sometimes at night I will go downstairs to sit at this round bench that was situated beside the playground to chill. There is a CCTV that overlooks the playground to the bench.
One night during the seventh month, I was sitting down on the bench while on a call with my friend when it was past midnight. I did not believe in ghosts at the time, so I wasn’t bothered about the timing. Suddenly the security guard on duty came towards me and looked horrified. He asked me if I had been alone all this time or if I had a friend with me. I told him I was on the phone and did not have anybody beside me the whole time.
He told me to head back up home now as he had previously looked through the CCTV and saw that I was not alone as it showed that there were a few people sitting beside me and behind me. Hearing this, I got super scared and had goosebumps. The security guard was nice enough to follow me back to my block and told me to stay safe.
I got sick the next few days with a high fever after that encounter. Never sat there anymore at night.
– Min
The amount of tea spilled in OP’s conversation with their friend must be top tier that even the spirits gathered around to hear. I mean I get it, being dead sounds pretty boring.
4. Lady in White
I went to Night Safari on a Thursday during the seventh month with my friends. Throughout the night we kept seeing a white cloth among trees and bushes.
On one particularly quiet trail, I saw a lady in white among the trees and my friend suddenly asked if any of us was wearing floral perfume. I put two and two together and realised it was probably a pontianak.
My friend got a fever that night and I tested positive for Covid the next day. The only friend who didn’t fall sick sleeps beneath a cross.
– Vio
Is anyone else seeing a running theme here with the seventh month?
5. The Vampire Ambush
This happened at the start of 2022 around February.
I was having a staycation with my friends and we decided to go cycling at about 1am. We ended up at Marina Barrage (this was at about 1.30am–1.45am) at the bridge that most runners would be at, and there’s another part where it was a park. One of my friends and I decided to turn left, which was towards the park.
Upon entering, I saw the bushes moving on my right which was close to the water side, so I decided to turn to look as I was wondering why there would be movements this late at night. When I looked, what I saw was this traditional jumping Chinese vampire pouncing right at me and boy did I shout.
I U-turned and cycled as fast as possible away from there. I refused to tell anyone but that friend that followed me, and I told him not to tell our other friends. We continued our cycling journey and I felt super uneasy as I was feeling super cold and I could sense that the thing was following us.
We finished our journey at the stadium and decided to take a Grab back to our hotel. In the Grab, I felt my chest being super tight and I could not breathe properly. I only felt better when we went back to our hotel. As a person that could see all these things, it was by far the worst experience I’ve ever had.
– Stepsister
F1 who? Even modern day commutes like bicycles and private hire cars have nothing on the speed of a traditional Chinese vampire.
6. Gifted Children
Used to work in a preschool in quite an atas neighbourhood. The staff and parents were not really the superstitious type, when kids start to talk by themselves or make some comments about seeing a ‘friend’ in class, we would just attribute it to imaginary friends and that it’s a phase some young kids go through.
I had the ‘pleasure’ to learn about this during my first week at that school.
The first incident happened while I was reading a book to the kids. Midway through the story, a girl raised her hand and said “Teacher, can you read louder? My friend under the table cannot hear you.”
I thought one kid had snuck away, but no one was under any table. I asked, “Who? Which table?” The girl pointed to the table behind me and said, “There! The black kid under the table, his face is at your leg.” I didn’t think much about that and just continued the story.
The next day, another kid had to poop after lunch. He would usually call me after he is done so I could help him. Our toilet was blocked by a wall for privacy. I watched over the rest and suddenly heard the boy crying and yelling, “STOP PUSHING ME!”
Again, I thought someone snuck behind me and disturbed the boy. I popped my head behind the wall and saw the boy on the toilet seat jostling some invisible thing beside him. I asked if he was okay, then he said “I don’t know, this friend keeps pushing me!” I asked another teacher to keep an eye on him as he pooped but she told me that nothing happened after.
The next day was the eve of Deepavali and a parent called to say she was stuck in a jam at Little India, so I had no choice but to wait with her daughter in my class till she came to collect her.
After a while, I told the girl that we could sit at the lounge area to read books and instructed her to pack her stuff and switch off all the lights since I was the only one left with this kid. As I was about to exit my class, this kid said “Teacher, how about my friend over there? Why you never ask her to come and follow us?“
I just held the kid’s hand, exited the building, locked up and waited outside until her mum came. I never stayed back alone in that centre after that. The fact that the kids were okay with seeing these things was just off-putting for me.
– Scaredy Cat
All the sequels of The Sixth Sense can be filmed in this centre, I gather.
7. Phantom Tenant
I used to rent a room in an old HDB, the kind with those circular staircases that lead up to the house. Every night, I would hear footsteps and find my belongings moved around.
So I asked my roommate, who told me about a tenant who missed payment and just didn’t come back with their belongings left in the room.
I found an old photograph in a drawer where that tenant used to stay. It was of a guy and someone else that seemed to be a girl, but I couldn’t really tell because the picture was very blurry.
One night, there was a low humming in the other room where I found the picture. Upon investigating, the door slammed shut behind me and my phone died. In the pitch black, I heard whispers and felt something touch my shoulder. Suddenly, the door swung open again and I quickly ran back to my room.
The next day, the photo disappeared, and my roommate claimed that he never spoke to me about any missing tenant. I left the place already, but I hear another tenant who has moved in also has experiences with weird things happening…
– EI
An appearing and disappearing photo, a missing tenant, an empty room… These are the perfect ingredients for a horror movie.
These real life Singapore ghost stories were so terrifyingly good that I went on to ask some of my ConfirmGood coworkers for more and they sure didn’t disappoint!
8. An “Old Man”
I was at a church camp and one of the night activities was to go for a night walk at Bukit Batok Nature Park. The walk took place at 1am (what a great idea). I was one of the “OGLs” and I was stationed at one checkpoint to make sure the participants knew where to go. While the others had a proper hut for a checkpoint, my checkpoint was at a four-way cross section. Behind me was a dark staircase and my station was brightened by candles.
I got bored waiting for the participants to pass me so I decided to burn some twigs and leaves (another brilliant idea). After sometime the trees started rustling pretty violently — except there was no wind. I brushed it off as nothing but suddenly this elderly man dressed all white appeared from behind me.
He looked at me and disappeared into the light. I tried to chase after him but I couldn’t find him anymore. I was spooked out but I decided to keep this to myself for the time being.
The next night, the second group went for the night walk. One of my friends was seated at the same spot as I was. He also played with twigs and he too saw an old man in white. When he called out to the man thinking it was one of our crew, the man did not respond. He came back and told us this story and when I said I experienced the same thing, it clicked in our heads that the “old man” wasn’t an old man…
– Marcus Leong, Writer
This old man definitely took his spirituality to the next level at this church camp’s night walk.
9. Uninvited Thirdwheeler
I hosted a birthday party for my sister last year at this hotel in Singapore. After the party, it was around 2AM and I had just gotten out of the shower, which my sister then went in after me.
While she was in the toilet, I was scrolling on TikTok when I heard the sounds of furniture moving. I just assumed it was from upstairs and didn’t think much about it. I ended up dozing off, but woke up to a loud thump.
Then, I started hearing aggressive knocking sounds from the hotel door on the left, and laughter noises from my right. But when I checked the peephole of the door, there wasn’t anyone there! We were staying on the 20th floor, so where exactly would the laughter be coming from?
At that time, my sister came out from the shower, and before I could say anything she asked me, “Aren’t you tired? You’ve been talking to me the whole time, I thought you would’ve toh-ed by now.“
I was so confused, and told her I literally just woke up. She thought I was pranking her because “it” really sounded like me. But she quickly realised that I was serious, and both of us went to bed. We left the hotel first thing in the morning.
To this day, I still wonder who my sister was talking to.
– Yixuan, Marketing Assistant
Imagine having someone so obsessed with you that they can replicate your voice? Can’t be me.
With all these spine chilling real life ghost stories in Singapore, here is one of my own that really terrified me as a kid.
10. The Wet Lady
I was 11 when my parents and I first moved into this house. At the time, I had a habit of sleeping with the door open and in this new room of mine, I kept that habit.
My bed was directly facing the doorway, and adjacent to my room was the bathroom. On the very first night of sleeping in this house, I suddenly awoke. This did not alarm me as I had a habit of waking up randomly in the night, before falling right back asleep after.
But this time, I could sense that something was off and soon after, I realised why.
Due to my short-sightedness, the world is at 144p for me but I could still make out the silhouette of a very tall female figure right outside my room and in front of the bathroom. It was wearing white, had long dark hair, and was dripping wet. I could even hear the water dripping.
I was horrified at this point and I immediately shut my eyes and forced myself to go back to sleep. Eventually, I did. The next morning, everything seemed fine and I thought what happened the previous night was a nightmare.
However, as I left my room to enter the bathroom for a morning wash up, my grogginess was gone and I looked down to find myself standing in a large puddle of water.
I panicked and asked my mum if she spilled anything outside my room, but she insisted she did not and even made me clean up the mess she thought I spilled.
Until this day, I wondered if it was really a nightmare or not. Nonetheless, I never slept with the door open from that day onwards.
– June Ngooi, Writer
And there you have it, 10 real life Singapore ghost stories that you have told us. Thank you all in our lovely community who submitted your experiences via our Telegram channel! Which do you think is your favourite?
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