NUS At Night: Prelude

NUS at night is a place totally different from the daytime...Students rushing from lectures to lectures, desperately finding seats in the canteen, all the talking, chatting and sounds somehow disappear once night falls...

At night, the insects and animals take over...crickets, bats and even the occasional owl make their presence felt. Others fly past you making a consistent but unrecognizable sound that leaves you wondering what it is, or if your mind is playing tricks on you.

Human beings suddenly become a minority. Indeed, even walking along the lighted corridors of NUS makes you feel uneasy. The whole place becomes a mass of emptiness and lifeless standstill...Is someone sitting at the far end?

Even The Forum at the Arts Faculty, where it is often regarded as the most happening and crowded place, is a sea of dark and coldspots... Can you see some orbs in the picture below? NUS is a place that I regularly go back to, because it holds alot of memories and familiar places, not to mention cheap food! The quiet nature of the place at night also allows me to prepare my work and/or type reports.

5th Jan 2008. I decided to accompany my friend who was staying late at the forum to prepare for her session plans the following Monday. It was 2am and I was a little sleepy so I ventured to the garden pathway beside the Old Admin Building...

The place was so dark that my flash was little use in brightening up the shot. In my camera, it looked like just a black picture, but when brightened back home, I was horrified to find so many orbs lingering above the trees!

At another tree, the picture as usual appeared black initially, but when brightened back home, I caught a bright orb on top of one of the branches, and upon zooming, it seems to reveal a lady-like facial figure within it...

8th Jan 2008. On tuesday, I was back in NUS again, settling down this time at the arts canteen, rushing for some reports and preparation for meeting the next day. Time flew by, and I found myself realizing that it was already 11.15pm by the time I finished.

I left the canteen, going along the walkway from Arts Canteen to AS6. All of a sudden, at the walkway where the row of AS1 seminar rooms were, I noticed that the air was cold, much colder than usual. Of course, I rationalized that on the right side of the walkway were trees and greenary which were naturally cold, but I still felt uneasy. It's as if someone was following or watching me. Remembering that I've my camera, I turned and took a shot of the walkway behind me...

I continued talking random pictures of what was behind me, from AS1 all the way to AS6 along LT14-15...All these while, I realized my hands were cold as ice...But it didn't strike me until I analyzed the pictures at home. I was shocked to realize that in my journey from AS1 to LT14, an orb was captured in the sequence of pictures I took, as if something WAS following me...

The 1st picture above shows a faint orb, probably due to the strong lighting of the corridoor walkway, whereas the picture above, taken along LT14, was the clearest because of the darker nature of the lighting...

What is the nature of these orbs? Why are there so many orbs around? Restless souls of soldiers who perished in World War II? At nearby Kent Ridge is the grounds where the last battalion of soldiers defending Singapore fought before the Japanese overran them. Did parts of the fighting extend to the grounds around NUS as well? What about the orb resembling a lady face? Who is she?

More questions, again...for now, let's keep an open mind...Agent BT signing off....

Memoirs of NUS

1st post for GHOST Club! Decided to start with my roots for the paranormal: NUS.... Back in May 2001, it was my 2nd examination experience in university. Discipline was the key for all exams in NUS, and discipline was a challenge for me. Like a primary school boy, my attention span for revisions couldn't last more than an hour. In fact for every hour of study, I gave myself a reward of 1 hour of exploration. Fair exchange right? It's the only way to keep myself motivated to study! And so, I scrutinized and explored almost every corner of NUS, scouting for new and interesting places...

Campus security must have spotted me, for very soon later these irritating little eyes started popping up everywhere! Some of the places that I've discovered were also subsequently locked up. But like a true blue explorer, I didn't give up....

Year 2007. How NUS has changed so much... Repainting, renovating, upgrading are everywhere. An incoming freshie will definitely be oblivious to the little mysteries that still exist in campus today...

"The Dungeon", infamous for fright night and stories of students dressed up as ghosts and encountering their "fellow friends" from another world, lives on. Come to think about it, I wonder if spirits can tell if another is one of them, or is just a student disguising as one. Today it is caged up, but the place is cold and still gives me the creeps...

Over on the slopes high above NUS, several old houses still remain. The wooden framed windows distinguishes these houses from the modern sliding window ones of today. Questions are asked: "Why are they vacant?", "Why are they left in their state when their neighbouring houses are renovated?", "What is the history of these houses?"

This is just one of the few old houses left abandoned up in the hills of NUS. Signs of neglect are evident. Some of the doors are opened, others remain closed. I wonder what lurks behind the closed doors. Take a closer look at the picture on top and you will notice a wash sink in front of the house. It's a puzzling place to situate a sink. Wonder what is its purpose?

In one of the rooms, modern gadgets are found amidst the ruins. A fan with no switch. If its blade start turning, I will definitely freak out. A can of Bygone, but no signs of any dead insects anywhere. An odd trolley that looks a little short and small. In the background, notice how streaks of vine have creeped into the room and are hanging down from the walls. Now, take a look at the window. It's slightly ajar, but something is weird about it. How do you push the window open when a grill like structure blocks your hand from pushing the window? Hmmm... first the odd sink in front, then this weird window...

I suddenly jumped when i noticed a faded newspaper article on the ground. The picture of the lady was for one moment, staring at me. A clue linking to the abandoned house? More likely someone who threw it away after reading. The rainy weather must have reduced the paper to a fade. But interestingly enough, the picture of the mysterious lady remains pretty immune to the ravages of water. Anyone recognizes her? Looking at the state of the paper, the cleaners have definitely not been doing their job here for quite some time...or maybe they don't dare to step around here?

Many questions and mysteries indeed. Maybe I will make a trip down to the National Archives of Singapore soon to check on the historical background of these houses. In the meantime, NUS still holds a fantastic place for picture taking, brilliant sunset and paranomic scenary....

Till next time, when we carry out a night investigation of the place, for now, here's Agent BT signing off....