Thursday, May 9, 2013

The Pink House

SG Ghost Club spots another abandoned house - tipped off by one of our fellow friends. This house though, compared to all the other abandoned houses featured in our previous posts, is more intriguing and some, although limited, information, can be found with regards to this interesting house.


It is actually a house located very near to a road that is quite busy with cars. It is somewhere near Holland Village and Holland Road, where many people dine and hang out in the evenings and especially on weekends. Nestled alongside the big bungalows and private houses, strangely enough, even though I have driven past that road countless times, i have never seen this house before! it goes to show that sometimes, things can be sitting right in front of civilization, but yet it remains hidden from the rest of the world - slowly growing older as the years go by.


However, this interesting house that had been known as "The Pink House" - a comparison to the more famous Pasir Ris Red House, is actually well kept. The trees surrounding the houses are trimmed nicely, the garden cut neatly and the pink coat of paint looks fresh and new. We wondered what is the reason why this house is abandoned but yet well maintained. 


An online research yielded the following clues and more information regarding the Pink House. According to one resident who lives near the Pink House, this person mentioned:

"I live near the Bubble Gum pink house on Holland Road.  For the last seven years the house has been empty.  A gardener visits the house once in a while.  The window shades have been pulled half closed and in the exact same position for the last seven years.  The maids in the neighborhood say the house is is haunted."


Indeed, upon closer examination, the window shades does looked like it was half drawn. We wondered why. Is there something inside that feeds on sunshine? Or is it to allow more 'yang' energy to enter the house to ward off dark energy? But if so, why is it half drawn instead of full drawn? Why is there a gardener cleaning and tidying up the place? Who is he employed by? Yet another person on the internet provided this insight:

"Actually, the pink house in holland was white initially, then painted bright red. Long exposure to the sun and no maintanece faded the colour. Still a funky house nonetheless." 


Was it really red that has faded to pink? somehow on close inspection, the pink doesn't look like it was faded red, because fading would not have resulted in such a consistent and nice color, it would have different shades and even remnants of red color seen. We believe the red faded to pink theory is probably not true. But if it is pink, what is the significance of the pink color? Further research on pink color shares the following info:

"The color pink represents compassion, nurturing and love. It relates to unconditional love and understanding, and the giving and receiving of nurturing. Pink is feminine and romantic, affectionate and intimate, thoughtful and caring. It tones down the physical passion of red replacing it with a gentle loving energy." (taken from http://www.empower-yourself-with-color-psychology.com/color-pink.html)


Does this house represent a lady who had stayed there before, someone who was nurturing, loving, but has since passed on? Was this house her house for many years? and the current owners wanted to remember this lady as who she was when she was living? Yet another online research on the color pink said the following:

"Pink is the color of universal love. Pink is a quiet color. Lovers of beauty favor pink. A pink carnation means "I will never forget you". Put some pink in your life when you want to calm feelings, to neutralize disorder, for relaxation and/or acceptance, contentment. Pink gemstones can be used to promote love, self-worth, order and protection from violence or aggression."


Could pink be the color of this house to neutralize disorder? to protect against violence or aggression? Could there be a history of violence, aggression, abuse and even death in this house before that made the current owners use pink in an attempt to neutralize and ward off all the violence associated with this place or worse still, the energies that are still present within the house? could pink be the color to contain a possible sinister history that still exists inside this house? No one really knows the truth - unless there are some ways to interview the gardener. We are skeptical though that the gardener will reveal anything. Using our zoom lens (picture above) we spot many chairs stacked in the behind of the house. the chairs easily total up to 100 chairs! What is needed for so many chairs and why are there so many chairs in the back of the house? can 100 guests fit into this house? or are the chairs for something more invisible??



Further pictures taken enabled us to see a half opened window. For a moment it seemed as if we could see a figure of a person standing behind the window in the house, even with a head and torso. but we are quite sure it is matrixing of the leaves rather than anything. Why is the window half opened?


More on the behind of the house, we can see very normal everyday household items that included more chairs, a portable ladder, table. A greater zoomed up picture shows more things on the table - looks like some banners.We are not sure what they are. an old rusty container sits on the floor.



More pictures of the house exterior using our zoom lens to see if we can capture more interesting observations.


The most intriguing thing observed by us and also by the many people who had seen this place is how its window blinds are half drawn. Every window on the upper floor is done this way:




We wonder if there is any special significance of drawing windows half way. We know half mass flags are to respect deceased people, but half drawn blinds? The owner way of marking respect to a person who has passed on in the house since they do not have flag poles???


A small garden arrangement sits near the end of a driveway to the house. A green colored window shows the olden days when light that shines on green window panels emit a green look to the place. Strangely this is the only green window in the entire house. We wonder why? Green for the plants in front?


Zoomed up picture shows a nice arrangement of pots of flowers. Flowers all looked pretty nice and groomed - most likely the gardener. We wonder if there are any significance to the flowers as well. What looks like an orchid flower is the most obvious one we could spot.


This is the entrance to the house. Strangely enough, the entrance to the house is dark and without light. Perhaps it illustrates what awaits a visitor as you step through this door? A pretty modern doorbell is seen beside the door.


Just as we were on the SLA map website looking for the ownership of the house, and found that it is listed as private ownership, we suddenly chanced upon an advertisement for the house!!! And the ad listed date is exactly today!! how uncanny is this:


Wow and the house is going at a whopping $41 million!!! We wonder if that is actually considered a good price for this house or a significantly cheaper price. More research onto the comparative prices of properties around the area shows that:


Interestingly enough, other properties along this road with more than twice the space area is actually selling for much cheaper than the 5000 sqft $41 million price tag for this abandoned house!!! this find makes us even more intrigued by this place and this Pink House. It leads us to more questions. One thing for sure, we will be very interested to know the experiences of the eventual owners to see if they have any additional stories to share!!!


After the exploration of the Pink House, we went to investigate another spot that the friend who had tipped us about this Pink House, had another paranormal experience there. He was sending home a female friend along this stretch of road further down from the Pink House when he and his female friend smelled strong fragrance along a particular spot.


He had been walking down the slope of the road as he smelled the frangrant scent. His female friend, who was drunk, actually said out aloud whose smell was it, such a nice smell. And just then he sensed something and when he turned slightly, he said he saw what appeared to be a female white figure by the side of the lampost (the lampost pictured above).


A check at the area surrounding that lampost revealed a little bridge that leads from the road to Ghim Moh. It was a small narrow little bridge. We imagined it will be pretty dark at night even with the street lamps.


This is the little bridge that connects the land of the rich to the land of the HDB. In day time it actually looks really nice and serene.


The bridge overlooks the Railway Corridor where the old train tracks for the Malaysian KTM trains used to ply on as it makes its way to Malaysia from Singapore. It is indeed a nature wonderland.



On the left side of the bridge, we can see the Ulu Pandan CC building as well as the National Council of Social Service (NCSS). That is my frequent work place and where alot of time is spent with the boys there. Little did i know that we are so near to this little paranormal phenomenon as well as the mysterious house nearby!


Going back to the actual lampost where the female figure was seen, we tried to examine the surroundings and the things around there for some clues.

 
 
We noticed a little strange basketlike thing sitting by the side of the concrete wall that ends at the lamp post. We wondered what this little basket is and why it is there. Could this lead to some possible clues to the mysterious lady?
 

We tried to then walk around the area near the lamp post to examine other possible clues and just as we were walking along the opposite pavement, we noticed something whitish things on the round. At first they looked like normal washed out paper and litter (pictured below just beside the green railings).


However, on closer inspection, we realized that they were actually chinese incense paper! It became obvious only when we examined it closely. The red raffia string tied across the pack of the paper is very common. But perhaps the most distinct mark is the gold paper that is in the centre of the paper. Some one has been leaving or buring chinese incense paper here!


A picture of the actual typical incense paper that Chinese burn is below. You can clearly see how the paper that we had found is definitely the incense paper. The red raffia across the stack as well as the middle golden paper.
 
 
 
According to chinse customs there are 2 kinds of chinese incense paper - the ones that are yellow in color and the ones white in color. The white colored paper is traditionally used for burning as ghost money - usually associated with mourning or for the deceased. Why are there incense paper littered here on the road? Ironically it is just opposite to where our friend saw the female figure. Did something really happen here that caused the haunting? According to our friend, his female friend had later told him that there was a rape and murder happening at that area. Could that lady he saw be the lady who was murdered? And the incense paper was there to offer her peace and money? Well if she was wrongly violated and murdered, she probably will not be satisfied with just money. 
 

We then walked down the main road and as we walked along the road we noticed another passageway leading up to an old gate. We decided to explore further.


The old gate looks rusty and we wondered where did it lead to. We realized the gate was not locked. It was left slightly ajar, as if inviting us to go in. We went in since it was not a trespassing situation as the gate was naturally opened.

 
The long passageway continued upslope and we saw some old buildings to the left. Surprisingly though we believe some people were staying there. Possibly foreign workers. We saw clothes being hung around. Interestingly the color of many of the clothes we saw hanging were pink in shades - similar to the Pink House! An uncanny coincidence??? Who were these people? We saw no one though.


This is the view after we have walked through the gate and turned down to look back at the gate.


We continued walking up the slope which lead to an open space with some construction materials, iron sheets and huge big canvas sheets.


We walked around a little but nothing much to tell us what is really going on here. And so we decided to walk back down. As we are walking down, we could see the Pink House through the bushes that filled up. It was the back view of the Pink House.


It was through this picture that we could see the many chairs as mentioned above in this post. Well, this has been quite an intriguing exploration in day time. We would be quite interested to find out more about the mystery female figure and if stories of a rape murder really took place. All research online yielded nothing about a murder or rape crime. If anyone knows anything about the history of the Pink House or stories about this rape murder, do let us know! for now, this house will be termed as mysterious!



Monday, May 6, 2013

Roberts Barrack now becomes hotel! Would you dare to stay here?

The Roberts Barrack is a well known paranormal haunt for many in the past! In fact, Roberts Barrack was one of the places that we had investigated back in our Expedition 1! We had a few sensations there, noticed a few orbs hovering around the place, and in particular one orb that hovered above an old security guard table. 

Murders took place there too - the most famous one being an Indian guard who was found dead in a real police case in Singapore - the Indian guard being one of the caretakers of the old, creepy place. Since then, no security guards or caretakers stayed there overnight. No one dared. Reports had mentioned that when he was found, he was found with a very scared look, and was found on the road leading down from Roberts Barrack. It was as if he was trying to run away from something before he died.


Roberts Barrack was also known to be a prisoner camp back during World War 2. It was reported that more than 21,000 POWs were made to be cramped inside this holding place and the surrounding barracks, and conditions there were terrible. Many prisoners were left to the bones, and many others died from malnutrition and illnesses.


It was less than ideal situation for prisoners to be in and one can imagine the feelings of agony and torture and suffering some of the prisoners faced, especially those who were sick or suffering from illness.


When investigating the place, we could somehow sense the sorrow, pain and sad feelings of the prisoner of war back in World War 2. Their days were filled with hunger and not knowing what will happen to them. These residual energies, plus the negative energies from the murder, all add to the intrigue of this place for a paranormal investigator.


For many years, this site was left abandoned and vacant - the many paranormal phenomenon as well as the negative energy that resides in this place makes many people not willing to do something about the land nor change it - the history attached to this place is just too strong.



The place is also filled with other darker energies as it was left abandoned for at least 10-20 years - as it is known that spirits may reside in spaces that are empty or not filled. If you do a check on experiences people have about this place, you will probably hear plenty of stories!


Recently, in the past 5 years, SLA placed the Roberts Barrack under tender for development into a hotel and resort but not surprisingly, no one wanted to take it up and take over to develop this place. However, 3 years ago, I started noticing some developments into the place as someone looked like it has bought over the land. However, for the next 3 years, nothing much moved and the development of the place seemed to be terribly slow.

 

Rumours was that the initial developer ran into some issues and problems in the midst of building the resort and the construction was left hanging halfway. It was left semi abandoned for the last 3 years as no movement in the development took place, even though the building was already formed. But just today i made a visit there and happened to see that the hotel was already up and running!! 

 

Found out that it was a new management and when i asked the receptionist, he told me that this place, called "Changi Cove" was not under any company or developer but run by a group of private individuals. Seems like developers know more about this place and has decided against taking it up. I wondered who this group of individuals were.

 

They must have spent alot of money to do up this place and they have even kept the original Roberts Barrack intact! the entire place and architecture is still the same (check out the exterior outlook and compare it to the old pictures we took). Even in the classy restaurant, the opening corridors and walls were still unique to the ones original in Roberts Barracks!

 

The place certainly looks grand and new now, and it looks beautiful yet with quite a classy charm. Touted to be a good place for weddings, for meetings, for retreats and for ROM, if no one knew about the history of this place, no one will even feel the negativity of this place.

 

Each of the rooms and suites are also beautifully done up and it looks romantic yet cosy. The picture below of one of the standard rooms with the scribbled words "Welcome to my place" while it looks nice, we cannot help but compare it to the old scribblings on the walls of this barracks from the prisoners held there. It is strangely uncanny! Further research shows that Changi Cove is charging $220 (with breakfast) for a night's stay in this room! Now, we wonder if this amount is too costly for a spooky old historic place. Well for those who are nostalgic and likes history perhaps it is reasonable?

 

While pretty it looks in day and with the lush greenery and trees all around, this place certainly have a serene, peaceful and natural outlook and deco. The many birds chirping and the sea nearby all potentially make this place to be a nice getaway for some! However, when the sun sets and the night falls, this place could turn totally different. 


Taking a walk around the premises tonight, the carpark was totally empty and the entire place was dead! it was eerily quiet and stale for a new hotel. Absolutely no guests at all as i walk around. No pool water, no sounds of tourist and guests enjoying a good time - it was as if it was before - DEAD.


The place is still an intriguing place and we would be very much interested to do an investigation by staying in the hotel (if only the price is cheaper!) for one night. The place is still reeking from history and residual energies. How interesting it would be to be the ONLY guests in the entire hotel! The hotel staff said that the suite at the actual Roberts Barracks will be ready by end year, and this would be a tempting opportunity for us to book a room directly there and do an investigation! anyone up for this?