One of Penang's many
tourist attractions, Penang Hill is located on the
island of Penang and accessible through a funicular
railway from Air Itam. In the colonial days, British
officials built bungalows on top of the hill and use
them as their retreat homes. The cooling climate at
Penang Hill attracted the British who find the
weather in Malaysia too hot and humid.
Most of the bungalows
built by the British officials are still there and
they are now owned by big organizations as well as
government departments. Employees of such organizations are usually entitled to rent the
bungalows for holiday use.
Due to the long
history of those Victorian bungalows, most if not all
have one or two ghost stories behind them. Perhaps
the most eerie bungalow of all is the Brother's
Bungalow. Built and used by the Christian Missionary
Brothers, it had been home to many retiring Brothers.
Hence many Brothers had passed away there. At
present, they no longer served the same purpose but
instead are used by students and teachers of St
Xavier's Institution (my alma mater) for training
camps or simply for holidays.
The Brother's
Bungalow consists of two wings -- the east and west
wing. The east wing is situated behind some tall
trees and bushes and hence, the whole wing is always
dark and gloomy. Most of the scary ghost stories
happened here.
There is also a
chapel inside the bungalow. One can be assured of
seeing the ghost of a Brother if one visits the
chapel after midnight. Some of my friends have
reported seeing a Brother walking up and down along
the corridor of the chapel.
Inside the bungalow
itself, many eerie spots can be found. There were
reports of people seeing a headless Brother walking
around one of the rooms. Also, there is a bullet
still buried inside one of the walls and a Brother
was claimed to be killed by that bullet long time
ago. The storage room is also claimed to be
"fiercely" haunted and very few dare to
step foot inside.
All the rooms in
Brother's Bungalow are numbered. There is a strange
phenomenon at room number 16. If you have visited the
bungalow, you may have noticed there are no Room 16
after all. No matter what the caretaker does to make
the sign show '16', it would somehow turn itself and
become '91'. Many eerie things are reported to have
happened in this room and the caretaker closed up
this room from being used.
One of the bathrooms
in Brother's Bungalow had also been locked up after a
scary incident. Someone was bathing in the shower
when the water became blood and rushed down on him.
There are a few
stories at the Brother's Bungalow that involved the
Japanese soldiers found here during the World War II.
The first story, told
by my friend, Sovita, is as follow:
It was actually a
beautiful morning in 1995 when we went up to the
Brother's Bungalow for our Junior Leadership
Training Camp. The seniors had earlier warned us
not to do anything silly as it would cause the
'Brothers' to 'wake up'. However, you see, my
friend, Guan, was a non-believer and that's where
the problem starts.
Outside the
bungalow, there is an image of the Virgin Mary
and of St. John Baptist de La Salle, the founder
of the Christian Missionary Brothers. Guan was
telling me how he would not believe that, with
those two holy figures protecting the bungalow,
there would still be any ghosts around. Somehow,
he challenged the so-called evil spirits there.
He thought to himself that if the 'Brothers' are
to be real, they have to appear before him.
Otherwise, it would only be merely insubstantial
ghost stories made up by some people. Guan even
burst into laughter after hearing the seniors'
warning.
We had our formal
programme for the rest of the day. When night
falls, at about 11pm, everyone was tired and was
sleeping soundly. Nevertheless, Guan woke up in
the middle of the night to ease himself. He came
out of his room and walked towards the toilet. As
he was on his way to the loo, he saw this image
that was supposed to be a Brother. He saw an
image of a monk in a Christian Brother's gown
walking around but his feet didn't even touch the
ground. Guan was stunned for a moment. He took
another look and was so shocked to find the
Brother, not only floating, but was also
headless!
Guan was
absolutely petrified with fear. He stood there
motionless for a full three seconds until he
decided it may be a good idea to rush back to his
room and hid under the blankets. He forgot about
his "nature's call" and forced himself
to go back to sleep.
I was talking to Guan
the other day and he told me another story that he
had heard of much later after his own experience. It
happened to another boy from our school that was
staying at the east wing of the Brother's Bungalow.
While at the bungalow
with a group of people, Keng Lim, Kenny and Choong
was sharing the same room. After everyone retreated
to the bedrooms for the night, the three of them went
back to their room and played cards. As they were
playing and joking happily, Keng Lim suddenly looked
so pale and sick. Kenny and Choong sensed something
was wrong and asked him if he's all right. Keng Lim
just kept quiet for a while and then suggested it was
time for all of them to go to bed. Kenny and Choong
knew something was wrong but thought it may not be
the right time to talk about it. So, they just went
to bed without another word.
Next morning, Kenny
and Choong woke up to find Keng Lim having a fever
and still looked sick. Keng Lim pleaded them to send
him home and he also insisted that both Kenny and
Choong leave the bungalow with him. He was asked
numerous times what had happened on the night before
but he refused to say a word.
So, the three of them
went back home and Keng Lim recovered speedily. A few
weeks later, Kenny and Choong approached Keng Lim
again to ask what had happened that night when he
suddenly looked so sick and pale. Keng Lim finally
agreed to tell them what had happened.
"As we were
playing cards and joking away, I suddenly have an
urge to go to the toilet. However, just before I got
up, I turned around and saw something that almost
scared me to death."
"You mean inside
the room?" interrupted Kenny.
"Yup,"
continued Keng Lim, "There was a Brother with
his hands tied to his back. Then, there was a
Japanese soldier by his side. He pushed the Brother
to get down on his knees and then he took out his
sword. I saw the soldier just chopped off the
Brother's head."
"Then what
happened?" asked a scared Choong.
"They just
vanished once the head was chopped off. A moment
later, the whole process begins again. I could only
bear to see it twice. I even thought I want
hallucinating the first time I saw it. After seeing
it twice, I even forgot that I needed to go to the
loo. I just turned back and wish they were no longer
there when I turn around again. I was scared stiff
but there's nothing I could do. It was then that you
guys started asking if I was all right. Apparently,
both of you did not see anything."
There are many other weird stories about this
bungalow but my sources are not very clear about
them. If you have heard any stories about them or
have experienced any strange phenomena there, I would
be very pleased to hear from you.
