The longest bridge in
Asia and the third in the world, Penang Bridge
connects the island of Penang with the mainland
Peninsula Malaysia. Completed in 1985, the
construction of the bridge saw seven construction
workers killed or drowned. Many believe they then
haunt the bridge.
Ever since it is
completed, many claimed to have seen ghosts of all
types. The coast at the end of the bridge as well as
the 'pillars' of the bridge is popular among anglers.
In the early days, many anglers claimed to have
caught a fish with tiny human heads. Some also
claimed to have caught a human head on their fishing
hook. Many drivers who used the bridge late at night
also claimed to have seen ghosts without heads moving
along at side of their car. A few others reported
seeing a lady in white trying to catch a ride on the
middle on the 13.5km bridge. There were many stories
about what happened to those who stopped.
Nevertheless, all
those were stories of the 80's. As the traffic volume
on the bridge increased tremendously over the years,
less and less of such ghosts sighting were reported.
Perhaps the people scare the ghost away? I personally
have not heard of any new ghost stories about the
bridge for a long while until recently.
It was said that if
you are driving on the bridge in the middle of the
night, when there were not much traffic, you might
come across a car that would overtake you at high
speed. After overtaking you, it would slow down. If
you then overtake the car, you would see a headless
driver controlling it.
Another scary story
was told to me by my aunt. It happened to a friend of
her sister (not related to me). That person, a
near-middle age woman, was driving on the bridge
about a couple of years ago with her mother by her
side. They were on their way home after having dinner
at a relative's place.
That particular night
did not seem to be any different from usual. They
have been plying the bridge so often and nothing had
ever happened. It was near midnight and there were
still a lot of cars using the bridge. She was driving
at a comfortable speed while keeping an occasional
eye on the rear-view mirror as well as the
speedometer. Everything seems perfect although they
were a bit tired by then. Her mother did not talk
much in the car, probably tired after a full day's
outing.
Something very
strange happened as she was approaching the middle of
the bridge. Through the rear-view mirror, she saw her
mother sitting at the car's back seat. That could not
be possible since her mother was sitting on her side.
She reckoned she was merely tired and was seeing
things. The idea of a ghost never even crossed her
mind. She took another look at her rear-view mirror
and it was indeed her mother's reflection that was on
the mirror.
Feeling curious, she
turned to look at the mother. She saw her mother
sitting by her side. However, her face was so pale as
if she was very sick. Fearing the worse, she kept
asking her mother if she was all right. There was no
response from her mother. The old lady just kept
quiet. She drove to the emergency stop at the side of
the bridge wanting to do something to help her
mother. At that moment, she had forgotten about the
reflection she just saw. She thought her mother was
sick and wanted to see if there's anything she could
do there and then.
Once the car stopped,
her mother suddenly opened the door and got out of
the car. The lady got scared while wondering what was
her mother up to. She quickly took off her seat belt
but before she could get out of the car, her mother
had jumped off the bridge. Her body was found drowned
later. A police investigation reveals that the woman
did not pushed her mother down the bridge and it was
concluded as a suicide death.
