Hooked on spooks

THE derelict old commando barracks in Netheravon Road in Changi is not a
place you would choose to visit for a leisurely evening stroll. Once the
living quarters of the army's elite force, the eerie, run-down compound
has been taken over by Mother Nature. 
The main two-storey building, the paint on its walls flaking, is
surrounded by trees and overgrown weeds. Inside the stuffy and dark
rooms, broken remnants of old ceiling fans litter the floors.  

All is still and deathly quiet. A creak from a loose door hinge, or the
shuffling noise of a stray animal, could scare the living daylights out
of the bravest of souls. 
Except maybe, a growing breed of paranormal interest groups which have
made an unearthly passion of visiting Singapore's scariest spots in the
wee hours in search of otherworldly surprises.  
Like the crime scene investigators CSI, paranormal investigators have a
keen interest in the unexplained and want to solve paranormal-related
mysteries. For the uninitiated, the term paranormal refers to any
phenomenon which cannot be explained with science. 

Members of Organisation For Supernatural Research and Investigation with
artefacts for ghost-busting.
And as far as the deserted barracks go, Singapore's growing ranks of
paranormal investigators reckon The Truth Is Out There, to borrow a
phrase from hit 1990s TV show, The X-Files. 

One such "ghost-buster" is Mr Wisely Xu, 22, an NS-man and a member of
the Singapore Paranormal Investigators (SPI), one of several such groups
that have sprung up here. 
He has a spooky story behind the place: A commando platoon wanted to be
represented by a mascot that would strike fear in the hearts of the
enemy. After some thought, the soldiers painted the face of a devil on
one of the walls in the building. 
When a commander got wind of it, he ordered the wall to be repainted.
But no matter how many coats of paint were slapped on, the face always
reappeared. 
Also on the SPI's list of haunts are Old Changi Hospital, Pasir Ris
swamp, Bukit Brown cemetery and Pulau Ubin. 
The thrill of dabbling in the unknown, and getting to the bottom of
hauntings, possessions and other supernatural phenomena is proving
irresistible to some Singaporeans. 

Take SPI, a pioneer. It has grown by leaps and bounds, says secretary
Lee Qing Yu. It registered itself as a society in June last year and
people can join as different categories of members. It costs $20 per
year to be an active member. 
Within a year, it has recruited 70 members. The number of people who
access its online forum stands at 14,000. 
Contrary to what some people believe, people who join such societies are
not cultists. Most hold proper day jobs. They include civil servants,
businessmen and professionals. Men, who are perhaps less squeamish,
outnumber women. 
Often, these groups are divided between those who have been "visited"
and want to prove the existence of supernatural beings and those who
want to disprove them. 

Burgeoning interest 
While SPI was founded in 2001 as a hobby group, about three other
paranormal interest groups have emerged since. 
Its rival group, Asia Paranormal Investigators (API), was registered in
June last year by Mr Charles Goh, 38, who works as a safety officer. He
was one of the founding members of SPI before he decided to strike out
on his own because of a "difference in direction" between him and his
former compatriots. 
He now has about 20 committee members and about 700 ordinary members and
forum users. Membership is free. 
On a smaller scale, there is online community Singapore Urban Explorer,
the result of a merger between long-time paranormal group Freakylinks
and Singapore Urban Explorer, a group dedicated to discovering
lesser-known sites in the city such as a Marsiling storm drain tunnel
deep inside the Marsiling woods. 

Singapore Paranormal Investigators (SPI) members use high-tech gadgets.
Its website has over 400 registered members, a big hike from the less
than 100 it had when it was launched last year. 
Its founders, civil servant Aaron Chan, 25, and web designer Andy
Hajime, 28, say the group's mission on their explorations, which may or
may not have paranormal elements, is to "take nothing but pictures,
leave nothing but footprints". 
The latest to join the fray is the Organisation for Supernatural
Research and Investigation. Registered as a business two months ago, it
has 15 members and will have a recruitment drive next month.  
To be a member, one must be at least 25 years old, be sponsored by an
existing member and profess a religion. 

An appetite for horror  
Why the sudden surge in interest in paranormal research? 
For starters, the public's curiosity in things that go bump in the night
has been piqued, thanks to the media drumming up one frightfest after
another. 

Asia Paranormal Investigators was registered in June last year and has
about 20 committee members and about 700 ordinary members and forum
users.
SPI's Ms Lee, for instance, got hooked after catching a documentary
programme on TV called The World's Most Haunted Places five years ago.
 

The research and development technologist at a food and beverage company
began researching the topic on the Net and joined SPI two years ago. 
SPI's vice-president, Toh Seong Fai, 33, who is a business trainer, says
the "recent influx of paranormal-themed entertainment" has sparked
interest among those who want to transplant the scares of reel life to
real life. 
On TV, there have been at least five spine-chilling programmes over the
past month: Channel 5's Incredible Tales, Suria's Dimensi 4, AXN's Hex,
Supernatural and PSI Factor. 
Singaporeans, or Asians in general, have always had "an appetite for the
horror/supernatural genre", says Channel 5's senior programming director
of network programming and promotions Chong Gim Hwee, adding that based
on strong ratings, the genre "is here to stay". 

The universality of such stories also means viewers of all races can
tune in, says channel vice-president for Suria Programming Fahmi
Rais. 
Another reason for the growing interest in the study of the paranormal
is that multi-racial Singapore is predisposed to all kinds of creepies,
says Supernatural's assistant director for collection and artefacts
Rasid Yusoff, 35, a freelance designer. "If Malays had 10 ghosts,
Chinese had 10 ghosts and Indians had 10, that's 30 ghosts." 
Intellectuals like Mr Thomas Baker, a PhD student at the National
University of Singapore's sociology department, explains: "With a lot of
things unanswered, it is often easier to find answers in things like
spirits and conspiracy theories." 
Given the scientific world we live in, it is not unexpected that "there
is this increased interest in rationalising the irrational", adds fellow
sociologist Paulin Straughan, the vice-dean of the faculty of Arts and
Social Science. 
Investigative pyschologist Mel Gill adds that young people nowadays
often suffer from what he calls an "existentialist dilemma", questioning
if reality is what it seems. "They know there must be more than meets
the eye so they look into the spiritual world." 

Thrills and spills  
Theories aside, the action is what many paranormal groups live for. 
If there's something strange in your neighbourhood, SPI, API and
Supernatural are happy to investigate. It is during these excursions
that thrills await. Equipment mysteriously break down, people see white
figures and shadows, and blurry images are caught on film. 
Each group, however, has a different modus operandi when it comes to
ghost-hunting operations. 
SPI, which aims to dispel urban legends, is the most tech-savvy group.
Gadget man Eugene Toh, 27, an insurance agent, has helped to mount video
cameras and CCTVs to four-wheel drive trucks so the group can capture
video footage in jungle terrain. 
Once, when the group was investigating a haunted house in Redhill, they
felt a presence and all their gadgets – which had been fully charged
– went dead. 

On the other hand, Supernatural and Urban Explorers do things the
old-fashioned way, using artefacts and group members who claim to be
able to sense otherworldly presence. 
Mr Goh from API says his group is more interested in "eliminating all
possible reasons before coining to a conclusion" for reported hauntings,
rather than trying to sight a ghost. 
What many investigators learn is that stories of the dead are usually
created fears of the living. "Fear without understanding often leads to
misunderstanding," says Mr Goh, who has never seen a ghost. 
Still, the unsolved mysteries keep everyone going. 

Associate Professor Kwok Kian Wo, a sociologist at Nanyang Technology
University, says: "At the end of the day, it would be nice to have a
little mystery left out there. A world in which everything can be
rationally explained won't be fun." – The Straits Times Singapore /
Asia News Network