Old Ford Motor Factory
 

The deserted compound, once a historical landmark for British surrender and military HQ for the Japanese army during occupation.
SPI members and TCS team are investigating this wartime landmark with guidance of the security guard.

The Forgotten WW2 Japanese HQ
(Source: National Heritage Board)

When Ford Motor Works decided to build a new factory at Bukit Timah to replace their old premises on Anson Road, they were making history. The new Art Deco factory was the first car assembly plant in Southeast Asia. But History of a less salubrious kind was also made at the Ford Factory – on 15 February 1942, the Head of the Allied forces, Lt General A. E. Percival, surrendered to general Yamashita of the Japanese Forces there, who made Ford factory their HQ during WW2.

Great battles were fought around the areas of the Ford Factory. Of the battles fought in Bukit Panjang, Choa Chu Kang, Bukit Batok and Bukit Timah, the Ford factory remains the one place untouched by the advancement of Time & Civilization.

Here is a video clip that shows the famous ‘Walk’ of the British as they surrendered to the Japanese. The current condition of the Ford Factory is still quite well-preserved. Several signature places just like those you can see from the history video clip, can still be found there intact.

Lt Gen Percival, General Officer-Commanding Malaya (1. extreme right) with Brigadier Torrens, Brigadier Newbigging and Major Wild, being led by Japanese Staff Officer Sugita to negotiate the surrender terms on 15 February at the Ford Factory in Bukit Timah Road (2). The talks began at about 5:00pm
3. The British delegation with the Japanese delegation after signing the surrender terms.

If you happen to visit there, make sure you walk the path the British walked during that historic moment when they surrendered and enter through the same main door they entered. There, you can try look for the famous Board Room where they sign the surrender documents.

A secret tunnel is found there too. SPI used to invite participants to go in pairs of two, using a night vision helmet and a monitor provided to navigate in complete darkness as they search for the end of the tunnel.

Will you encounter the ghosts of slain soldiers? One or two... troops of them, may be.

Legend has it that most patriotic Japanese soldiers and high rank officers 'martyred' themselves upon the moment of Japan losing the war. Under the greatest grief when Japan finally surrounded after the atomic bombs were dropped, the imperialism collapsed and their dream of a world empire shattered, many killed themselves. Such is an honorable act of Bushido to the Japanese warriors. They pulled out their samurai, pierced straight through their abdomen, and steadily sliced open the belly in a "L" shape. It took great determination and courage by engrossing oneself into this unimaginable pain.

According to the stone-tape theory of ghost appearance, such severe experience that the suicides gone through would turn them into very fierce ghosts. The ghosts will keep reenacting the suicide scene as if a tape recorded in the event and being playback forever. The abhorrence, vengeance, and martyr spirits would blended in the timeless atmosphere. Surely this kind of atmosphere filled Ford Factory for many many years.

Once provoked, the fierce ghosts will kill, everything, like how they once killed themselves.

1. The British and Japanese were negotiating in the boardroom; Lt Gen Yamashita was acting tough; 2. The British eventually signed the surrender document that marked the fall of Singapore;
3. The boardroom where the British surrender took place is still part of the factory. The table around which the British and Japanese surrender sat, however, is in the Australian War Museum, and the seven teak chairs are in the Surrender Chambers on Sentosa.

No Cheat No Win
(Source: The Singapore History)

At the negotiating table. Lt Gen Yamashita acted tough and demanded from Lt Gen Percival the immediate and unconditional surrender of his troops. An excerpt of the dialogue between the commanders:

YAMASHITA: I want to hear whether you want to surrender or not. If you want to surrender I insist on its being unconditional. What is your answer? Yes or No?

PERCIVAL: Will you give me until tomorrow morning?

YAMASHITA: Tomorrow? I cannot wait and the Japanese forces will have to attack tonight.

PERCIVAL: How about waiting until 11:30pm Tokyo time?

YAMASHITA: If that is to be the case, the Japanese forces will have to resume attacks until then. Will you say yes or no?

PERCIVAL: (made no reply).

YAMASHITA: I want to hear a decisive answer and I insist on an unconditional surrender. What do you say?

PERCIVAL: Yes.

YAMASHITA: All right, then. The order to cease fire must be issued at exactly 10:00pm. I will immediately send one thousand Japanese troops into the city area to maintain peace and order. You agree to that?

PERCIVAL: Yes.

YAMASHITA: If you violate these terms, the Japanese will lose no time in launching a general and final offensive against Singapore City.

Percival, however, succeeded in getting Yamashita to agree not to enter the city till the following morning, 16 February. The surrender terms were signed at 6:10pm on 15 February 1942.

Yamashita wrote later: "My attack on Singapore was a bluff - a bluff that worked. I had 30,000 men and was outnumbered more than three to one. I knew that if I had fight long for Singapore. I would be beaten. That is why the surrender had to be at once. I was very frightened all the time that the British would discover our numerical weakness and lack of supply and force me into disastrous street fighting."

1. Lt General Percival, who had fought with distinction in WWI returned to Britain after the Japanese surrender, carrying with him the major blame for the fall of Singapore. Ironically, in a study prepared for the UK War Office in 1937. Percival had predicted with uncanny foresight the landing points and lines of advances of the Japanese army in its invasion of Malaya/Singapore.
2 & 3. "The Tiger of Malaya", Lt Gen Tomoyuki Yamashita on an inspection tour of Singapore on23 February 1942. Son of village doctor, Yamashita was 56 years old when he was summoned from a military assignment in Manchuria to command the attack on Malaya/Singapore. After his victory, he was posted back to Manchuria in July 1942. He remained there till he was recalled to Southeast Asia in October 1944 to resist the American invation of the Philippines. When the Japanese surrendered in September 1945. Yamashita was the first Japanese general to be tried by the Americans for war crimes. He was hanged in February 1946.

Weird Encounters
(Source: Urban legends)

The Ford Factory as of today is vacant. All the furniture have been removed, only left building structure intact. Perhaps the avenging ghosts still remain; strange phenomena are repeatedly reported by the neighbors. It seems like the factory is not totally unoccupied. They may be invisible, but it doesn't mean they don't exist.

Here are some weird encounters given by the neighbors who lived in the nearby condo:

Mrs. Onn: "I lived in a Rxxx Condo on the 5th floor facing Ford Factory. Strange lights can be seen late at night, usually after 11pm (midnight Tokyo time?). I called them strange light because they changed hue and intensity, and they moved! Sometimes they swirled, sometimes they stationed. I have never seen anything like that before. The premise of the factory is locked up with metal gate and tall fence, so I don't think anybody can enter at night for party. I tried taking some photograph but the light didn't appear on film. I asked my husband to take a look but he couldn't see anything strange neither."

Ms. Julia: "One evening I was taking my dog for a stroll before dinner. She suddenly lost control, first sniffed at the bottom of the fence, then barked nervously to the direction of the main entrance of the Ford Factory. Clearly there was nobody there. I felt very eerie as her eyes were glowing while the sky was getting dark. I detour away from the Ford Factory in my subsequent dog walks."

Ms. Yvonne: "I like night jogging especially with my earphone on. One night when I was jogging pass Ford Factory, my preset channel suddenly switched to something else - it was some sort of Japanese folksongs sang by amateurs. The sound was very spooky; you know the kind of sound quality with fizzy background noise like playing an 60's old record on a grandfather turntable. More strangely, when I was moving away from the factory the folksong faded away. But when I came close to it, the reception just got clearer again. I was damn scared and threw away my radio. I didn't want to bring it home, and I swore that I will never want to jog near there anymore."

Mr. Tay: "That was my childhood experience, at least 10 years ago. My parents brought me to visit my aunt's new condominium near Lakeside area. The unit was still under renovation, and I walked into a bedroom alone. Once I opened the door, I saw a ghost in Japanese uniform. He stood still just behind the door. How I knew it was a ghost? It has no legs, floating in the air. It was speaking to me, softly, "I want to eat some food..." in Mandarin. Please don't laugh at me by saying how can a Japanese soldier speak Mandarin. It wasn't precisely correct that I heard his voice by sound. It was like a message with a voice tone printed straight on my mind. My only reaction should be scream and run. But I couldn't. I just urine-wetted my pants and my trembling legs!"
 

Pictorial Tour

1. Front view on the left side; the night guard is staying at the far end; 2. Side entrance to the factory's main hall, it is sealed with board
3. The side view of Ford Factory near the entrance; 4. This is another side view at the other end


When walked in from the main entrance you will see a large lobby. It used to be an office for Bridgestone the tyre giant some years ago.
Would one of these offices be the boardroom where the British signed the surrender document? SPI KC was checking out the place.


1-3. SPI Agents Molemole and ET are exploring the office compartments on the left of the lobby
4. This is one of the scariest parts of Ford Factory - a dark corridor with many doors, you never know what stands behind them..
Whenever you walk pass them, they will give a spooky quacking noise.
Some said at the corner of eyes, their they saw shadows fast moving from behind


1 & 2. SPI Agents ET & Molemole are checking the toilet; the ex-tenant said that the lady's toilet is the 'dirtiest' place, it has many stories..
3. An altar is built by the night guard honoring Chinese earth god. The guard said the divine altar had to be there since the first day;
Otherwise nobody will dare to sleep overnight guarding this place. We asked him why. He showed fear on his face and refused to tell.
But we found that the altar is placed just outside his sleeping room within 10 meters. May be he was too scared to recall the horror?
4. A poster of Amitaba - a very high rank Buddha. So you see how haunted the place is.. that's why they need such spiritual protection


1 & 2. SPI Agent KC discovered there is a hole in the lobby that leads to some empty space behind the wall.
The existence of the empty compartment is further confirmed by ultrasound echo measuring device and tapping on the wall by fist.
Under harsh interrogation, the night guard finally confided to us: "He heard that during the Japanese occupation, when this factory was
used as a military headquarter, the Japanese built a secret alley as a hideout for fleeing purpose." The guard was reluctant to tell us more.
3. The entrance to the alley is clandestinely built at a hidden corner of the  factory hangar from that is assessable from the other side.
4. The secret alley is deep and pitch dark inside. Many ghostly orbs were captured along the way.


1-3. To find that secret alley, we must sneak into the hangar area through a broken metal gate. This area is spacious!
That must be the motor car production plant when initially designed. And we speculate this is the assembly hall for the Japanese troops;
We even guess this is the martyrs hall for the Japanese army to suicide upon the news of Japan losing the war in the end.
The number of orbs found here far surpasses anywhere else in the Ford Factory. We sensed blood and grief filled in the atmosphere.
We felt being watched too on our every move; and strongly we felt very unwelcome to be here. We had prayed to God for protection.
4. At one side of the factory hangar we found a stair case on the ceiling - clearly there is a loft chamber somewhere up above


1-3. SPI team is exploring this secret tunnel; You can see the wall on one side is new and clean, and the other side is very aged.
Mysteriously it has lots of dents and damages over the wall - we doubt it was used solely as a fleeing shelter. Look at this scary view.
4. The most alarming finding is at the end of the alley. Well, no skeleton or WMD, the end just looks like a normal dead-end with a wall.
However, we found that using ultrasound echo device there is an enclosed empty space behind the wall!
Whatever the purpose it was used for, the space at the real end of the alley is completely sealed off by walls.
Of course we cannot tear down the wall to have a look. Perhaps we should get a X-ray camera? Or drill a tiny hole and use spy camera?
The apple green and red/orange checks markings look suspicious. The must have a meaning. What is that? What is behind the wall?


1. Yes, we found the stair leading up to the penthouse; 2. It seems to have converted into a meeting room for the tyre shops.
False ceiling and plaster board partitions are later added on. From here, one can peep through a hole and look down at the hangar area
3. The hangar area is as usual, full of ghostly orbs no matter from which angle it is viewed.
The orbs seem to be bound at that particular area for some reason.
4. SPI Molemole is the last one getting out of the spooky factory. Why other team members were so un-gentlemen?
Well, because it was just too freaky to stay there for an extra minute!

The nightmare is not over yet. SPI visited Ford Factory again after midnight for full investigation.
The process was too scary until some members fled and resigned on the spot!
Reports of the investigation will be published on the website soon.