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What is this so-called
3-Headed Menhir? What is the purpose of such stone? Can you
answer this mystery?
What is this Blood Idol?
Think again if you assume Singapore is only made up of modern
facilities and contemporary buildings. Very few people know that
we have our own menhir that is a free standing monolithic stone
usually used for ceremonial and cult purposes. On par with other
countries like Indonesia and Ireland where primitive and Celtic
menhirs are common, this very menhir has its own unique shape. The
whole piece of menhir is a mind-bogging mystery.
Found by SPI, in an undisclosed location somewhere behind Mount
Pleasant cemetery, this menhir stone has many secrets to tell.
What indeed puzzling is that its outline resembles three faceless
doll figurines being hugging together. The middle head on the
menhir was originally knocked down, lying on the ground several
feet away. But SPI puts it back in place. It reminds of a gruesome
scene of somebody being held strangled-tight on both sides by the
other two persons, and then got his head whacked off.
Could that be some sort of sorcererˇ¦s cursing instrument? Does the
menhir ever have spirits live inside? Who erected it, what was its
function and why was it there? On a weird thought, does the menhir
represent or commemorate a family of three who were deemed to hug
together forever? Does it relate to any legend that
blood-and-flesh human beings turned into stone upon meeting some
monster like Medusa? Only heaven knows.
When the menhir was
initially found, the center head is missing. SPI later put it back
to its place
1 - 2. The menhir was just
along the road side;
Guess it spooked many drivers who are not familiar with this place
- it is between two famous cemeteries, Bukit Brown and Mt.
Pleasant
3. The design of the menhir was thought to resemble a palm with
three fingers protruding up. What do you think?
4. What spooky may be its smooth faceless face. Imagine at night
in the heart of a jungle cemetery, you got to face it in close
distance!
What is the Use of this Idol?
On a tip of an informant, namely Fedora the Relic Hunter, this is
a maker left over by the Boyanese villagers in the old time that
leads to some hidden treasure. The riddle was written in some old
text in Boyanese language, that can be roughly translated as "A
Family of Three Beside a Tree". True enough this menhir was found
standing beside a tree. Roughly the statue resembles a family of
three members hugging together. So is this really a marker that
leads to hidden treasure? Where is the treasure?
Just diagonally opposite this Menhir, there was an old well and a
makeshift house. Both were made of stone, possibly some left off
ruins from the kampong in the area. The well is very deep, and it
still has plenty of water. At first it would be speculated that
the treasure would have buried at the bottom of the well. (Who
knows what you can find on the bottom of the well? Remember the
movie, 'The Ring'!!) It would be difficult for anyone to verify
anyway unless it means diving down to the well which is an
absolutely dangerous act. Surely not recommended.
1. What is this mysterious
makeshift house?
2. Joss sticks were offered at the corner of the well, as though
some ritual needed to be performed to keep this place safe
3. The ancient well, deep and large. Had anyone drown there and
therefore to whom the joss sticks were offered?
4. The other view of the mysterious makeshift house
1. This newspaper is found
covering the well. It is not that old anyway, only dated from
March 2005.
Obviously some Chinese man who reads WanBao is maintaining this
place
2. At the doorway to the makeshift house, a mysterious talisman
was pasted for some unknown purposes
3. It is for warding off thieves by the power of Kwan Yin and
heavenly generals. Who or what exactly do they want to keep
out...?
4.The space inside that mysterious house seems empty, except a
stone box covered with a heavy wood board. What secret lies
inside?
What is inside this secret house?
Another strange sight however, is the yellow talisman pasted on
the entrance to the little house structure next to the well. The
talisman, by decoding the Chinese characters written on it, is by
empowering from the goddess of White Clothed Kwan Yin as a direct
translation. The Chinese script on the talisman says about
summoning all the heavenly soldiers and generals by the power of
Kwan Yin, to keep any thief away from the premises. What
incredible is, this kind of thief-avoiding talisman usually be
applied on rich people's houses. What so valuable is inside this
run down makeshift house?
By observing from the way the makeshift door was built at the
house, one would sense that this is a door (actually it is only a
wooden panel cover) that keeps something from going out from
inside rather than preventing anyone to go in. Many wood sticks
are put holding the door from the outside. This arrangement would
raise anyone's curiosity to a max. The ultimate question is: what
is inside the house?
SPI was trying to remove the wood stick and the door, at the same
time gingerly not to create too much vibration so to keep the
house from collapsing. It was almost empty inside, except a stone
box in somewhat square shape. It is heavily covered with a thick
wooden board. Around the edge of the box, some pale yellow smelly
powder was found. The first impression that hit SPI's mind would
be - sulfur. How on earth sulfur was found in this little house?
It is well know that this chemical is to keep off snakes. Based on
this, the box was left untouched. The stake is too high what if
really inside the box got dozens of venomous Cobra?
1. One can see that how
close are the well and the mysterious house side by side from each
other. Typical eerie scene of Sadako ...
2. One strange sight is the door that looks as if preventing
someone (or "something") from crawling out with the wood poles
3 - 4. That is what's inside the mysterious house. Other than a
few rubbish, nothing significant it seems.
So what do the talisman and the wood sticks trying to keep away
from? Things may not be what they seem on the surface
1. At the corner of the
house, a bag of moth balls was found. What is the use of it? To
keep insects away from this deserted compound?
2. It was very tempting to open up the wooden board to check out
what is inside the stone box.
However, sulphur powder was found sprinkled under the board,
suggesting there could be snakes inside
3. Lifting up the wooden cover ... 4. a corner of the box interior
was revealed...
Three Theories About the 3-Headed Menhir
As usual, there are possibilities on solving the mysteries.
Speculation can run wide and one can suggest over a dozen clues on
whatever that menhir is. Three most probably theories, however,
are borrowed from one scholar's twenty years of study on all the
similar monuments from Sabbah, Indonesia. This professor had lived
in Sabbah, traveling from town to town to study all kinds of
different Menhirs on how and why their were erected because of the
local cultures. Here are some theories that actually abstracted
from his studies:
(1) The Menhir is a tomb
In some old kampong, a Menhir instead of a normal tomb stone was
used to mark a grave. But this grave is of no ordinary, so is the
person lying underneath. This kind of Menhir grave usually would
be erected by a supernatural human being; put simply, a
superhuman. Such as some legendary figure like Badang - the
mythical strongman. Or any human that had supernatural power when
he was alive. But for this case here, given by the strange shape
of the Menhir, that may be a grave for three persons that had very
close relationships to each other. E.g. three brothers, three
family members, even ... a man with two wives (or vice versa, if
you can imagine that.)
By observing the little soil mound behind the Menhir, it indeed
looks like a grave as the dimension of the mound is about 2 feet x
6 feet and above 1 feet raised above ground. The soil mound is
lying straight just behind the Menhir.
(2) The Menhir is a ritualistic item
That is how it gets its nick name "The Blood Idol". According to
the literature published by that professor, one of the gruesome
uses of menhir is to curse an enemy. The idol or Menhir was made
in the appearance of the enemy. A medium or Bomoh, would have to
perform a ritual by using the Menhir as a symbol of the enemy's
presence. Blood would be poured on the Menhir together with some
mixture of poisons. The Bomoh then would have to chant spells that
borrows supernatural force from the occult, to empower the Menhir.
During that process, it is believed that some Jinns or spirits
would be cast on the enemy and thereby setting up some connection
between the enemy via the Menhir and the Bomoh. After that, the
Bomoh can curse via the Menhir on the enemy to certain level of
harm, such as ill-lucks, sickness or even death.
(3) The Menhir is a treasure marker
As mentioned above, the Menhir is part of the whole riddle
guesswork of the complete treasure map. It is a bit like in the
movie "The National Treasure" by Nicolas Cage. The riddle from one
to another as a long chain of guesswork to the ultimate treasure
burial location. If this Menhir is the last piece of the riddle
chain, then the treasure obviously would be somewhere nearby.
Otherwise, the answer of the riddle of the Menhir would lead to
another riddle elsewhere. Whatever it is, nobody can be sure on
how to decode this phrase "A Family of Three Beside a Tree."
According to Fedora, it is only the first sentence of the riddle.
The rest of the sentences are still in progress of deciphering.
1 - 2. Ruins of building
structure from the old kampong in the upper Thompson road area
still can be found
3. This stretch of road cutting through Bukit Brown and Mt
Pleasant cemeteries is full of ancient tall trees like a tropical
jungle
4. Rusted old lamp pole still stands in its fragility and doom
SPI Investigates and Debunks the Myths
In the most recent expedition, SPI managed to find out the facts.
With a close examination of the Menhir, SPI Ah Toh concluded that
the soil mound behind the Menhir is not a grave but just a rubbish
dump of building materials. There are evidences of dumping of
building materials near that area too. The strongest evidence,
perhaps, is at the bottom of the Menhir. When the Menhir is pushed
down and its bottom is revealed, it shows as a surprise that it is
somewhat hollow. The inner structure of the Menhir was totally
made of bricks that are relatively modern - each brick has a mark
that says "Jurong". The brick works at Jurong factory were
something of the 1960's. So the Menhir is not that old after all.
All the above three theories for describing an old relic from the
past hence no longer stand.
It is surmised that this Menhir that once thought to be an old
relic from the past Boyanese village is actually brought from
elsewhere to this rubbish dumping ground. It may be an artistic
ornament that used to decorate a residential garden. For some
reasons, it was transported here and be abandoned. The broken head
suggested that this ornament may have been damaged and therefore
deserted by the owner.
1. Behind the menhir the
soil mound that was thought to a be a grave is actually a pile of
rubbish dump overgrown with crawling vines
2. There are many other rubbles being illegally dumped at this
stretch of road everywhere
SPI in fact carried a spade and
attempted to excavate the soil mound behind the Menhir. After some
digging, it was found that is not a totally soil mound. It was a
mound shaped pile of construction rubbles. They consist of tiles,
bricks, rocks, sandbags, and all irregular sizes of rubbles,
covered by overgrown vines. Obviously that was just a trash dump
together with the Menhir. Another clue is, judging on how deep the
Menhir was standing on the soil, it shows the Menhir has been
placed there for only a few years. As an operation manager in a
logistic company for years, Ah Toh's observation should be quite
credible and accurate.
Then how about the old well and the little mysterious makeshift
concrete compound? It could be pure coincidence that the Menhir
was dumped near the area. There is no doubt that the old well
should be a left-over artifact from the old kampong. And the
makeshift compound, after SPI consulted with the elders, Ah Toh
debunks that is nothing more than just a bathroom. To many
new-generation Singaporeans it is not of a well-known culture. But
all the oldies know. In the past when tap water was scarce,
villagers relied on local wells like that one there as a source of
water supply. Quite often, near to such a well, a public bathroom
was built as a common facility.
Therefore the stone box inside the compound should be no more than
just a water basin. At first it was thought to be a treasure
chest. We can now laugh it off. In the past, villagers collected
buckets of water from the well, filled the basin, and bathed
inside the compound. That is why this little house or compound has
no window and it doesn't even have a permanent roof, but just an
enclosed private space for washing.
The whole myth seems to be debunked. However, it wasn't very
certain that on why a talisman is pasted on the compound; and all
the wood poles and broad were used to cover the entrance. Joss
sticks were offered everywhere near that place. On one
speculation, these were traces of evidences that "some" people may
have still visited the place. It could be those who have much
sentimental attachment to the place. This is an one kind of
understandable human psychology.
Through the evolution of Singapore housing development, almost all
the people had been moved from Kampong life to new housing
estates. But to some, they still are pretty much sentimentally
attached to the old area where they were born, grew up and aged
there. They are attached to these places which to them are full of
memories, that they want to protect or preserve. That is why
probably a talisman is there to keep them felt mentally safe that
the place is preserved from any damage. From an interview with an
old man nearby that he claimed himself as a caretaker, he admitted
that he is quite afraid one day the government will come and trash
these remains for land development. These people may have lived in
modern estate elsewhere, but they would frequent to the old places
to recall their once glorious past.
On a wilder speculation, what if these people eventually pass
away? Wouldn't their souls be still lingering around .... ?
Catch SPI in action in debunking this Menhir on Singtel 3Logy SPI
Channel.
1. It was found a piece of
tomb headstone nearby, that belongs probably to an exhumed grave
of a Madam called Goh Choon Neo
2 - 4. Further up, there are many interesting grave. Some is full
of mysteries.
For example, one here supposed to be a grand and dual tomb for a
couple.
The husband is died more than 32 years ago. The red painted space
next to his photo is supposed to be for his wife.
Is his wife still alive after 32+ years of her husband passed
away, or missing??
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Answering
Mysteries
Come
