The Mystery of McRitchie Water Tomb
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This is a solitaire tomb that could be found at the logging track of MacRitchie reservoir


1. The tomb is facing a tranquil open view; 2. At both sides there are mud tracks; 3 & 4. Mysterious sea creatures found on shore

Mystery of year 1876 tombstone at MacRitchie

Tomb of the Unknown
(Source: The New Paper, By Lee Tee Jong, November 18, 2003)

WITHIN the tranquil MacRitchie Reservoir Park lies a 127-year-old mystery. A solitary tombstone dated 1876 stands beneath a canopy of mangrove trees along the Chemperai-Jering jogging trail. It is so old that even the National Archives of Singapore (NAS) does not have any record of its existence.

NAS said they only have cemetery burial records, exhumation records and death certificates dating after 1947.

Regular joggers speculate that the deceased was either a nobleman or an important official. Said Mr Raymond Lim, 60, a retiree who first saw the tombstone 30 years ago: 'The carvings are elaborate.

'From a geomancy point of view, the location is good - given its proximity to nature and water.' The throne-like tombstone, which is three steps from the water's edge, commands a panoramic view of the open reservoir and the surrounding greenery.

A row of red Chinese characters carved on the vertical slab reveals the year of death and the surname of the deceased as Fan. Over the years, the writing has become faint, and there are cracks running across the slabs. Algae is growing around the slabs and dead leaves encircle the tombstone, about half the size of a table-tennis table.

But there were signs that someone had been taking care of the tombstone. On the horizontal slab were two red candles, two big joss sticks, an urn filled with the joss stick butts, several blobs of melted wax, a pack of half-opened joss sticks and a lighter caked with mud. The giant joss sticks were damp and slightly bent in the rain. A broom and a sweeper lay against the branch of a mangrove tree two metres away.

Most joggers shied away from the tombstone. There are two jogging paths nearby, and most joggers chose the one that is further away. The occasional jogger who ran closer to the tombstone went behind it.

One of them, Mr Francis Teo, 40, said: 'I do not want to be disrespectful towards the deceased by running in front.'

The salesman, who has been jogging there for 20 years, had a theory about the tombstone. He said: 'I suspect the family might have wanted to put the tombstone at Bukit Brown cemetery near MacRitchie Reservoir but later placed it here to make it more exclusive.'

The Environmental Health Department of the National Environment Agency, which oversees the management of Government cemeteries, crematoria and columbaria, has no intention of removing the tombstone. Its officer, Mr Yip Kwok Hoong, said: 'Unless someone applies for an exhumation permit, we will not clear the tombstone.'

First Reservoir: MacRitchie Reservoir
(Source: Raffles Computer Science Club)

When Singapore was founded as a British trading port, two groups of people came to depend on the island for water. One was the growing number of ships that called for goods and supplies including water. The other was the growing population of migrants drawn to the small island because of the opportunities for trade and money-making.

Fresh water came from wells and rivers but these became increasingly inadequate to cope with demand. As early as 1823, British Resident John Crawfurd proposed to spend 1000 dollars on a new reservoir and waterworks to supply water to the ships. Nothing came of the plan. In 1852, the government surveyor proposed a plan to tap the headwaters of the "Singapore Creek". The plan, if carried through, would have supplied some 2067 million cubic metres (546 million gallons) of water to the town. Nothing came of this scheme too.

In 1857, Straits Chinese merchant Tan Kim Seng decided to donate $13 000 towards improvements to the waterworks for the town. Some of the money was frittered away but eventually a scheme materialised to create an impounding reservoir in Thomson by constructing an earth embankment to impound water. Unfortunately, the projected cost of building the reservoir, which came to more than $100 000, could not be covered by Tan's gift. The colony was then governed from Calcutta, and the colonial government there declined to spend the large sum required to build the reservoir. So that it would not reflect badly on the colonial government, the Municipal Council decided to build a fountain to commemorate Tan's gift to the town. The fountain at Fullerton Square was unveiled in 1882, 18 years after Tan's death in 1864.

Eventually, the proposed impounding reservoir in Thomson was built and completed in 1867. The pumps and distributing network was not completed till 1877. 2 pumping stations were built at MacKenzie Road and Mount Emily. Singapore's first waterworks was officially opened in 1878, 20 years after Tan Kim Seng's philantrophic gesture

In 1891, the Impounding Reservoir, as it was then known, was further enlarged under the supervision of the Municipal Engineer James MacRitchie. MacRitchie Dam was enlarged between 1891 and 1894. The dam was further raised by 1.5m in the period 1903-1905 to increase its storage capacity. The cost of the extension was $32 000 and it increased the capacity of the reservoir to over 1840 million cubic metres (468 million gallons).

The enlarged reservoir was named the Thomson Road Reservoir in 1907 but in 1922, it was renamed MacRitchie Reservoir to recognise James MacRitchie's work.

By the beginning of the 20th century, the average daily supply of water was about 4 million gallons and it was not enough to meet demand. A combination of droughts and increased demand let to water shortages and more plans to increase the water supply. One plan was to channel water from the upper section of the Kallang River into the Thomson Road Reservoir. Another was to build a service reservoir in Pearl's Hill.

To take the water from the Upper Kallang, Thomson Reservoir was extended in 1905. The Kallang Tunnel Works were completed in 1907.

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Pictorial Tour

1. On a fateful midnight, SPI Ah-Toh and SPI Azri set out to investigate the McRitchie water tomb; something seems to be following Azri
2. This is the kind of quiet and eerie tracks they were walking in;
3. Along the way, an exceptional bright orb that looks like a fire ball was captured, it was as if coming to our way!
4. After about 20 minutes of night walk in the dark, they entered the Jering Track that was built over the water


1.Toh and Azri suddenly stopped. Look! Some mysterious water stains. From this photo it looks something has crawled up
and went back down to the water. What is this?? Here is a closer look
2. A little further up, another water stain was found. They are too small to be footprints.
There are several more, and they just appear in the middle of the wooden track. See this one. Werid!
3. This water stain has mud, obviously it is from the muddy water down there.  See these photos from another angle (1) (2).
4. Azri and Toh were studying on the mysterious water marks, little they know that some spiritual force was tailing them from behind...


1 & 2. "Watch out" Toh suddenly said. It big tree growing side way was blocking our way. Our heads almost hit on it. Another view.
This big tree looks spooky from a distance. 3. In contrast to it, there is a small tree growing in the water. Another view.
4. After this bay, we will soon reach the water tomb. Our hearts were thumbing fast.


1. Here is the infamous water tomb! 2. On top of it placed a row of joss sticks. Closer view.
3. The frontal view of the tomb, notice the joss stick urn, bottle of tea leaves and a glass jar that has cigarette lighters inside.
Someone must have come regularly and offer incense.
4. The water level just nicely hits the top wedge of the tomb, covering the lower parts of it. See the flooding on the left and on the right


1. Behind the tomb it was a dense bush; 2. We tried bash in and check if there are any similar tombs inside, but the trees are too dense
3. This is the soil where the deceased laying underneath. Just a note though, the roots may have grown all the way down.
Wouldn't the body be badly disturbed by the overgrown tree roots? How would the dead feel comfortably resting among the roots?!
4. Right on top of the tomb, you can see the curling twigs and branches of the dense trees.
Usually the branches of the trees resemble the web structure of their roots.
So you can imagine how messy the roots would be down there. How would then the buried RIP?


All the photos you see above are taken with camera flash.
The actual situation was, in the midst of the eerie water facing the water tomb, in total darkness.
In order to check out more information about the tomb, we had to turn on our searchlight.
However, smart Azri suggested we shone the light on the silver tea leave bottle instead of the tomb stab directly which is rude.
We spent some effort to recognize the faint inscription on the stab stone. Finally we got it, that would help our research.


We felt more and more spooked at this water tomb. The feeling was though something was watching at us.
When Kenny was busy writing down the stab inscription, Azri and Toh sensed and heard something getting more and more disturbing.
In the background sound of crickets from the bush, slight bubbling noise were emerging from the water.
The noise from the water although was faint, it was scary enough to feel that something was swimming towards us, especially in the dark.
Legends of water ghost go as that they would grab your foot to make you drown, even in shallow paddle of water.
"Kenny, hurry up, there could be crocodiles in this area", Toh warned. And the bubbling noise got louder and louder, nearer and nearer.
Without hesitation, Azri turned the searchlight to the water, and we saw........ (!!)
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