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Hi, Wati here. A while back, I went on the Ghoulish Trail and there were some things that the investigators said that was intriguing and I was wondering if anyone could elaborate.

1) It was mentioned that in the Bukit Brown cemetery, anyone who said the word 'coffee' or made any reference to it would die an unnatural death (or something to that effect). Have you had cases were people who had visited the cemetery really did die when they mentioned the word or made reference to it and if so, what was the actual cause of death and was it possible that it could have been coincidental and not related to the 'curse' at all?

2) there's also another cemetery (not sure if it's the same one, but it's either Bukit Brown/ Mt Pleasant) that one of the investigators said used to be the favourite haunt of gansgters back in the olden days. Until one day when something happened that scared them off. Apparently, it had been something they had seen and she said that the gangsters disappeared. I would just like to know if she meant that they literally disappeared never to be seen again, or they just never came back. And if it was the former, was there any investigations conducted to account for their disappearance? Have you got any updates on that particular story? Have you found out what it was that had caused them the scare?

3) A while back, I received an email about our HDB blocks. It began by asking if anyone has ever heard marbles rolling above upstairs or furniture being moved late at night. Although I can't remember what the email said exactly, I remembered that the explanation was that marbles were placed in between the concrete slabs between stories to allow "them" to play with the marbles and not disturb living occupants. And that I was very spooked by that email because I had heard marbles rolling around from upstairs back when I was living in Jurong West. And what made it scarier was that it was a new estate (near Jalan Bahar and very few occupants-or at least living ones that I know of) and I knew there was no kid living upstairs. Just adults and either one or two teenagers. Besides, it didn't make much sense cos who would play marbles late at night and in this day and age? So my question is, is that really true? Do estate developers really have marbles inserted within a housing block itself, and if it does, is it common to every estate, or only selected ones? If this is true, it would seem as if it was driven by superstition, and again, in this day and age, it seems a little far-fetched? to still believe in such stuff. At the time, I told myself that there really was a kid upstairs just to reassure myself but I have to say, I'm really glad I no longer live there. Anyway, if you guys have time, I hope you can reassure me further with whatever you might know or find out.

By the way, the trail had been rather fun, although I kinda wished we had seen something, though given the size of the group, it was expected that whatever was out there that night wouldn't have made an appearance. And if it had made an appearance, I don't think I could have handled it well, so it was probably better that they stayed hidden. Anyway, maybe I'll join you guys again on another ghoulish trail if I feel up to it. And I know that this email is pretty long and if you don't have time to reply, I understand. But I would really appreciate it if you could. Thanks a lot & good job on the website. : )


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Hi Kenny, thanks for replying! Here I elaborate:

I used to (& still do) stay up late almost every night. When i was still staying at Jurong West (Ave 3) (my uncle's house - he & my grandma still live there but my family and i have moved due to irreconcilable differences), i used to hear a single marble rolling around upstairs late at night, though not every single night (Thank God!). It never occurred to me to take note of the days when it happened, so i'm afraid i can't provide a possible explanation or reason as to why i'd hear a marble rolling around on certain days. Although that was as strange as it got, what really made it creepy was that you could clearly hear the marble slowly rolling from one corner to the next and then back again. which was why i found it difficult to accept the fact that a child was playing with marbles because the impression that i got was that in the olden days, when kids played with them, the marbles would go pretty fast and they would strike against each other. but this was just one solitary marble slowly rolling about. Of course, at the time, i insisted that there really was a child living upstairs because i really wasn't keen on scaring myself silly. you can imagine my relief when I received that email at my new residence. But i have to say, I really got a chill when i read that email, because as much as i didn't want to believe it, i had heard it, which was why i was really hoping that you guys could clarify the matter.

But marbles aside, the feeling of creepiness had always remained during our stay there (a little over a year). i'm not sure if it's because the block & its surrounding area has remained rather empty, or because it's near the cemetery (so psychologically, you expect weird things to happen), but we had never been able to completely relax and let out guard down especially when we're alone/ everyone's asleep. there have been times when i would just feel compelled to look out the living room window, as if i expect to see something there, but thankfully, i have never actually 'seen' anything. i don't know why i feel that compulsion to do so, but it happens every time i stay up late and have to make my way to the kitchen for snacks (the living room has really big windows that allow you to see a whole stretch of the corridor. my mum has heard from neighbours who live at the further end of the area that the area is haunted, especially the blocks near the far end (ours was at the front, in front of the road). but i have never experienced anything during the times when i have ventured there late at night ( in search of my adventurous cat), so i can't really say that i agree. and my mum believes that there's a supernatural reason to why her plants could never thrive there, but once again, i have to disagree because that block was crowded in by other blocks and sunlight barely makes its way in, so i don't think it's really conducive for plants to grow.

although i'm not really sure if the marbles have an explanation, i think the others are partly our psychological manifestations of our unhappiness. my parents were very unhappy when they were living there. in fact, i strongly believe that my father would have become mentally ill if we had moved any later. although being the children, my sister and i were not as badly treated as my parents, we were still affected by our parents unhappiness and at that time too, my sister and i were not on good terms. we spent most of the time not talking to each other and i think that kind of explains the things that were going on. maybe psychologically, we were creating excuses to not live there anymore. or maybe not. it could be that there was really something supernatural there. either way, as much as i want to disbelieve, i can't ( and i think few can) resist the exciting lure of the unseen, which is why i believe that sometimes, we tend to see and feel things that aren't really there.


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Remember the story on the marbles rolling across the celing of our HDB houses? Think we all must have heard it at least once in our lifetime.......

Well, my sister's fren was pretty freaked out with the "marble rolling across the ceiling" story, so she decided to get the truth for herself. She went to ask a few of her contractor/architect frens and found out that in between floors, there are ball bearings. The reason why they are put there, is for a very simple reason...... to allow for expansion when the concrete is hot and to contract when it is cool, to prevent cracks!! Just like the MRT tracks and expressways!! Thus the reason why we hear it at night, cos the concrete moves along with the ball bearings as it contracts to the cooler temperature of the night.

Interesting eh? Now we all dun feel so scared sleeping at night and hearing those "marbles"!!


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but there are no ball bearings between floors. contractor use expansion joints to cater for expansion and contraction of concrete during different temperatures.

There are gaps between concrete elements and those gaps are filled with strong rubberish compound.

no ball bearings. just type in expansion joints and you should get some answers


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I was pretty skeptical about her theory too, cos, the sound sometimes seems to be rolling in a diagonal way, which i dun think would be how normal expansion materials would be placed.


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I happen to stumble across the forum regarding Marbles.. rolling above our heads. I use to live in Jurong East , a point block on the 20th storey. The view was magnificent but my balcony happen to look over to chinese garden and the vast area and big water pond. Every mid autumn festival the area would be lighted up. But whenever there is a storm or anything.. you heard very loud noises of Frogs and insects even though the distance between my block plus the height of at least 500metres i can still hear them very loudly... hehe i know this has got nothing to do with the marbles but just spooking up a little.

I have my own room and i always stay up late. Sometimes i hear noises of Marbles and Moving furniture too. I am very sure of that because i often hear it and i have been living in the unit for 15 years. As for what i know , the unit above me was always changing hands no idea why but definitely nothing spooking or perhaps nobody dared to voice out. Once my mum got really irritated with the noise , she went up with me to confront the lady above. She told us that she too suffered from noises of moving furniture too and push the blame to the above unit of hers. Atrocious she sounds to be but we didn't give it too much a bother. We just lived with the "noises" . I use to have often experiences of Marbles falling on the ground.. and rolling from one corner to another. Before typing this out i actually went to confront with my mother.. and assured that we often hear marbles.. ( we just shifted out two years back ) . And at the time i was young so around the age of 12 , 13. ( now 19 ) . Whenever there is kids around my levels i am definitely friends of them because i always run around the corridors and have friends all over the block.

I don't know what is it about the marble thing.. but i hope its definitely nothing Ghostly about. I can't imagine me, myself living my childhood under spooky activities. Sheesh.


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I am also living in Jurong West which also faced the same problem quite frequently with you having to hear marbles dropping/rolling and furniture moving in the middle of the night even though you know yourself that there are no kids upstairs that could stay up that late to create those effects.

These phenomenon was also experienced by other members of my family and its so regular that we just made a passing remark each time we heard it.

I happen to be visiting the Singapore's collectors forum quite frequently and found a post today by some members asking whether anyone experience this strange phenomena and the replies are numerous, saying that they all experienced the same thing. Seems like this is a common 'experience' among many people.

If the case were to be experienced by many people with all walks of life, then it may not be paranormal and can be explainable. Perhaps some Building Engineer were kindly helps us find the answer. Please share if you have any speculated explanations.

Thanks for hearing.


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Hi Defa,

First thank you so much for your post.. May we have the forum address so we could see the topic in discussion?

WE do realize that many , many young people we talked to have heard marbles dropping at some points in their lives.

I happen to be from the construction industry, and would like to assume you that buildings (especially HDB) do not have expansion joints or any things
that would have made the dropping sounds.

However, I would like to add a point. More often than not, the HDB flats the sounds were heard are often the older blocks, not the new ones.

That should narrow the investigation quite a bit. attributing the cause of the sounds of rattling windows... and such. Of cos we also know that some HDB flats are built over graves....

At this juncture we are not yet going to explore or investigate into this phenomena. But if you are willing, and still hear those noises, we would not mind (even we will be thrilled!) to conduct an experiment or stake out in your place to capture that noise on digital sound and other registers.

regards
The SPI Team


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