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Cause of the investigation
Do ghosts exist? Many people believe that they do. In the United
States a Harris Interactive poll of 2,201 adults conducted earlier
this year found that 51 percent of Americans, including 58 percent
of women, believe in ghosts. But do we have any
hard evidence? So far not. There has been a lot of talks about Ouija board, channeling, communication mediums like pendulums,
summoning rituals and
such. They are however more of psychic methods than scientific. Some are of evil in nature that SPI never wants to encourage.
Even many ghost phenomena like hearing footsteps or seeing
apparitions are quite subjective.
In
oversea there is an university professor (Dr.
Richard Wiseman) who created a
haunted
house scientifically, hoping that could be useful for conducting
scientific experiments and ultimately capturing ghost on film as a
hard proof. He bought a block of land and built a
mansion with specification according to most of the elements of
reputed haunted houses elsewhere. Experiments that the professor
intended to conduct include those paranormal investigators like
SPI would practice, such as static monitoring using video camera, audio
enhancer (commonly known as spy cam), sensor devices, and
recording atmospheric data using measuring devices. This is
indeed not an inexpensive project.
Nevertheless, in Singapore we have a readily available haunted (in
fact, very haunted) location that can be readily used for ghost haunting
experiments.
On the west side of Singapore, between Bukit Batok and Bukit
Timah, situated an abandoned compound that was the old Ford Motor
Factory (Ford Factory for short). Ford Factory has a remarkable
history and haunted reputation that we could readily use it for
ghost investigation. During World War II, the Japanese fought a
hard and bloody way to win the battle at Bukit Timah that once was
used as a supply storage by the British. Ford Factory was chosen
as the venue for the British generals signing the surrender
documents. After that it was used as a Japanese military
headquarter during the Japanese occupation in Singapore. The location of the Ford Factory was
geographically ideal for
military for the fact that it is sitting on a high plain with the
backing of Bukit Batok where on top have the television
broadcasting towers built.
 
This is a rough floor plan of
the factory drawn by recalling from memory;
The alarming part of the building structure is the sealed wall at
the secret alley.
That means there is some enclosed secret area as indicated on the
top left corner of the floor map. Nobody knows what is inside.
The Japanese army troops surely had jubilated their moments of pride
there in the beginning of the war. Some years later, after the
United State dropped two atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Kawasaki,
Japan declared an unconditional surrender. Over here, in
Singapore, the troops were ordered to withdraw. Many troops,
soldiers, lieutenants and officers who are extremely loyal to the
imperial emperor cannot bear the defeat and committed seppuku - a
form of ritualistic suicide. They disembodied their abdomen with
their samurai swords, right in the military headquarter - that is today's
Old Ford Factory!
Seppuku is a form of Japanese Samurai culture that was practiced
throughout the history of Japan. Many warriors deemed seppuku
rather a honor
to die for than to admit the defeat. Those who carried a Daisho
[term used to refer to the pair of swords carried by a Samurai:
One long (katana) and one short (wakizashi)] would first pierce the
short sword (wakizashi) on the left side of the abdomen, then slowly sliced it
across to the other side, finally pushed it up for about half a
feet and pulled the sword out. By this way the warrior had
effectively cut a tilted 'L' shape on his belly. The organs and
intestines at the end of the ritual freely gushed out. The extreme pain inflicted by this form
of suicide is unimaginable.
From the background of the war, initial victory that belonged to
the Japanese army, to the final defeat and the tragic ritualistic
suicide added drastic humanity sentiments to the haunting scenes
of the Old Ford Factory. Furthermore, when it was used as a
military headquarters, rumors said that many anti-Japanese
coalition forces were executed there. Interrogation, tortures and
slaughtering on the anti-Japanese people that took places in the cells of the compound
were a common thing. The
wronged-dead souls, patriotic souls and seppuku-samurai souls all
intermixed and intervened across different dimensions and times right at the
Old Ford Factory.
The factory has been abandoned for ages after the end of the war.
Some tyre companies used to make office there but soon they
moved out. Day and night, the factory was left vacant with the
building structure left almost untouched. If the stone-tape theory
is true, the vengeful ghosts would be absorbed by the walls of
the factory preserving the uncanny energies from the violent
deaths. Wandering spirits that pass by may dwell in too for it has
been deserted for so long.
Given such rich haunting scenes, remarkable war history and many possible ghost factors,
SPI together with Mediacorp P5 production team, jointly
investigated such extraordinary haunted place in Singapore - Old Ford
Factory.
 
1 & 2. Mediacrop has mobilized two
trucks fully loaded with equipment and a power generator
3. We were busy unloading the equipment.
One crew member is armed with a bunch of walkies on his waist that
makes him look like a suicide bomber!
4. SPI ET, KC and Mathwizard were at the monitoring station just
outside the Ford Factory
 
1 & 2. Getting our CCTV and TV monitors
up and running. 3. Testing 1,2,3, ok, its fine
4. This is our monitoring station, crowded with all our ghost
hunting gadgets and ghost stake-out equipment
It would be used to monitor the lobby area and the boardroom
Daytime inspection
On a fateful day we chose to carry out the investigation when the
sun flare was in one of its highest states in the past 20 years.
It is believed that paranormal activities would surge when
abnormally high electro-magnetic field struck the earth from the
sun. Three vehicles from SPI and one utility van from Mediacorp
arrived at the front gate of Ford Factory. More precisely, the
factory is not abandoned but is left vacant by the government
conserving it as a state land. Therefore the premise is usually
locked up from trespassers. A security jaga is employed to
guard the building 24 hours a day.
Tapping on the metal gate, we were trying to catch the guard's
attention, to let him know that we are here as we have booked the
place and open the gate for
us. A minute later, a man at his forty came towards us
behind the gate. We exchanged the usual pleasantries then got down
to the purpose of our visit. The guard and we were studying each
other, trying to fathom each other's state of mind. He looked
curious yet hesitant in letting us in, as though it was a grave
concern of why we were here. One of our crew impatiently yelling
from behind "Didn't his superior inform him about our coming? Show
him our authorization letter from SLA. Paste it on his face!"
Remaining speechless the guard pulled out a key, unlocked and
opened the gate. Our convoy of vehicles then passed through the
gate and drove zigzag up the hill. Once we parked our cars, we
hurriedly unloaded from the vehicles and set up our equipment.
Because of the large area of factory that we wanted to
investigate, the range and the amount of gadget equipment used was
one of the greatest. That was our first time monitoring multiple
scenes in a ghost stake-out. Everyone got their sleeves rolled up and was
busy in a part of his own equipment setting and testing. We had a
total of 13 men including the crew from Mediacorp. What an odd
number of people doing odd experiments in this odd place!
 
1-3. For monitoring the secret alley,
we set up a mobile LCD TV and a night-vision goggle that mounted
on a wearable helmet
4.
While we were setting up the equipment in front of the entrance to
the hangar area, we noticed something very suspicious: The jaga
Click on the links to observe his leery
look and slant
eyes; his
expression tells that as if he was plotting something in his mind
Up on the hill about 10 meters above ground, the air was
surprisingly stiff with no wind though the weather was partly
cloudy. SPI ET put down his camera, and gingerly walked to the out-skirt of the hill, observed around, looked up at the sky, then
frowned without saying anything. He seemed to know something was
sinister around here.
We got our equipment ready and fully tested in almost one hour time. Left with only
a few hours before dusk we moved forward to recee the whole
factory compound from corner to corner. We had been to the factory several
times before and were quite familiar with the floor plan. However,
it was always important to do a final inspection in order to make
sure the place under investigation was free of pranksters or stray
cats. We recorded every possible detail before we started our
static monitoring tonight. Dimensions, building structure, light
sources, reflective objects nearby and positions of debris were all
written down meticulously by SPI Mathwizard. In addition to the
physical data, Mathwizard was busy in measuring those that were
invisible. That was the atmospheric data such as temperature,
humidity, barometric pressure, electro-magnetic, electro-static,
radio, microwave and even radiation level for both inside and
outside the factory. He carried a Geiger meter, EMF meter and all
those ghost hunting detectors that you can name.
On the other hand, SPI investigator was leading a team to locate the
boardroom that was once used for British surrender. Estimating
from the layout and the surrounding of the documentary pictures,
like those shown in the museum, Images of Singapore in Sentosa, he searched room by room inside the factory for a possible
location of the boardroom. Finally he found one that best
resembled the boardroom as shown in the historical photos. It was
not an easy task. The layout of the boardroom has been modified
when the factory was leased to some tyre companies after the war.
The original door to the boardroom that was exceptionally tall got sealed off with
a false wall. Nobody knows why.
 
1. SPI ET felt that something was
sinister in this premises. 2-4. SPI team was looking up and down
searching for the boardroom
 
1 & 2. Finally we found it. But the
original door somehow has been sealed by a false wall on the other
side
3. KC showed us how the original door was embedded into a false
wall. The damaged part hinted us to discover the wall is a later
add-on
 
1. View of the boardroom from the
outside; 2-4. Under the twilight, we quickly setup the necessary
monitoring gadgets and sensors
What is so special about the boardroom? You may ask. Well,
according to the recorded history, General Percival and his
colleagues were escorted by the Japanese soldiers. They walked up
the hill to the factory, entered the boardroom and sat at opposite
side of the table where General Yamashita and other lieutenants to
negotiate about the surrender. Finally, he agreed to an
unconditional surrender by signing the document, right at the
boardroom. Hence symbolically the boardroom marked a historic
moment on the fate of the war - the fall of Singapore. It
indicated certain significance especially to the Japanese troops
that celebrated their victory of conquering this island.
Such was a moment of joy and pride to the Japanese troops being
born from the boardroom. In this historical event, the boardroom
was the centerpiece of the venue. In fact, many soldiers gathered
from outside trying to take a peep through the window at the
boardroom during the negotiating process. They were attracted to
come near the boardroom like honey to the bees. To them that was
the last victory of the war that they treasured. We therefore
speculated that the boardroom would either serve as a portal or an
attraction to the ghosts should they still emotionally bound to
this place.
SPI spent quite a considerable amount of time to work out where to
place the monitoring devices in the boardroom. The door, table,
chairs and other furniture were gone long ago leaving only an
empty room behind. We mounted a full range of thermometers,
barometers, EMF meters at every corner of the room. A remote video
camera was placed right at the doorway, overseeing the full view
of the room.
In addition to the boardroom, the secret alley at the back of the
factory was also chosen as a monitoring location. It still
remained as a mystery for what the alley was used. But its
orientation was somewhat sinister. It is a long and narrow lane at
the back of the factory compound. Some said it was a secret bomb
shelter or an emergency hide-out; some supposed it was a torture
chamber, and some even speculated it was an entrance way leading to
a secret underground military bunker. The end of the alley as of
today is sealed by a faked wall. How we wish we could legally tear
it down and reveal the secret that sits just behind the wall.
 
1. This is the entrance to the hangar
area of Ford Factory; 2 & 3. The hangar area is spacious and has a
very tall ceiling
Where does the green light that spice up the spookiness of hangar come
from? See these pictures (1
and 2) for the answer
4. Mathwizard walked around and carefully recorded all the atmospheric
readings using Geiger meter and other measuring devices
 
1. This is the main sliding gate at
the hangar area of Ford Factory
2-4. Mathwizard never lax down for a minute. While the other team
members were busy setting the grenades, he inspected every corner
SPI ET and KC, went forward to carefully place the 'grenades'
(our codenames for portable infra-red motion detectors) along the
alley. One grenade was placed at approximately 2 meters from the
previous one. So if anything happens to pass by it would sound
off.
Lastly we chose the main lobby as a monitored site as well.
Grenades were places at all the corner, a night vision camera was
fixed at the doorway overseeing the whole area, and a 'bait' was
laid in the center of the lobby. So altogether we arranged three
locations inside the Ford Factory for staking out ghosts. They are
(1) the boardroom, (2) the secret alley, and (3) the main lobby.
We have set up sensors at most of the corners of the three locations,
with each sensor covers an area of 7 feet in radius. That should
be sufficient to detect any movement passing by, regardless of how
big or small the object is. Each location was monitored by at
least one night-vision video camera (CCTV). The cameras that
monitor the boardroom and the lobby, we connected to our main
monitoring base station with two TV screen sets that is on the
open ground outside the factory. For the camera monitoring the
secret alley, the signal was transmitted remotely to a hand-held
mobile LCD monitor.
 
1-3. KC was busy in testing the
sensors. 4. SPI investigator was configuring the night vision video camera,
getting ready for deployment
Note that in picture 2, four sensors where placed back-to-back, so
they cover all the four directions North, East, South and West
If there is any ghost come by, we would be able to tell from which
direction it is coming
 
1. Grenades (sensors) were placed
along the secret alley. Can you see them? See a
close-up.
KC and ET were
installing the sensors
2. The night vision video camera is rolling... 3. After the
grenades are charged, the hangar area was clear immediately
4. The night vision video camera sends the images to a handheld
wireless TV monitor in real time
Click
here to watch a video clip (6Mb) showing SPI testing the wireless
TV monitor in action
After deploying all the sensors,
cameras and gadgets, one can see their locations on the floor map
The green color indicates the coverage of our video camera. To see the
coverage of sensors in animation, click
here for the diagram
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