Creepy Wind Chimes Mystery at Kampong Java Park
The legends, the rumours and the debunks


1 & 2. It is a mystery on how the windchimes were hung high up on the tree
3. The pond was rumoured to be converted from exhumed burial ground and therefore haunted
4. Lotus flower was planted in order to subside the unrest spirits?

There are several urban legends haunting around Kampong Java Park for many years. They made this supposedly peaceful site reputably become one of the most Singapore haunted places, hence attracted visits of both curious individuals and ghost tours, and served as a hotbed for ghost stories. In this article, investigation that finally led to solving the urban legends by SPI was documented, as well as analysing the paranormal elements that came about.

Some years ago, SPI participated in a Mediacorp Suria TV programme called "647Km" that filmed about this Wind chime mystery
A video clip was found at YouTube.com. Click here to watch.

Urban Legend #1 - The cover-up lake

1. This beautiful lotus water pond is said to be a cover-up from a big burial hole; 2. More than 70% of the water surface area is covered
3. It is hardly likely one can see what is in the water; 4. Another angle of the pond filled with lotus leaves


Are the plants deliberately grown to cover what is underneath the water? Or it is a norm to have lotus growing in a water pond?
Can you spot the cutie tortoise resting on the lotus leaf?

It was said that the so-called lake, actually with a size of a pond, where beautiful lotus was grown was once a big dug hole. Water was conveniently filled into the hole thereafter made into a pond in the later days. This big hole was the result of mass grave exhumation at the site due to the closure of a Christian cemetery in a hurry. Is this a fact or fiction?

Given certain historical basis as a deceased cemetery that needed to close in a short time and the new owner wanted the land early, speculation was high on saying most of the tombs were not properly "cleaned up". That results a big piece of land ridden with many pot holes and broken graves. Thus a quick solution is to fill this saddle land with water, thereby covering up whatever gruesome that lies underneath. It is a typical believe-it-or-not, kind of rumour.

And to make this tale more realistic, the legend tells why lotus flowers and nothing else were grown on the pond. Partly the beautiful appearance of the lotus flowers is for coating up the gross history of cemetery land. Let the memories of shattered tombs, depilated coffins and decomposed human remains be neutralized by the eye-candy effect of scenery of flowers. Another advantage of lotus flower is the large round shape of their leaves. The leaves serve as a good canopy, when fully grown, that carpets most area of the pond to prevent people from seeing through the murky water. So the flowers are to distract people's attention. Nobody is able to peep into the bottom of the pond given the wide-spreading lotus leaves floating on the surface of the water.

Therefore the idea of planting lotus on the pond is said to be a perfect disguise from its gruesome past.


Urban Legend #2 - Lotus to calm the souls?

The beautiful lotus flowers look sacred and pure

For the lotus it probably has another use by the religious belief. Lotus is considered sacred in the context of several religions. To the Chinese, in particular, the sacred lotus is considered in regard to its utility and its beauty. Every part of this plant has a name and use among the Chinese. Lets take a look at how important Lotus is to several Asian civilizations:

Large lakes and pools are planted with the creeping joined stems, understood by the Chinese to be the roots; the fruits, and leaves are used as food; the flower, with its red-tipped, pinkish white petals, is seldom gathered, as it is preferred in its natural position. The dried yellow stamens are used as an astringent remedy and a cosmetic. The seeds are used as medicine and as an ingredient of dessert. The kernels are boiled in soup, roasted, or eaten raw. The stem, when cut across, shows a series of chambers in solid tissue, concentrically arranged and terminating at the joints, which occur about every foot. These stems are sliced and boiled as an article of diet. By grating and levigating them the native arrow-root is prepared. The leaves, when dried, are used by Chinese grocers to wrap up their goods, or to wrap up their food such as rice dumpling. The leaf-stalks and carpels are used medicinally. Preparations of the Nymphaea alba, or white lotus, are said to beautify the faces of the aged.

The Nelumbium speciosum, or red lotus, occurs throughout China. It was formerly common in Egypt along the River Nile, and was anciently used in religious rites by the Egyptians, as shown by figures on monuments, and is still so used in various Asiatic countries.

From Egypt the lotus was carried to Assyria, and Layard found it among fir-cones and honeysuckles on the later sculptures of Nineveh. The Greeks dedicated it to the nymphs, whence the name Nymphaea.

The Nymphaea alba, or white Lotus, Skt., Padma, the Nymphaea caerulea, or blue lostus, Skt., Utpala, found also in Persia and India, are all sacred to the Buddhists, who declare that "the closing of the Padma flower, and the opening of the Utpala, determine the period of Day and Night in Heaven".

When Buddha attained Enlightenment under the Bodhi Tree, compassion for his fellow beings took possession of his mind. He saw them, as it is told, like lotus stems and buds in a lake, some immersed in the mud, others coming out of it, or just appearing above the water, and still others beginning to blossom. Seeing this he determined to bring them all to full bloom and to the bearing of fruit.

The lotus is a symbol of purity and perfection because it grows out of mud but is not defiled. The constant use of lotus as an emblem seems to result from the wheel-like form of the flower - the petals taking the place of spokes representing the cycles of lives in the Buddhist beliefs. Buddha is usually represented as seated on the sacred lotus, and the masters often assume what is called the "lotus posture," which is one of the the cramped positions of the lower limbs. The Buddhist Heaven is said to consist of 33 stories, in the upper-most of which Buddha, enthroned upon a lotus, surveys the entire world. The lotus is classed as one of the eight treasures or auspicious signs on the sole of Buddha's foot, and sometimes symbolically represents the sacred liver of that divinity.

In one Chinese Buddhist text, it is said of the daughter of a holy man: Wherever she stepped, lotus flowers sprang up. Lotus flower is also much esteemed by the Taoists, and is the emblem of Ho Hsien Ku, one of the eight Immortals of Taoism.

After reviewing several religious contexts, however, there is no direct link of lotus flowers can help calming the spirits. But its association with livelihood and divinity is strong. From anthropological and psychological perspectives, things that are auspicious and relate to divinity have a impact for subsiding the negative views of a place or an object. It is a folk-belief that perhaps planting lotus flowers around can drive off ill-fortunes that embrace the subject of death once associating with the place.

So was that why lotus flowers were planted at this pond of Kampong Java Park? Is it a fact or fiction of planting lotus flowers for such a purpose?


Urban Legend #3 - Who hanged the creepy chimes?

1. Can you see the 2 wind chimes hanging on the tree? Try click on the photo and see in high-resolution.
2. The two chimes were not very prominent as if they are hidden in the dense leaves
3. A close-up photo of the wind-chime. You can see clearly of its structure that has 6 metal rods of different lengths
4. This photo was taken in August 2005, the broken wind chime is one of the three surviving wind-chimes. Now it is gone.

The third urban legend, perhaps the most fascinating one, is on about the creepy wind chimes hanging on a tall tree over the water pond. The wind chimes came in a number of six - coincidentally an auspicious number by the Buddhists. They are quite big in size, but many people don't know exactly why and how they got hung up on the tree. The legend speculates it was advised by some religious "master" that six metal wind-chimes need to be placed at a height over the center of the pond in order to subside the anguish souls lying under the water. The hypothesis goes on bringing in the Taoist principle of five elements where they must be balanced for harmony.

So the natural bush surrounding represents Wood, the pond represents Water, the restless souls are like Fire, the graveyard in the pond is apparently Earth. What lacks of is Metal, so that is where the metal wind chimes come in, to complete the picture of balanced five elements.

Before we go further on how the wind chimes were thought to be used for controlling the spirits, lets ponder on HOW the wind chimes could possibly be hanged up at such unusual positions. This is in fact the centre-piece of the mystery as named in the title of this report.

As you can see in the photos, the wind chimes are hung up to a height of 10 meter tall. The position of the wind-chimes below is only water, and it is at least 5 meters far stretched out from the land horizontally from the land. It is almost a mission impossible for the common folks who did it. But the fact is, the chimes are actually up there. What methods were used to do the hanging? This is the intriguing part of the mystery.

1 & 2. The wind-chimes were estimated to be hung at more than 7 meters height. Click on the photos to see the high-resolution mode
Can you spot the wind chimes? Below the chimes is water, how practically can they be hung?
3 & 4. The branches look thin and fragile. It was said that they are unlikely to support a person's weight without breaking

In one of the early filming sessions in year 2005 for Singapore X-Files video clips by SingTel 3Logy, SPI revisited the spot and revised on the three possible theories.

Theory A: A small boy climbed up and hanged the wind-chimes. The tree although tall and sturdy-looking, the stretching out tree branches grew thin and fragile. It might not be able to support a person's weight. This immediately rule out the possibility of having a human-being climbing up to the delicate branches and tying up the wind-chimes. The chime itself has substantial volume and weight too.

Theory B: A ladder was used to hang up the chimes when the pond was still a solid land. That means it was done a long ago probably before KK hospital was established and before the cemetery was transformed to Kampong Java Park. This theory suggests that the wind chimes are not a recent addition to the tree. If the purpose of the chimes were to ward off negative spirits, they would probably be there since the ground was used as a cemetery. Although this theory was believed by some people it contradicts the fact that Christians don't believe into Wind-chimes as an object that have magical power to ward of spirits in a Christian cemetery. Some people said may be the superstitious Chinese people did so without the approval of the cemetery owners.

Theory C: A cherry-picker was used to transport a worker to a height for hanging up the wind-chimes. But this theory was quickly thought unlikely because this implies some heavy machinery was driven into the park vicinity, and that is not what the authority would probably approve.


Urban Legend #4 - The wind-chimes have supernatural effect

This legend attempts to explain why the wind-chimes were required to exist at the Kampong Java Park. In the above urban legend it was already shown that wind chimes are for controlling the spirits. They are needed in this Kampong Java Park because that was rumoured to be haunted (by what actually?) The presence of the wind chimes reinforces the idea that wind-chimes are having supernatural power. The case of Kampong Java Park and the wind chimes becomes a testimony of such belief.

Behind the trees on the left is Bukit Timah road, heavy traffic was passing by day and night.
The red arrow indicates the possibility of chaotic energy (Sha Qi) coming from the roads
The blue arrow indicates good energy by the sweet sounds of the wind-chimes to counter the Sha Qi

However, lets take a look at another folk belief about the power of the wind chimes from a geomancy angle.

There are many types of wind chimes with different make and number of rods. Some available in the market for Feng Shui purposes are made of metal, wood and even bamboo. Rods can come in 4, 5, 6, 8 or even 24. For metal rods, the question of whether they should be hollow or solid doesn't really matter. What matters is that the rods produce the metal sound, which in turn effectively weaken 'sha chi' from malignant stars.

This is a sample of wind-chime sometimes used for Feng Shui purposes
Click here and listen to the sweet sound of such metal wind chime

In Flying Stars Feng Shui, wind chimes with metal rods are used to weaken the effects of the malignant stars of 2 Black and 5 Yellow. Earth produces Metal and in the process, Earth is weakened. So, in order to weaken Earth Stars like the 2 Black and 5 Yellow, you will need to use Metal - in this case Metal wind chimes. The 2 Black Star causes sickness while the 5 Yellow causes accidents and mishaps. So if you are looking to minimize the effects of these two stars, hang a metal rod wind chime in afflicted areas.

Another popular usage of Wind chimes in Feng Shui are to slow fast-flowing 'chi' caused by T-junctions and long corridors. Fast-flowing 'chi' is not desirable as it is deemed too aggressive.

Some people who believe in Feng Shui speculate the wind chimes were placed at the park for defending against the aggressive 'chi' that came from the surrounding high-speed traffic. Kampong Java Park is located at the multi-junctions of several main roads. In fact the whole area was sandwiched between two major "clusters" of  road junctions - one cluster in the south direction consists cross-overs of CTE, Cavenagh and Bukit Timah Road, the other cluster in the north direction comprises of CTE, Kampong Java Road, Keng Lee Road, Thomson Road and Cavenagh Road. It has a total of 17 entries and exits across the roads. In the view of geomancy such orientation is unsuitable for human residence. So if a park was built there and a sense of peace was needed especially for the hospital that is just door, metal wind chimes are a choice of Feng Shui item. For their effect, the chimes would have to be hung high over, not necessarily be over the pond, but at the same level as the main roads.


The circulation of the urban legends

Come back to the investigation. The wind chime mystery was first mentioned as a highlight in one of the early ghost tours operated by some ex-SPI members in year 2001. It was unknown on who initially created this series of urban legends. But clearly the legends were collected and made famous via the early ghost tours. Words of mouth started to circulate that vehicle the legends spreading among our community. Lets see how the wind chime mystery mixed together with the fallacy of the so-called haunted pseudo-history tour in the past.

1 & 2. Tomb slabs embedded into walls in Fort Canning; 3. Kampong Java Park - allegedly haunted water pond
4. Devil's Bend, where you can see a lot of tyre marks on the road. Some are left behind by fatal road accidents
These four photos are taken in year 2002. Kind of precious old photos during the early years of SPI investigation

The itinerary of the early ghost tour covered several alleged "haunted" places, each has an enigma for people to ponder on. So it was a tour not only visiting the haunted places but a brainteaser to invite people pondering over a riddle. The sequence of the tour goes like this:

Stop No. 1. Fort Canning Park - The Christian Tombs with only the stone plaques embedded on the walls. Guess where the tombs originally came from?

Stop No. 2. Kampong Java Park - Here is the supposedly correct answer from the previous stop. The tombs were said to be originally removed from the big hole where the pond now became Kampong Java Park, but only the stone plaques were retained, transferred to Fort Canning Park and embedded on the walls. (Hang on a second, this is wrong, as some of you who are familiar with Singapore history know. The correction is revealed later in this report.). Here is the riddle for the tour participants - How the wind chimes got hung up there?

Stop No. 3. Devil's Bend - A sharp turn along the road of Old Upper Thomson Road was named so. How did the location get its name? The answer, which is pretty easy to guess, is that in the 60's the sharp turn was a part of a car racing route; many accidents happened there that claimed many lives, right at the Devil's Bend. This is another story anyway.

Back to the wind-chime mystery here. Kampong Java Park was the second stop of the tour. The riddle was narrated to the participants on the way from Fort Canning Park and they were asked to guess where the stone plaques on the walls came from. When arrived Kampong Java Park, they were revealed that the plaques are from the tombs that used to be located at the position of the water pond. Then they were asked to walk one round around the pond, to think for an answer to the wind-chime mystery, and to feel the supposedly sinister environment of the water pond at night.

Surprisingly nobody ever was able to guess why and how the wind-chimes were hung up there. There was once a little contest. A bottle of Johnny Walker as a prize was rewarded to the most inventive answer. Then somebody offered a guess of "trained monkey" that climbed up the tree and hanged the wind-chime won the liquor home. However, nobody was able to debunk the wind-chime mystery as well as the urban legends pertaining to Kampong Java Park.


SPI investigation reveals the truth

SPI Gate is one of the pioneer members of SPI investigating into this Wind Chime mystery since year 2000.

Undoubtedly, the four urban legends above when combined suggest a clever idea of easily covering the grave-holes ridden land, calming the souls of the dead, and switching the perception of the place from death-related to auspicious with lotus and wind chimes.

The urban legends were told in the early ghost tours run by some ousted members. The stories misled the public and tarnished the image of KK Hospital that is situated just next to Kampong Java Park. Therefore a SPI investigation team that includes Gate, Kenny and Dashingblue feel responsible for debunking the fallacy. The investigation set out in two directions. One is on checking out the history of the Kampong Java Park and the other is on finding out who hanged up the wind-chimes over the pond.


The burial history of Christian cemeteries

In terms of the chronological history of burial grounds in Singapore, SPI found that the sequence in the legend has got mixed up. It is not true that the stone plaques embedded on the walls of Fort Canning Park came from the tombs of the early cemetery at Kampong Java Park. It was actually the other way round. That is, Fort Canning was used as the earliest Christian Cemetery. After its closure, some of the tombs moved from Fort Canning to Kampong Java. Then in the later years, when Kampong Java closed and converted into a park as it is now, the tombs moved again to Bidadari Cemetery. Now Bidadari Cemetery has also closed, and the tombs moved lately to the Christian Cemeteries in Chua Chou Kang. (I wonder what would be final destination for the tombs in some decades later?)

This is a sketch of an old map, showing in the location of Kampong Java Pond was once an old Christian Cemetery

An excerpt from a Singapore history book confirms this:

Fort Canning was the site of the first Christian cemetery. Some of the old gravestones have been mounted on the 1846 brick walls. The last burials took place in April 1865 when the new cemetery at what is now Kampong Java Park was opened.

Kampong Java Park was once a Christian cemetery established on the closure of the Fort Canning Cemetery in 1865, hence the Chinese name for the road, angmoh poon, European tombs. The formal name of the cemetery is called Bukit Timah Road Cemetery. (Let us nick it as Kampong Java Cemetery for convenience here). The cemetery closed when Bidadari opened in 1908.

Bidadari was a cemetery opened as a response to the land pressure in Singapore that forced the closure of the early cemeteries and the removal of individual random graves. The name Bidadari is taken from the Sanskrit "widyadari", meaning a nymph of Indra's house; it refers to the beautiful wife of Maharaja Abu Bakar of Johor whose Istana stood here. Many of the victims of the mutiny by the 5th Light Infantry in February 1915 were buried here in a military ceremony.

If you pay attentions to the years, you can see the sequence of Christian cemetery history goes in this chronological way:

Pre-1846: Fort Canning was the 1st Christian Cemetery in Singapore.
In 1846: Some gravestones mounted on the wall at Fort Canning due to exhumation.
In 1865: Kampong Java Cemetery opened. Fort Canning Cemetery closed.
In 1908: Bidadari Cemetery opened. Kampong Java Cemetery closed.

So indeed Kampong Java was once a Jewish Cemetery. But the graves didn't go to the walls at Fort Canning for display. Then how about the speculation of the pond in Kampong Java Park was once a graveyard? Location-wise, this is positive. But it was quite far-stretched to say the whole ground that was grave-hole ridden made into a pond out of convenience.


Debunk #1 - The pond was not made out of grave holes

Naturally one would think after the ground that has gone through grave exhumation, it is ready and conveniently be made into a large water pond. This is a general false belief. The fact is that the tombs especially those in a Christian cemetery are normally in ordered arrangement. This arrangement ensures the tombs are symmetrically and spatially distributed and separated almost equally apart. Each grave hole would measure about seven feet times three feet in area.

So the exhumation may turn the ground into honeycomb-like, with small holes scattered all over the area. But the process would not create one large hole suitable for building a water pond, unless we are talking about a large mass burial ground. The photos taken from the exhumation of graves from Bidadari Cemetery that would be considered similar to Kampong Java Cemetery show that the overall ground was still leveled after the digging. That means the grave exhumation has little factors contributing to the decision of building an artificial water pond.

All these crumpled tombstones during exhumation at Bididari cemetery only show one thing:
The scale of the digging does not warrant the ground to become a big hole needed to be filled with water




And you can compare how a typical pond of the size similar to that of Kampong Java Park is constructed using heavy machinery

With the consultation of an experienced foreman in the construction industry we can further validate this argument to an increasing certainty. The work involved in building an artificial water pond would require digging in large scale usually by bull-dozers. It is much about the work of "removing" away a huge amount of soil from one site to another site. Whereas grave exhumation is considered as a smaller scale digging, the soil removed from the burial would just be piled up around the edge of the hole. Putting it into a layman analogy, it is like comparing the actions of picking holes on the surface of a 5Lt bucket of ice-cream by using a needle, and the act of scooping out ice-cream balls to form a crater using a large spoon. The former action has no direct factor of cause-and-effect to the latter act. In other words, the grave excavation is irrelevant to the need of creating a pond.

These old photo were taken in the year 1975. The ground looks almost flat and leveled before the pond was built

Furthermore, the construction of the pond was done only recently in about 1999, that is almost 91 years after the cemetery was closed. A historical photo that shows the 70's event of Tree Planting Day from National Archive shows that the ground in Kampong Java Park was completely leveled in the year 1975. No grave holes can be seen in the photos that needed to be conveniently covered with water. SPI has found the pond was created under the Adopt-A-Park scheme by KK Hospital, for of course good reasons. It doesn't at all seem to have any relation between building the pond and patching the past burial ground, let alone the ridiculous speculation of filling water to cover up grave holes.


Debunk #2 - The truth on who hanged the wind chimes

By the time before this report was published, it remained as an enigma on who and how the wind chimes were hanged up on the tree. The answer may surprise you though; the chimes were deliberately decided to be hanged up by KK Hospital for a purpose, and NPark was contracted to do the job.

Kenny has been in search of the truth, thinking almost day and night on solving this wind chime mystery. One day he was reminded of the Ockham’s razor theory, that says: we should prefer the simplest hypothesis that go consistent with data. In other words, look for the easiest explanation to solve a problem away from complication. For example, after the Americans landed on the moon in 1969, they found that the ink in a ball-point needs to be automatically pumped to the writing tip in a zero-gravity atmosphere. So they spent thousands of thousand dollars into research inventing a new ball-pen that can write even when the pen is up-side down. The Russians, when they are out in the space they just used pencils!

So wouldn't the simplest answer to the wind chimes mystery be "just the owner of the park hanged the chimes for decoration"? People who have complicated thoughts and a wild imagination would come up with 101 creative theories on why, who and how the chimes were hanged. When this question was brought to a child, he or she may just innocently reply "because people want to hear the wind chimes ring".

Based on this simple hypothesis, it is only natural for SPI to look into KK Hospital.

A browse on their website reveals this sentence, "KKH is located next to Kampong Java Park where staff and visitors can enjoy a leisurely stroll, breathe in fresh air and listen to the music of rustling leaves and wind chimes.". This is a strong indication of the fact that KK Hospital is aware of the wind chimes. That means they KNOW ABOUT THEM. Next move is to find out what they do know about those mysterious chimes that puzzled many people over the years. So Kenny made an enquiry into KK Hospital. Kindly, a representative from the hospital replied Kenny the crucial truth:

Dear Sir. We wish to clarify that the idea was to create a sensory trail of colours, sound and touch. You may like to know that Kampong Java Park was adopted by KKH, Monks Hill Secondary School and the Tanglin Police Divisional HQ. As part of the sensory trail, Monk's Hill had set up the foot reflexology pebbles ( sense of touch ) and KKH had recommended the windchimes ( sense of hearing ). Tanglin Police Divisional HQ had set up the colourful play area (sense of sight).

By now as you can see, for what purpose the wind chimes were hanged? Warding off spirits? Not at all. Hanging up the wind chimes is a part of the contribution by KK Hospital in the Adopt-A-Park Scheme. Under this scheme, the three parties who are the surrounding neigbours of the park committed to make a share of contribution to the park. It was decided the park that is meant for both recreation and therapeutic, to be themed under three significant "sensations": colorful sights, sweet sounds and healing touch.


Design of the park with three unique senses

Sensory Trail is by a joint effort of the three neighbours in the area around the Kampong Java Park


Sensory Trail : Sense of Touch. Monks Hill Secondary School set up a foot reflexology pebbles path


Sensory Trail : Sense of Hearing. KK Women Hospital recommended hoisting the windchimes


Sensory Trail : Sense of Sight. Tanglin Police Divisional HQ had set up the colourful play area

The three unique senses were contributed by three neighbors of Kampong Java Park. The colorful "sights" were contributed by Tanglin Police Divisional Headquarters that helped in the garden landscaping probably contributed to making the water pond. The lotus flowers in the pond add a touch of pinkish color in the green backdrop of the bushy surrounding. There are other species of flowers planted there too, making the park a beautiful garden. The sensation of "sounds" was by the courtesy of KK Hospital who commissioned adding the wind chimes on the tree, not for any other purposes but solely for their sweet sounds. The last sensation - "touch" was by the Monk's Hill Secondary School. The students volunteered to build a foot-reflexology walking path made of round stone pebbles. It provides healthy exercises for the hospital patients to walk on.

This factual research immediately put off all the rumors of the wind chimes that were hanged over the pond for warding off spirits. The chimes are up there for good purposes and a goodwill, that is in a very big contrast to what the rumor suggests the presence of evil spirits needing to be subsided.

1. Around the pond, there are not every tree suitable to hang windchimes
2. The tree must be tall and the branches stretching out to the pond like this one here
3 & 4. In year 2002, there were still 2 wind chimes hanging on this tree. Now they have fallen and gone

Perhaps the high position of the wind chimes being hung on the tree over the pond gives rise to the concept of "controlling" the spirits in the water. With a site inspection of the pond, it was observed by SPI that the tallest tree by the pond side is this one. Hanging high allows the wind chimes catch most wind. Also, as SPI supposes, for safety reasons, the wind chimes that carry certain weight would logically need to be hanged away from pedestrians below. That is why in addition to maximizing the effect of their prominent display (and may be sounds too), the chimes had to be hanged over the water, as far away from the walking ground as possible. In case the wind chimes accidentally drop off, they would fall into the water instead on anybody's head. Given their weight, the drop may cause serious injury from 10 meters high.


How the wind chimes were hanged?

All the mysteries seem to have been solved by now except the final piece - how the wind chimes were hanged up there on the fragile tree branches?

1 - 3. The tree branches look fragile, but indeed they can support a person's weight. It is probably due to illusion?
4. This tree trunk was said to be climbed by using a tall ladder by NPark. Gate wants to try?

SPI was kindly informed that the job was done by NPark from KK Hospital. So another enquiry was made to NPark. Over a phone conversation, SPI was told something that sounds quite incredible but true - NPark sent a skilled worker to hang up the chimes. But how did he do it? With bare hands and bare feet, the worker first used a long ladder to climb up the four meters tall main tree trunk. After he conquered the main tree trunk, he hugged tightly over a side branch with his four limbs and his body. Then slowly he crawled outwards along the fragile tree branch to as far as he could afford. And he tied the wind chimes securely on the branch like a stunt. After hearing this explanation, Kenny naturally reacted by uttering "Are you sure? The thin branch can support a person's weight meh?" The NPark staff paused for silence before his firm reply "Yes". He must be thinking why on earth the authority not want to speak of this simple truth.

This stunt was done in 1999. Remember the Ockham’s razor theory? Doesn't this simple explanation satisfy your curiosity? Or you are disappointed by the simple and unfascinating truth? NPark told SPI that they managed to hang up six wind chimes in 1999 whose number is consistent with the urban legend. Due to weathering, some of the chimes were damaged and already fell off. By the time of writing this investigation report, in June 12, 2005, there are only two wind chimes remaining on the tree. When Kenny asked whether they will replace those fallen chimes, the answer sadly is "they don't have such plan".

At any rate, the author feels personally the wind chimes did not serve their purposes. Waiting at the Park for more than an hour, the sounds of the chimes were almost inaudible. Perhaps the site is not as windy as initially predicated, or may be the chimes were hanged too high and too far from our ears. Though the chimes are quite large already, they are not so eye-catching when blended in the midst of dense canopy of leaves and twits of the tree. Not many park visitors seem to have noticed the existence of the chimes. Nevertheless, the wind chimes somehow turned out to be a centerpiece for a series of deceptive urban legends. This is something the designer probably never anticipated.

1. This is meant to be a beautiful therapeutic garden; 2. Mother and baby come here to rest;
3. Children playing near the pond; 4. Can you spot the yellow duck?


1. In this wonderful park, you will find many exotic plants and animals. It is a shame to call it haunted
2. You can find pigeons feeding; 3 & 4. Cute cute de tortoise sun tanning and swimming.

Conclusion

In this investigation, you have seen a "classical" type of urban legends that make up fictions deviated from the facts. By speculating on fragments of auxiliary facts, such as the land history that involves an exhumed cemetery, the strange sights of the wind chimes plus the Chinese belief on wind chimes can ward off spirits, the story teller made up his own version of fictional tale. Finally it is debunked. The fear of negative spirits, the reputation of a "haunted place" for this tranquil scenery park, and the long-perplexing mystery of creepy chimes, were put into rest.

Next time when you visit Kampong Java Park, you must look up and see this mystery by yourself, before the remaining two chimes were gone forever.

Map shows the locations of the wind chimes
Click to enlarge



Case Closed