Exposing the secrets within - day check
 

The Punggol Kampong House in four different directions: front, right, left and back.

Legendary name - "waiting palace"

Another name for the Maltida House is 'waiting palace' (Istana Menanti, in Malay).  This may explain why the architecture is so unique in its own way.  The large balcony is facing directly at North.  See the first picture below.  But what is it or what is the owner waiting for from the direction of North?  Yet it remains as a mystery - we don't have a definite answer.  However it reminds us of how some man-made structures like pyramids that are astronomically aligned.  Or some commercial building of Feng Shui, that must be facing a particular direction.  In general, facing North is not favorable in terms of Chinese Feng Shui.  The nearby surroundings in the past time were dense forests.  That means there was no spectacular views for being the reason of having a particular facing with such a panorama balcony.  If it was built in mind of road structure and traffic convenience, shouldn't the house be built the other way round facing South - that is facing Singapore to welcome the incoming traffic from the South rather than facing Johor in the North direction?

1. Left entrance stairway; 2. Left doorway and the lobby; 3. Right doorway and the lobby. 4. Lobby view from inside the house.


1. A curved terrace at the back of the house; 2-4. Roofed corridor reaching out to the servants quarter.

Neighbor said that is a ghost house?

An old lady that is a neighbor from Block 293 said at night the house looked dark and empty as reported in newspaper, and deemed it as a scary haunted house.  But the house is situated several Km away from the residence.  How would she be sure that it is a haunted house?  The first photo below shows the only nearby structure from which can see the house clearly is a network of MRT/LRT railways.  They are not in operation yet.  The third photo was taken at night from the Maltida House facing the HDB blocks.  As you can see, in such a distance, how could possibly be the residents see the house clearly at night and describe how eerie it was?  Yeah, you are right, unless they are using binoculars, and that must come with a very powerful zooming and night vision function :)  So, most likely this is just another story being made-up with no logical backing.

Regardless the house is haunted by ghost or not, one thing we are sure is that it is dangerous, physically.  See the four photos below.  The whole house had become very fragile over the years of deterioration.  URA had to setup support posts to literately 'hold' the roof from falling down.  You can see quite obviously that the floor inside the house is clean.  The floor is only covered by shattered pieces of broken tiles everywhere.  It looks like the roof is going to collapse suddenly at any time.  There are holes on the wooden floor as well as shown in the last photo below.  In fact the whole floor is quite ruined and certain areas are very fragile as quoted by the anonymous photographer who sent us these photos.  The government has already fenced off the whole property as a state land, discouraging people from coming in and get themselves injured.

Surrounding areas near the Punggol Kampong House.


Inside the house it is full of physical risks.

Mysterious number

Here is another good reason on banning entry to this heritage property.  There had been some rumors floating around that people who came into this house, practiced black-magic, performed occults, rituals and prayed for 4D.  Some even took drugs, ecstasy and then vandalized the building.  Rumours even said people who entered the house died of unnatural death afterwards.  Well, It is only a rumor, or really is a curse?  We will expose more of this with some photo evidence on the second part of this article.

Nevertheless, one of the prominent mysteries one can see is a big four-digit number written on the wall.  7447.  Does it coincide with the rumours that said people came in to pray for 4D?  The digits are actually painted using a spray-can and of several feet in size.  It is written on the servants' quarter that is connected by a roofed corridor to the main house.  Who did paint this number?  What does the number mean?  and Why was it painted on that particular bunker?

There are several speculations on who are the painters of this number.  One is by the bikers around this area.  Outside the Maltida house, there is a rural empty land - a perfect sanctuary for the bikie fans.  They might like to write down the number from their bike number plate so to tell everyone that he used to be a winner.  However, for this action, he must have come prepared with a can of spray paint.  To our observation, there is no other paint-sprayed graffiti than only this number.  Do bikers always carry a can of spray paint around?  So the person came in with a sole purpose of just spraying this number on the wall and no others?

The mysterious number painted on the wall.


The backyard of Maltida house and the ruins of the servants quarter.

Another group of speculation, of course, is the 4D praying.  But then it doesn't make sense as the person who "got" this precious winning 4D number, he wouldn't anyhow expose it to the public.  Unless he was in an hypnotized state during the chanting and praying, he was inspired to paint out this magic number.  Anyway, we have checked the past winning results of 4D.  With the number 7447 the first prize has not ever won yet in Singapore pool.

The number 7447 appeared in the following draws :
* 3rd Prize on 25 March 2000, Saturday .
* Starter Prize on 25 August 2002, Sunday .
* Starter Prize on 29 October 1995, Sunday .
* Consolation Prize on 03 April 1993, Saturday .
* Consolation Prize on 04 July 1992, Saturday .

So is 7447 supposed to be a winning number?  Or the right time has not come yet?  We are pondering on what its meaning is.  In Chinese pronunciation, 7447, sounds similar to the 'Chi' and the 'Death'.  If it were not a winning 4D number, is it then a omen, a sign, a curse or a message that come from the supernatural?  The servants quarter is only a small compound with two small rooms, one being the kitchen and the other one might be the maid's bedroom.  We have heard of a rumor that in a private bungalow on Rochester Park hill, a young maid was raped by the house master and then she hung herself.  Ever since many paranormal happenings bound to occur there.


Personal feelings

Here is a little finale to wrap up this day time investigation by our team members.

"I first saw the Ponggul house while I was still on the main road... there it was, some 500 meters away, a lone house, a survivor of a past that saw it surrounding changed since the early 1900s.

I put on my boots and trekked in across the white sands. I was lucky the sun was scorching hot, the land was burnt to a crisp. The plains I walked resembled a desert baked dry, wrinkled skin that will become oozing mud once there was a downpour. Then it would had been quite impossible to walk in without dragging along an extra kilo of mud stuck to your boots.

When I finally stand before the House the first thoughts that raced through my mind was what memories these walls might have absorbed in through these years. How during it hey days had little ang moh kids ran around it s gardens, how laughter might have echoed once through the corridors. If the House had a voice, what stories might it tell?

A sense of forlornness overwhelmed me. How many generations of human had it survived? How many babies had been born here?

I felt lost, alone, fragile, and very small. Yes, that the effect the House had on me. I am reminded of a poem SPI Agent - Abductboy once wrote:"

Have you ever wonder about the stars
And what they really are
Are they just pin holes in the sky
Or something too bizarre for our mind

Have you wonder about the trees
And how it seem to whisper so silently
In golden voices about golden things
Of long gone heroes and forgotten dreams

Have you wonder about the sea
And what secrets it held beneath
Of ancient beings that dwell below
Basking in their uncanny glow

Have you ever wonder about Man
And how his life will one day end
How on one will know, no one will care
If Man had really been there

And have you wonder about Life
About you and me, and everything's that alive
Its secret purpose you can never grasp
Till everything stops, and dust is dust