It is rotting at the sight of all, abandoned to death at the heart of a careless living city. It stands poorly in the middle of a car park, or should I say, its land is assaulted by cars parking against its tired walls.
Spoilt by the years, its roof and inside has crumbled down and the big broken windows are vomiting tortuous tree trunks. It looks like the perfect creepy house haunting one’s nightmares. The house is believed to be haunted because of its rather surprising past. A 70 years old blogging lady tells the story of those walls better than I should bother trying to : mypenangstories
but briefly anyway, the house was built in the years 1880 by a rich Chinese family to basically show off. It is then sold to the benefit of the Chinese revolution. The new owner uses it as the Chinese Consulate from 1908 before it becomes, in 1910, a weird hotel changing name every year. Information about that strange management process seems nowhere to be found, the hotel closed down in 1915, 5 years later.
In 1915, the building start its new life as a school for girls and closes again after five years (I’m sure it’s a pure coincidence) surely because of some new government reforms In 1920, the house becomes an English school until 1938 when it eventually becomes Shih Chung primary school.
During world war II, the Japanese took over the school and turned it into an administration building, it is believed that prisoners were held in the basements. It is more than likely that those prisoners were not exactly enjoying their time there, knowing what happened at unit 731.
Back in those years, the Japanese were really into improving the progress of science and medicine, so they practiced on alive prisoners making them suffer the worst atrocities. Amongst other things, they used to freeze some of their body parts, then chop them off before trying to sew them back, sometimes on a random spot, in order to try and improve knowledge and skills about implants Injections were also widely performed on alive human subject: diseases of all kinds, animal blood, but also horse’s urine and salty water. Some prisoners had to go through vivisection, others were centrifuged to death. I stop here. The most painful to think of is that we owe them, (and the Germans, who did the same their way) for what medicine is nowadays.
The school is haunted, few people dare themselves in, some heard voices and screams and many reported feeling ill just passing by the house. Who are those people? Where do they come from? It is simply not said. Many haunted stories are told using the same approximate syntax: “It is said that”, or: “Some say” but practically, there’s nothing solid. The prosecution is often sorely lacking in tangible pieces of evidence as well as witnesses, unless “Some” was actually a family name…
Back there, I was rather impressed. Although I’m not from the credulous kind, I’m not narrow-minded either. I want, we all want, to believe that something awaits us all after the finish line. But as far as my beliefs are concerned, science and logic have always provided me with the most credible answers, so far.
When watching the videos I took from the house, I noticed some creepy sounds and voices. The old school stands in a busy town surrounded by skyscrapers, construction sites and busy streets. The sounds are just a rumor from the distant crowd bouncing on the walls like an echo. From inside the school, you clearly can hear creaming and talking, from the streets around!
I found it weird and creepy to come and visit that place on my birthday to find “Happy birthday” written on the fences around. I find it way more logical to think of it as a coincidence rather than picturing a spirit bothering some wishes for my special day, using spray paint.
The night footages gave me the creep when I spotted a ghost following me inside the school, weirdly looking like Albert Einstein, which is rather ironic.
I discovered this strange thing behind me while randomly pausing the video when editing. I first just had the goosebumps, then I jumped when I pressed play again and saw that thing moving around.
I played the video frame by frame and it turned out, it was not Albert Einstein, but someone way less brilliant, yet much more alive: me!
It’s my own face that appears upside down when lit with my torch. It’s just a lens flare. Many ghosts appear on camera at night because it comes from a bad mix of cameras and torches. The most famous ghost effect at night is due to dust and insects flying in front of the camera and reflecting the light of the torches.
Sadly, if there were lost souls in between those walls, we didn’t meet them. The only bloodcurdling thing about that house is the thought of what could be hidden underneath its foundations.
Why is the ruin still up? Mr. and Mrs. Some say that it’s because of a force emanating from the house that prevents people from destroying it, or something like that. I readily believe the locals may have some beliefs and fears regarding this house because animism is rather omnipresent in Asia. Superstitions are part of their daily life and many politicians base their decisions on astrology.
According to a local taxi driver, the manager of my hotel, and the school principal’s daughter-in-law, all attempts at development on the site have failed because of heritage requirements. having said that, if I was a construction equipment operator, I wouldn’t like to have to shovel in the cellars of the house …
