The 1950s were an eventful period in Singapore's history.

The Maria Hertogh and Hock Lee riots took place then, together with the Emergency and political struggles that saw Singapore gaining self-governance.

And then there were ghosts.

Geylang Serai ghost

January 1950 was a particularly exciting and spooky time in colonial Singapore, as the island was gripped by two haunting episodes, which were actually reported by the local media.

A kampong house located deep within Geylang Serai saw an uninvited ghost making mischief and causing distress to its occupants, who were an elderly Malay clerk and his 12 dependents.

Reports in the Singapore Free Press (SFP) on Jan. 23 and 25, 1950, said that the ghost would manifest itself as a dark shadow that swept through the house's rooms, occasionally whistling with an eerie sound.

Stones were reportedly thrown around by the ghost, but did not hurt anyone.

It also took a liking towards punching and "upsetting" an occupant's pillows and mattress at night.

There was an incident where rice was mysteriously sprinkled onto the occupants of the house from the ceiling, after which they found that about 2kg of rice was missing from the kitchen.

Word of the haunting spread, and people went to see for themselves what was going on.

There was even an incident of a "sizeable" stone falling among the kaypoh crowd.

Exorcising the ghost wasn't a walk in the park though, with the ghost managing to resist the first attempt.

After repeated attempts by several other medicine men, however, it seemed like the haunting stopped.

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Nelson Road ghost

Around the same time as the Geylang Serai haunting, news emerged of another ghostly occurrence at Block H of the Singapore Harbour Board's workers' quarters at Nelson Road in Sembawang.

This ghost terrorised eight families living in the quarters, which numbered about 50 people total, according to a Straits Times report on Jan. 26, 1950.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="768"] Crowds gathered at Block H to kaypoh the reportedly haunted location. Source: NAS[/caption]

It did much more than the Geylang ghost in its terror activities, which included:

• Raining fist-sized stones from the ceiling.
• Making a kettle of water "fly off its stand" and onto the floor.
• Making a pair of scissors disappear.
• Making a four-inch vegetable knife rise from a basket and fly across the room "at a terrific speed".
• Smashing glass bottles that seemingly came from nowhere.

The ghost also manifested itself as an "evil object", like a "cat's eye" gliding on the ceiling staring at an occupant.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="479"] Image via http://lotr.wikia.com/[/caption]

A Malay woman living in the haunted quarters took it upon herself to get rid of the ghost, using a combination of reading the Koran and "sprinkling water mixed with red onions, garlic, and pepper", according to an ST report on Jan. 27, 1950.

And thus ended the ghostly excitement that swept Singapore in Jan. 1950.

Top image adapted from pixabay and NewspaperSG

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