Go inside the life of Chew Hon Chin, a ghostbuster who handles terrifying exorcisms and stubborn spirits on a daily basis
It was in 2006 when a young woman entered Chew Hon Chin’s small shop in Katong Shopping Centre. Her tongue was sticking out of her mouth and she was tip-toeing on her heels. Almost immediately, Chew could tell that the woman was possessed. Further investigations on his part revealed that she was possessed by the ghost of a woman who hung herself at East Coast Park.
The case, which Chew describes as one of his toughest exorcisms to date, required 10 days of negotiations with the ghost, who requested a house. The process required Chew to bring the woman to Indonesia and to buy a spartan kelong (an offshore platform built with wood). He paid SG$500 for it and trapped the spirit on the platform, before setting it on fire to banish the spirit for good.
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After over 18 years in the business, Chew has certainly seen his fair share of wild phenomena and is highly sought-after by people from all walks of life who are looking for solutions regarding their careers, families, relationships and even with possessions.
However, the road to becoming one of the most sought-after exorcists was certainly not smooth and required a lot of faith on the part of the grand master, as Chew is called.
Chew grew up with humble beginnings on a rubber plantation in Malaysia. To support his family, one of the first jobs he took on was as an assistant in a coffee shop. He also learnt how to weld and later started various businesses that dealt with welding and labour.
Chew’s businesses proved profitable. At the height of his success in 1985, he was running a karaoke lounge in Batam. At one point, he had to fire one of his staff members.
“That staff member told me I had better think twice about firing them and warned me that something bad might happen. But of course, I didn’t believe that,” Chew said over a phone call.
Shortly after, however, Chew fell extremely ill. Desperate, he spent over SG$500,000 on doctors and mediums who were said to only able to help him extract part of the curse.
“The curse was related to needles, according to the mediums. At one point, I was vomiting needles into a pail of water,” Chew said.
At the brink of death, Chew visited Tanjong Pinang in Indonesia where he sought the help of a prominent medium for the Goddess of Mercy, a Taoist deity. “She was able to help extract the other part of my curse by pulling a long, red thread from my belly button,” Chew explained. “But she told me that in return, I would have to serve humanity by helping them lift curses as well.”
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