9 spooky spots in Singapore that will send shivers down your spine this Halloween

It goes without saying that this period saw numerous POWs perish at the hands of the Japanese military police known as the Kempeitai. According to rumors, POWs were subjected to unimaginable torture and horrors here. Although Old Changi Hospital underwent many ownership and name changes over the years, one thing remains constant: the rumoured presence of POW spirits haunting the place. 

It was eventually closed in 1997, and today, Old Changi Hospital is popular with urban explorers and thrill-seeking folks. Over the years, the abandoned structure has fallen to vandals and general decay, and its dilapidated state lends itself to a creepy atmosphere. Some people even allege that Old Changi Hospital was the site for Satanic rituals, though outside of edgy graffiti, there's no concrete proof supporting these claims. Parts of the hospital have been demolished, but it remains as one of Singapore’s most iconic haunted spots.

In a land-scarce country like Singapore, it’s strange to see abandoned buildings, much less an entire abandoned housing estate. But that is the case with Neo Tiew Estate, which was vacated in 2002. 

Designed to support and house families working for nearby agricultural areas such as pig farms, the once-bustling small estate in Lim Chu Kang comprised two four-storey blocks situated near a wet market, playground, shophouses, and even a hawker centre. But, as agricultural farms moved to other locations over time, New Tiew Estate started to decline and residents were eventually relocated to Jurong and Chua Chu Kang by the early 2000s. 

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Neo Tiew Estate is relatively remote, even in a built-up city state like Singapore, which made it the perfect location for the military’s urban training. Without residents maintaining the estate, the place quickly fell into disrepair, hence sparking rumours about its haunting.

According to a popular tale, a gambler once visited Neo Tiew Estate and stuck seven needles into a banana tree in hopes of torturing the spirit residing within to cough up winning lottery numbers. Despite indeed winning the lottery, the man failed to make good on his promise to remove the needles and free the spirit. This ultimately killed the banana tree and angered the spirit, who now seeks out unwitting victims who visit the estate.

Colloquially known as the “suicide tower”, the birdwatching tower at Pasir Ris Park got its unsavoury moniker from a story where a young boy with a “third eye” suddenly ran up the tower and jumped off, to the horror of his friends. Before taking his last breath, the boy managed to tell his friends that he was pushed by, you guessed it, a ghost.

Back in 2011, local news was abuzz with a series of suicides over the span of just six months. A religious blessing of the reservoir, attended by eight religious leaders, was organised and scheduled to be performed on November 6, 2011. However, just hours before the ceremony, the sixth drowning victim was found at Bedok Reservoir. Much speculation took place that year, with people wondering if the unusual spate of drownings were supernatural in origin or a case of copycat suicides.

Don’t be fooled by its cheery yellow façade—the Amber Beacon tower at East Coast Park bore witness to a grisly unsolved murder that took place on May 15, 1990. A young couple, 21-year-old Kelly Tan and 22-year-old James Soh, were on a date at the park. While sitting and chatting on the steps of Amber Beacon tower, the couple encountered two men who walked past them to get up the tower.

Just 15 minutes later, the unknown men came back down, this time with masks and armed with knives. The couple were attacked and brutally stabbed, but managed to escape and seek help. Sadly, Tan passed away from her injuries and was pronounced dead when paramedics arrived. 

According to urban legend, the Amber Beacon tower has been haunted since. Some report hearing a woman screaming for help, while others say they’ve seen a ghostly apparition on the upper deck of the tower.

MacRitchie Reservoir may be a popular hiking spot, but with the dense vegetation here, it’s not surprising that overactive imaginations have deemed this place spooky and potentially haunted. 

Within MacRitchie Reservoir, there lies a little-known, abandoned Japanese shrine. The Syonan Jinja, also known as the Light of the South Shrine, was built in 1942 by the occupying Japanese forces during WWII. Legend has it that a group of Japanese soldiers committed ritualistic suicide as part of rites to protect the shrine when it was newly built.

When the Japanese surrendered in 1945, the shrine was set on fire to prevent the returning British troops from defiling the altars. Since then, the abandoned shrine has fallen into disrepair. Access to the shrine is strictly prohibited to the public, and for good reason. In 2020, a group of teenagers reportedly got lost for hours in MacRitchie when they tried to look for the shrine.

Today, Matilda House serves as a clubhouse for A Treasure Trove, a condominium complex in Punggol. It stands innocuously in the midst of high-rise buildings, and you’d never guess that it was the inspiration for many ghost stories. Dubbed the “White House” for its façade, the Matilda House is one of the three haunted “coloured houses” in Singapore—the Pasir Ris Red House and Hillview Mansion “Green House” make up the latter two.

Matilda House was first built in 1902 by Joseph Cashin for his wife, Josephine Matilda Cashin. The Cashins were a wealthy Eurasian family, and Matilda House estate boasted a horse stable, tennis court and even an orchard. Later in the 1980s, the government reclaimed the land that Matilda House sat on, as part of the country’s efforts to develop Punggol into a modern town.

Matilda House fell into ruin when plans to develop Punggol were stalled, and its less-than-pristine state naturally lent itself to the ghost stories that are so popular with bored youths. Urban legend suggests that three construction workers tragically passed away when they tried to demolish the dilapidated Matilda House, and so the structure was left alone to rot.

Fortunately, Matilda House was given a new lease of life in the 2010s, when it was sold to a property developer and turned into a condominium clubhouse.

You may think that the Pasir Ris Red House was so named for its red exterior, but it actually derives its name from rumours that people would see blood-stained walls inside the house. 

One popular ghost story alleges that the Chinese guardian lion statues at the gates had eyes that would mysteriously glow in the dark. Some say that, in order to safely explore the Red House, you had to offer a lit cigarette and place it between the jaws of the guardian lion statues. You would then be protected till the cigarette burnt out.

Inside the house, there was allegedly a weeping doll sitting on a rocking chair. It would scream if you tried to remove it, though anyone who has watched Annabelle (2014) knows better than to mess with creepy dolls.

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Once the most expensive residential property in the area, Hillview Mansion suffered an abrupt and mysterious fall from grace in the mid-1950s. 

Hillview Mansion sat on the highest point in Hillview estate and the compound spans 9,000 sq m. Nicknamed the “Green House” thanks to its large, grassy front yard, Hillview Mansion was set to be the headquarters of the company owned by Chua Boon Peng, the ex-chairman of Cycle & Carriage. He’d also planned to reside at Hillview Mansion.

Construction of the mansion was mysteriously halted in the mid-1950s, and one alleges that a woman—a wife or mistress—fell from the balcony during a routine inspection of the mansion’s construction, leaving Chua heartbroken. Reportedly, urban explorers who visited the mansion heard weeping sounds of a woman—the unnamed victim who fell to her death, perhaps?

Hillview Mansion was eventually ordered to be demolished in 2006. All that remains are rusty gates leading to the once-grand compound and a small storage room.

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