FAMILY PLEADS
Go away, please...

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NO, it's not a plea to naughty spirits or ghosts.
Inside Madam Lee's kitchen, there are no ghosts - only laundry being blown by a fan.

This desperate plea from a Bukit Batok housewife and her two children is directed at the throngs of curious humans who have been 'ghost-spotting' outside her flat over the last two weeks.

Madam Nancy Lee, 54, has been plagued by hordes of gawkers every night for the past two weeks.

On weekends, the crowd gets so big they number over a hundred, the housewife and her neighbours claim.

The gawkers gather at the foot of her block, staring at her kitchen window.

Some even creep up to her flat after midnight, knock on the door, then dash off.

Once, they even allegedly cut off their power supply.


A group of gawkers hoping to see ghosts in Madam Lee's flat.
But why the strange behaviour?


RADIO THE CULPRIT
Well, Madam Lee's home in Bukit Batok West had been repeatedly identified - unit number and all - on a late-night radio show as being haunted. (See report at far right.)

This began two weeks ago, when a listener called the Ria 89.7FM station to make the claim. (See report below.)

More callers with similar claims followed. As the rumours spread, the crowd grew. Among them was Mr Hairul Hamdan, 27, a trainer.

He said: 'I heard from the radio about this place, so I wanted to come and see for myself.'

Many were curious about the reported 'ghostly apparitions', which range from floating heads and beautiful women to mummies.

And the ghost-sighters came by the truckload - literally.

Said resident Leong Chin Cheng, 40, a businessman who lives in the same block: 'I got a shock, I looked downstairs and saw so many people, whole families. They come by bus, pickup, lorry... So scary!'

Another neighbour, Mr Abdul Hamid Harun, 50, added that some came armed with camera handphones, digital cameras, and even binoculars.

Resident Ng Chong Eng, 48, an insurance agent, said the crowds swelled after midnight on Friday.

He said: 'Last week, the radio show kept repeating and repeating the report. Hundreds of people came to see. 1am, 2am, 3am, 4am, even 5am, it was still crammed with people.'

But most left with unsated appetites.

You see, the truth is far less supernatural. The so-called ghosts in Madam Lee's kitchen are actually shadows of Madam Lee's laundry.

Madam Lee, whose husband passed away four years ago, suffers from rheumatism.

She hangs her clothes inside her kitchen as she is not strong enough to lift the bamboo poles out of the window. At night, she closes the windows to keep the rain out and draws her white curtains.

Finally, she turns on a fan and a yellow lamp to help the clothes dry.

The result? Shadows dancing gently behind a white curtain, under a 'spooky' yellow light.

Her neighbour, Mr Ng, who lives in the unit directly below hers, admitted that the shadows did indeed look 'very scary, like a head flying'.

So, he advised Madam Lee to remove the curtain and use a fluorescent light instead. Together with other neighbours, he has also been helping to explain the misunderstanding to Madam Lee's curious audience. They also got a friend to call the radio station to clarify the matter.

'But even when we tell them there is nothing, they still want to see. New people keep coming,' said Mr Ng.


DESPERATE MOVE
On Sunday, in desperation, Mr Ng and Madam Lee's son let two visitors in to act as 'witnesses' and prove there are no ghosts in their flat.

The stream of late night visitors has taken its toll on the family.

Said Madam Lee's son Kelvin, 20, a salesman: 'We keep getting woken up. Every night, there will be people knocking, and footsteps.'

The constant attention is unnerving.

Said Madam Lee: 'I feel so much stress when I hang my clothes. So many people staring at me! Once, I was hanging clothes when I looked down and saw so many people that I felt faint.

'My children tell me to ignore them. My pastor also prays for us.'

The last straw came on Saturday night, when the family's power was turned off at 4am.

Some gawkers had apparently messed with their fuse box, and the family woke up sweating. The air-con had gone dead.

Even her neighbours are not spared.

Mr Kamarudin Mailah, 41, a technician who lives on the second floor, said: 'Every night, I cannot sleep. Sometimes, a whole group of motorcycles come at 2am. My house is near the carpark, so I can hear everything.'

Madam Lee has already called the police at least 10 times to ask for help. Neighbours said that the police now conduct regular patrols to chase away the gawkers.

Said Madam Lee: 'I've lived here for over 20 years. If there really is a ghost, I would have moved away long ago.

'We never harmed others, so why do others harm us now? Please, just leave us alone.'


RADIO NUISANCE
MADAM Nancy Lee's nightmare began about two weeks ago, when a listener called Ria 89.7FM claiming the flat was haunted.

The station had invited listeners to share their stories during the late-night show Pelik Tapi Benar (strange but true in Malay).

According to listeners The New Paper spoke to, one of the earliest calls was a woman who claimed she saw ghosts at Madam Lee's block and floor.

Soon, more callers called with their own stories about the block. The stories started to point to Madam Lee's unit.

Then, the gawkers started showing up in droves.

Despite subsequent calls from those who visited the flat and realised there were no ghosts, the damage was done.

When contacted, MediaCorp Radio, which runs the station, declined to comment.

Some arrive in buses...


HERE'S proof that sometimes, humans can be more disturbing than ghosts.

Since the radio reports of the 'haunting', thrill-seekers have even organised excursions to the block.

The New Paper visited the block on Tuesday and yesterday night.

Groups of gawkers arrived from 9.30pm, with the numbers picking up as midnight passed.

At midnight on Tuesday, a group of about 10 people emerged from a large, private bus.

A member of the group, who declined to be named, said they were families from Choa Chu Kang who got together to check out the 'haunted flat'.

He added that some women and children in the group decided to remain on the bus.

The group trooped noisily upstairs to Madam Lee's unit.

Some went up to the door to listen for sounds.

At this point, the door suddenly burst open.

An angry and pale-looking Kelvin shouted at the group, who immediately clamoured upstairs.

Other gawkers were less intrusive. They simply stood in the carpark and stared at the kitchen window, some for more than half an hour.

And many came to the same conclusion: there really is no ghost.

The reports about the 'haunted' flat differed wildly among the radio callers.

One listener, Mr Md Hazmi Abd Hamid, 24, a technician, said that an early listener talked about seeing a 'white thing' moving around the unit. Subsequent callers described a floating head or ghost.

Soon, callers were buzzing about pocong - jumping mummies.

Said Mr Hairul Hamdan, 27, a trainer: 'Some people said they saw five pocong at the one house.'

Young gawker Shaik Muhfiyan, 12, cycled from Choa Chu Kang with two friends.

He had heard yet another tale.

'My brother's friend works around here. He was delivering pizza one night when he saw something - a very beautiful lady.'

Labels: Old News