Monday August 14, 2006
Ghost busters
Charles Goh, 38
FOUNDER of Asia Paranormal Investigators by night; safety officer by day. He is married to an accountant.
How he got hooked: As a young boy, “I was always dreaming of UFOs and the end of the world”, he recalls. But what really left a marked impression on him was the memory of flashing lights outside his window when he lived with his family in a flat in Tanjong Pagar. He grew up thinking he had been visited by UFOs.
Only when he was 25 did he realise that the flashing lights had either come from a passing police car, or that he had imagined them altogether.
Mr Goh learnt that with the help of some critical thinking, even the inexplicable could be rationalised. Last year, he set up the Asia Paranormal Investigators (API). Membership is free. He makes ends meet by organising events for the public.
But last year, he moans, he made a loss of $3,000.
Has investigated: The case of a grey statue with three faceless heads at Bukit Brown cemetery two years ago.
Speculation was rife among the paranormal community that it involved a spooky story.
A friend from Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (Nafa) suggested that the statue could be the work of an art student. Mr Goh ploughed through the school archives for information, but came to a dead end. “We had the right answer, but the wrong school,” he says. The statue was indeed made by a former art student, except that it had been submitted to a competition at La- Salle SIA College of the Arts.
The truth was revealed when the son of the artist chanced upon his mother’s work on Mr Goh’s API website. The statue was reunited with its owner, who burst into tears at seeing her long-lost work.
How he got spooked: Three years ago, during the Hungry Ghosts Festival, he looked out of his window from his Hillview condominium home and saw that the street was lined with people making offerings.
Suddenly, three figures – a woman with two children in tow, all dressed in white – walked down the street.
He says: “I thought, wah, if I film them, people will surely think they are ghosts.”
Grabbing his video camera, he lined up the shot before fear got the better of him. “I was wondering, what if they suddenly looked at me. Or appeared next to me.”
The next morning, the street was spick and span, with no sign of offerings. “Over the next few years, I never saw people making offerings on that street again.”
Loves the work because: “I think the world is a wonderful place and we must seek to understand more of it.”
Rasid Yusoff, 35
ASSISTANT director for collection and artefacts at the Organisation For Supernatural Research and Investigation by night; freelance designer by day.
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Rasid Yusoff is able to ‘see things’. |
How he got hooked: He claims that when he was about six, he was “visited” by a female Malay ghost clad in white who appeared at the doorstep of his family’s 14th floor HOB flat in Marine Parade.
His uncle shouted and she jumped over the parapet and disappeared. Since then, Mr Rasid says he has been able to “see things”.
In April this year, he helped start Supernatural. It cost about $3,000 to set up and approaches cases from the perspective that supernatural beings exist.
Has investigated: The case of an oddlydressed entity in Admiralty.
At the site of an old chapel, Mr Rasid repeatedly saw a man who was dressed in what looked like an old Japanese army uniform and who would run away when spotted.
People around the area told Mr Rasid that the chapel had been a safe haven for Vietnamese workers during World War II, but the Japanese came and killed everyone.
How he got spooked: A forest in Malaysia was reputed to be a place where people were seen meditating, then disappearing. Mr Rasid claims that when he visited, he saw a man sitting under a tree.
His nails had grown so long they wrapped around his body. Then, he disappeared, says Mr Rasid.
Loves the job because: “It’s like a big boy’s Play-Station. But I’m not out there to look for ghosts but, rather, through research, to find out if the reported hauntings are true.”
Toh Seong Fai, 33
VICE-PRESIDENT of Singapore Paranormal Investigators by night; business trainer by day.
How he got hooked: As a child, he was always fascinated by cryptozoology, the science of researching animals and creatures whose existences have never been confirmed. Think Bigfoot, Yeti and the Loch Ness Monster.
He joined SPI in 2004 and now heads the cryptozoology department.
Has investigated: The case of Johor’s Bigfoot sightings.
He thinks one possibility is that Johor’s Bigfoot is a new species of animal that will eventually have to be protected. “Hopefully, I will collect some evidence soon to prove its identity,” he says.
How he got spooked: He has not experienced any scary encounters so far.
Loves the job because: “I am a human being and am born curious.” – The Straits Times Singapore / Asia News Network
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