GEORGE TOWN: For decades, Hash House Harriers has been discovering the secrets of Penang hills. Their latest discovery is a mysterious house deep in the forests behind the Teik Quarry in Tanjung Bungah.

Some 5km into the hiking trails from the Mount Erskine market lies a dilapidated, abandoned house with distinct character and a few forgotten relics.

Hasher Gurdial Singh, with two other members from the Tuesday Hash Kakis chapter, took pressmen on a visit to the house overlooking Penang's northern tip.

The house is known as the “haunted house” or the “green house” by Hashers who know the area.

Colonial era: The abandoned house lying deep in the hills behind the Teik Quarry.

“I suspect that it has been there for over 100 years,” he said, while leading the group on a two-hour hike to the site.

Gurdial said the house, made from wood and mounted on stone slabs, was likely owned by a British due to the style of the home and its remaining furnishings.

Among the “little treasures” found in the four-bedroom house were an old oil lamp, a large drawer-less structure that was possibly an altar or a stand, a metal barrel ring, a wooden dining table, the remains of a rattan sofa set and several broken chairs and bed frames.

Hidden habitat: The interior of the four-bedroom house.

Several plastic bullet cartridges were also discovered inside the single-storey house that bore double plantation shutters on all sides of the structure.

Another interesting feature of the hut, pointed out by a Hasher, was that it was surrounded by pine trees.

“You don't normally find pine trees in this area. Here, they only surround the house so the people who stayed here would likely have planted them.

Broken china: A porcelain plate found near the house.

“These trees can play a role in keeping certain insects out, which is perhaps why we don't find any mosquito nets inside the house,” said a Hasher who joined in the hike but requested to be anonymous.

The hikers agreed that it would be nice for the structure to be restored and improved, but said such a proposal may be impractical due to its extreme remote location.

• Malaysia tycoon Vincent Tan plans IPO of football club Cardiff City
• Google, like Facebook, in talks to buy Waze for about US$1bil
• Crown selling entire 10% in rival Echo, partly owned by Genting(Update)
• First edition of 'Great Gatsby' to be sold at auction, can fetch US$150,000
• Malaysia leads the way in Basel III debt
• Markets face rough summer ride as Fed pullback feared
• Wall Street sags, HP hits 52-week high
• Commodities trader sues BP, Shell others for alleged oil price fixing
• Billionaire Icahn seeks up to US$7bil for Dell bid
• Google faces new federal antitrust probe
• Goldman Sachs unveils checks on conflicts in bid to fix tarnished image
• Air Asia's Tony Fernandes to ‘fire up’ investors
• Maybank bullish on growth, to expand regionally under new leadership
• Khazanah appoints Nor Mohamed deputy chairman
• Lafarge Malayan Cement to finalise next expansion plans by August

• British police arrest two men on diverted Pakistan flight (Updated)
• Britain scrambles fighter jets to escort Pakistani passenger plane
• 5,000 cave paintings discovered in Mexico
• Cars, schools ablaze in fifth night of Stockholm riots
• London's Heathrow airport closed after emergency landing
• Far East quake felt in Moscow, tsunami warning lifted
• Police make new arrests in London soldier killing
• Britain's press demands jailing of Islamist preacher
• Tsunami warning in Russia's Far East after 8.2 quake
• US bridge collapse sends cars, people into river
• Strong quake strikes off Tonga
• Jury fails to decide on US murderer death sentence
• One killed in Brazil giant fuel depot blaze

• British Open: Nicol David deals with disruptions for semi spot
• Kingston leads, McIlroy in Wentworth woe
• LPGA plans 12-hole rounds in water-logged Bahamas
• Ryan Palmer sizzles with 62 to seize lead at Colonial
• Kelly overcomes scare to clinch title in KLGCC
• Time to make amends Garcia wants to meet Woods to defuse racist row
• American Johnson back to defend Colonial crown
• Rain dampens debut of LPGA Bahamas event
• Tianlang adds another US event to schedule
• Clock ticking for next golden generation
• Nadal wants to create history at Roland Garros
• Serena out to tame French Open demons
• Zheng Jie stuns Wozniacki in Brussels
• British Open: Ramy Ashour racks up 38th successive win
• Nicol David sails into quarter-finals of British Open in 35 minutes

• Please wait.

• KL car number plates to bear ‘W1A’
• Air Asia's Tony Fernandes to ‘fire up’ investors
• Singapore GDP growth surprises, beats economists’ forecast of contraction
• Tian, Tamrin and Haris released after remand denied (updated)
• Malaysia leads the way in Basel III debt
• Inventions a-plenty, but no real innovation
• Robber shot dead after attacking out-of-uniform cop with meat cleaver
• Thousands throng thanksgiving rally by DAP
• EC: Photograph of ‘blackout’ on polling day was a lie
• Lafarge Malayan Cement to finalise next expansion plans by August