While most people visit Kellie’s Castle during the day, the mansion can cater to a growing dark tourism subsector that is expected to generate RM132.75bil globally by year-end.
THE mystery surrounding century-old Kellie’s Castle in Batu Gajah, Perak, is heightened by countless stories of paranormal entities supposedly inhabiting the mansion.
It is said that one resident ghost is a certain “Mr Gopal”, a washerman from south India.
According to Kellie’s Castle Tourist Complex managing director Zamari Muhyi – who said he had not personally experienced any paranormal activity in the mansion – Mr Gopal had apparently worked in the laundry area of the mansion.
The washerman was disheartened when his employer and Kellie’s Castle owner William Kellie-Smith broke his promise to send him back to India, where his wife was awaiting his return.
Hakim relating experiences visitors have had in one of the rooms at the attraction ranked among Malaysia’s top five most haunted sites.
Zamari told Bernama that this information came to light during a programme to unravel the mystery of Kellie’s Castle, organised by its management in 2015.
“One of the (programme) participants suddenly found himself temporarily possessed by what seemed to be a spirit.
“I was present when this participant suddenly spoke in English and introduced himself as Mr Gopal and told us his story,” he said.
Although the existence of Mr Gopal cannot be verified, the unfinished mansion’s environment alone is enough to send shivers down the spine of faint-hearted visitors.
The construction of Kellie’s Castle, also known as Kellas House, started in 1915, initiated by its owner Kellie-Smith, a civil engineer from Scotland who came to Malaya to venture into the rubber and tin-mining industries.
However, Kellie-Smith died of pneumonia in 1926 when the construction of the mansion had only reached 70% completion.
Following his death, construction work was suspended and the property – sprawled over a 2.8ha site – was eventually sold to British company Harrisons and Crosfield.
It was subsequently abandoned and years later, declared a historical site.
Paranormal potential
The spooky atmosphere of Kellie’s Castle combined with eerie sightings and paranormal encounters reported by visitors make it an ideal destination for dark tourism, a subsector gaining increasing attention globally and which is expected to continue growing over the next decade.
According to projections by Future Market Insights, the global dark tourism market is expected to be valued at US$31.89bil (RM132.75bil) by the end of this year.
It also forecasts that the market will swell to US$40.82bil (RM169.93bil) by 2034.
Zamari, who is also Perak Bumiputra Tourism Operators Association president, recognises Kellie’s Castle’s potential for dark tourism-themed activities.
He said the subsector had the potential to invigorate the nation’s tourism industry.
Although dark tourism had been introduced in Malaysia, it had yet to be widely developed by the tourism industry due to constraints involving societal and local community misgivings, he said.
“When I took over the management of Kellie’s Castle in 2013, we thought about what could be done to elevate this location as a tourist attraction, because at first glance there was nothing much there except an old building.
“I then considered what strengths Kellie’s Castle had that could be marketed for tourism purposes.
“If I focused on its history, not many people would be interested. The building mostly appeals to photography and architecture enthusiasts.
Accounts of paranormal activity revolving around resident ghosts like ‘Mr Gopal’ have been attracting a different kind of visitor to the 109-year-old property. — Photos: Bernama
“Ultimately, the idea of dark tourism emerged.”
However, he said, promoting a certain building or place as a dark tourism site was not easy.
To offer an authentic paranormal experience at a dark tourism site, supernatural entities must truly exist and reside at the location, not be summoned or artificially created.
Whispers and winds
Hence, to market Kellie’s Castle as a dark tourism destination, the management had to confirm the “existence” of paranormal elements.
A collaboration was done with a local media outlet in 2015, and “we successfully detected and documented the presence of an entity (inside Kellie’s Castle), supported by a video recording”, Zamari said.
Following this, the management introduced night tours of the property, from 8pm to 11.30pm, on Fridays and Saturdays every October.
“We take visitors in groups of eight to 16 and guide them through the castle.
“Then, we leave two people at locations such as the wine cellar, laundry room, bedrooms and other areas without torchlights for 10 to 15 minutes,” he said, adding that previous participants had reported experiencing mysterious touches, embraces, whispers and sudden gusts of wind.
Zamari stressed that he was not in the business of “selling ghosts” but rather in offering a unique experience of visiting a site associated with paranormal activity.
Regional interest
Zamari said the tales of paranormal activities at Kellie’s Castle impressed the Pacific Asia Travel Association (Pata), which also acknowledged the building’s easy accessibility and ghost-hunting tours.
He said in 2020 – Pata which is based in Bangkok, Thailand – invited them to share about dark tourism at Kellie’s Castle at a virtual meeting of 400 delegates.
Zamari says Kellie’s Castle has the potential to invigorate the nation’s tourism industry.
“All of them were very excited to hear our stories and experiences in managing dark tourism.
“They asked many questions and expressed a strong interest in participating in dark tourism explorations,” he said.
Tourism Malaysia has listed Kellie’s Castle as one of the country’s top two horror tourism destinations alongside Penang War Museum.
Kellie’s Castle manager Hakim Muhaimin said the property was categorised as one of the five most haunted locations in Malaysia by international paranormal researchers and US-based tourism portals.
He also said the night tours were discontinued during the Covid-19 pandemic but plans were afoot to reintroduce them.
“We plan to offer two types of dark tourism activities – night tours and overnight stays at the castle.
“For sleepovers at the castle, we will provide participants with sleeping bags and other equipment.”
He said dark tourism involving Kellie’s Castle had the potential to succeed due to high demand.
Hakim hoped the authorities would increase the number of dark tourism locations in the country and suggested this subsector be widely promoted during Visit Malaysia Year 2026.
According to Tourism Malaysia Report, the country earned over RM71.3bil from the arrival of 20.14 million tourists in 2023.
