WHEN it comes to the supernatural and the paranormal, I lean towards deep scepticism. I’m not trying to diminish the experiences of others – if they felt or saw something then it’s true for them – but for me, seeing is believing and I haven’t seen anything so there isn’t anything for me to believe.
However, I like to think of myself as open-minded and am willing to change my mind if given a proper reason to do so. Therefore, I willingly accepted an assignment to follow a ghost hunting live-stream – along with four others from The Vibes and Getaran – into the woods of Gombak in the early morning hours of October 21.
I admit I have an almost gleeful disregard for accepted superstitions and old wives tales, to quote a famous New Yorker, “I ain’t afraid of no ghost.”
(Actually, I’m not sure Ray Parker Jr is even from New York, but it sounds honest enough.)
The location, an abandoned police station in the forest in between KL and Genting, was erected in 1948 and saw active use during the communist insurgency that defined post-Independence Malaysia.
To call the place dilapidated would be an understatement – ruinous would be a more apt descriptor.
The police station itself was not far from the road we drove in on, in fact during the hike through the woods the distant sounds of road traffic could be heard (so itinerant gamblers rushing to Genting, no doubt).
Despite the downpour that had been soaking the Klang Valley for most of the day, the well-worn footpaths through the forest were very walkable in sneakers. If anything, the ‘drip-drip’ of raindrops through the multiple layers of dense foliage added an eeriness to the setting.
There was a total of nine of us – five from the media and the live-streamer with three of his buddies – and we all trotted through the soggy underbrush and fallen trees (they’d been felled a while back), with the lights from our various cameras and cellphones illuminating the way ahead.
My eyes and ears were open throughout, alert, even though beyond a certain distance everything was pitch black. To be clear, I was more afraid of running into a tiger or stepping on a snake.
We started out at the station, with shattered glass all over the place – a lot of which were piled up against the walls so you wouldn’t risk perforating your footwear. Most of the roof had caved in and there was plentiful water damage. Ambience wise, it was creepy enough, I mean we’re at a police station in the middle of the woods at 1 o’clock in the morning.
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After some late-night cardio, we saw some other collapsed walls that had been reclaimed by nature. There were a decent amount of clearings in the forest – some of the paths looked pleasant enough as hiking locations during the daytime.
A big landmark we hit was the river. The onrush of water was loud enough that we could hear it before we saw it. We’re told that ghosts have been seen playing in the water at some spots, but I did not see anything.
There is a strange beauty in stumbling onto nature, as if life is going on around you even when you don’t notice it. There are more important things at play than young adults looking for the unnatural.
At one point there was a path seemingly carved out of the brush, headed towards some point by the river. Once again we’re told the endpoint of this path has an eerie feeling to it, specifically that there’s an odd cold spot beyond a certain point.
The live-streamer set up a camera facing that way, along with a bright green night vision light. After Izwan from Getaran walked down the path – he said he did in fact feel the cold patch and saw some shapes in the distance – I followed.
Now, despite my scepticism, I was a bit wary anyway. The bright lights from the camera meant I couldn’t really see anyone when I looked back at everyone else – I was alone. I inched my way forwards, but quickly enough I turned back. I did not see anything, but why don’t you stand alone in the woods in the middle of the night.
The live-streamer mentions that there is an odd vaguely human sound – not quite a wail or moan – that can be heard in the distance. Several people including myself hear the sound. It’s irregular, distant, and stands out from the background noise of the forest.
Of course, there are explanations. The cold patch in the woods occurs somewhere near a short waterfall. It’s very possible that a light mist of water spray permeates the area in a cooling fashion. The sounds, as hypothesised by others, could be frogs or even fish that occasionally jump through the surface of the water.
After more cardio, we concluded the night at the police station.
This time, Izwan and I would sit in chairs next to each other, isolated from the others – who would be back where our cars were – for 30 minutes. The only thing keeping us company would be the streamer’s camera, its bright green night-vision light ironically destroying any chance for me to have night vision when I looked at the ruins and brush around us.
Now, if I have a superpower it would be the ability to sit around and do nothing. I can very easily pass the time just sitting around without doing anything productive.
So we just sat and waited. And waited. And waited.
Throughout this, I would occasionally look around and try to look for some spooky apparition or whatever it was I was supposed to find there. I kept my ears piqued for any odd sounds, for anything really besides the ‘drip dip’ of water. I don’t recall being scared, mainly because I was just too damn tired to be scared.
By the time the half-hour was done, I was as ghost-less as I was before. As we left the station behind, my encounter with the supernatural remained non-existent. Oh well, maybe some other time. – The Vibes, October 31, 2021
Watch our team’s paranormal hunting experience at Balai Polis Gombak Lama together with our sister portal Getaran and Bigo Live paranormal host Ahmad Safuan Mohd Yunan aka BossWan in the video below...
*Additional video reporting by Amalina Kamal. Download the Bigo Live app to discover more spooky content and a wide range of others.
