Tekong ghost stories may be popular among National Servicemen, but school is where most of us first hear of grisly hauntings. Perhaps due to our friends’ overactive imaginations, some of these stories may have been cooked up out of boredom to make school life more exhilarating … or have they?
While just about every school has its share of requisite toilet hauntings, the following tales have some basis behind them, making them even creepier once you understand their origins. Be warned: Some of these stories will get even the most fervent Halloween Horror Nights fans clutching their blankets in fear and crying for mummy.
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Image credit: SAA Architects
The clock tower at Anglo-Chinese School (Barker Road) is iconic for greeting passers-by along Dunearn Road, but it holds a much more sinister role than just displaying the time. Legend has it that a past student managed to gain access to the clock’s gear room but accidentally fell into the gears, with his body gruesomely crushed.
After the student’s sudden violent death, it is said that his spirit continued lurking in school, seeking out other students to prey on. Students claim he possessed several others over the years and caused them to attempt suicide by the same clock tower gears, but thankfully, teachers always managed to intervene before any repeat incidents.
Image credit: @cchms via Instagram
As a post-Japanese occupation school, Chung Cheng High School is said to be full of lost Japanese soldiers’ souls wandering the hallways. As such, there are numerous convex blind spot mirrors scattered throughout the compound for students to keep a lookout for malicious spirits creeping up behind them.
While the lake has set Chung Cheng apart as the only school with such a massive water feature, it is also said to be cursed by a lingering figure. Apparently, if one walks around it 3 times and rings the nearby bell thrice, a creepy mermaid will surface from its depths.
That’s not all. At the auditorium, there are several doors linked to each other through a series of maze-like passages and rooms, supposedly once used as torture chambers. One of these entrances is considerably low at about 1.6m and meant to be used as cleaners’ storage. Yet, there are no brooms to be found within these chambers of secrets.
Image credit: @weiqi_inlovewithlife via Instagram
Even before its merger with Greenview Secondary School, Loyang Secondary School had a particular 4th floor female toilet at its old block where lights are left on 24/7. The toilet is said to be haunted, so the lights act as a deterrent to malicious spirits afraid of exposing themselves under the glare.
Image credit: @freemeeeee via Instagram
At Paya Lebar Methodist Girls’ School, the story goes that a mannequin was once placed inside the classroom of a girl named Sally who had committed suicide. It was dressed up in her uniform and name tag to commemorate the student.
As the classroom was situated on the ground floor near the track, classmates reported seeing “Sally” always facing them during PE lessons despite having placed her facing the front of the class.
As a teacher was marking exam papers early in school one morning, she was surprised to catch a glimpse of a student’s uniform saunter past her staff table. Realising it was still way before school hours, she glanced up to see who it was, only to realise to her horror it was “Sally” the mannequin.
Image credit: @raffles_girls_school via Instagram
Raffles Girls’ School used to have white-painted walls in its AVA room, until a former student hung herself from the ceiling projector with her school tie. After her death, sounds of a tie being pulled taut followed by screaming could still be occasionally heard. Even her hanging shadow would be seen when the lights were switched off before presentations.
It was then that the school decided to paint the walls yellow – the deceased student’s favourite colour – to appease her. While the hanging sounds and shadows have since ceased, there is still a persistent faint shadow of a nonexistent person sitting in the last row of the AVA room.
Image credit: @morrisycy via Instagram
As a school with vast resources, it comes as no surprise that Raffles Institution would have its own swimming pool for students to use. What may come as a surprise, however, is that the pool is just 1m short of the standard Olympic length of 50m.
The story goes that during construction, workers came across human remains at the 50m mark. To appease the spirits, the workers decided to leave the remains alone, thus building an intentionally shorter pool.
Current RVHS campus, also with sculptures outside the auditorium.
Image credit: Muggershell via Commons Wikimedia
In the old River Valley High School campus at West Coast, there was a central circular sculpture outside the auditorium covering what’s said to be an old well.
Legend has it that 8 students made a suicide pact to jump into the well after receiving abysmal O Level results. Although 8 bonsai plants were placed there in remembrance of the students, the spirit of the students continued to haunt the school.
In order to ward off the students’ lingering spirits, 2 stone lions were placed behind the auditorium block. However, students occasionally claimed that the statues disappeared as they were having their PE lessons, only to magically reappear after their lessons were done.
Image credits: Unsplash
If you happen to visit Temasek Junior College, don’t be surprised to find standing urinals in both the male and female toilets. This isn’t for inclusivity’s sake, rather, the current male toilets were formerly the female toilets and vice versa.
Rumour has it that a female student who had stayed late in school to study was sexually assaulted. She then decided to commit suicide in one of the female toilets. Since then, there have been sightings of her spirit in the very same toilet.
The school hired various excorcists but none were able to get rid of the spirit until one of them suggested swapping the 2 toilets. The reason given was that males carry more Yang energy, which would help to deter spirits.
Image credits: @singaporepoly via Instagram
Those from Singapore Polytechnic or live around the area would know about the iconic red bridge. The beautiful coat of red, however, serves more than just aesthetics. It’s said that there was once a girl who jumped off the very same bridge and had her blood splattered on the bridge when her body hit the ground.
Apparently, the blood stains couldn’t be washed off or would constantly reappear. Hence, the school decided to camouflage the blood stains with a coat of red. Another rumour also states that those crossing the bridge will want to be extra careful not to walk to close to the sides. Apparently, the girl’s spirit might attempt to drag you down with her to the underworld.
Image credits: Pexels
Ngee Ann Polytechnic’s School of Film & Media Studies has state-of-the-art media equipment for students, but it’s said that one of these studios also held something sinister. The story goes that a spirit made itself known at the TV studio to a student who claimed to have a 3rd eye. The spirit introduced herself as Mei Ling and insisted that students acknowledged her as such.
People who didn’t take her seriously would often find their projects go missing or messed with. One student even claimed a voiceover recording had multiple voices even though she was the only one in the studio.
Although many believe that the story of Mei Ling is just folklore passed down to newer batches, her presence has been confirmed by almost every new batch of students at Ngee Ann Polytechnic.
Growing up with paranormal accounts during our adolescence hits scarily close to home for some of us. While skeptics may find these urban legends rather fantastic and dismiss them as just stories by the superstitious, it’s sometimes better to err on the side of caution and not attempt to invoke the wrath of vengeful spirits, lest you find yourself faced with them!
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Original article published on 22nd February 2018 . Last updated by Gracelyn Lim on 11th September 2023.
Cover image adapted from: SAA Architects, @morrisycy via Instagram, Unsplash
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