THE older the structure, the more likely it is to be haunted.
Given the chequered history of Pudu Prison - which dates back to
1895 - you can be sure it has more than its fair share of ghostly
tales.
Abu Bakar Juah says it was common to hear things at night -
footsteps where no one was supposed to be, chains rattling, and
even hearing someone or something taking a bath when everyone is
locked in.
"We normally shout out loud that we are merely trying to make a
living and tell whatever that's out there to leave us alone," he
says.
Haji Aziz Haji Idris tells of an encounter while on duty at one
of the guard towers when he was still a young officer.
"It was shortly after midnight and I was on night duty with
another person when I saw an officer approaching. As we had been
trained, I banged my rifle on the floor and shouted out 'Everything
all right, sir!'"
Aziz says the figure said nothing but raised his hand, and then
suddenly disappeared.
He also remembers one particular bunk in the warder's dormitory
which everyone tried to avoid.
"Anyone who slept there would be sure to feel an unseen force
pressing down on his chest. They may try to shout or move but will
be helpless to do anything," he says, adding that some would rather
sleep on the floor than use the bunk.
Abu Bakar also recalls a weird phenomenon - a ball of fire the
size of a football that suddenly appeared and rolled out of
sight.
"It happened every once in a while, and in cycles. Everyone
would be talking about it for a while," he says.
But the scariest tale is that of a recurring apparition of a
woman. Aziz believes it was the ghost of a woman who was hanged
there.
"She had tried to kill herself previously by slitting her
throat. She survived but before she was fully recovered, the
execution order came," he says.
"She was brought to the execution chamber and hanged - but
because of the injury, her head was literally torn off. It was a
gruesome death and that is the ghost that many people have
seen."
He recalls an encounter with this apparition.
"I was on duty at Block D, where death row is located, and
directly above the execution chamber is a huge anchor stone.
"Out of the corner of my eye I saw a figure sitting on this
stone. Malays believe ghosts' feet do not touch the ground, and
when I bent over to look, the figure disappeared," he says.
But a fellow officer's encounter was even more shocking.
"Once, a police officer was interviewing prisoners and it was
getting late. However, he said that he could interview one more,
and I went down to bring another one.
"As he was filling in some forms he saw a figure sitting down.
Thinking it was another prisoner he looked up, only to see a
headless woman with blood flowing down her chest. The officer ran
down the stairs as fast as he could," he says.
Aziz believes Pudu Prison is a very "dirty" place and in some
places is a giant graveyard.
"During World War II, the British buried Japanese soldiers
there, and when the Japanese took over, they buried the British
there.
"The ghosts here are real," says Aziz.
-The Star/Asia News Network
