Confession by Xiao Ka

I remember when my brother helped me to move my stuff into a new rented apartment about two years ago. It was fine at first until I brought my son back to my apartment during the school holidays, and that was when things started to feel a bit strange around the house.

At that point, he still wasn't able to express himself very well. One day when I was cleaning up the house, I heard my son giggling and laughing in the next room and decided to see what he was up to. I saw him sitting inside the wardrobe, laughing and pointing, as if having a conversation with someone else. One of the wardrobe door was opened, and the other was closed. Whoever it was that my son was speaking to was out of my line of sight. I walked over to the wardrobe and opened the door but there was no one there. My son looked up at me but kept quiet. 

Few days later, I was trying to get my son to sleep but he simply wouldn't go to bed. I did my usual scare tactic of with the cane. He sat on the floor, but instead of being fearful, he looked to the right, shrugged his shoulders and started giggling. Then he got out and started running circles around the house for hours, non-stop. laughing and calling out to something in the room. I was at a loss of how I should react. I didn't want to hit him and something about this incident chilled me to the bone.  I just watched him, hoping it will end soon. At 5am he just went to bed and fell asleep on his own.

Next morning my friend brought me to the temple to get an amulet to help with protecting the house. Thankfully, that worked and my son didn't act the same way any more. When I told my brother about this incident, he said he already saw "that thing" when he first helped me move in. But my brother also said that "that thing" is not the harmful or vengeful kind, and will be the one protecting me at home.

Reported by Geraldine Laetitia, Supernatural Confessions Correspondent 

Many of us will give anything to have their own dream villa that overlooks the sea. One such villa offers exactly that and that would be none other than the infamous Villa Nabila in Johor, Malaysia. Villa Nabila is located on a hill in Johor Malaysia overlooking the Danga Bay. However, this villa history is a mystery and no one knows what exactly happened here and who had built it or had owned it. All the mysteries and questions surrounding the villa gives it a natural air of mystics that perplex even the historian today. It was also documented that Villa Nabila was first known as Christine Palace. But who owned this mansion and what happened to him remains unknown. It was even rumoured that a wealthy Caucasian family once lived there.

With so many unanswered questions, many myths and conjectures were made and created which only add on to the enigma of Villa Nabila. Perhaps, what deepens all the awe and mystic around this massive building will be the nature of its structure iself. The villa is a unique blend of architectural styles and grandeur. You can almost imagine how grand and luxury it once had been. The front of the villa is dominated by a porte-cochère held aloft by Roman-Tuscan pillars that have been heavily bleached by coastal winds. The mansion stands on stilts, that is very commonly so for houses built during its time. Looking at the house in its entirety, its grand structure stood in a manner reminiscent of traditional rumah panggung.

Today, it stands run-down, depilated, derelict and covered with overgrown foliage and mould from the decades of neglect and abandonment for more than 40 years now. To the rear of the villa, it is built comprising tropical wooden slats showing off a high pitched roof of European influence, which remains largely intact. You can still see this through the dense foliage as far as 3 miles out of Johor Bahru, along the Iskandar Coastal Highway.

With the dilapidated façade, it is no wonder, it gives the place a very eerie atmosphere especially so at dusk and during the night. There is no street lap anywhere close by, so it sits alone, sole in the darkness as dark falls. Villa Nabila's reputation as a haunted location has since been widely circulated, and has even been listed in Expedia, an US travel portal, as one of the scariest locations in Malaysia.

There are several versions of the story that attempt to explain the history of Villa Nabila and the reason behind its current state of neglect, abandonment and dilapidated conditions. Obviously, there are also stories that give the villa its reputation of being a haunted house.

Some says that a jealous maid took the lives of a wealthy family that once lived in the villa in order to inherit their heirloom. Their bodies were buried somewhere in the compound but were never found.

Among these stories, the most commonly circulated story is that the villa was originally owned by a wealthy family. The family had named the villa after their one and only daughter named Nabila.

Nabila’s parents passed away tragically and they left all their belongings and wealth to Nabila.

Their only maid wanted all the fortune and driven by greed, murdered Nabila and had her body cemented into the walls of the villa. Another version has the maid killed the whole family including Nabila and have all the bodies buried in the land the villa stands on.

Yet another tale is that two hit men who were hired by a relative because of greed killed the family. The tragic tale also include one where the family home was robbed and criminals killed all the residents. However, Nabila was raped before she was killed and her body was cemented into the house wall.

There is another version of the story, supposedly when Nabila's father shot all the villagers, before killing himself.
Another version says Nabila's stepmother was angry and jealous, because the girl inherits her father's legacy. The stepmother then allegedly killed Nabila and buried her on the wall before fleeing with the fortune.
It is not possible to ascertain which version of the story is correct but as it has been abandoned for so many years now.

One of the most recent famous and mysterious incident took place at Villa Nabila in November 2013. Although the incident only lasted three days but the short period had left many residents, including the authorities baffled and shocked.

Among the nasty beliefs about Villa Nabila is that the visitors entering the house must be in even numbers and of good health. If the number of visitors is odd, then there will be spirits or entities that may attach themselves as the visitors leave the villa.

Late at night on the fateful night of 16 November 2013, a group of 23 teenagers decided to be daring and enter the villa. Unexpectedly, their actions into the scary location turned out to be an adventure that shocked the country.
Shortly after the group of teenagers entered the villa, the social media began spreading the story that of 23 alleged teenagers mysteriously missing at Villa Nabila.

The spread of social media news has left many confused and curious about what actually happened to them. Are they lost to another world or are they lost in the villainous response to the mystical villains who inhabit Villa Nabila?
Following on from the social media reports, several journalists tried to track the validity of the allegations. One of the local newspaper journalist managed to find one of the teenager involved in the incident and by account, as it turned out that the story he had to tell was one that is nerve wrecking and shocking.

The story goes that on that fateful night, the group of 23 youth met up to explore the villa. As they entered the villa and began to explore the mansion, they felt cold and very eerie. The place was in total darkness, which made it very difficult to see. So, each of them took out their mobile and began to use the torchlight on their mobile to illuminate their surroundings.

Apparently, they were walking through the mansion quietly and carefully, looking into each area and rooms as they walked pass. As they entered the second floor, one of the teenagers suddenly saw children running in front of her. At the same time, another in the group suddenly screamed and collapsed on the floor and became hysterical. It was at this point, where the group decided that they needed to leave immediate for fear of their own safety.
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They then took the girl to the Ayer Molek Mosque and were fortunate to heal the victim in rituals and rites to exorcise the entity that had attached itself to the girl.

The teenager, however, said he did not think any of the teenagers in the group had disappeared as they had split up in the chaos as they rush the troubled girl to the Mosque. Some went straight home and others left the group.
Meanwhile, police have denied the social media allegations that 23 teenagers have gone missing in the bungalow, but investigations have found that only a 16-year-old boy, Mohamad Izzat Izzudin Hussin, was missing according to reports made by the victim's mother, Norhayati Mohamad.

After a few days of intense manhunt, speculations of the haunting at the villa, and mystery surrounding the missing teenager, finally, on 19 November, after about three days of traumatic events in the country, the mysterious disappearance of the teenager was finally solved. The teenager was found in the Fletcher Pearl Village in Bandar Dato’ Onn di Tebrau instead his parents’ knowledge. Again a version says that he dare not go home pass his curfew, so instead had gone to his girlfriend’s place to stay for a few days.

Another report says that according to Norhayati Mohamad, her son had forgotten the way home. The teenage just roamed about aimlessly and lost and had felt something or someone been leading to a final location. Halfway through his journey, a man offered to help the lost boy by inviting him to his house. Norhayati also mentioned that their family will be taking Mohamad Izzat for some traditional healing.

Although Izzat’s misadventure prove to be not work of the paranormal or supernatural, the house remains an attraction for horror and thrill seekers.

All the mystery and the missing teenagers episode, the house has attracted many attention including two independent filmmakers, Daniel Martin and Rosalli Azrin and it is no surprise that they chose Villa Nabila as the subject of their documentary.

In the documentary, Daniel and Rosalli also interviewed construction workers who were tasked to tear down Villa Nabila. Through the workers, it is learned that they too experienced strange encounters at the empty villa. So much so that the project to tear down the villa was never completed, and it has come to a halt as of the latest report. Perhaps, there was more to the story of Izzat? Was there more to what really happened to Izzat when he entered Villa Nabila?

After the document was made, another film director, Syafiq, decided to use all the information gathered and made an experimental movie about Villa Nabila. The movie was shot on site for 2 weeks. Syafiq didn’t experience any paranormal incidents on location, but he mentioned that some of his cast members crew had reported strange things happening to them.

There were also quite a few car accidents that had been reported to occur close to where the house is, but there are no true evident linking them to the house.

So, is Villa Nabila really hiding a dark secret waiting to be uncovered? Could it be the spirit of “Nabila”, who was rumoured to have been cemented into the wall of the villa, be preventing the demolishment of the villa? Are there still spirits of the rumoured deceased still roaming the land and the villa, unrested or waiting for revenge? More and more questions and mysteries continues to surround the lone, empty villa on the hill.

Would you be brave enough to venture into the night, explore the villa to uncover the truth?
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Photos from : https://uppercruster.wordpress.com/

Horror fans would have most likely watched the movie The Conjuring or at least have heard of it. The movie was based on a true story about the lives of the Perron family who were the occupants of that house from 1970 to 1980. The house is located in the small country town of Harrisville, Rhode Island, USA. Sometimes referred to as the Old Arnold Estate.

The movie may seem largely dramatized with Hollywood effects but according director James Wan, he maintains that the events depicted in the movie actually transpired in real life. The haunting was adapted from the Warren's case files and recordings. Lorraine Warren was consultant to the film claims she didn't let the director take any more dramatic license than was necessary. Ed and Lorraine Warren earned their cred as respected paranormal investigators after their initial investigation of the Amityville hauntings during the 70s.

Fast forward, to current day 2020. The house has new owners -  Cory and Jennifer Heinzen - and according to them,  there are still sinister spirits in their home.

My supernatural encounter started when my son brought back a painting from a play that he had performed in. Cast and crew were allowed to take a piece of the set or a prop from the stage as keepsake. He chose to keep the vintage portrait of a lady. The stage manager bought it from a garage sale from an expat family who were moving back to their home country. The painting, held in place by a simple wooden frame, depicted a Peranakan styled woman staring blankly in front without smiling. The history of the painting and the identity of the woman remained a mystery. Whoever painted it, took effort, you can tell. This wasn't just one of the mass printed art piece. 

According to my son, some crew members reported seeing an old lady wandering the stage during setup when there should be no one, other then the workers, around. Cast members would complain that the air-con was too cold in the room even though the air-con was off. Some said they can see shadows moving from the corner of their eyes or just an overall unnerving feeling of being watched. 

My son didn’t believe in ghosts or other superstitious things. He said that there’s always some ghost stories floating around in theaters and that it was “normal” for people to react in such ways. He himself wasn’t affected by any of these stories, he said.

The first day the painting entered my house, I didn’t like it already. It was almost as if my sixth sense was trying to warn me. My son tried hanging it in his room but for some reason the 3M hook wasn’t strong enough to hold it up. It would fall in the middle of the night. This happened consistently over the next few nights at exactly 4.44 a.m. My son suggested drilling a screw into the wall but since we didn’t own any drill, we just left the painting in the storeroom in the interim until we found a neighbour with a drill we could borrow. As this wasn't a priority, life got on as usual and the painting got left in the storeroom.

Everyday for the next two weeks since the painting arrived, I had nightmares. I dreamt of an angry old lady standing outside my room door trying to get in. She would try the doorknob, and failing to budge, she would then hover towards the storeroom and disappear. The nightmare would replay itself night after night at around the 4 a.m. hour. 

My husband would sometimes sit out in the living room to watch football till late. He would get this sense that someone was standing behind the couch and watching him. It would affect his mood and agitate him. Generally the whole house felt very “hot”. I remember the family arguing a lot during that month but I can’t recall what we argued about. Everyone was just very irritable. 

Being the more superstitious one in the house, I decided to remove the painting from our home and see if it made any difference. I had half a mind to dispose of it but I felt that might just anger my son and bring the already strained relationship to another level. So I found one afternoon when my husband and son was out of the house, I removed  the painting from the frame, rolled it up in newspaper and left it by potted plants outside. Just as I closed the door behind me and had taken a few steps in, I heard knocking on the door. 

I turned around and waited. I didn’t see anyone outside just moments ago, how can there be anyone knocking on my door now? Then the knocks came again. More urgent this time. I looked at the peep hole and saw an old woman outside staring back at me.

I ran to my bedroom and prayed. The knocks came a few more times but eventually just stopped. 

That night my son’s girlfriend came by to stay the night. She does this occasionally so it was nothing out of the ordinary. What was strange though was that she came in with the wrapped painting and said, “I think you left this outside.”

I asked why she brought it in but she just shrugged and said that while she was standing at the door she heard a voice telling her that I had left this wrapped item outside. So instinctively she just picked it up.

That night, I finally broke down and told my husband about the experiences I had. I thought he would debunk whatever I said but instead he listened intently and shared what he had experienced too. It was clear that there was something in the house with us and the painting was the trigger. That night my husband and I took the painting out, drove to a nearby park and left it under the tree. We didn’t know what else to do. We just hoped that we dump it far enough so that it won’t come back to us. We thought about burning it or throwing into the dustbin but I was afraid that that might just anger the spirit and cause it to harm us even more.

Now after all these years when I retell the story, my husband would joke that the knock on the door I heard might actually be a live old lady asking for help or one of the PA community members making their rounds and I just scared myself unnecessarily. I really want to believe that is true but somehow in my mind I still can’t shake out the feeling that what I saw was the spirit of the woman in the painting. These days I still do wonder who might have found the painting and if the new owner is haunted by it.

Confessed by Sally Y

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SC's Note: And that is why you should never pick up things left under trees. It's quite a common reaction for people to buang (throw) cursed items under trees in public area. We are trying to trace the location of the painting now - so if you or anyone you know who is haunted by a vintage painting please reach out to us with your confessions.

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About Painting of Oei Hui Lan (the woman in the cover pic above)
She is the beloved daughter of the famous sugar businessman from Semarang, Oei Tiong Ham whose wealth is well known throughout Asia to Europe. Oei Hui Lan is married to Wellington Koo, one of the Chinese ambassadors and sociable with European noble families ranging from Queen Victoria to Queen Belgium. Oei Hui Lan died in 1992 at the age of 93. Before she died, Oei Hui Lan had written and published a book titled No Feast Last Forever which recounts the journey of her extraordinary life. One of the relics of Oei Hui Lan is this painting which is located in Hotel Tugu, Malang. No one knows who the painter is, but clearly the appearance of Oei Hui Lan in this painting is pretty creepy.