The Dancing Leaf Phenomenon at Labrador Park

Confession by Lawrence Akm

This incident took place in 2020.

My cousin, his friend and I went for a run at Mount Faber around 9pm. We drove up to the summit to park our car and started our run from there, down Mount Faber Park and towards Labrador Park. After we ended our run, we took a short break before making our way back towards Fort Canning. This was when things started getting strange.
It was a direct route but for some reason, we couldn’t find our way back. We used a map app and it led us on a roundabout and we kept coming back to the same spot. Eventually we decided to ditch the walking path and take the road instead. If cars can come in and out via the road, that would be our best bet to find a way out of the park. So we took a narrow one lane road up the hill. 

There were some buildings there which looked like a chalet or some sort. It was already dark and the orange glow from the old lamps along the pavement did not help much. We checked the time, it was only 10.30pm; too early in the night for us to be spooked out but for some reason we were all feeling a bit uneasy at that time.

As we were making our way up the hill. I turned back to look for any cars behind. That was when I spotted a leaf on a banana tree shaking violently; it was not only shaking, it was twisting! It was almost as if an external force was playing with the leaf. If it was the wind, I thought to myself, then the other leaves should be moving too but in this case, I double checked, it was only that one single leaf moving and twisting. Mind you, I wanted so much to believe that it was the wind but it was a warm and windless night. This does not look at all right to me.

I quickly turned back and told my cousin and his friend about the strange leaf. His friend immediately asked me to be quiet and keep walking.

I quickly turned back and told my cousin and his friend about the strange leaf. His friend immediately asked me to be quiet and keep walking.

There was something ominous about the way he hushed us up that no one wanted to ask anything and we all just kept walking. 

We eventually came to a spot with no street lights but the road led on into the darkness. We decided that perhaps this was not going to lead us back to our car and turned back to find a different route up. As we were making our way back out of the narrow road, I turned back to look at the banana leaf one more time. It had stopped moving. 

When we finally reached the mainroad and found civilisation again, we started to exchange notes about our individual observations. My cousin told me that if I see these things - things that cannot be explained - I should be quiet and not say anything about it, because as soon as “they” know that we have noticed their presence, they will continue disturbing us. 

Until today, I could not find a scientific explanation for what we encountered. Maybe it was an insect or a squirrel, I keep telling myself, but deep down inside I know what it was that I saw that night - It must be the hantu.