Villa Nabila (Johor Bahru) Haunted Tales

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/