True Army Ghost Stories

Shaking Cupboard

It was deep in the night when Mark awoke in the barracks. His sleep was disturbed by a loud murmur that seemed to be coming from beside him. He opened his eyes slowly and saw nobody around him. He sat up in his bed and realized that the cupboard next to him was shaking violently and seemed to be vibrating as if something or someone was shivering inside. He was curious and at the same time brave. He got out of bed and saw that the door of the cupboard was slightly ajar. Gripping the handle tightly with his sweaty palms, he prayed to God that it was someone playing a prank on him or that a cat or some animal was trapped inside. He jerked the door wide open with a sudden force. Crouched inside the cupboard was a lady dressed in white. And she was staring straight back at him with a steely pair of eyes. Her face and hands were too bony to belong to the living. Her lips were cracked and blood trickled down her chin as she looked icily at Mark. Mark took a step back. Recovering from his initial horror, Mark sprinted to the end of the barracks. He tripped over the doorstep and fell. He was found unconscious the next morning by his platoon mates. Fortunately, he broke only one leg from this otherwise unfortunate encounter.

Standby Cupboard

The following event occurred in Foxtrot Company. At about 3 am at night, Jeff was a awakened by the creaking sound of the rusty cupboard hinge. When he opened his weary eyes, he saw a dark figure with a blur outline opening his platoon mate's cupboard adjacent to his bed. he saw the figure fumble through the things in the closet, closing it a few minutes later. The figure then disappeared into the darkness without uttering a word. Believing that it was just a dream, the recruit went back to sleep. However, the next day, he awoke with a strong impression of what he saw last night. he approached K T Tan, the owner of the cupboard. Tan thought that he was joking as he did not hear anything and was sure that no one could open his cupboard. In addition, his cupboard was locked at all times. To provide his point Tan opened his cupboard. Both of them were shocked to find the contents in the cupboard to be in a complete mess. 'How come? I did not touch my cupboard after arranging it neatly yesterday', he remarked. 'Nobody has the key except me. Furthermore, the Yale lock is strong and cannot be picked easily.' They had no explanations as the lock was in perfect condition. They went to report the matter to the Platoon Sergeant who later told them that there was a recruit who died during training and that it was his cupboard that Tan now has. Perhaps he came back to get his stuff. The Platoon Sergeant advised them to forget the incident.

Rocking Bed

Ivan was fast asleep, tired from a day's training. In his dreams, he could feel himself shaking in a rhythmic to and fro motion. The rocking grew stronger and he awoke to find his utter surprise that the double deck bed was really shaking. He thought that his mate below must be scratching himself. Soon his fatigue overcame him and ignoring the vibrations, Ivan went back to his dreams. To satisfy his curiousity, Ivan asked his partner the next morning, 'Phua, why you keep moving in bed last night, cannot sleep is it?' Phua answered with a quizzical look on his face, 'Well, I thought you were the one who rocked in your sleep!' Both were amazed by the strange incident. The rocking motion continued for the next days. Strangely, it seemed to die down when they were awake, and resumed with full ferocity the moment they shut their eyes. As they were greatly perturbed and suffered countless sleepless nights, they thought that it was best to report the matter to the platoon officer. The platoon officer could not offer much help other than advise them to shift their mattresses and sleep on the floor if the rocking persisted. The occupants a few beds away encountered similar problems and shifted their mattresses onto the floor. The strange shaking spread like wildfire to every bed in the room, and soon enough, by the end of the BMT, the entire platoon had adjourned to the cold, hard, stone floor.

Moving Beds

Sasi was the first one back from the weekend break and he took a rest on his bed as he was an hour early. While flipping through his copy of Newsweek, he heard a rattling sound. Immediately, after that his bed started to shake, moving extremely violently. Out of sheer horror and fear, Sasi jumped out of his bed and as soon as he did, everything was back to normal. Wondering if it was just his imagination, he sat down carefully on the edge of the bed. The shaking motion began again as soon as he touched the mattress. Frightened, he ran to get his officer in charge. After having a tough time trying to convince his officer that it was not a hoax, they returned to the room. As they walked to the room, Sasi noticed something strange. All the beds seemed to be lined closer together. Looking more carefully, he noticed that all of them had moved a few inches closer to the centre of the room. The officer looked surprise and as if he knew what had happened. However, he decided to keep the matter to himself and advised Sasi not to utter a word about what happened when the rest of the platoon returns.

Coconut Tree Stabbings

Hasnim, Ben and Weichen were great secondary school friends. They were also lucky enough to be in the same camp during their BMT stint in the Army. Often they would meet at night while on their patrols and stop to chat and puff a few cigarettes. One night, Ben suggested that they meet at the bench in the old kampong houses at the foot of the slope. They met as scheduled and started talking and about their camp life. They only had an hour before reporting back in order to avoid being caught by the officers. Before the hour was up, they were overcome with a strange sense of drowsiness. Within minutes, they were all sound asleep. In the middle of his sleep, Hasnim felt a presence on his left. Slowly he turned his head and shifted his eyes to the spot. A young lady dressed in white with long, flowing hair was sitting at the far end of the bench. Her unmoving, cold eyes were focused on Hasnim. She appeared to be unreal to him and he wondered if she was just part of his dream. Instinctively, he nudged Weichen, but there was no response. He decided a sharp elbow jab to the ribs might do the trick. Weichen woke up with a start. 'Look to your left,' Hasnim whispered. Weichen swiveled his neck and peek over his shoulder. Hasnim could see the look of horror in his eyes confirming that she was not a dream. In the same fashion, Ben was awoken. Still in a state of semi consciousness, they did not know what to do. The three men simply froze on the bench. Slowly, their weariness took over and they fell back to sleep. 'Hey! What are you doing there?' shouted the furious corporal across the field. The trio awoke abruptly to find the bright sunlight shining on their faces. They had slept the entire night away and did not report back to the sentry posts. As they looked around, the surroundings seemed to have changed. They were facing a row of trees. Across the field where the corporal was standing, shouting at them was the kampong house. 'Why did you people move the bench across the field?' barked the corporal. After a stern scolding they were awarded detention by the officer in charge when they reported back to camp that day. Later, a Muslim trainee told them that a few years ago, a Malay lady who lived in the kampong house hung herself on the coconut tree after her husband left her. A few days after her death, her husband was found stabbed to death near the same coconut tree. Everybody believed it was her spirit that haunted the tree and will take her revenge on unfaithful men.

Head In Toilets

Two recruits sought permission to relieve themselves while on a rad march in Pulau Tekong. The warrant officer pointed to an old hut some distance away and said, 'Hurry! I give you only five minutes.' The pair walked hastily away. Barely a minute passed, when the two recruits sprinted back to the main group with horrified looks on their faces. 'Head... eating shit in the toilet.' They had seen a bodiless human head munching on human excrement from a bucket. When they entered, it dived into the bucket and disappeared. The officers with a few recruits went back to check and there was a bucket of excrement with some of it spilling on the ground. Though they saw no head, the expression on the men's faces were genuine, and they even wet in their pant. Since then, the platoon started to dig their own holes during field training to relieve themselves.

Japanese From Well

Somewhere not from Jaguar camp in Pulau Tekong, there is an old unused well. During one of the recent storms, a banana tree fell into it with part of its trunk sticking out. Two friends, Peter and Ahmad, used to meet there during their free time. One day while Peter was on his way to meet his friend, he saw a person standing, facing the well. As Peter approached the figure, it turned out to be Ahmad. His eyes were dead fixed on the well and the banana tree trunk. He seemed to be frozen solid, not a single muscle twitched as Peter tried to shake him out of his stupor. After much shaking and calling, Ahmad woke up from his stunned state and started talking gibberish. Peter tried to calmed him down and was able to do so only after slapping him a few times. 'I saw a Japanese soldier coming out from the well. It was staring at me and I dared not move. He then slowly climbed out and disappeared right before my eyes.' Both of them never dared to venture near the well since then.

A Brand New World

Sometimes, while a person in consciously awake, he can feel a strange force pressing down on him, which seems to immobilize his every muscle. Doctors say its just the awakening of the conscious alone while the motor system is still in a state of sleep that causes this sensation. Some Chinese believe that it is a seven legged spider lying on top of the victim. but a former guardsman had his own unique experience and explanation. Besides feeling immobilized, he seemed to have entered into another dimension. Furthermore, it occurred  everyday for two weeks during his stay in camp. These experiences would always begins with a ringing sound in his ears and he would enter into a new world. In the new world, he could see the room around him although his eyes were shut. Strange people walk past his bed and odd creatures float in the air. It feels real except that his body could not move. Everything appeared to be so lifelike. The only way to wake up is to first start wriggling his fingers and then to slowly start moving the rest of his body. Each encounter seemed so scary as if there was no certainty in him awaking. Sometimes he would feel so pressurized that he had problem just breathing to stay alive.

No Pork

Camp three at Tekong is situated right next to the Malay Cemetery. Out of respect for the Muslims, no pork is allowed inside the barracks. Sometimes, at night, recruits would see an old Malay man sweeping the old parade ground. Occasionally, he would stop, look up, and wave to them. When they try to find out his identity from the Malay villagers, they would find out that he had died a few years ago. One day, back from duties early, two trainees brought Wanton Mee from the canteen to the barracks to eat. That night, one of them heard someone mumbling. As he looked up, all the people seemed to be asleep and the noise appeared to be coming from nowhere. Throughout the night, his sleep was constantly disrupted by the mysterious voice. The next morning, he asked his mate who also ate the dumpling noodles last night about the voice. To his surprise, his friend also heard it and the nature of his experience was similar. The rest of the people were questioned, but none of them heard anything. What was even stranger was that the pair was sleeping on different ends of the barracks, separated by at least a dozen beds. Later, they realized that the dumpling that they consumed yesterday, contained pork and also realized why they banned it here in this camp!

Pull Ups

Due to some medical reasons three recruits stayed back in their Seletar barracks while the rest in the block were training in Tekong. After carrying out some chores, they all moved to sleep in the same room. In the middle of the night, they could hear sounds from the pull up bars, as if somebody was training. But it was impossible as they were the only people left. Curiously, the trio went to the corridor and looked across the parade square. Indeed, there were two recruits doing pull ups at astonishing speeds without much effort. Behind them was a sergeant standing with arms akimbo. However, something sent all three recruits screaming in fright. The people at the pull up bar were headless.

Resident Ghost

It was Friday evening, Chee Hong was one of the last to leave the block for the weekend break. As he was passing by one of the rooms, he heard sounds of muffled sobbing. Looking closer, he saw a well built recruit with a surprisingly fair skinned complexion sitting on the bed. Out of concern, Chee Hong approached him to comfort him thinking that he had been detained for some extra duties. However, the person did not respond and continued weeping with his hands covering his face. Feeling helpless as there was nothing that he could do, Chee Hong patted the recruits shoulder and left the room. On his way to the bus stop, Chee Hong met his primary school friend Robin who happened to be in the room he was in just now. Robin answered, 'No, nobody from my platoon was detained this time. You must be mistaken. Furthermore, the bed that you described has been empty since the occupant died in a firing accident last month.'

Lady At Jetty

The dark waters crashed upon the shores at the Tekong Jetty as the sea breeze cooled the two sentries who were performing guard duty. One of them noticed a young lady in white with long hair sitting on one of the poles. Curious he signaled to the other sentry and both of them headed towards her. As they approached her, they could hear her weeping silently. The two sentries immediately presumed that she was about to end her life by jumping off. One of them started to persuade her to come down from the pole before she falls off and injures herself. However, even after much persuasion, they could not get her to come down. She continued sobbing incessantly. One of the sentries ran to get the duty officer and both rushed immediately to the scene. The officer spoke sternly, 'Miss, if you do not get down, we have to use force.' He was serious as he did not want anything to happen while he was on duty. Still there was no reply. He reached out his hands to get a hold of her around her waist to pull her down. Suddenly, the lady turned away quickly before she could be touched and delivered a forceful slap on the officer's face. The officer fell to the floor unconscious. The two sentries gathered round the sergeant. When they looked up again, the lady had disappeared mysteriously. They saw that the sergeant had five deep gashes on his face, a warning to them to leave the Tekong spirits alone.

The Woman By The Sea

One night, two patrolling sentries at Pulau Tekong decided to take a rest. They sat on the steps of the stairs facing the sea. One of them took out his cigarettes and both started smoking. While laughing over some dirty jokes that they exchanged between them, one soldier gestured to the other to quiet down. At this instance, both could hear soft but shrill singing which seemed to be coming from the direction of the sea. It could not be the wind as the midnight air was still. They looked to their left. About hundred yards away, sitting atop one of the large boulders was a lady with long, shiny black hair, dressed completely in white. The outline of her body seemed vague and blur in contrast to the sharp and jagged outline of the rocks basked in the moonlight. Slowly and deliberately, as if she knew that they were watching her, she turned her head to face them. Both of the guards were already scared out f their wits as they knew what she was. They had no intention to get involved with the supernatural. Noticing the movement of the head, they picked up their rifles and bolted back to their posts, never daring to venture anywhere close to the vicinity again.

Sirens

Nazli is a gunner on board one of the coastal patrol crafts. One night when he was walking on the deck towards the stern, he could hear faint sounds of people screaming for help and shrieks of pain amidst the gentle splash of the wave against the hull of the ship. Listening carefully, the sounds seemed to originate from the sea. As there were no boats nearby, and the shoreline was near the horizon, he could only conclude that they came from the vast body of water around the ship. During dinner time, when he brought up the strange incident, one of the more experienced crew members offered his explanation. During the Japanese Occupation, able bodied young men were massacred along the Changi shoreline. At this moment, the navigator recalled his grandfather telling him that on a certain day, an extraordinary number of people were gunned down by the Japanese. 'I think it was... oh yes! 14th October 1942.' As the crew turned the calendar next to the clock, it showed the exact same date!

Mysterious Shouting

Returning from an afternoon of jungle craft exercise, the entire platoon dragged themselves back to camp with their last bit of strength. As they were about two kilometres away from camp, they heard another platoon making their way through the jungle in the same direction as them, presumably another platoon returning to camp. The other platoon noticed them and shouted greetings. They replied with some vulgar remarks in jest. The both teams started the exchange of rude calls which filled the jungle. After ten minutes, the other platoon seemed to have slowed down and their replies became softer and slowly, there was silence. When the platoon reached camp, they discovered that all the other five platoons had arrived before them. There was no camp within a five kilometre radius from that camp and no other platoon training in that area.

Grave Mistake

Ah Seng was not much of a soldier. He was ill disciplined, and constantly brought trouble to his platoon. As he was a former gang leader, everyone feared him and let him have his way. One night, After the river crossing training, Ah Seng was on his way back to camp with his platoon. Half way, he bent over, remove his soggy, smelly socks and threw them in a careless fling into some nearby bushes. Later he put on his shoes and followed his platoon. After a supper of biscuit and tea, Ah Seng started behaving in an unruly manner. His condition deteriorated after sometime. His body shook with violent convulsions and he even foamed at the mouth. His eyeballs were rolled up and his pupils hid under his eyelids. When the commanding officer arrived, Ah Seng started to speak Cantonese even though he did not know the language. 'Remove the socks tonight or you will die a violent death.' His speech was jerky and his voice was in a harsh tone different from his normal voice. His platoon mates confirmed what he did earlier. The order was given. Almost the whole camp went out to look for the socks that Ah Seng threw. The torches lit the jungle as if a bazaar of elves and fairies was going on. After about an hour of tedious searching, nothing was found and Ah Seng's condition worsened. Just as strangely as it started, Ah Seng calmed down and fainted from the seizure. Five minutes later, someone ran in shouting, 'We've found the socks.' It appeared that Ah Seng was cured the moment the grave was cleared of his socks.

Night Stroller

Soon Hock shared a room with his buddy, David, on the third storey of Alpha Block. Every night, they ensure that the doors are shut tight and the windows locked before they sleep. One particular night, they did the same, but things were not quite normal. Soon Hock could feel the presence of someone in their room. The person was pacing up and down the small room, making a turn after every four steps, almost mechanically. As it moved alongside the bed, he could hear the sound of heavy breathing, coupled with an occasional sigh. It could not be David as he just felt him turning in the bed below. Upon this realization, he simply froze. Thump... thump... thump... The footsteps seemed endless. There was nothing he could do except shut his eyes and pray for daylight. The next morning, David also recalled the same incident. From his position below, he could view the entire room clearly, but could see nothing at all. Without uttering a word to each other about the incident, both knew that they had encountered the unnatural. They begged the officers to transfer them to another room that very afternoon.

Extra Track

Kok How followed the narrow jungle track flanked by thick undergrowth. Following him a couple of meters away was his platoon. He was supposed to meet another platoon before launching a mock attack on the enemy camp. It was already an hour passed and they reached the starting point of the other platoon. With the help of a signaler, they contacted the other platoon. They have reached the starting point too. Checking the map once more, they discovered that there was only one track through that part of the jungle. Kok How remembered coming to a junction and he took the track on the left. Retracing their route, the platoon managed to meet. However, nobody saw the other junction or the other route.

Trapped In Time

John was making his way out of the dark and dense jungle after a mock attack exercise to regroup with the rest of the platoon. He judged by his own timing that he was on schedule and will reach the meeting point on time. That part of the forest was familiar to him as many practices were held in that area. However, this time he seemed to have lost his way among the giant trees. As he turned around, the same sight appeared in front of his eyes. The same branch, shrub, log could be seen in all directions. He panicked as he did not know which way to go. John froze. Not a sound was heard in the forest, no crickets chirps, no birds sang, not even the rustling of leaves. Everything was in a standstill during that moment in time. The fear of being trapped and lost in this ghostly forest soon got on his nerves. He wanted to scream and break the spell but could not find his voice in the overwhelming silence. Then he heard it. Someone was shouting his name, someone close nearby. The voice sounded familiar. Miraculously , it broke the unearthly silence and he could get this senses back on track again. Quickly he made his way to the meeting point. John thought that he was late and apologized profusely to the officer, explaining that he was lost a while ago. 'John, where have you been?' the concerned officer asked. 'Do you know that we have been looking for you for the past three hours?' Only then did John realize how long the forest had held him captive.

Wail Of The Wild

Alex put on his slippers and dragged his feet to the toilet with a towel wrapped around his back, soap and facial cleanser in his hands. It was close to midnight and some of the people in his room were already fast asleep. As a person who kept a strict sense of hygiene, Alex decided to take a bath before sleeping. He left his stuff at the basin and went to relieve himself at the urinal. While he was doing so, he could hear a soft wailing from the last cubicle. It sounded like a child's cry but the icy and cold sobbing made his hair stand on ends. Slowly and with utmost caution, Alex turned his head around towards the source. However, all the doors of the cubicles were open and all of them were empty. Utterly shocked, he pulled up his briefs dashed back to the room. Hearing the hasty shuffling of slippers, all the people who were awake gathered around him to find out what was wrong. Calming down from his state of panic. Alex told his tale. The whole troop marched into the toilet. At this time, they could only feel the eerie silence, no wailing whatsoever was heard. After checking all the corners and cubicles, they could not find anything strange. 'Oi! Don't play a prank on us lah!' one of Alex's platoon mate said. Alex knew that he could not prove what he said, he grabbed his things and returned to sleep with the rest of his mates. He would rather not to be caught naked in a bath by whatever that thing was. He could still hear the wailing sound ringing in his ears. The next day, during lunch, he was seated next to a guy who told him about the wailing sound he had heard from the toilet. The very same sort of wailing which Alex heard. It seemed that this recruit's bed was on the other side of the wall, right next to the cubicle that wailed at night.

War Relics

Hock Jim belonged to the 4th platoon of Bravo Company who were camping on a slope near a forest in Pulau Tekong. After lights out at 11.30 pm, he left the two men bash to relieve himself at the lallang grass a couple of feet away. As he was buttoning up, Hock Jim heard a distant marching sound coming from a worn out road to his left. Initially, he thought it was an over zealous officer leading a route march. After listening carefully to the approaching noise, he could catch a few lines of the song that they were singing. It had a distinct marching tempo, but strangely, the language sounded foreign. At this time, Hock Jim strained his eyes to catch a glimpse of the platoon as they marched past the campsite. He was caught off guard by what he saw. All the soldiers sported long and untidy shoulder length hair. Their uniform was unique colour - Temasek Green. In the darkness, their boots were barely visible but they seemed to be floating over the ground. They certainly looked like... Japanese Soldiers! When Hock Jim recovered from his shock, he dashed back into his bash. His partner was fast asleep, so he just closed his eyelids tight as the marching sound died down in the distant, leaving a live witness to an unearthly march.

Brutal Attack

Twenty four' the last recruit in the platoon numbered off. 'Where is twenty five?' the warrant officer thundered in a harsh and serious tone. Everyone in the platoon looked at each other, but no answer was heard. The roll call was repeated but the result was no different. Temporarily abandoning the mission, the platoon retraced its route in the dense foliage to search for the last recruit. Soon they were back at the starting point with still no sign of him anywhere. The officers in the surrounding barracks gathered for a short meeting. later, the entire camp split into small search parties to look for the missing recruit. It was already 4 am, three hours since the missing person was reported, but still there was no progress. In an hour's time everybody returned to camp to get some shut eye. That night, the warrant officer dreamt about a certain part of the forest near the camp. The same image kept recurring throughout his dream. The next morning, he led a few officers to the spot which he dreamt of the night before. A horrendous sight prompted them to look away in total disgust. A corpse was lying next to a rotting log. Its abdomen was brutally ripped apart, revealing the grotesque, bloody organs. It seemed that the body was mauled by some unknown beast. The fingerprints and identification tag on his body confirmed that it was the missing person. To this day, his death still remains a mystery.

The Third Door

The infamous Charlie Company of Pulau Tekong is regarded as one of the most haunted barracks. The most striking feature is that, besides the two doors both ends of the quarters, there is an extra doorway somehow in the middle which serves no particular purpose. A platoon from Charlie Company was on a routine night training. When a roll call was conducted a recruit was found missing. The officer in charge called off the exercise and the platoon mounted a tedious search combing the area around their route from camp. After three hours, somebody found the missing person, or at least what remained of him. The trainee's uniform was neatly folded, topped with his helmet and his boots and rifle were lying beside him. One of the platoon members recalled the missing recruit heard some noise and departed from the original path to investigate. Though nobody said anything, they knew that he must have been taken away by some unnatural force or being. Since then, strange wailing could be heard from the barracks whenever it was empty. Belongings began to disappear and reappear at strange places. Beds rocked mysteriously. As there were no life threatening incidents, the events were left attended least the spirit should be angered. Nobody wanted to even talk about it, that was until the next batch of recruits came in. The unfortunate recruit to sleep on the bed of the missing trainee went berserk the very next morning and took his life a few days later. It seemed that the original occupant died tragically and could not rest in peace. A Taoist priest was summoned after the trainee's death. He explained that the spirit of the missing recruit felt trapped and he was the cause of all the mischief. In order to pacify the spirit, a door should be built to allow it to move freely in and out of the barracks. From the day the third door was in place, the strange happenings died down and things were back to normal. However, the occasional shriek and marching from the parade square could still be heard at odd hours in the deep of the night.