Infamous Malaysian urban legends
IF you're Malaysian, you have probably heard one or a variety of these famous paranormal urban legends, told during a night out with friends, during lonely night shifts, a road trip with cousins, or dinner with colleagues.
In fact in writing the story, I had a lively discussion with my colleagues on which stories would make the list. And which stories we have all heard collectively at one time or the other during different parts of our lives.
Many urban legends warn of horrific crimes, contaminated foods, supernatural phenomena or other situations that would affect society.
Ironically, despite the pride we take in the enlightenment of the modern world, there seems to be a primal fear in us that continues to drive us to share these cautionary tales. Perhaps the human psyche that is so firmly rooted in the sensational, the grotesque and the supernatural can never be erased.
But my guess is, urban legends are popular simply because they strike that perfect balance of the shocking, the sensational and the unverified – the exact ingredients of gossip.
Malaysia has its fair share of urban legends. But some are definitely scarier than your run-of-the-mill crime or computer virus alerts. Here are some of Malaysia’s eerie urban legends.
1. THE YELLOW VOLKSWAGEN OF KARAK HIGHWAY
The Karak Highway has a very ominous reputation among Malaysians and is widely regarded to be extremely haunted. This is perhaps due to its reputation for having the highest accident rate in the country.
This route that connects Kuala Lumpur with the East Coast has appeared in countless stories of ghosts causing accidents or accident-creating entities, but one legend that keeps coming up in conversations till this very day are the reported sightings of a mysterious yellow Volkswagen driving along the highway.
You can only see this Volkswagen at night, and if you do see it – be extra careful, as legend goes you might get into an accident.
The story always starts like this with a similar warning from all those who tell it, if you encounter this yellow Volkswagen, in the pitch darkness and lonely drive along the highway do not overtake it.
The car will would be moving very slowly, forcing you to overtake it. Once you have overtaken it, you will notice that a short while later, your headlights will show that you are approaching a yellow Volkswagen that is being driven very slowly again! There are also warnings of never looking over as you would see that there is actually nobody in the driver’s seat! Most motorists are warned to not overtake the car or it will keep appearing in front of you. Sometimes, it would speed up and disappear into the darkness.
2. EERIE MIDNIGHT CALL TO RADIO DJ
Not sure if you have ever heard this story if you're from the Gen Z era, but somewhere in the 90's, a well-known Malaysian radio DJ had a late night show in where listeners could call in to share their paranormal stories live. The segment was very popular at the time. One night, the DJ received a call from a listener who wanted to share a story about an accident.
He related to the DJ that he was was driving along a highway late one night with his parents, his wife, and their little baby. They were all asleep, and he himself was feeling very sleepy in the quietness. He was then jolted from his sleepiness when he saw a large lorry with only one light coming from the opposite direction.
The lorry flashed by his car, its slipstream rocking his vehicle. He was shaken because the lorry was driving against traffic on his side of the highway! Before he had time to collect his thoughts, the lorry appeared in front of him again. He was blinded This happened several times before the lorry stopped appearing in front of him. Suddenly, he was blinded by a single headlight reflected in his rearview mirror. The caller said he was terrified and began to panic. He sped up and tried to get away from the lorry.
As he drove over the crest of a hill, he suddenly saw a single headlight heading towards him. He swerved violently to avoid it but lost control of the car, crashing through the highway barrier and into a deep gulley.
After relating the story, the caller said that he was very depressed because his parents, wife and baby were all killed in the accident. In a sad voice, the caller said that he, too, lost his life in the accident. Then he hung up.
The DJ thought he had been pranked on live radio and laughed it off before carrying on with the show. However, the next day’s newspaper carried the story of an accident that happened along the highway described by the previous night’s caller. A car had crashed into a gulley the previous night, killing an elderly couple, a husband and wife and their baby. Shocked, the radio DJ rushed back to the office to listen to the recording of the previous night’s mystery caller but there was only silence on the tape!
3. THE MYSTERIOUS TAXI PASSENGER
This story of a cab driver working the night shift has many versions, but the most common one is this. A taxi driver was on his way home calmly driving through almost deserted city streets at midnight. Suddenly, he noticed a lovely young lady standing at the intersection of two traffic lights. She wore a flowing white gown and had long black hair.
He then pulled over to ask the girl if she needed a ride, the lady turned towards him and went inside the cab without saying a word. The taxi driver is greeted with a strong aroma of jasmine blossoms as soon as she entered the cab. The girl simply handed him a sheet of paper when he inquired where she wanted to be dropped off.
The taxi driver was not familiar with the location and asked the girl if she could help direct him. She nodded silently. However, the young lady did not say a single word throughout the ride, only nodding her head to indicate when the taxi driver had taken the correct course.
At last, they found the road, which was situated well away from the city center. It was narrow – just enough for one car to pass – and dark, as there were no working streetlights. It was now almost midnight and a light mist had formed, making it difficult to see along the road. As the taxi driver inched forward carefully, he tried to make out the addresses of the houses on his left and right. To his growing horror, there were no houses in sight – just endless rows of grave stones! He broke out in a cold sweat and the back of his neck prickled. Not daring to look into his rearview mirror now, he nervously asked the young lady if this was really where she wanted to go. There was no answer from the back seat. As he slowly guided his cab through the darkness, he desperately hoped that there was a house somewhere ahead where the girl lived.
At last, he felt a light tap on his shoulder. He dared not turn around but simply stopped the car. He heard the rustle of money and felt the girl hand him the cash. He took the money in his shaking hand and stuck it in the ashtray compartment without counting it. He heard the rear door open and close. Then he sped off down the dark, winding road and headed straight home without a glance behind.
The next morning, curiosity got the better of him and he returned to the place where he had dropped the young lady. It was indeed a vast cemetery, sliced through by the narrow road he had driven along the night before. He found the lot number that the girl had given him. Chills seeped into his bones when he saw the woman’s picture staring back at him from a fresh gravestone. As he got back into the cab, he remembered the money in the ashtray. To his horror, it was all Chinese hell notes! He threw it out of the cab and sped away.
Later, he found out that a girl had died the week before in a horrible accident at the very junction he had picked her up from. It was a hit-and-run, and it happened at around midnight. The driver was never caught.
4. JANET'S GHOST
Janet was a young Chinese nurse who worked in a hospital. She was kidnapped on her way back after her night shift. It is believed that her disappearance is linked to the construction of the bridge pillars structure. Rumours have it that the construction was interrupted by the disturbance of spirits. During that time, there was an increased number of females who had mysteriously gone missing in Kuching.
Many believed that the victims were kidnapped for some ritual sacrifice to avoid any disturbance of spirits during building construction. The victim’s head was beheaded and embedded in the bridge's pillars to build a stronger foundation structure. Such ritual was illicit in Sarawak since the colonialism of Rajah Charles Brooke in 1940 but people still strongly cling to such beliefs back then.
Ill-fated Janet’s headless body was found at a construction site. Janet’s parents grieved over her gruesome death and wanted their daughter to be dressed in a red dress and red shoes for burial so that her spirit would return for vengeance. There were encounters of a mysterious lady in red hitch a ride with motorcyclists near the bridge's construction site. She then vanished and left with the smell of decaying flesh in the back seat of their motorcycle.
She was also seen on the rides across the Sarawak River, and the money that she paid for the fare would turn into hell money or leaves. Terrified by the incident, the ferry operators decided to end the operation at 10pm. There are even stories where she wandered around holding a red umbrella at Kampung Kudei and Kampung Bintangor.
