Dark tourism: A chance to encounter ‘Mr Gopal’ in Kellie's Castle

BATU GAJAH - The aura of mystery surrounding the century-old Kellie's Castle is heightened by countless stories of paranormal entities supposedly ‘inhabiting’ the mansion.

It is said that one such ‘resident ghost’ is that of a certain ‘Mr Gopal’, a washerman from South India who was disappointed his employer did not send him back to his homeland as promised.

According to Kellie’s Castle Tourist Complex managing director Zamari Muhyi - who has personally not experienced any paranormal incident in the mansion - ‘Mr Gopal’, apparently, had worked in the laundry area of the mansion and was disheartened when his employer and Kellie’s Castle owner William Kellie Smith broke his promise to send him back to India where his wife was awaiting his return.

Zamari said this information came to light during a programme to unravel the mystery of Kellie’s Castle organised by its management in 2015.

"What happened was one of the participants (of the programme) suddenly found himself temporarily possessed by what seemed to be a spirit... I was also present when this particular participant suddenly spoke in English and introduced himself as ‘Mr Gopal’ and told us ‘his’ story,” he said.

Although the truth of this story and the existence of ‘Mr Gopal’ cannot be verified, the old uncompleted mansion’s environment alone is enough to send shivers down the spine of faint-hearted visitors.

The construction of Kellie’s Castle, also known as Kellas House, started in 1915, initiated by its owner (William Kellie Smith), a civil engineer from Scotland who came to Malaya to venture into the rubber planting and tin-mining industries.

However, Smith died of pneumonia in 1926. At that time, the construction of the mansion had only reached 70 percent completion.

Following his demise, the construction work was suspended and the property was eventually sold to a British company Harrisons and Crosfield. It was subsequently abandoned and years later, it became a historical site.

DARK TOURISM POTENTIAL

The spooky atmosphere of Kellie’s Castle - sprawled over a 2.8-hectare (seven-acre) site - combined with the eerie sightings and paranormal encounters reported by visitors, make it an ideal destination for dark tourism, a tourism subsector that is gaining increasing attention globally and is expected to continue growing over the next 10 years.

According to projections by Future Market Insights, the global dark tourism market is expected to be valued at US$31.89 billion (RM148.68 billion) by the end of this year.

It also forecasts the market will swell to US$40.82 billion (RM190.32 billion) by 2034.

Zamari, who is also Perak Bumiputera Tourism Operators Association president, recognises Kellie’s Castle’s potential for dark tourism-themed activities, stressing the subsector has the potential to invigorate the nation’s tourism industry.

He said dark tourism is a unique attraction for tourists, adding that although it has already been introduced in this country, it has however not been widely developed by the tourism industry due to certain constraints involving society and the beliefs of local communities.

"When I took over the management of Kellie's Castle in 2013, we thought about what actions or steps could be taken to elevate this location as a tourist attraction because at first glance, there was nothing much there except an old building.

"I then considered what strengths Kellie's Castle had that could be marketed for tourism purposes. If I focused on its history, not many people would be interested. In terms of the building itself, it mostly appeals to photography and architecture enthusiasts. Ultimately, the idea of dark tourism emerged,” he said.

However, he added, promoting a certain building or place as a dark tourism site is not easy. He believed that in order to offer an authentic paranormal experience at a dark tourism site, supernatural entities must truly exist and originate from the location concerned, not summoned or artificially created.

NIGHT TOURS

Hence, to market Kellie’s Castle as a dark tourism destination, the management had to confirm the "existence” of paranormal elements.

With this in mind, Zamari collaborated with a local media outlet in 2015 and "we successfully detected and documented the presence of an entity (inside Kellie’s Castle), supported by a video recording”.

Following this, the management introduced night-time tours of the property on Fridays and Saturdays in the month of October every year.

"What we do during the tour (from 8 pm to 11.30 pm) is bring visitors in groups of eight to 16 and guide them through the castle while providing some explanations.

"Then, we leave two people at each specific location such as the wine cellar, laundry room, bedrooms and other areas without flashlights for 10 to 15 minutes,” he said, adding some of the participants reported being "disturbed’ by mysterious touches, embraces, whispers in their ears and sudden gusts of wind.

Zamari stressed he is not in the business of "selling ghosts” but rather offering visitors a unique experience of visiting a site associated with paranormal activity.

He added that efforts to market Kellie’s Castle as a dark tourism product are being made to further boost the number of visitors to the mansion.

TOURIST ATTRACTION

Zamari, meanwhile, said the tales of paranormal activities at Kellie’s Castle have even impressed the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), which also acknowledged the building's easy accessibility and the thrilling yet safe ghost-hunting tours offered by its management.

He said in 2020, PATA - which has its headquarters in Bangkok, Thailand - invited them to share their dark tourism experience involving Kellie’s Castle through a virtual meeting attended by 400 delegates.

"All of them were very excited to hear our stories and experiences in managing dark tourism. They asked many questions and expressed a strong interest in participating in such dark tourism explorations themselves,” he said.

Tourism Malaysia has listed Kellie’s Castle as one of the country’s top two horror tourism destinations, alongside the Penang War Museum.

Kellie’s Castle manager Hakim Muhaimin said the property is categorised as one of the five most haunted locations in Malaysia by international paranormal researchers and United States-based tourism portals.

He also said the night tours of the mansion were discontinued during and following the COVID-19 pandemic and plans are afoot to reintroduce them soon.

"But this time, we plan to offer two types of dark tourism activities - night tours and sleeping in the castle.

"For the sleepover in the castle, we will provide the participants with sleeping bags and other equipment,” he added.

He said dark tourism involving Kellie’s Castle has the potential to succeed due to the high demand for it particularly the 'Sleeping in the Castle' activity for which "we have already received inquiries from Singaporeans”.

He also hoped the authorities would increase the number of dark tourism locations in the country to support the growth of the tourism industry and suggested that this subsector be widely promoted during Visit Malaysia Year 2025.

According to the 2023 Tourism Malaysia Report, the country earned over RM71.3 billion from the arrival of 20.14 million tourists last year, while Vietnam's media organisation Vnexpress International ranked Malaysia as the most-visited country in Southeast Asia in 2023. - BERNAMA