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Some of the schools in KL are the oldest in the country. For example, Victoria Institution was founded in 1893, Methodist Boys School in 1897, Convent Bukit Nanas was established in 1899 and St. John’s Institution in 1904.
All of these schools have been around for longer than our country gained independence, having been established by missionaries during British rule.
Naturally, stories abound that these schools are a haunting ground.
Many of these rumours and tales stem from the Japanese occupation of the country. Known to be even more brutal than the English, the Japanese killed Malayan and Singaporean Chinese in an event known as the Sook Ching massacres.
The Japanese often utilised structures already present in the country, such as schools, for their military and interrogation operations.
We interviewed former students from all four schools to hear about the stories the students tell each other about their school.
1. Victoria Institution
Adam was a VI student.
“As everyone knows,” he said, “the school was used as a military base during the Japanese Occupation.”
Rumours amongst the students stated that if you were there at night or early in the morning you might witness the sight of Japanese soldiers marching, or the headless victims of Japanese beheadings.
Adam added that some students have said that they have seen a figure on the school’s clock tower.
There are claims that cases of student possession at VI are unmatched.
Adam shared a personal story of possession that he witnessed. It happened to a friend of his on the school grounds.
“One night in 2007, during band camp, my friend got possessed,” he told me. “We all tried to catch him, but he was super fast and strong.”
“It took a lot of us to hold him down.”
The friend eventually regained control of his own body, with the help of an Ustaz. However, the other guys had to hold him down the entire time due to his increased strength.
VI is known to be the oldest English school in Malaysia, and its students believe that the weight of its history is what causes its hauntings.
2. St. John’s Institution
An older man in his 60s now, Michael had studied at SJI throughout the late 1960s to 70s.
He said that even then there were tales of hauntings.
SJI was once used as a Japanese military base, becoming the site of interrogation and torture. General Tomoyuki Yamashita, the man behind the invasion of Malaya and Singapore which earned him the moniker “The Tiger of Malaya”, conducted his secret meetings at the school.
Manuel, who studied in SJI more recently, noted that the rumours surrounding the school also included tales of Japanese soldiers marching in the fields early in the morning or late at night.
Besides that, he told me about a rumour that was circulating during his time studying there.
“There were rumours of women and children who were murdered by the Japanese on the school grounds,” he said. “Turned out that the location was where the school toilets are currently located.”
“During school camps, the students who visited the toilets late at night said that they could hear a baby crying, sometimes a woman weeping.”
3. Methodist Boys School
Similar to SJI and VI, MBS alumni Ashvin told me that students told of Japanese soldiers marching in the fields as well.
“Students who camp over at the school field see shadows of what seems like a silhouette of Japanese army marching,” he said. “Apparently the area surrounding the school was used as an execution chamber during the Japanese Occupation.”
Marching commands given in Japanese could also be heard in the biology lab located on the lower ground floor, according to him.
Ashvin also told me of an urban legend that there were underground tunnels connecting MBS to VI. What’s creepy is that everyone who went to these schools knows of that rumour.
“So you could pretty much hear the same stories about it from boys in both schools,” he added.
4. Convent Bukit Nanas
Sarah shared a few ghost stories that circulated around CBN during her time studying there.
“In CBN2 there’s a classroom that’s separated from the rest,” she told me. “It’s all the way upstairs, behind the library. It’s the only class not on the ground floor.”
She described the door as matching its surroundings, being the same dusty maroon colour as the walls. “You can barely see it at first glance, but when you see it, you can’t stop looking at it.”
Weirdly enough, the door can only be opened from the other side.
“We’re not allowed to go into the room, or even touch the door,” she said. “So we pretend it’s not there, even if the prickling of our skin tells us otherwise.”
Apparently it’s said that there’s a spirit behind the door – specifically, a pontianak. Sarah said that there were rumours of a wandering pontianak on the school grounds.
There are also rumours surrounding the Nazareth block. Sarah said that it was built in 1899, but went through many transformations and renovations, and even formerly belonged to the Chief Justice.
Students know it as the most haunted block in the school.
“There’s a painting of a young girl in black and white,” Sarah said. “It’s said to be haunted and that the directions her eyes face change with lighting or weather.”
“Sometimes, even while the door is closed, you’ll feel a sudden rush of cool air. The uncomfortable kind. The kind that lets you know that someone else is there.”
Many of these stories convey a sense of the restless dead.
These are stories that are told from student to student across decades. They tell of people who have suffered at the hands of others, who died without seeing justice, or who died in the course of their duty.
But all of them are connected to the history of these schools, which is in turn tied to the history of the country and the subjugation of its people.
These stories cannot be found in history books as they are mere rumours, but they are still indicative of the historical value behind these old schools, which have seen over a century and its changes.
Yet somehow some things stay the same.
For more stories like this, read: I Explored An Abandoned Hotel in Langkawi, Here’s How It Looks Like and I Used To Work In A Haunted Hospital, Here’s What Happens Late At Night.
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