PUBLISHED ONAugust 22, 2024 9:18 AMByYeo Shu HuiA night of adventure-seeking turned out to be a night of terror for veteran local actor Richard Low.
The 72-year-old recounted that about 30 years ago, he was preparing to go home from the former Mediacorp Broadcast Centre at Caldecott Hill at about 2am, when he met actress Hong Huifang, actor-turned-director Lin Mingzhe and former actor Hong Peixing in the celebrity resting room.
"We chatted for a while and the conversation eventually turned to talk about the supernatural," he told AsiaOne in an interview recently.
On a spur of the moment, they decided to visit Bukit Brown Cemetery, which was about a five- to 10-minute drive away.
"I think we were quite crazy at the time," he laughed.
As they neared the cemetery, Richard shared that although there were streetlights, it was still dim. They drove further and saw an archway at the entrance of the graveyard, which he added looked even spookier.
"It looked exactly like those we saw in the movies, where it's the human world outside the archway and the netherworld on the other side," he said, adding that Huifang got even more scared once they went past the entrance and leaned down on her seat.
Peixing, who Richard claimed was usually brave, was also frightened by the sight. So he and Mingzhe exited the car, equipped with torchlights.
"Our purpose there was actually for one thing. We thought that if there were spirits in this world, they would be quite powerful. We had this crazy idea that we would go to the cemetery at night to ask for 4D numbers," he shared.
"We also wished that if we struck the lottery, we would arrange for a getai performance at the carpark near the entrance of the cemetery during the seventh lunar month in the following year. We were also concerned that we couldn't afford the getai if we didn't strike it big, so we must get at least the second or third prize to thank the spirits."
Richard and Mingzhe wrote numbers on small pieces of paper, and prepared to make their request.
As they were asking for a number, they heard something.
"I got a shock because I heard a child crying," Richard told us, adding that he and Mingzhe got "weak in their knees".
After a while, as the sound quieted down, they started their request again.
"Once we asked for numbers, the crying started again! Both of us were so scared that we ran to our car and drove back to the television station," he recalled.
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When they returned, all of them were scared to go home, afraid that the spirits would "follow" them back, so they stayed the night at the resting rooms.
The next morning, Richard went to the Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple at Waterloo Street to pray and asked for a talisman before heading home.
"I ended up bumping into Huifang, who was also there to ask for a talisman. We were so young then and liked to do mindless things like this. But that's how young people are, they like to be adventurous," he laughed.
Later, when they discussed what they had actually heard at the cemetery, Richard shared that they wondered if it was the "spirits of children".
"We are also not sure, but we thought that it could be a cat calling, because their calls can sound like a child. That's the only way we could console ourselves," he shared.
Richard recounted his chilling tale to us to promote the new series Mr Zhou's Ghost Stories @ Job Haunting III, where he plays Mr Luo, the owner of a Hokkien mee stall. In his segment, Mr Zhou (Dennis Chew) visited his stall where the former had been waiting for a long time to treat him to a good meal.
Full episodes of Mr Zhou's Ghost Stories @ Job Haunting III are now available on Mewatch. It will also air every Monday at 10.30pm on Channel 8 from Aug 26 onwards.
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