Dennis Chew Says 3 Female Ghosts Were Captured On Film When He Shot 1991 Drama The Future Is Mine At The Haunted East Coast Lighthouse

8 DAYS: You’ve spent so many years telling ghost stories on air. Has that made you extra sensitive to the paranormal?

DENNIS CHEW: I always thought that that I’d be very sensitive to ghosts after telling so many years of such stories, but many masters have told me ‘Wow, it’s no wonder that you can tell ghost stories — you have an ‘antibody’!’ (Laughs).

What they mean is that I can’t feel ghosts, or rather, they don’t really like to come near me because of the yang energy that I have.

I said, ‘Huh, are you sure? I’m so small-sized and a bit gu niang and you’re telling me that I have a lot of yang energy?’ They told me that it’s not based on height or anything like that. You’re just born with it.

Is your antibody 100 per cent effective then?

(Laughs) No lah. In fact, I remember this very scary incident.

In 1991, I was filming The Future Is Mine with Chew Chor Meng and it was my first SBC drama. We went to this lighthouse at East Coast — do you remember the Big Splash? It’s near there. [Ed: He's referring to Amber Beacon Tower.]

After we finished shooting, I was so enthusiastic to watch the playback that we went back to SBC immediately after. I was quite concerned about how I had done because I was crying in that scene.

But when the cameraman put the tape in and pressed play… It was supposed to be a wide shot with only Chor Meng and myself, but instead we saw three girls waving to the camera. We couldn’t see their faces but they had very messy hair. They were frantically waving to the camera and although I couldn’t see their faces, I felt like they were asking for help.

Once we saw that, the cameraman stopped the playback and said in Cantonese, ‘There’s something dirty [in the clip]’. The next thing I remember is Chor Meng and I going to the nearest drain and vomiting because we were so afraid.

We were so sure it was only the two of us on top of the lighthouse when we shot that scene.

That sounds really scary. Did you have to shoot the scene again, or did the team decide to do away with it altogether?

We had to film the entire thing again two weeks later, but this time around, the crew placed incense paper, joss sticks and offerings on every step of the lighthouse. We had no choice but to finish shooting there, and thankfully the footage from the second session was alright.

Did you watch the lighthouse scene when it was shown on TV?

The version that made it to the final cut, yes. But if you’re asking me to watch the original footage again… No way. Anyway, I couldn’t watch it even if I wanted to. They erased all of it.

Clearly you still remember it very vividly.

Of course! About two years ago, someone told me that there were deaths that happened in East Coast a long time ago. All three cases involved girls and happened before 1991. So I think the ones that we saw were the three girls. It seems like they got to know each other after [their deaths].

The lighthouse is known to be one of the most haunted places in Singapore.

It is so don’t ask me to go back there. I won’t even go near it.

Speaking of haunted places… We’ve heard so many spooky stories about the old Mediacorp campus.

(Laughs) Yes. It was so scary and I’m glad that we’ve moved.

Have you encountered anything in the new campus?

Oh, I love the new campus. The radio studios are very big, bright and clean. The walkways that we have now are also very wide. The studios in the old campus always had a very spooky vibe. There have been masters who came over to the new campus and told us that there are a lot of [ghosts nearby].

Seriously?

(Chuckles) They're not in the office, but nearby. The office is safe.

Can you at least tell us where?

I’m not allowed to say where, but I know won’t be going anywhere near the places that they mentioned (laughs).

The scene featuring the haunted lighthouse in The Future Is Mine can seen at 36:08 in the video below:

Watch Mr Zhou’s Ghost Stories @ Job Haunting here:

Mr Zhou’s Ghost Stories @ Job Haunting is available on demand for free on meWATCH.

Photos: Mediacorp, Dennis Chew/Instagram