Celeb spooks: The hotel and home edition

Today’s the start of the Hungry Ghost Month, and while we should definitely steer clear of trouble by being extra pantang and listening to what our elders have told us in the past, there’s just something about reading ghost stories this month that sends an extra shiver down your spine.

There’s no better time than the present than to bring back some very real, and very creepy paranormal encounters that the celebrities encountered in the past.

For those who can’t bear to watch the clips (we honestly can’t figure out what about listening to it makes it extra scary), we have it all in text, although we can’t guarantee that you won’t be have to sleep with the lights on tonight.

First up, we delve into stories that involve strange encounters in the comfort (or so we thought) of the celebs’ homes, along with goosebump inducing hotel visits.

Think you have the stomach for it? Read on for more.

Belinda Lee used to stay over at a then-boyfriend’s place, and he would wake up at around 5.30am to work out. “I would be alone at home. One morning, he did the same thing. The curtains were drawn and it was pitch black in the room,” she shared.

Seemed like an ordinary morning, except it wasn’t.

She recounted, “I don’t know why but the temperature and atmosphere in the room changed. I can’t explain it but there was a kind of pressure in the room. I didn’t open my eyes but I could feel that the pressure was pushing down on me, and it was so heavy. I started to feel really col and afraid. I was lying on my side and suddenly I felt something moving closer to me and it started speaking in my ear. I wanted to run away but I was also afraid that I would see something, so I curled up in a ball for close to an hour.”

Two hours later, her ex returned home and she told him about it, but they brushed off the incident. The next day, he felt the same presence as he was returning home. Unlike Belinda, he didn’t take the incident lying down and shouted ‘Jesus!’ Whatever it was disappeared, which shows that faith can go a long way when dealing with the unexplainable.

That wasn’t the only encounter Belinda had, as she recalled another incident, this time in Jakarta.

She went there with her church mates, but was the only one allocated to a different level from them. She wanted to be close to them, so she went to the reception to request for a room change. Though initially reluctant to do so, the reception agreed with her request after much pleading. Perhaps Belinda should have listened.

“When I opened the door and stepped in, I smelled something very strange. It was as though the room was vacant for a long time, and the curtains were all drawn too. i told myself that the room smelled dead,” she said.

Despite all of that, she went to check out the bathroom.

“The moment I tried to step in, I suddenly felt an indescribable evil force rushing out from the toilet towards me. I couldn’t do anything and it felt like someone was pushing me away. It was so strong that I moved back,” Belinda revealed.

She told her male friend about it, and he thought that it was Belinda being dramatic about the toilet, so he checked it out for himself. He tried stepping into the toilet, but before he could enter, he took a step back and gasped. “Let’s go, let’s go,” he said.

As it turns out, he not only felt something, but saw a shadow of a man through the shower screen. “The energy was really oppressive and stifling, and it was clear that ‘he’ didn’t want us staying in his room. He thought of the room as his and he didn’t want anyone staying in it,” Belinda concluded.

Her words of advice? “When you stay in a hotel and are told that there aren’t rooms on a certain floor, just take their word for it and don’t insist on having a certain room on a certain floor. They might have turned down your request because the room might be haunted.”

Christopher Lee had a similar, but no less scary, experience in Taipei.

“I went back to my room after filming, took a shower and turned off all the lights before going to bed. I woke up at around 3.30am but all the lights in the room were turned on, and I have no idea why,” he shared. “I definitely didn’t do it and I didn’t know what to do so I just sat there for the rest of the night until the sun rose. I couldn’t change rooms so I just stayed there telling myself not to overthink things, trying to convince myself that I hit the light switch while I was asleep.”

Still not scared? We have one more for you for the road.

Zhang Zhenhuan had a paranormal encounter when he was living in Singapore.

“I went home, washed my hands and was walking back to my room. I suddenly saw a shadow the height of a child. It was about 1.2m tall, and I could feel it moving around in my house,” he recalled.

The actor continued, “I’m the kind of person who can only fall asleep with the lights on after hearing ghost stories, but I was inexplicably calm at the time. I was trying to reason with myself and told myself that it might have been a trick of the light. I’m 60 per cent sure that it was a spirit.”