Melaka is known for its islands like Pulau Besar and Pulau Nangka. However not many people who visit Melaka know Upeh Island which is located just a few kilometers off the coast of Klebang, Melaka. It is a rocky outcrop and was a tourist destination some 20 years ago. A resort called Upeh Island Resort was built and people went to the island for a quiet and peaceful weekend.
The island is currently left abandoned and the resort is now in ruins. The state helps maintain it once in awhile and the people who come here are the scientists who come to check on the arrival of the Hawksbill Turtles during spawning seasons and also punters who come to the island to pray for lucky numbers.
Together with and an adventure team called ‘Zam Extreme Ghost Hunters’, Li Kim will explore several areas of the island to see if we can find any entities that may be willing to appear on camera.
The island is currently left abandoned and the resort is now in ruins. The state helps maintain it once in awhile and the people who come here are the scientists who come to check on the arrival of the Hawksbill Turtles during spawning seasons and also punters who come to the island to pray for lucky numbers.
Together with and an adventure team called ‘Zam Extreme Ghost Hunters’, Li Kim will explore several areas of the island to see if we can find any entities that may be willing to appear on camera.
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TVTranscript
00:00 When you visit Melaka and if you explore every nook and cranny in the city,
00:05 you will definitely find some mystery.
00:08 And if you walk around at night, perhaps you will not be wrong to expect to meet someone from the past.
00:14 Yes, the team and I are still here in mystical Melaka,
00:18 and in this episode, we are going to explore the haunted islands around Melaka.
00:25 [music]
00:28 [music]
00:30 [laughter]
00:49 [music]
00:51 Behind me is the Straits of Melaka, a busy maritime lane used as a link for trade by the West
01:08 with the ancient kingdoms of this part of the world since as early as the 16th century.
01:13 Before that, the neighbouring kingdoms of Aceh, Palembang, Siam and China also used this port of call that we know of as Melaka.
01:22 Even though Melaka is one of the smallest states of Malaysia, it still lays claims to a few islands a few kilometres offshore.
01:30 To many, these are legendary islands and to some, they are believed to be cursed, for reasons unclear to many.
01:38 [music]
01:41 Pulau Besar, which is the most famous and most written about island, is full of legends.
01:47 And the jackfruit island or Pulau Nangka became famous because of the search of hidden treasures some three years ago.
01:54 I am not interested in the ones that are widely written of or widely spoken of,
01:59 but the ones that are more vague, less clear, like Upe Island, which is a 15-minute boat ride off the Straits of Melaka.
02:09 Upe Island was once known as Ilha das Pedra, which means 'places of stones' in old Portuguese.
02:17 It is believed that stones from the island were taken to build the Melaka Fort, known as a Formosa.
02:23 The island has been relatively ignored for centuries, but sometime before the second millennium, a resort was built on it.
02:30 It didn't last long. The resort was soon abandoned for reasons unknown and unpublicised.
02:37 There were promising plans to turn the abandoned resort into a training centre, but that too fell by the wayside.
02:45 To find out more about this mysterious island, I was recommended by Melaka Museum Corporation or PERSIM
02:52 to speak with Mr Norman Mohamad Barudin, one of its curators who has substantial knowledge on the islands of Melaka.
03:00 Encik Norman, do you know about Pulau Upe, the history and its background?
03:08 Pulau Upe is indeed recorded at the time of the Melaka Sultanate.
03:15 In terms of the geography, it is located near the town of Melaka, so it's a highly strategic location
03:23 and has been used as fortification or naval headquarters for the Melaka Sultanate.
03:29 If you look at the nautical map during the Portuguese era, you can find Pulau Upe,
03:37 and this shows the importance of the island at that time.
03:43 If we conduct a research on the structure of the rocks on Pulau Upe,
03:49 we believe that part of the fortress city of Melaka was built from the rocks taken from the island.
03:56 I have heard that Pulau Upe, although it's not very popular and famous,
04:03 some people have said that it's haunted. Have you heard anything like that?
04:09 Looking at the current state of Pulau Upe, which is abandoned and unoccupied, it is very likely.
04:17 We do not object such possibilities.
04:21 We, human beings, are not the only ones who inhabit this world.
04:26 There are also other creatures and entities. We share the universe with them.
04:32 I was told that on Pulau Upe, there are some, it's quite unique because it's actually built.
04:41 There is a resort on it, but it failed.
04:45 And then there was another project to be a training centre, and it also failed.
04:51 Is there any folk tale or any stories to explain why?
04:58 If we think in terms of logic, we look at Pulau Upe's location,
05:04 which is away from the mainland, without proper electricity and water facilities.
05:10 These are likely the reasons that affected the running of the resort or training centre.
05:19 Logically. But perhaps, as we discussed earlier,
05:25 there might be other reasons beyond our comprehension.
05:30 Perhaps it is inhabited by entities from another realm.
05:35 I do not exclude that possibility, and I do not deny it.
05:40 Yes, I have read that they are very unusual graves because they are extremely long, unusually long.
05:49 Is there a reason why those two particular graves are so long?
05:55 If we look at the old graves that are found in Peninsular Malacca,
06:01 or even in Sumatra, and if we examine why these graves are longer than the normal ones,
06:08 we find that the people who were buried in these long graves were aristocrats,
06:14 or a social class higher than others.
06:20 And is it possible that not many people talk about Pulau Upe,
06:26 but many people talk about Pulau Besar?
06:30 Because of that, wouldn't Pulau Besar become more haunted
06:37 because people keep on increasing the awareness?
06:43 Maybe. In Melaka, Pulau Besar is said to be more haunted as compared to other islands.
06:51 Pulau Besar is a well-known destination for tourists.
06:56 Thus, the stories of strange incidents on the island are shared by many visitors.
07:02 And this is why Pulau Besar is considered to be more haunted than other places.
07:09 When we come back, we will meet a group of interesting individuals
07:14 with a unique hobby that is not for the faint-hearted.
07:19 [Music]
07:34 I have been told by local folks that if a space like a building or a house
07:39 is left alone without people for seven days, unseen beings, energy, spirits,
07:46 will go in and occupy it and take it for their own.
07:50 Where I am going next has been abandoned for more than ten years.
07:54 I am curious to see who is living there now and how intensely do they occupy that space.
08:02 Coming with me to explore Pulau Upe is a group of enthusiasts
08:08 who indulge in a hobby which has made them YouTube stars here in Malaysia.
08:12 They call themselves Mr. Zam Extreme Ghost Hunters.
08:16 They are a group of amateur ghost hunters who at their own cost and own risk
08:21 visit destinations recommended by their fans.
08:24 Their investigations are posted on their social network sites.
08:28 I am right now at the jetty at Kampong Gadung in Melaka
08:35 with Mr. Zam Extreme Ghost Hunters team.
08:39 I am very curious why this three-member team has devoted so much of their time,
08:46 especially on weekends, to explore haunted locations.
08:50 So Mr. Zam, tell me when did this passion begin?
08:56 I started in the 90s. I was a street juggler then and also a bit of a magician.
09:03 After a few years, I was involved in a nasty motor accident and I took a break to recover for a year.
09:09 When I felt better, I began thinking what else I could do.
09:14 As I've always had an inclination to extreme and challenging activities, I thought, why not paranormal?
09:21 There were not many activities related to the paranormal in Malaysia at that time, so I decided to give it a try.
09:27 I have been to many places. Usually I do some research on stories that I've heard.
09:32 If someone tells me there is a Pontianak or Pocong somewhere, I will say, really?
09:38 I know they exist, but I want to explore and uncover the truth.
09:42 When I started, not many people, me included, owned a camcorder.
09:48 I didn't know how to share with others what I was doing.
09:52 But eventually, if I'm not mistaken, in 2005, YouTube went online.
09:58 It was then that I bought a phone with a camera, which allowed me to record my findings and upload them on YouTube.
10:07 I began to have many fans. I enjoyed the satisfaction of being able to share my experiences with others.
10:14 Whilst Zam is the leader of the team, he always has two members who will accompany him on his escapades.
10:21 One of them is Rin, who professes to have the third eye ability, and the other is Zan, who usually acts as the cameraman and a healer.
10:30 Zan also claims to have sensitivity towards the unseen entities.
10:35 How do you scan whether something is karas or not?
10:39 Everyone has this aura of energy, which I'm still trying to fathom and learn.
10:48 When I scan, I feel that there is this heat in my hand. Hot, sometimes heavy.
10:55 I would tell Rin I feel something here. Please take a look.
10:59 So you use your instinct of feel, and then you use your instinct of sight.
11:14 Do you think that the work you do and what you put up on social media, does it help people?
11:20 I think it brings people closer together when we share the notion that ghosts and other entities are not to be feared.
11:28 There are many who harbour this fear to a point that they fall sick. I want to teach the public not to be afraid.
11:36 The team is famous for their exploration method that they call terjah in Malay, which means gate-crashing.
11:43 This method does not involve any preparations or rituals. They rely solely on their instincts.
11:50 While their method is spontaneous, safety remains their priority.
11:55 Whenever possible, they would visit the site during the day to ensure the safe route and pathways to take.
12:03 Today, they will join me and the Paranormal Zone to Upe Island.
12:08 This is Upe Island, and this is the resort that once hosted tourists who came to enjoy its serenity and to find peace.
12:18 Today, only the sounds of waves and a sense of emptiness greet us.
12:23 Completely abandoned, with a deep sense of melancholy, making it more sad than eerie.
12:30 It is a wonder why such a beautiful island cannot sustain a resort.
12:35 This is the water tank that you mentioned that you have, before you came here, you had some kind of a feeling.
12:43 What was the feeling?
12:45 Before coming here, when you did some of your feeling and your scanning, what did you see?
12:59 When I scan, I find this area quite haunted.
13:03 What I could see is, there is a pontianak up there.
13:07 I don't know why it is there, but pontianak likes to stay in higher spots.
13:13 A pontianak is a female ghost that commonly hangs on trees or tall or high areas.
13:27 When she does her scanning, she has seen that there is a pontianak that exists here.
13:33 But unfortunately, they appear only at night, which is why we will be back after we do a quick walk around here.
13:42 Today, no one visits Upe Island for her beauty and serenity.
13:52 Except for some marine biologists who come to check on the hawksbill turtles that have made the island their port of call.
13:59 There are also a few punters who visit the island regularly to ask for lottery numbers or to improve their luck in the gaming world.
14:07 And of course, regular anglers who use the jetty to fish.
14:17 Despite being abandoned for more than 10 years, this particular shrine is very well maintained.
14:24 It just shows that there are people, maybe not every day, but definitely most often, coming here to pay respects.
14:32 And, I've been told, asking for good luck and prosperity.
14:36 Many people who gamble and buy lottery numbers, they come here to ask for blessings so that they can strike it rich.
14:45 Personally, for me, I don't know if that is accurate.
14:47 But if it works and it keeps some parts clean on this island, then so be it.
14:54 (Birds chirping)
14:57 (Sounds of a man whispering)
15:21 For the local people, they have their own explanations about why the resort and other endeavours set there were unsuccessful.
15:29 Pulau Upe has always had interferences.
15:36 When I sleep there at night, I'm always being shifted.
15:40 For example, there was once when I was sleeping under a tree, but I woke up about 10 metres away from that tree.
15:48 (Speaking in Malay)
15:54 Maybe I was occupying its resting spot.
15:58 I was totally unaware of being shifted.
16:01 (Speaking in Malay)
16:12 There's a myth, as I was told by my elders, that Pulau Upe has a guardian named Pak Agus.
16:19 The state government carried out projects to develop the island, but they weren't successful.
16:25 Possibly the requests of Pak Agus were not met.
16:29 So anyone who attempts to develop the island will likely fail.
16:39 The most haunted place of all is the area above the water tank.
16:43 Once, while we were walking in that area, we saw an old man standing next to a tree, which was unusual.
16:51 Out of respect, we informed him that we were just passing by and had no intention of causing any disturbance.
16:59 He disappeared after that.
17:07 My aunt once picked up a one-cent coin at the island and took it home to keep as a souvenir.
17:13 But she fell sick, and her sickness lasted three months.
17:17 We sought different treatments, visited many hospitals, and consulted quite a number of doctors to no avail.
17:29 Then we were advised that my aunt should return the item that was taken from the island.
17:36 My mother and I were the only family members who went to the island.
17:41 I remember my mother and my brother took the money, just a cent.
17:46 Once we did that, she immediately regained consciousness and was able to communicate with us.
17:54 I just wanted to talk to her.
17:56 I just wanted to talk to her.
18:23 I'm very curious, which is why we're here, to see who's occupying this island now and how intensely are they occupying it.
18:31 So, are we ready?
18:33 Yes, ready.
18:34 Do you feel anything right now?
18:40 Right now, I have a weird and uneasy feeling.
18:46 I feel hot and a little dizzy, like we are being watched.
18:51 There's a presence watching us.
18:53 I'm going to keep doing it.
18:55 [♪♪♪]
18:59 [♪♪♪]
19:27 So, could you please share with me what's going on for you?
19:31 I have a vision of a lady who hanged herself here, and she was facing down, and I could feel there is a pochong further over there.
19:41 Let's say no more and check it out.
19:43 It's right here.
19:53 [♪♪♪]
19:56 Around this area.
19:59 The rope is long, hanging all the way down.
20:02 It is white in colour.
20:04 As we continue to explore, more than meets the eye.
20:11 Despite not capturing anything visually, Rin picks up some unseen presence, and physically she feels the effects.
20:20 [♪♪♪]
20:24 Headache.
20:25 Now?
20:26 Yes.
20:27 If I'm in a place with that presence, I feel dizzy.
20:33 Even though I can't see it, I feel dizzy.
20:36 Sometimes, when I open my eyes, I can't see it.
20:41 But here, I feel it.
20:43 They said this is a restaurant.
20:49 It's a restaurant.
20:50 Let's go.
20:53 [♪♪♪]
20:56 If you're here, make a sound again.
21:00 Move something or make a sound.
21:05 Real, right?
21:09 Yes.
21:10 Is there any smell?
21:15 Do you smell anything?
21:18 Do you smell anything?
21:22 Right?
21:23 We'll scan here.
21:25 Turn off the light.
21:27 Rin, turn off the light.
21:28 It's true.
21:44 Let's go.
21:50 We got two sounds, right?
21:52 There are times I will go to a place because it is known to be haunted.
22:02 To investigate, to explore and discover.
22:06 Tonight, when I arrived in Upe Island, it was because I've heard some things that it is haunted.
22:12 But I also heard that many things that have happened here are unsuccessful.
22:18 And it made me think.
22:20 And as I walked around this beautiful place, I had a feeling that perhaps it is not as much haunted as it is cursed.
22:30 Perhaps the people who first developed on this island didn't do what was necessary to appease the beings or the residences who were here first.
22:43 As such, it offended them. And as such, the results are nothing can be successful here.
22:51 So there is a time when I think, is the place cursed or haunted?
22:57 And from what I can feel here, I get an experience that the energy here is more cursed than it is haunted.
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