Singapore horror tours may go extinct with rapid urbanisation

SINGAPORE — Changi may well be one of the last few places in Singapore where one can experience a walking ghost stories tour in the backdrop of a heritage site with an old-time spooky vibe - the old Changi Hospital.

The Walk with Hantu: Changi tour - organised by the team behind "Supernatural Confessions", one of Singapore's largest community platforms - is one of the few remaining walking horror tours.

What's different? It's focus on shared storytelling rather than the experiential supernatural or historical tour.

Jonathan Lim, one of the tour's organisers, spoke with Yahoo Southeast Asia about dark tourism in Singapore and whether it can stand the test of time with rapid urbanisation.

What is dark tourism?

Dark tourism is the visiting of places where human tragedies have occurred. Historical events such as genocides, murders, war or disaster - either natural or accidental - qualify as such tragedies.

While Singapore is not typically a go-to destination for such activities, walking tours saw a revival during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the government gave out SingapoRediscovers vouchers to encourage residents to rediscover the heritage of the city-state.

"There was a huge boom in walking tours. One major factor was the period where we had 'discovery dollars' to spend," said Lim.

The tricky thing for a horror-genre tour is making it accessible to the public. Too much information and only history buffs will be interested. Too many supernatural elements and it could turn off the disbelieving public.

Lim's answer to this is building what he calls "lore-gic", and creating a shared social experience.

"Lore-gic is making the lore make sense. It's not scientific logic, but logic according to what we know in the folk lore," he explained.

"When you're talking about the supernatural, anything fictional or whimsical could be true. What we have done is take all the stuff that we know and love, and package it in a way that is inviting and palatable. It is adjustable according to the audience's level depending on how much they want to geek out."

Why are people attracted to the supernatural?

Counselling psychologist, Diana Santoso, attributes the pick up of supernatural beliefs to cultural influence and confirmation bias.

"Once a person holds a belief in the supernatural, there may be a tendency to seek out information that confirms or supports the beliefs, thereby strengthening these beliefs," said Santoso.

"Supernatural beliefs can be a healthy form of coping that is associated with attunement with self, better coping with stress, social connectedness, as well as an optimistic and hopeful outlook in life."

Santoso further explains that folk tales are typically passed down from older generations in Southeast Asia. The collective family or group experience thus normalises the supernatural and develops further interest.

Why horror tours could go extinct by next year

With the old Changi Hospital slated to be transformed into a stargazing observatory and aviation viewing deck, dark tourism heritage sites are fast diminishing.

"Singapore is not full of spooky places like the streets of London or an old town in Perth. We don't have castles and dark alleyways. It is rare to find a location worth going where the stories can be densely trusted," shared Lim.

The pandemic had also played a part in preserving or enhancing the natural state of spooky places in Singapore, adding to the scare factor.

"After the pandemic, however, our country started cleaning up and beautifying the places by adding more street lamps," Lim said.

"Therefore, the horror is slowly receding. We suspect that by next year, this tour might not be feasible because all the spooky bits may not be spooky anymore."

With a limited number of spooky places to conduct tours, Lim's initial idea of conducting a horror bus tour had to be aborted due to logistics.

The idea of boarding a bus between places can be a mood killer for created atmosphere, which is a key element in driving interest and excitement in walking horror tours.

Accessibility to heritage sites is another problem. Popular spots such as the "suicide tower" in Pasir Ris - which is located in the middle of a mangrove swamp - remain challenging for visitors to get to.

Illegal trespassing of sites that are out of bounds to the public is also sometimes carried out on these tours, something not everyone is comfortable with. As such, existing paranormal tours are kept within small groups.

Lim defines Changi as "a pearl" for retaining much of its original architecture and physical state, but is concerned over the future of these tours.

"We are rushing the tours before the window closes," he said.

The Walk with Hantu: Changi tour runs on Thursday and Saturday nights through April.