I have started a Facebook page called Penang for Penang Lang which focusses on stuff about Penang - ranging from food, to exhibitions to culture, history etc. If you have not visited/like/recommended the page, I would appreciate it if you could kindly visit the Penang for Penang Lang page and do the needful at THIS LINK. Thanks a zillion! This blog will continue to run as usual on other stuff but things about Penang will be in the FB page.
I just put up a post about the haunted 99-door mansion in Nibong Tebal.
Excerpt:
My next to-do project is a visit to the famous 99-door haunted mansion in Byram Estate, Nibong Tebal. Has any Penang lang out there been to this place?
Built in the 1840s by a Briton with East India Company ties, the 99-door mansion has 10 rooms, each with five to six doors. The remaining doors are at the balcony, dance hall, living room, and the kitchen.
Last used as a Japanese army headquarters during World War II, the 150-year-old building which locals refer to as the “99-door mansion,” has not been occupied since.
When the price of sugar cane plummetted in the 1880s, rubber became a more important commodity so the plantation was converted into a rubber estate. The mansion was subsequently used as a residence and administration office for the plantation owner.
Built in the 1840s by a Briton with East India Company ties, the 99-door mansion has 10 rooms, each with five to six doors. The remaining doors are at the balcony, dance hall, living room, and the kitchen.
Last used as a Japanese army headquarters during World War II, the 150-year-old building which locals refer to as the “99-door mansion,” has not been occupied since.
When the price of sugar cane plummetted in the 1880s, rubber became a more important commodity so the plantation was converted into a rubber estate. The mansion was subsequently used as a residence and administration office for the plantation owner.
During WW2, the Japanese army used at as army headquarters. Many believe the place is haunted and my take is that this situation could be due to the atrocities committed there during WW2. Some old people claim the Japanese converted the mansion into a prison to confine the captives and communists who went against them when the Japanese invaded our country. Local residents often heard Japanese conversations at night. Apparently, a family that rented the place was cursed to misfortune but no one could confirm the veracity of this claim and when it happened.
