Ghosts at Roadblocks

Status: Fake
I've come across two different videos on Youtube that show night scenes of roadblocks in Singapore. I don't have that much information about either video, but stylistically and thematically they're very similar (and very low quality). People are clowning around at a roadblock in the middle of the night, when suddenly (at the end of each video) they see a ghostly white figure. Screaming ensues. (Warning, in case you're watching these at work: The one on the right contains some cursing.)
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The caption on the first video (on the left) identifies the ghost as the "pontianak". Wikipedia defines the pontianak as: a type of vampire in Malay folklore. The pontianak is usually a woman who died during childbirth and becomes undead, seeking revenge and terrorizing villages. She often appears as a beautiful woman, usually accompanied by the strong scent of frangipani. Men who are not wary will be killed when she morphs into a hideous vampire, she will also eat babies and harm pregnant women.

Wikipedia also links to a paper (which downloads as a word document) by Timothy White of the Dept. of Literature at the National University of Singapore that puts these kinds of movies in context. White notes that during the 1950s and 60s Singapore had a thriving film industry that churned out many horror films featuring the pontianak. However, these films "are all, by today’s standards, woefully unrealistic, especially in terms of the way they look." Evidently these short Singaporean ghost videos popping up on the internet must be inspired (even if unknowingly so) by that country's tradition of cheap horror flicks. The obvious fakeness of them is just part of the cinematic tradition.

Related posts:
Sep. 19, 2003: Indian Ghost Hoax
Sep. 21, 2003: Indian Ghost Hoax, Part II

Paranormal Photos

Posted on Tue Mar 14, 2006



Comments

I know I'll hate myself for asking this, but what, exactly, would a "realistic" vampire or ghost film look like?

Real vampires?
Real ghosts?
Posted by Big Gary in Heavener, Oklahoma  on  Tue Mar 14, 2006  at  05:02 PM
that first video keeps stuffing up on mine
the second one is obviously fake the laughing sounds like a recording & that was some terribl acting... the only thing scary about these videos is the singing
Posted by Samemo  on  Tue Mar 14, 2006  at  05:46 PM
No one's made one yet 😊

Incidentally, the second clip (looks like a prank or a really bad short film illustrating a known ghost story) comes out of the very strong tradition of military ghost stories in Singapore, where they have a two-year compulsory national service for young men. We're talking guys who've never lived away from home, or outside of highly urbanised centres, suddenly camped in isolated woods...

By comparison, the first one (drunk guy being checked by cops?) appears quite subtle for a ghost clip from the region. Very subtle. So subtle that if you blink, you miss the alleged ghost altogether.

Oh, and if you really do see a real pontianak, you don't have long left for this world anyway, which is why pontianaks are always assumed to look bloody frightful.
Posted by Nightbringer  on  Tue Mar 14, 2006  at  06:11 PM
Like Samemo, the first vid keeps stuffing up with me, so I've not seen the "ghost". The second one does seem rather staged, since the camera keeps on travelling to the spot by the gate where the "ghost" eventually appears. It's like they were expecting it to appear, but just weren't sure when.
Posted by Smerk  on  Tue Mar 14, 2006  at  10:17 PM
its just another one of those phone video thats been popping up in cellphone here in singapore and malaysia.i got lots more video like this in my cell.
Posted by The Undead Skanker  on  Wed Mar 15, 2006  at  02:08 AM
This is similar to a Cell Phone video that make the rounds lately in Mexico.

Search in YouTube for "Alien en Meridas"
Posted by Dorima  on  Wed Mar 15, 2006  at  09:19 AM
The one on the left looks like a bad lightsaber fight. The one on the right looks like a guy wearing a sheet.
Posted by Ian  on  Wed Mar 15, 2006  at  06:26 PM
I couldn't help but LOL at the 2nd clip. The first one seemed really... well it was obviously a crap cell phone video but it wasn't really special or anything like that. Like someone above said, it was subtle.

But the 2nd one? Seriously, that's some major LOLage there. Firstly they're doing weird random stuff ("full moon!" who cares?) and then the stupid screaming laughter. They go on with some rubbish and then bang, dude in sheet appears.

Interesting to note that nobody responds to the first one at all. I wouldn't have any trouble believing that someone just wandered into the shot.
Posted by Soldant  on  Thu Mar 16, 2006  at  04:48 AM
hehehehe, the first one was so funny with the singing. Also, I didn't even see the ghost and I watched the thing twice.
Posted by Razela  on  Thu Mar 16, 2006  at  03:43 PM
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