Wednesday, June 30, 2021

Hillview Haunted House - Exclusive Photos Part 2.

Hillview Mansion Exclusive Photos Part 1.
As for those who wish to read more of the supposedly haunted Hillview Mansion, you can click on the links at the end for the other past articles.

     In this instalment, I will show you the driveway leading from Jalan Dermawan up to the front porch of the house. Why the driveway, you asked?

Well, beside the fact that it has never been seen before in any other media, the main gate, where the driveway starts, and the driveway itself are the only remnants of any original structure that still exists today. The retaining wall alongside the the driveway is included as part of the driveway itself. 

The main gate and the partial driveway are what most people have only seen of the 'haunted Hillview Mansion' for the past three decades.




HILLVIEW MANSION EXCLUSIVE PHOTOS - PART 2.

The main gate to the property.



The retaining wall was a necessity as the driveway was cut into the steep slope of Bukit Gombak.



The incline up to the first bend.



To reach the house, you needed to make at sharp turn at the hairpin bend.



The driveway continues after the hairpin bend.



The right turn to reach the top after the hairpin section.



This structure had stairs that led to an underground space at the top corner of the driveway.




This structure at the top turn had an underground level.
Does anyone have an idea what it's purpose?





 
Arrival at the front porch and foyer of the mansion.




The front porch and main entrance into the Hillview Mansion.



The next instalment of this exclusive collection will take you into the interior of the house. There you will see some of the luxury fittings and the abandoned construction work that was stopped when the mansion was abruptly vacated in 1986.






Thursday, June 24, 2021

Hillview Haunted House - Exclusive Photos Part 1

I first wrote about the Hillview haunted house back in 2012. 
Since then, I have updated this blog several times in the past with more related articles (links to those articles are below) to appease the undying curiosity of my readers.

This so called Hillview Mansion was abandoned in 1986 and left there uncompleted till it was demolished in the early 2000s. 
Through the years since, strange incidents kept happening at that site such as recurring landslides, paranormal activities and people getting struck by lightning there. 
This led to many people speculating that the site and the abandoned house had something that was not apparent, something not quite right about it, and so the stories began circulating and grew into a life of its own.

In 2019, I revealed why the house was abandoned. I also promised then to reveal the reasons why and how it perhaps became haunted
However, at this time, I still can't reveal those reasons due to the fact that the person who survived the lightning strike has not given me permission to tell the story of that tragic day.
So please wait patiently for that coming article.

The house is no longer standing and the land is completely sealed off now. 
But that hasn't stopped the curious, and many trespassers have been caught by the authorities over the years. Most of them due to their youthful exuberance and friends dares. 

Lester Yeong, in his youth, was also one of those adventurers and explorers who had visited the Hillview Mansion on several occasions in the past due to its infamous history. 
Being intrigued as to why the house seemed abandoned, he was brave and curious enough to risk entering back in the late 1990s when the house was still intact. 

Nevertheless and most fortunate for all of us today was that Lester took a whole series of photographs of the abandoned Hillview house before it was demolished. This is treasure as there have been so few available photos of Hillview Mansion, especially of its interior!

Lester wrote to me and offered me the exclusive rights to publish these, till now, unseen photos in his collection. These were taken between 1998 and 2000. Being more than 20 years old and having been kept in his old albums, I tried as best as I could to restore some of the colours back into the faded photos. The collection has more than sixty photographs which shows the exterior, and the rarely seen interior of the house that Mr. Chua Boon Peng built at Hillview.

To prevent an information overload, I will publish  Lester Yeong's photo collection over several parts. The first here with 12 photos to give you a taste of what's in store! 

I will leave minimal captions on the photos but please do give me your feedback in the  comment section below (don't forget to include your name in the comment, please)

For those who may not have seen the previous articles regarding the Haunted Hillview Mansion, I append some links here for your convenience:-

The burial of the Hillview Mansion
The landslides at the haunted site
Why the Hillview Mansion was abruptly abandoned




EXCLUSIVE PHOTOS OF THE HILLVIEW MANSION


This is the locked gate at Jalan Dermawan, familiar to those who have been there
but seen from the property outwards with the familiar retaining wall at the side.
Today, the gate and the wall are the only existing relics from the original construction.





The view from the top balcony towards the condos along Hillview Avenue


 





























Tuesday, June 8, 2021

Photos from ex-residents (#23) - Gerald Cheah BK.

For many of us who grew up in Princess Elizabeth Estate, the primary school at Princess Elizabeth Drive was a big part of growing up there in our early school life.

Gerald Cheah Beng Kin moved with his family in 1955 and lived on the ground floor at Block 22 which was adjacent but nearer to the back of Princess Elizabeth Estate School. Spending his first six years of primary school there and leaving in 1960, he fondly recalls the Principal, Mr Ponnusamy, his scout master Mr Bernard Fernandez and his Science teacher Mr Nair.
Most memorable for him was his Geography teacher Mr Lim Mou Shen, who took his classmates all over the countryside in his car, especially to the mangrove swamps at Sungei Buloh where they would bring back root stumps to make handicraft like lamps stands and table legs.

Gerald was kind to send me photos to share on my blog in order that those who went to Princess Elizabeth Estate School would remember those days. Some of the photos below are not from his time at the school but were taken later after the demolition of the SIT estate.


The class of 1960. Gerald is second boy from the left.
They are beside the dreaded mobile dental van that visit schools.



Blk 3 of the HDB Hillview Estate.
The old S.I.T. Princess Elizabeth Estate was located in the green field beside the HDB block of flats.



The cleared land was where the old estate once stood.