Fort Canning Park
City Hall, Singapore
Website: www.spi.com.sg/haunted
Fort Canning used to be a symbol of authority in Singapore. In 1861, the fort was named in the honor of Viscount Charles John Canning, the first viceroy of India. The hill underwent several name changes. The Malays called it Bukit Larangan or “Forbidden Hill” for several possible reasons:
(1) It reputedly contains the royal tomb of Sultan Iskandar Shah, the Malay ruler of the Kingdom of Singapura, who is said to have forbidden ordinary people to come to the hill because his concubines and wives used to bathe at a spring there.
(2) The Malays were fearful of climbing the hill as they thought the palace of their ancestor kings had once stood there.
(3) The site had sightings of fabled lion for which Sri Tri Buana, ruler of Temasek, later named the island Singapura, or “Lion City.”
(4) Besides the fabled lion, the Malays believed that the hill is haunted by many other ghosts and spirits.
A legend that is associated with Fort Canning is about a national treasure of gold, which belonged to the sultans of the ancient kingdoms. The hill was mystified with all sorts of spooks and ghouls dwelling there. In particular, there is one guardian spirit in a form of a huge python that was said to safeguard the national treasure at Fort Canning. Only those who know the magic word and speak it to the python spirit will have the treasure revealed, otherwise their hearts will be eaten away when confronted.
There is, however, some clue to the legend of the national treasure from the archaeological evidence of a 14th-century prosperous town at Fort Canning. During the construction of the 30-million gallon capacity reservoir in 1928 on the hill, many Hindu Javanese gold jewelries dated to about 1360 were excavated. Ruins of ancient brick buildings were unearthed, too, which gave support to the possibility that a wealthy ancient palace once stood.
In 1822, the founder of modern Singapore, Sir Stamford Raffles, claimed the hill for his residence, naming it Government Hill. Until the mid-19th century, Singapore’s governors were residents here; thus the epithet “Government Hill” as well as “Central Park.”
The park walls are made up of tombstones, and Fort Canning Park was once a graveyard for some 600 Christian graves. This used to be the old Christian Cemetery until 1865. The only graves left are at the corner of the park. Those tombstones that were removed were set into the wall surrounding Fort Canning Green.
Nowadays, you can still see a strange sight of walls made of tomb slabs that line the former cemetery. Those are the famous men and women who gave their lives to the young colony. They are the elite people having titles of lieutenants, generals, sergeants, and so on. Most of them died at about mid-age during battles. Their short histories are embedded in the walls.
