Horrific Hauntings : The 99-door Mansion

 The Caledonia estate 99-door Mansion, a strange name for a colonial mansion, isn’t it? But what’s stranger is its dark history. Hidden in an oil palm estate named Byram in Nibong Tebal, Penang, this enormous construction has remained abandoned for decades together. It stays covered by an overgrown plantation, securing the privacy of the property. Yet, many refuse to go into or even approach this abandoned mansion for its darkish connections to the supernatural realm.

History

 During the late 1800s Ramsden, a wealthy man from England, along with his family, decided to move to Malaysia in his pursuit of becoming a successful businessman. He bought an estate in a place called Nibong Tebal in hopes of establishing a sugar cane plantation. But as the price of sugar cane took a sharp decline, he decided to convert it into a rubber plantation.

 This decision gave him extremely high profits and with the money he made, he fulfilled one of his dreams which was “To build a grand majestic Mansion”. The mansion was built right in the centre of the estate and the Mansion bewilderingly had 99 doors for just 10 rooms with each room having a minimum of 6 doors hence, giving it its strange name. Despite many speculations, the reason for this bizarre architecture still remains unknown.

  The Ramsdens with hopes of living a blissful life moved into the mansion in the year 1840 happily. However, with the murder of their grandson, John St. Maur Ramsden, their run of happiness came to an end. John was shot twice in the head (to make sure he did not survive) right on the front stairs of the mansion. A few have speculated that a jealous rival of the family was accountable for the murder, but the case was in no way solved.

 Through the 1950s the mansion was completely deserted. A few claim that the whole Ramsden family died inside the mansion itself, which appeared to be cursed for them. Rumours exist that the home was taken over by the invading Japanese and that they are the ones responsible for the death of the Ramsdens. However, this claim stays unsubstantiated.

 On 26 July 2020, the mansion mysteriously caught fire, ravaging about 70% of the building. Firemen were dispatched to put it out and an investigation was done to figure out the cause of the fire. However, until today, the cause of the fire remains an unsolved mystery.

Paranormal Occurrences

 After the abandonment of the 99-door mansion, paranormal accounts from the locals started to unfold. Many declare that the Ramsdens continue to be at their former home to haunt it. But, there are a lot more chilling stories concerning the 99-door mansion compared to this ordinary haunting.

 It's stated that when the mansion became abandoned, a bomoh unnoticeably moved into the residence. In Malaysia, a bomoh is a type of shaman, similar to a witch doctor, and this specific bomoh practised eerily dark arts. Supposedly, the bomoh used the residence to touch the other realms. Once this news unfolded inside the network, people started trespassing the mansion to contact the dead ones or have evil curses put on other people.

 Though the mansion is uninhabited and dangerously damaged these days, many trust that the mansion’s history has left back paranormal stains. Legend has it that when the clock strikes 12 am each night a special one-hundredth door, hidden inside the mansion, appears and opens. This acts as a portal to the realm of the dead and allegedly lets evil spirits enter our realm as they please. Those darkish spirits are cursed and have been described as having soulless black eyes.

 Some of the supernatural events reportedly experienced within the residence include the sounds of ritual drums being played across the mansion, being scratched by invisible entities, growls, screams and even possessions. The sound of heavy footsteps on the empty staircases has also been reported.

Current State

  In recent years, many have sought to turn the Caledonia house into a heritage site. Reports suggest that the 54-acre land, together with the mansion, was purchased by a businessman in Perak. However, the present owner is uncontactable. In line with The Edge, the property's caretaker reported to The Star that the proprietor rarely visits and that they locked up the fence to prevent outsiders from damaging the building even more.