ASIA PARANORMAL INVESTIGATORS

What's it like to be a... Paranormal investigator
Time Out Interviews, The Rojak.

In a quest to uncover the truth behind ghosts, UFOs and alien life forms, Sabrina Lee turns to paranormal investigator Charles Goh for answers.



What’s your earliest memory of an encounter with the third kind?

As a primary school kid, I lived on the sixth floor of a HDB unit in Tanjong Pagar. In the middle of the night, I would often see flashing lights along the main corridor, which would later make its way around and to the other room. My immediate reaction was to close my eyes, and that if I didn’t, something bad would happen. When I was twenty something I thought about it again and believed it to be a UFO.

Did you tell anyone?

I told my friends about it and they started calling me the ‘abduct boy’. That then became my very first email address.

Was it really a UFO?

No. I had very vivid dreams as a child and I always remembered them. They were usually paranormal. I finally decided that my ‘so-called encounter’ was nothing more than a dream.

How come?

From my physical position in the flat, it was impossible for me to see past a wall and into the other room. As an investigator, it’s my job to find facts and go through all the possible reasons. This was the first ‘case’ I debunked.

Are you more Mulder or Scully?

Neither. I believe there to be a logical explanation for everything. But there are certain cases where it becomes hard to really know for sure. For instance, when a person calls when you’re thinking about them – is it coincidence or telekinesis?

What are your essential tools?

A recorder, video camera and my EMF (electromagnetic field) meter.



What is your most memorable case?

We had an informant tell us that a lady in red was haunting the second floor of his sister’s pub in Malaysia. They had a feng shui master from out of town tell them to burn paper to ease the ghost. We went as casual curios and had a little chat with the husband. He spoke to me as if I was a believer, and revealed that the ‘master’ was in fact a Maoist friend of his that failed to achieve masterdom because of his inability to give up sex.

Was there a ghost then?

The building was old, the lights were not working and there was mould growing everywhere. But no ghost.

What is it that you believe to be the truth?

There are definitely things out there. But they aren’t ghosts of the dead seeking revenge, or a loved one unable to let go. Those are very human traits and I don’t believe spirits or ghosts possess such humanistic emotion. However, I also believe that we can’t be the only life form, there have to be other variations of life.

That’s quite abstract. Would you give us an example?

Take for instance radio frequencies. What if one of them turned out to be from another world or civilisation, but we just don’t have the technology to decipher it?

What was one of the more uncomfortable locales you had to probe?

We were trying to debunk the myth of Malaysia’s first Big Foot, which was said to inhabit the grounds of the Endau Rompin National Park. In order to stake out the place, we spent three nights in the forest without any form of communication with the outside world. It was a 30-minute hike to the closest telephone booth. If something were to happen, no one would know about it.

How does your family feel about your endeavours?

I don’t tell them much, to be honest. But they do know I investigate the paranormal, they tolerate it. But there was this time in 2006 when my mum said to me: ‘Seventh month is coming, don’t go around taking pictures.’ I asked why, and she said: ‘How you feel if people snap picture right in front of your face? They don’t look for you, they look for the mother!’ I didn’t hunt for ghosts that year.

By Sabrina Lee