WITH tales from the brutal war, khmertimeskh.com has listed five interestingly haunted spots worth visiting especially for those daredevils who love to venture to such places.
Toul Sleng Genocide Museum
This former high school was transformed into the ghoulish Security Prison 21 (S-21) by the merciless Khmer Rouge, which became the final destination to 17,000 prisoners.
It is said that the souls of the victims, who were detained, starved, tortured and executed, are now roaming the S-21 hall with guards testifying they hear moaning and chains rattling at night.
Listverse, an America-based top-10 sites in 2017 listed it as one of the “Most Terrifying Places on Earth” – next to ‘Mines (catacombs) of Paris’.
Champa Pagoda
This place is well-known for being a place where hundreds of people died from traffic accidents. A local radio programme called The Horrific Night, allows Cambodians to call in and share their paranormal experiences.
One of the callers, a government official residing in Stung Treng, claimed he was once almost killed by the “ghosts” while travelling along the road in front of Champa Pagoda, in Kandal’s Kien Svay district.
His story: “It was 10pm and I was on my way home from work. Suddenly, a bike ran into me. I avoided it and fell over. And then the bike just disappeared into thin air.”
Ghost House in Kampong Chhnang
The house became famous following stories that the original owners of the house had a dream that a ghost offered to buy the house for 3 taels of gold.
They woke up to find the gold just outside the house but refused to move out until one day, found themselves in a nearby field with their belongings around them.
Built on National Highway No. 5, a cemented shrine now stands on the exact spot after the house became too rundown.
Superstitious Cambodians will pray when they pass the house or leave offerings at the entrance.
While shooting a horror movie at the site, an actress claim she had gone to the restroom one night and encountered a mysterious woman who was not in her team.
Bokor Hill Station
Some travel websites listed it as one of the most haunted sites in Cambodia. A beautiful site but building it had cost the lives of 1,000 local construction workers due to harsh working condition.
The signature landmark however offers cool climate in whatever season and contains the Than Sour Bokor Resort, a luxurious hotel with breathtaking views from the mountain top, apart from a casino, a Catholic Church and a number of settlements.
At the end of the Khmer Rouge regime in the late 1970s, it became a stronghold for the Khmer Rouge soldiers, who refused to surrender and remained so until the early 1990s.
Koh Kor
KOH KOR is a scenic isle on Bassac River, about 25 km on the waterway from Phnom Penh but it could not shed its past as a Khmer Rouge prison and execution site during their brutish regime from 1975-79. It was also the mass grave for thousands of victims.
The residents living on Koh Kor have reported seeing ghosts in black shirts and hearing eerie cries for help at night, and sometimes even during daylight.
The glass cabinets displaying skulls and bones are gruesome testimony of the fourth dimension.