Footsteps, Blood & Howling Laughter: The Alleged Hauntings That Shroud Taiping’s Maxwell Hill

By Lara Svelte  •  16 Feb 2023 in Horror/Mystery

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Ten kilometres southwest of Taiping, in the state of Perak, lies the infamous hill resort of Bukit Larut, previously and more commonly known as Maxwell Hill.

The location feels a touch eerie, and that can easily be explained by the fact that during World War II, Japanese war captives themselves were forced to assemble the road leading up to Maxwell Hill. This dates back all the way to the 1880s, under the watch of William Edward Maxwell who served as the Assistant Resident of Perak at the time.

Constructing the road wasn’t an easy feat, and many prisoners lost their lives erecting the path.

Over the years, the area has been the centre of multiple off-putting allegations from individuals who claim to know of the horrors that lurk within, while others claim to have been ‘disturbed’ by negative presences themselves.

Here are a few of these creepy encounters and tales, as narrated by netizens:

1. “Jump from the balcony, your worries end there.”

As explained on this blog, a haunted bungalow supposedly exists somewhere along the hill. The place was booked by a certain Mr. Wong one day as he returned to his hometown to visit family. This is because his family feared that, having immigrated to the U.S, Mr. Wong would find the “extremely high local temperature” intolerable.

After a long day of celebration, everyone retreated to their rooms to relax, leaving Mr. Wong alone in the living room, where relaxed on the sofa and planning the next day’s activities. Mr. Wong simply couldn’t fall asleep, perhaps a result of his exhilaration.

Still, he shut his eyes and relaxed on the couch. Soon after, the hallway echoed with the sound of pattering footsteps. Originally coming from a distance, the sound eventually caught up the front door.

Without thinking, he opened the door to check as he was concerned that someone might be in trouble or require assistance. Mr. Wong was shocked to discover that there was no one down the corridor. The only sound that was unusually loud, in his opinion, would have been his own breathing.

Mr. Wong finally came to the conclusion that his own imagination was deceiving him. He then shut the door before returning to his couch and was about to doze off, when the sound returned. He checked again, to no avail, and that was when he began to have the chills.

“I felt a surge of chilly air come at me from all directions. My entire body was covered in goosebumps, and it felt like even my hair was sticking up like a porcupine! I was paralysed by fear and unable to move,” he claimed.

Now, Mr. Wong could hear the familiar sound of footsteps approaching him, but his gut told him that “something” was behind him. Then, he heard a whisper saying, “Jump down from the balcony, all your woes end there.”

“I was torn between listening to the voice and jumping from the about 50-foot-high balcony or turning around and coming face to face with a hideous dem. Even though it was cold, sweat began to drip down my forehead and cheeks, and it took a lot of effort for me to even turn around.

When I did, there was nothing there. The tension and chills ceased as well.

Mr. Wong partially walked and mainly dragged his body to his room after the incident. He was just about to close the door when the rhythmic thumping returned, this time accompanied with the shrill laughter of a little girl rippling down the hallway. According to him, it was far from joyful and more akin to a wail; much like the snigger of a banshee.

The following morning, when his wife asked him if he had heard any form of eerie laughter during the previous night, he chose to remain silent and hurriedly packed everything to leave the bungalow.

2. The woman in white

The local Unnatural Tales blog features a similar story, as told by a man named Ricky who decided to spend a few nights at Bukit Larut with four of his schoolmates. The group drove to the hillside resort, where they rented a single-storey bungalow at the foot of the slope.

They decided to play a card game after supper because there was no internet nor television, but had left the deck in the car. Ricky agreed to go fetch it, and his friend Min accompanied him since he wanted to have a cigarette.

The two were carrying torches as they made their way to the vehicle outside, where the scene was almost completely dark save for the moonlight and the billowing fog from the woods. Suddenly, Min tugged on Ricky’s sleeve and shone his flashlight on a cluster of overgrown trees, asking, “Apa tu?” (What’s that?)

While it was dark and quiet, Ricky could only figure that it was a white cloth that was contentedly perched on a branch above a tree. That was until an ominous, continuous woman’s laugh came from it, leading the duo to realise that it was some sort of spirit.

In a state of astonishment, confusion, and awe, they could only stare at the ‘entity’ and listen to its howling laughter until it began to leap rapidly from tree to tree until it was out of sight.

They believe what the had seen may have been a Pontianak, but didn’t stick to around to find out.

3. The smell of dried blood

This story hails from a review of a luxury bungalow within the area, told by a local woman who traveled in a group of 10. Initially, they had been shown to a rather dilapidated homestay. The group found that it was infested with bugs, and while taking a shower the next morning, the woman felt as if someone had been watching her.

They then requested to switch to one of the nicer resorts, where they huddled to play games one night. One of them had spotted the white silhouette of a little girl, but the group collectively chose to ignore it.

However, that night, they discovered that the toilets reeked of dried blood, but not a spot of it was found. Two of the group mates slept on the same bed in one of the rooms, and claimed that while one felt cold, the other sweated profusely.

Meanwhile, at midnight, another one their female friends felt something poking at her feet repeatedly as she rested on one of the beds close to the window. The poster’s brother, who also had his own queen bed located near another window, contended a similar encounter, saying he was “disturbed” by a ghostlike creature.

These are merely a handful of the multiple spooky tales that veil the popular tourist spot, but it seems that the similarities in these experiences may just be something beyond sheer coincidences…

Currently, although hiking Bukit Larut is still permitted, Perak tourism committee head Loh Sze Yee stated last year that visitors will have to wait until 2026 to drive up the slope as it remains off-limits to vehicles.

Due to the risk of landslides, since the hill stands within the wettest area in the country which experiences the highest rainfall, the route has been closed off since 2019; however non-hikers can still access it via a 4WD service.

Care to visit?