Mr Gopal – who worked in the laundry area of the mansion – had been disheartened when his employer, owner William Kellie Smith, broke his promise to send him back to India where his wife was awaiting his return.
This information had apparently come to light during a programme organised by its management in 2015 to unravel the mystery of Kellie’s Castle.
“One of the participants suddenly found himself possessed by what seemed to be a spirit. I was also present when this person suddenly spoke in English and introduced himself as ‘Mr Gopal’ and told us ‘his’ story,” Kellie’s Castle tourist complex managing director Zamari Muhyi shared.
Although the truth of this story and the existence of Mr Gopal cannot be verified, the atmosphere in and around the mansion – which is over a century old and incomplete – is enough to send shivers down one’s spine.
The construction of Kellie’s Castle, also known as Kellas House, began in 1915 and was initiated by Smith, a civil engineer from Scotland who came to Malaya to venture into the rubber and tin-mining industries. When Smith died of pneumonia in 1926, construction had only reached 70% completion.
Following his demise, work was suspended and the property was eventually sold to the British company Harrisons and Crosfield. It was subsequently abandoned and, years later, became a historical site.
Dark-tourism potential
Occupying a sprawling 2.8ha site, the history of Kellie’s Castle – coupled with stories of paranormal experiences and sightings – makes it an ideal destination for dark tourism, a subsector that is gaining increasing traction globally and is expected to grow over the next 10 years.
Projections by Future Market Insights suggest the global dark-tourism market will be valued at US$31.89 billion (RM148.68 billion) by the end of this year. It also forecasts the market will swell to US$40.82 billion by 2034.
According to Zamari, dark tourism is a unique attraction that could potentially invigorate Malaysia’s tourism industry. That said, it has not been widely developed here owing to constraints involving society and the beliefs of local communities.
The president of the Perak Bumiputera Tourism Operators Association added that when he took over the management of the mansion in 2013, he’d thought about ways to elevate Kellie’s Castle as a tourist attraction.
“At first glance, there was nothing much here except an old building. If I focused on its history, not many people would be interested. In terms of the building itself, it would mostly appeal to photography and architecture enthusiasts. Ultimately, the idea of dark tourism emerged,” he said.
Of course, promoting a certain building or place as a dark-tourism site is not easy: to offer an authentic paranormal experience, supernatural entities must truly exist at the location concerned and not be summoned or artificially created, he explained.
To market Kellie’s Castle as an authentic dark-tourism destination, the management had to thus confirm the “existence” of paranormal elements. Zamari collaborated with a local media outlet in 2015 and “successfully detected and documented the presence of an entity inside Kellie’s Castle, supported by a video recording”, he said.
Following this, night tours of the property were introduced on Fridays and Saturdays every October. “During the tour from 8pm to 11.30pm, we bring visitors in groups and guide them through the castle. Then, we leave two people at locations such as the wine cellar, laundry room, bedrooms, or other areas without flashlights for 10-15 minutes.”
Some of the participants, he claimed, have reported being “disturbed’ by mysterious touches, embraces, whispers in their ears and sudden gusts of wind.
Zamari stressed that he is not in the business of “selling ghosts”; rather, he offers visitors the unique experience of visiting a site associated with paranormal activity.
Tales of such activity at Kellie’s Castle have even impressed the Pacific Asia Travel Association, which has acknowledged the building’s easy accessibility and thrilling ghost-hunting tours.
Meanwhile, Tourism Malaysia has listed Kellie’s Castle as one of the country’s top two horror tourism destinations, alongside the Penang War Museum.
According to Kellie’s Castle manager Hakim Muhaimin, the property is further categorised as one of the five most-haunted locations in Malaysia by international paranormal researchers and US-based tourism portals.
Night tours of the mansion were discontinued during and after the pandemic, he added, but there are plans to reinstate them soon.
“This time, we plan to offer two dark-tourism activities: night tours and sleeping in the castle. For the sleepover, we will provide participants with sleeping bags and other equipment,” he said.
Hakim hopes the authorities will increase the number of dark-tourism locations in the country to support the growth of the tourism industry, and suggested that this subsector be widely promoted during Visit Malaysia Year 2025.