Investigating Things That Go Bump In The Night

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Arwin John founded the Malaysian Paranormal Research in 2007 due to a strange event that occurred during his childhood.
Arwin said he had his calling to the paranormal world after witnessing several orbs of light going through the walls of his home.
A graphic designer who indulges in his fascination with the paranormal at every chance he gets, Arwin is the only investigator at Malaysian Paranormal Research, although he works regularly with other investigators to check out haunted places if the area he needs to cover is vast.
He has even written a book on paranormal investigations. While he is aware that some dismiss his work as mumbo jumbo based on an overactive imagination, Arwin has also met many with a firm belief in the paranormal.
Based in Ipoh Perak, Arwin, 34, has been investigating the paranormal for 15 years, and specialises in investigating cemeteries as well as iconic buildings.
He even received several certifications from the International Ghost Hunters Society, which was founded by Dave and Sharon Oester – as a certified ghost researcher, paranormal investigator, paranormal counsellor and also accredited as an electronic voice phenomena researcher.
Arwin during a site visitHe is one of only two Malaysians with this accreditation; the other being his mentor, Augustine Towonsing, a school teacher in Kedah.
Ariwn has previously worked with the Singapore Third Dimension Paranormal Research, the US reality TV series Ghost Hunters International, and was even featured in Asian Ghost Stories a few years ago, where he investigated Kellie’s Castle in Ipoh.
When Malaysiakini asked him to share some of his most recent paranormal encounters, Arwin said, “I have heard voices in my room. I have heard voices of some conversation going on at around 2.30am. I even saw a black apparition in my garden recently.”
If he had gone to some interesting places lately, Arwin said he had, but they were privately owned, so he could not divulge further details.
“I did go to a school recently, but I can’t tell you which one.
“I was called in to just come and document anything that was going on there. I was able to capture several paranormal activities. It was actually in the swimming pool area of the school,’ Arwin explained.
When told that people normally associate hauntings in school with school toilets, Arwin laughed and said,” Well, in this case, the toilet was right next to the swimming pool.”
Spooky encounters
While what he does is not accepted in mainstream science, Arwin takes his work very seriously.
Arwin explained that he usually spends about four hours on the first day checking out the location which is being probed.
Sometimes he does this in the daytime to map out the area properly. The following day, he would set up his camera equipment and other related gadgets and gizmos.
“This would take about four hours longer if we were covering a big location.”
While much of what we believe in the paranormal is based on what we see on film and TV, Arwin had a different take on the matter.
“I have never come across these so-called demons or whatever these people are talking about.
“If you are a killer or a murderer, whether you are alive or dead, you still retain the same characteristics of who you are. It's like a mirror image of ourselves on the other side. So, the spirits that I have encountered are mostly just like humans, animals and pranksters.
“And I have never come across these so-called demons or any so-called oppressive kind of things,” explained Arwin.
Asked about the most haunted place he had been, Arwin said it was the Pudu Prison.
“It's a very emotional, tragic place. Prison is the kind of place where it has all these kinds of energies get trapped within.
"Given the fact that a lot of people there were languishing, knowing that their time is near, they're going to be hanged and all that - so, the place becomes like a ‘beacon’,” Arwin added.
Arwin investigating a ‘haunted’ siteAs a paranormal investigator, Arwin said he is drawn to places that have a lot of emotional tragedies.
“It can even be a place such as an opera house or a cinema. A lot of emotions are being shed through acting and voicing things out.
"So, any place where there is a lot of this concentrated energy tends to have this, what we call magnetic energy.
“If there happens to be any spirit that's passing by, and it feels that their energy is like giving them comfort and a connection with the residual energy, they will tend to go towards the residual energy and feed on it,” he elaborated.
Like the living, who are drawn to those who exude a lot of emotion, the same concept applies to the afterlife.
Personal loss
Arwin used to regularly upload footage of the places he has investigated on the Malaysian Paranormal Research YouTube page. However, he has not been doing that lately.
“It's been quite a while since I uploaded any new videos. It is probably because my mom passed away last year,” said Arwin.
He recalled telling his mother that should she go before him, she should come and help him with his investigations.
“But here's the thing that I overlooked, because it's always me doing it for other people and getting them to communicate the experience, right? But when this happened to me. I became an emotional wreck.
“When I'm doing it for others, I'm at peace, calm and able to easily communicate, but when something like this happens to me, okay, I become emotional. This is a big obstacle and a barrier to me.”
Arwin, however, believes that he heard his mother’s voice six months after her passing.
“At the same time, her lingering scent. As you know, when you recognise someone, they have a certain scent. So, that was happening a little bit in my home, in specific areas. Beyond that, when I try to talk or communicate, I don't get any response.
“But there was only one vivid dream I had, where I was talking to my mom and that was the only dream that I've ever had (after her passing).
“It's been exactly one year since her death, that one particular dream and that's about it. And the feeling of sadness vanished,” Arwin shared.
Arwin with with other paranormal investigatorsArwin said he couldn’t tell if his mother’s spirit was still around as he had yet to use his fancy equipment to check. However, he is planning to do it in December because she enjoyed spending Christmas with him.
He also hopes to start uploading videos of his investigation soon.
“I plan to compile everything and update with the latest videos and articles and stuff like that.”
Connecting with spirits
For his work, Alwin has a lot of special equipment that he obtained from the US, such as infrared cameras that record visuals in total darkness and the TriField Natural Electromagnetic Detector, which detects disturbance in the earth’s natural magnetic field.
During normal investigations, Arwin would set up his equipment, including video and audio recorders.
“But before that, you have to make sure that you are calm, and the mind is empty of unnecessary thoughts and sadness.
“That's why, in my standards and protocols listed on my Malaysian Paranormal Research website, I state that you never investigate or conduct any kind of research when you are emotionally unstable - or if you're angry, feeling sad or too happy.
“When you're mentally unstable, or you're emotionally not there, you won't be able to even communicate and won't get any response,” said Arwin.
On why people try to communicate with spirits, Arwin acknowledged that some do that because they are emotionally unstable.
“You see, a lot of people, when they lose someone close to them, they try to communicate, but nothing happens.
He even cited his own loss as an example, saying “It’s as if someone shut the door in front of you, between you and the person. That's how it feels,” he explained.
Only science, no religion
On his probe, Arwin stated that he only uses scientific methods and does not bring religion into it.
“This may sound controversial but wearing a cross or whatever religion you come from is not going to prevent the spirit from communicating with you or ‘live’ in your house.
“Such paraphernalia has no power over the deceased or the spirits. It's just a belief system and that is the thing I realised through my investigation," he claimed.
Whether he gets fearful during investigations, Arwin said he never really felt that way – except during his first investigation in 2007 when he was alone in a dark place.
“To be honest, when a spirit is around, you will not feel fear. The reason you are feeling fear is that there is nothing around and your brain is beginning to say that, okay, there's nothing here, so what's going to appear?”
Arwin said that his family and close friends know that he is a paranormal investigator, and they respect what he does.
“You know, what's the point of living here for a short time only to die? This sparked my interest in investigating the paranormal. The awe of seeing these lights was not the main reason.
"I wouldn't know what those were if I didn't investigate further but what led me was the fear of losing someone. Losing loved ones and, you know, why are we here and all these kinds of questions.”
Arwin said that every time he gets an answer to a question, it leads to 20 more questions, which keeps him motivated to carry out more investigations.
“Sometimes, we look at certain evidence after several years, we realise that what we thought it was, is really something else. What we found might be related to something else. So, it's more of a process of ironing out a lot of things,” Arwin said.
He also dismissed what is depicted in paranormal-centred shows, calling it pure entertainment and usually full of drivel.
“We would tell people that investigating is like catching fish, you know. You just wait. It's not a fun thing sometimes. It can be boring, it can be tedious. It's not like you go to a place, and immediately you are going to get evidence and communication.
"No, sometimes it takes us up to two weeks or more. We have to keep going to the same place over and over again just to gather very minute evidence of things, such as maybe a spirit touching an object or finding something happening there, and so on. So, it's a very long, tedious process,” said Arwin.
He also advises people not to bring in religious figures to help get rid of spirits and such.
“It will not work, and it may even backfire. Because like I said, the living has no power over the deceased. I have seen spirits even in the church, in temples and other sacred sites.
“They are there. They are like normal human beings. They are everywhere. Just putting on a religious object or chanting something is not going to stop or disallow a spirit from coming through.”
‘Spirits don’t possess the living’
With that said, Arwin also does not believe in the dead possessing a living.
“If they intend to come and pass by or talk, they will just do that. But of course, some people say spirits can enter your body, that is just another ridiculous story.
“Spirits can't enter a living body and often, a mental health issue is the real cause of a ‘possession’.” - Mkini

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