Looking for a good scare? Dennis Chew’s radio show about ghost stories is now a dramatised series

Do ghosts exist? Depends on who you ask, but what is certain is that we can’t get enough of telling and listening to stories about them.

Dennis Chew knows this too well, having hosted his spooky stories radio programme for many years.

Now, there’s Mr Zhou’s Ghost Stories @ Job Haunting, a dramatisation of the popular, long-running on-air show that was also turned into a podcast.

For the first time, some of his scariest stories will be played out onscreen in a series of short vignettes about people in different occupations who run into unsettling things. They're available on demand for free on meWATCH from Friday (Dec 17).

The show stars Ian Fang as a photographer who snaps what he shouldn't have; Herman Keh as a real estate agent who spends a night in a haunted property; Chen Tianwen as a security guard on the night watch of an old warehouse; Nick Teo as a guy who goes for a run during the seventh month against his mother's advice; and more.

The question then, is: Is it scarier to watch the stories or to listen to them on air?

Although he thinks the show is very well shot and directed, “I still think it's scarier when you're listening”, Chew said. “I think imagination is limitless.”  
 

Cast member Chen Tianwen has a spooky story of his own from way back.

It happened at the old Mediacorp grounds at Caldecott Hill.

“I was 21 and had just joined the industry,” he recalled. “I had just finished a night scene that ended at about 2am. I had more scenes the next day at 7am. I didn’t have a car, so to save on taxi money, I decided to spend the night there.

“In the middle of the night, while I was sleeping, I felt someone pull on my leg three times.

“I was extremely tired, so I just kicked it away.

“At daylight, a producer opened the door, so I asked her if she’d been pulling on my leg. But no, she had only just arrived.”

Could there be a logical explanation for the mystery of the Caldecott leg-puller? Perhaps.

But, cautioned Singapore’s foremost ghost story teller Chew, “Sometimes, we don’t know about respect. You might say, ‘Please lah, these things won’t happen.’ But while you’re saying that, remember that old people often say, ‘Whether you believe it or not is up to you.’”

Mr Zhou’s Ghost Stories @ Job Haunting is available on demand for free on meWATCH from Dec 17.