Just smoke and mirrors: Old 'ghost prank' by fireman resurfaces on social media

JOHOR BARU: There is no ghost at the Johor Fire and Rescue Department headquarters, says the state's acting fire chief.

Mohd Rizal Buang, who has been staying up late at his office recently, said he had not come across any supernatural encounter.

He said his colleagues in the operation room for the floods, which operates round-the-clock, had not seen any ghosts either.

"None of my personnel ever said they were being disturbed.

"In fact, we have a major event right now, and firemen from all over the country are here," he added on Monday (March 20).

Mohd Rizal said this after a video, which recorded a series of supposed paranormal activities that took place at the main building of the fire department in Jalan Kangkar Tebrau here, went viral on social media platforms.

In the 39-second clip, a fireman calls out to his colleague to check a rocking chair, which rocks back and forth by itself as though an "invisible person" is sitting on it.

As the workmate moves slowly towards the chair, a bunting stand near it falls on the floor, followed by a flower pot seconds later.

It ends with one of the firemen suggesting that they had better run.

It is now known that the whole incident was a prank played by a fireman on his colleague.

Mohd Rizal said the video was shot some four years ago but it resurfaced again recently.

He assured the public that the state headquarters office was not haunted.

In February, the Melaka Association of Hotels (MAH) had acknowledged that there are cases of guests seeking refunds on their bookings after allegedly seeing “ghostly figures” in their rooms.

MAH's Melaka chapter exco member Sazali Sabri said some hotels here have to face such issues when guests demand refunds after claiming that they came across something supernatural and unexpected while staying there.

"However, there were no tangible shreds of evidence on such claims.

"Some of the guests who booked rooms for more than a day came up with such excuses when they managed to get accommodations closer to tourism icons within the city centre," he said on Saturday (Feb 11).