Taking a page from similar sites across America, officials in a Malaysian state have put forward a proverbial paranormal plan to draw tourists to the region by publicizing and promoting a purportedly haunted house located in the area. According to a local media report, the Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister for the state of Sabah shared the concept with reporters over the weekend. “Right now, throughout the world, there is this kind of dark tourism especially for visitors and there are many who are enthusiastic about it,” Jafry Ariffin said, “but it requires some level of courage.”
Specifically, the state intends to court tourists to visit a historical residence known as the Agnes Keith House, which dates back to when Malaysia was a colony of Britain and has since become a museum. The namesake of the home, Agnes Keith, was an American author who penned several autobiographies detailing her time living in the country. In those books, she noted a series of strange incidents that occurred in the home, including daily sightings of a female apparition. Paranormal activity, such as objects moving on their own and ghost sightings, had also been reported by subsequent occupants of the home as well.
It is that spooky reputation that the state of Sabah hopes to now capitalize on, explained assistant curator Safinah Yusop. “We came up with this idea because foreign tourists would say that they experienced eerie feelings as soon as they entered the house,” she said. Although she conceded that none of these visitors would admit to seeing a ghost, Yusop indicated that “tales of hauntings at the house had only been told by the locals. Some said they saw someone looking out a window and others said they saw a lady on the roof of the house.”
As such, when Malaysia begins welcoming international visitors to the country again soon, the Agnes Keith House is poised to be positioned as a prime destination for would-be ghost hunters, who will have the opportunity to spend the night in the home-turned-museum and potentially encounter the apparitions said to still reside there. While some skeptics may scoff at the idea that ghosts exist, the fact that such locations are popular tourist destinations seems to be less debatable and so its understandable that the state is looking to cash in on the craze since they have their very own haunted house.