India, Aug. 2 -- At dusk near Tanjong Pagar, what I thought was a busy, in-demand public housing neighbourhood turned out to be one of the eeriest residential locations in Singapore, with a horror-inducing origin story. Haunted places in this island country are deceiving in that way. The ordinary, a jungle trail, a public park, or even a colonial stairwell that can seem open and harmless by the day, can start to feel like it's holding its breath when you walk through it with people who are masterful historians and, in my case, also quiet believers in the otherworld.

In April, when a guided experience I'd booked was abruptly cancelled, I unknowingly joined a replacement tour promising a "historical walk through some of Singapore's most qu...