First‑Time for Melissa and the Haunted Flat
Melissa Faith Yeo, a 36‑year‑old former actress‑turned‑realtor, never forgets that first showing. It wasn’t just any three‑room HDB – it was the infamous Toa Payoh side‑kicks that locals call the “ritual‑murder” flats.
Launching Into the Real Estate Twilight Zone
- Back in 2016, Melissa was assigned a “regular” 3‑room HDB in Block 12, Toa Payoh Lorong 7.
- She’d shrugged off the site’s whispered past, thinking it was just another brick‑and‑mortar.
- Soon, inquiries erupted: “Is it facing the garden? Does the corridor end here?” She confessed, “I was like, ‘How do you know this house?’”
Whispers of the Dark History
Another agent later tipped her off that the flat belonged to Adrian Lim, the notorious toa Payoh man who “murdered two children” terrifying the whole community. Melissa met with a prospective buyer who already knew the grisly past.
- Despite the haunting, the unit felt normal – renovated, lived‑in, and “homely.”
- The viewing was smooth, without a single chill.
- After the shock, she actually did her homework:
- • The unit was impounded, then sold in 1987; it got listed a few times but never closed because agents “turned trippy.”
From Rookie to Queen of the Unsellable
Melissa says that scary stories actually bolstered her career by proving that no property in Singapore is “unsellable.” “I realised there’s no such thing as an unsellable property in Singapore,” she told AsiaOne.
Dead Things Are Less Scary Than the Living
She laughs, “I tend to think the dead aren’t as scary as the living.” So if you ever need to sell a place with a haunted past, trust Melissa to turn the spooky whispers into a selling point—one good story at a time.
Toa Payoh ritual murders
Adrian Lim and the Dark Web of a 1980s Healer
Imagine living in Toa Payoh and suddenly realizing that your neighbour claims to possess mystical powers. That’s the eerie reality of Adrian Lim, a man who marketed himself as a “healer” and actually turned out to be a criminal mastermind.
What Went Wrong?
- Lim that year — 1981 — pulled a dark plot out of thin air. Partnering with his wife and his mistress, he orchestrated a kidnapping, torture, and murder of two unsuspecting children right in his own flat.
- The trio didn’t stop at the killings; they reportedly drank the very blood of their victims — an unsettling twist that blurred the lines between myth and horrific reality.
- During the police sweep, the cellar was a shrine of oddities: crucifixes, Hindu and Chinese idols, and a range of sacramental objects so covered in blood they looked more like… elaborate artwork.
Aftermath
Once the evidence piled up, the authorities clinched the case against all three. By 1988, Adrian, his wife, and his mistress faced the gallows for their heinous acts. It’s a stark reminder that even the most ordinary shelves can hide the most sinister deeds.
Want To See The Evidence?
For a deeper look into this tragic story, check out the footage below:
Undaunted buyers
When Ghost Stories Aren’t a Dealbreaker
Not every buyer gets spooked by a stagnant past. One woman even saw an opportunity instead of a curse.
Potong Pasir’s “Buried Treasure”
- In July 2020, the National Environment Agency found an old man’s remains during a routine dengue sweep.
- Despite the grim discovery, a prospective buyer praised her fearless spirit in a 2021 interview with Wanbao.
- She said, “I’ve never hurt anyone, so what’s there to fear?” She added that if the deal closed, she’d bring a priest to bless the place and set up an altar—no worries there.
Sembawang Hills Specter Sale
Fast‑forward to 2018: a 12‑minute auction snapped up a terrace house in the Sembawang Hills estate for a cool $2.23 million.
The property’s former owners—a reclusive pair of sisters—left the place, and their skeletal remains were uncovered about a decade earlier. The corpse found enriched the house’s story, but it didn’t deter the winning buyer.
Fair Warning
While some buyers hate haunted histories, others treat them like a peculiar anecdote. Whether it’s a new home’s unseen legacy or a beachfront bargain at last, the real estate market continues to thrive—ghosts or not.
