Haunted Basketball Court (I)

Public facilities such as basketball courts are meant for the benefits of local residents to gather together and enjoy each other's company without the worry of forking out expenses. However, many of these shared facilities are not in good conditions over time due to lack of maintenance...

I visited a friend's son, James who was seriously injured by a falling basketball stand. Luckily his injuries were not life threatening. By the time I learnt of the news, James was recuperating in his house.

After some consolation just as I was about to take my leave, James said to me: "Uncle Liew, thank you for visiting. I have a story for you. Are you interested?"

I was a little surprised so I said: "I shouldn't ask... But fire away please!"

James cleared his throat while I pulled a chair and sat beside him. And this is James's story:

"I always wanted to join the school basketball team. After I have learnt about the announcement that the school team is having a selection exercise, I was determined to brush up my basketball skills.

The school basketball court is always occupied or booked. The next alternative is the public basketball court outside there.

The mishap happened during one evening after dinner. My friend, Mike and I went to the basketball court to practise. After some rounds of basket shooting, the ball somehow wedged between the board and the basket ring.

We couldn't find any bamboo stick around so Mike decided to climb up the basketball stand to get the ball. Just as when Mike reached the basketball, the lights illuminating the court suddenly went off and at the same time, the basketball stand suddenly toppled.

Mike lose balance and fell. Unfortunately the basketball stand fell right on top of Mike and on my left foot.

A few residents around hastily came to our aid. The basketball stand was pretty heavy and more people were summoned. The stand was eventually removed. The unconscious Mike and I were rushed to the hospital.

Strangely, once the basketball stand was removed, the lighting suddenly returned to normal.

Unfortunately, Mike succumbed to serious head injuries. While I suffered serious bone fracture..

Later, when the basketball court was being repaired, the workers found a few pieces of slabs used to stabilize the basketball stand had mysteriously disappeared. Without the weight of the slab, the stand would undoubtedly fall.

Though we could perhaps explain that the light suddenly went out of order, which is normal. But the disappearance of heavy slabs cannot be explained.

Further more, the basketball court has seen many accidents that ended up with head injuries. The case of Mike being the worse one so far.

It is rumored that the basketball court was built on an ancestral grave. The descendant  didn't want to remove their ancestor's grave but the developer put a court order to force the grave removal.

Some people claimed to have seen the figure of an old man in old Chinese costume strolling on the basketball court during evening..."

I felt intrigued and decided to find out more but I must leave Mike to rest for now. So I said: "Thank you for your story. I will come and visit you later."