The longest bridge in Asia and the third in the world, Penang Bridge connects the island of Penang with the mainland Peninsula Malaysia. Completed in 1985, the construction of the bridge saw seven construction workers killed or drowned. Many believe they then haunt the bridge.

Ever since it is completed, many claimed to have seen ghosts of all types. The coast at the end of the bridge as well as the ‘pillars’ of the bridge is popular among anglers. In the early days, many anglers claimed to have caught a fish with tiny human heads. Some also claimed to have caught a human head on their fishing hook. Many drivers who used the bridge late at night also claimed to have seen ghosts without heads moving along at side of their car. A few others reported seeing a lady in white trying to catch a ride on the middle on the 13.5km bridge. There were many stories about what happened to those who stopped.

Nevertheless, all those were stories of the 80’s. As the traffic volume on the bridge increased tremendously over the years, less and less of such ghosts sighting were reported. Perhaps the people scare the ghost away? I personally have not heard of any new ghost stories about the bridge for a long while until recently.

It was said that if you are driving on the bridge in the middle of the night, when there were not much traffic, you might come across a car that would overtake you at high speed. After overtaking you, it would slow down. If you then overtake the car, you would see a headless driver controlling it.

Another scary story was told to me by my aunt. It happened to a friend of her sister (not related to me). That person, a near-middle age woman, was driving on the bridge about a couple of years ago with her mother by her side. They were on their way home after having dinner at a relative’s place.

That particular night did not seem to be any different from usual. They have been plying the bridge so often and nothing had ever happened. It was near midnight and there were still a lot of cars using the bridge. She was driving at a comfortable speed while keeping an occasional eye on the rear-view mirror as well as the speedometer. Everything seems perfect although they were a bit tired by then. Her mother did not talk much in the car, probably tired after a full day’s outing.

Something very strange happened as she was approaching the middle of the bridge. Through the rear-view mirror, she saw her mother sitting at the car’s back seat. That could not be possible since her mother was sitting on her side. She reckoned she was merely tired and was seeing things. The idea of a ghost never even crossed her mind. She took another look at her rear-view mirror and it was indeed her mother’s reflection that was on the mirror.

Feeling curious, she turned to look at the mother. She saw her mother sitting by her side. However, her face was so pale as if she was very sick. Fearing the worse, she kept asking her mother if she was all right. There was no response from her mother. The old lady just kept quiet. She drove to the emergency stop at the side of the bridge wanting to do something to help her mother. At that moment, she had forgotten about the reflection she just saw. She thought her mother was sick and wanted to see if there’s anything she could do there and then.

Once the car stopped, her mother suddenly opened the door and got out of the car. The lady got scared while wondering what was her mother up to. She quickly took off her seat belt but before she could get out of the car, her mother had jumped off the bridge. Her body was found drowned later. A police investigation reveals that the woman did not pushed her mother down the bridge and it was concluded as a suicide death.