Dubbed as Wollongong’s Indiana Jones, STOMPer John, a Singaporean historian and researcher at the University of Wollongong, says he has the answers to the unexplained underground structure in the forestry between Woodlands and Marsiling.
In an email to STOMP, the researcher sent in links to an online local community newspaper, Wollongong and Northern Leader, and his university website.
According to the university website, the structure, nicknamed the “Marsiling Dungeons”, was first discovered two years ago by Dr Kenny Fong, the leader of Singapore Paranormal Investigators.
It said the finding sparked off heated speculation, from claims that the dungeons were a place of occult worship, to it being a part of a secret British undersea tunnel network, or even the site of Japanese WWII General Tomoyuki Yamashita’s legendary hidden gold. There were also talk that the tunnels might be connected to a nearby mental asylum.
The website stated that the Land Authority of Singapore and the National Heritage Board had no records of the tunnels and were unable to identify their purpose. Singaporean academic historians, architects and archaeologists were also consulted on the tunnels but were not able to offer a clear explanation.
But the mystery has apparently been solved.
According to the news website of Wollongong University, archaelogical findings by John and his team of researchers concluded that the Marsiling Dungeons turned out to be a specially built pre-World War II Royal Air Force underground fuel reserve depot.
It was probably constructed in the mid to late 1930s and was later forgotten after the war. Several relics dated from that period, such as reinforced lamps and valves were also found in the tunnels.
The team, who started work on the site in February this year, said that archival military records and histories were examined to establish its purpose.
They considered the discovery of an intact underground World War II concrete fuel storage tank structure in Singapore, a rare find.
In an interview with a weekly newspaper circulated in the Wollongong district, the plucky adventurer recounted his experience to be a rather spine-chilling one.
“There was mud up to your knees – it sucked you in and it was red.
“There is a strange smell of gasoline as you go deep into the tunnel and you get this foreboding sense of fear.”
[Posted at: Marsiling Dungeon]
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