GRAPHIC designer by day and paranormal investigator by night, Arwin John leads what many would consider to be an exciting life. However, he is quick to dispel the myth that invisible entities such as ghosts are as active or dramatic as they are portrayed in movies and TV series.
Nonetheless Arwin has some great footage of the paranormal, which can be found on the Malaysian Paranormal Research official website that he started in 2007.
Arwin is listed as a Certified Ghost Researcher, Certified Paranormal Investigator, Certified Paranormal Counsellor and Certified Electronic Voice Phenomena Researcher.
He got his accreditation from the International Ghost Hunters Society, which was founded by Dr Dave and Sharon Oester.
He is one of only two Malaysians with this accreditation; the other is Alwin’s mentor Augustine Towonsing, a school teacher in Kedah.
Arwin has worked with the Singapore Third Dimension Paranormal Research, the US reality TV series Ghost Hunters International, and was even featured in Asian Ghost Stories a few years ago, where he investigated one of the most haunted places in Malaysia – Kellie’s Castle in Ipoh.
“I have been doing this for about 13 years,” Arwin said during our interview.
Arwin explained that he was always curious about the cycle of life, how we are born, live for a certain amount of years, and then die. He wanted to understand why he couldn’t stay in this world forever, and what happens after we die.
“At a young age I saw some strange balls of light that were glowing and passing between the walls of my home in Ipoh. This led me on a journey to find answers about life after death.”
On his website, there are videos featuring strange orbs or dark masses in various places such as Pudu Prison and a Chinese cemetery.
Arwin sets up a camera at key locations in order to capture these strange sightings.
“We don’t usually sit around because our body emits a kind of heat that attracts mosquitoes. Therefore to eliminate these factors, we don’t stick around during the recording.
“The black apparitions that sometimes appear in videos, I have actually seen these things in person. They look like a ball of light. What is captured on video is the camera’s perception of what it is. But what we see looks different.”
He said these ghostly entities initially take on the shape of a ball of light, before they seem to disperse energy and end up looking like a dark apparition. Arwin explained that it takes a lot of energy for ghostly beings to show themselves, and they often only appear in places where many traumatic experiences have taken place, such as prison, or places where there are war relics, such as museums.
“The place must have undergone many tragedies, and there is an emotional imprint in that place. Places like this are a magnet for entities.”
For his work, Alwin has several special equipment that he obtained from the US.
“For recording purposes we use exclusively infrared cameras that are able to see and record in total darkness. For phenomena detection, we will use the TriField Natural Electromagnetic Detector.
“This is not the regular EMF (electromagnetic field) detector you see on TV. [The EMF detector] measures the earth’s magnetic field. It doesn’t tell you there is a ghost there. It just tells you something is disturbing the earth’s natural magnetic field.”
Arwin said a lot of paranormal investigative shows on TV are exaggerated. There is no equipment that can tell you whether there is a ghostly entity in the vicinity.
“Real ghost research is very boring. You could sit an entire night in a haunted place like Kellie’s Castle and nothing could happen. “
Malaysia has a rich culture when it come to the paranormal. However, other than a few psychics, mediums and TV show hosts, there is no proper community of paranormal investigators.
“Culture is to be blamed. They view the paranormal as something magical, and nothing can be done unless it is by a certain individual who possess some special kind of power.”
