By Tan Choe Choe

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA - The latest computer games, girls or exams - these are likely the things that occupy the minds of most 15-year-olds. But not Arwin John.
Arwin was not interested in the usual teenage activities. Instead, he was fixated on otherworldly pursuits - ghosts and all things supernatural, much to the consternation of his parents.

"I was always harassing my parents to let me spend the night in the cemetery in our hometown," said Arwin, an Ipoh boy, now 20.

He made this macabre request when he was 15 because he wanted to study, and hopefully communicate with spirits.

Tired of his pestering, his father finally relented and let him spend the night in a cemetery five years ago, with the hope that he would get it out of his system once his curiosity was sated.

"My parents told me these things were dangerous but I was determined to prove them wrong."

Arwin believes his interest in the paranormal began when he saw a white apparition in his old family home.

"I was 10 years old then. I thought it was one of my parent's friends because it physically resembled a man. But when I went towards it, it just disintegrated, and there was a chill in the air."

Since his first foray into the graveyard, Arwin has not looked back and his parents are now used to his morbid "hobby".

His father, a landscape designer, and mother, a librarian, even helped him buy some of his research equipment.

The multimedia student set up the Malaysian Paranormal Research (MPR), a club of sorts, not too long ago. It boasts a large online collection of "ghost orbs, ectoplasm, human-shaped apparitional ghost photos, videos and voice recordings" in Malaysia.

In its website, Arwin is listed as a Certified Ghost Researcher, Certified Paranormal Investigator, Certified Paranormal Counsellor and Certified Electronic Voice Phenomena Researcher.

Where does he get all these certifications from?

"The International Ghost Hunters Society (IGHS)," he said.

The IGHS, founded by Dr Dave and Sharon Oester, claims to have 11,500 members worldwide.

After finishing his Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia examination in 2006, Arwin enrolled for a six-part home-study course with IGHS. He completed it within a month.

"There are standards and protocols you have to follow. I read the notes, conducted the field investigations, put in the evidence and wrote my report."

Once he was certified, Arwin set up MPR and documented "evidence" of spirits.

"MPR's aim is to share the documentation that we've accumulated through research. We hope to change people's views through scientific research methods."

His research gear include thermal cameras, motion detectors, voice recorders - cassette and digital - and video-cams.

In the last three years, Arwin has worked with the Singapore Third Dimension Paranormal Research and the investigators of the highly popular American reality TV series, Ghost Hunters International. He has worked with these groups on separate occasions to investigate places in Malaysia that are most widely believed to be haunted.

Top of the list are Kellie's Castle in Ipoh, Perak, and Kuala Kubu Baru, Selangor.

Ghostly giggles in the cemetery

After some 85 investigations, Arwin still thinks his first investigation is the most frightening.

After convincing his father to drop him off at the local cemetery around midnight, the then 15-year-old roamed the area armed with a torchlight and camera.

As he was walking among the graves, he heard what sounded like giggles beside him. But he was alone.

"You know how it would sound like if one were to laugh while submerged in water? It sounded just like that but real close by, like she was just next to me," he said.

It was enough to send the young boy scampering home.

"I think it was just a playful spirit. But I was inexperienced and easily frightened."

'Please put my flowers back...'

Another reason why Arwin remains transfixed by the paranormal is his constant premonitory dreams.

"I have these dreams. They give me early messages of difficulties or dangers, or of the people or things that I will encounter."

Two years ago, he had a dream which he still remembers vividly. It occurred just before he went to the cemetery.

In the dream, a girl named Jean appeared before him and said: "Please put the flowers back... there, in my beautiful vase."

When he was in the cemetery the next night, he bumped into a tombstone. The name on it was Jean and right next to it was a vase of flowers scattered on the ground. He quickly placed the flowers back in the vase.

Just as he turned away, he heard a whispered: Thank You, which he managed to capture on his recorder.

Exorcism and going it alone

"We try to get spirits to respond to us if they are around by requesting them to do something. Once, I asked aloud in Kellie's Castle that if spirits were with me to walk past my machines. Right after I made the request, my motion sensor beeped."

He said if spirits choose to appear before a person, it might be trying to send a message or was attracted to certain emotions.

"Those who are not strong emotionally and mentally may get such a big shock from the contact that they lose control of themselves and lapse into momentary hysteria."

Recounting a 'possession' he was asked to exorcise in Sabah last year, Arwin met a girl who became hysterical after breaking up with her boyfriend. In between her shouts and curses, she spoke in a man's voice.

Arwin found out that she had been crying near some graves close to her home after the break-up.

"The best way to deal with such possessions is to give the person a shock -- cold water or a slap on the face usually helps. But positive words of encouragement, of care and concern, also helps calm them down and draw them out of their stupor."

Still, Arwin maintains that spirits are not harmful and can be "helpful friends".

Once, during an investigation, Arwin said he didn't see a pothole in front of him and just walked into it with his camera.

"I was certain I stepped into the hole but somehow I didn't fall into it. My foot was cushioned by something. Someone was definitely watching out for me that night.

"But spirits can be shy and won't reveal themselves if we're not sincere."

So the best way to research them was to go about it alone, he said, with an open heart and mind, and a healthy dose of respect for the dead.

"If you bring someone with you and the person's emotions are not as stable or is negative, you may not find what you want."

Maybe that explains why Arwin's club has only two other members.