Temporary Virtual Task
Due to renovation works to the rotunda, the Virtual Task has been temporarily shifted to one outside the museum.
Task: Bring a “ghost” to the published coordinates and take a photo of your “ghost” with the relics you see at GZ in the background. Upload your photo(s) with your “Found” log. Logs without the photo will be deleted.
Additional notes: You may choose to use any image or form of a ghost you prefer. You could print out a picture of a ghost, print a cutout of the Virtual Cache logo, bring your own “ghostly” figurine or even just sketch out a “ghost” on a piece of paper on the spot. If you’re feeling extra creative, you could dress yourself or a partner up as a ghost for the photo, or even try to snap a photo of an actual(!) ghost. However, no edited or altered photos are allowed for obvious reasons.
What you see at the temporary published coordinates are the remnants of the gravestones that was once part of the Fort Canning Christian Cemetary. The remains of have been exhumed and interred elsewhere, many in their home countries, but the headstones were too expensive to move and are thus kept here as a memory of the history of the grounds you now stand on. An apt place for a spectre to linger nonetheless, and thus, a worthy proxy to original task.
If you want to read more about the original task, the original listing is below for your viewing pleasure:
Welcome to a ghostly Virtual Cache in the National Museum of Singapore! I hope you’ll find this cache a fun way to uncover a “spookier” side of the museum, while gaining a smiley at the end of it all.
NOTE: Both locals and tourists NEED NOT PAY an admission fee to access the location required to complete the cache, though you will need to visit the museum during its opening hours. You will need to complete the task described in this listing to claim the find, and logs that do not fulfill the requirement will be deleted.
Without further ado, let’s get into the story behind your task!
What are Virtual Caches?
Unlike the conventional caches, Virtual Caches do not require the geocacher to find a physical container at the coordinates. Instead, to claim a “find”, cachers need to prove that they have visited the location at the coordinates by completing a set of tasks set up by the cache owner. Unfortunately, new Virtual Caches can no longer be created, except for special Virtual Caches that have been given out as rewards over the last few years. Pre-existing Virtual Caches have been grandfathered and are allowed to be listed as long as the cache is still viable.
The identifying symbol for a Virtual Cache is a rather cute ghost, and I like to think that it kind of represents a sort of non-physical cache container “haunting” a particular spot for all eternity. And in that spirit (pun very much intended), this virtual cache is about the (in)famous Ghost of the National Museum.
Where Got Ghost?
At the coordinates, up on the second floor of the iconic rotunda atrium of the National Museum, is a wrought iron spiral staircase. While these beautiful pieces of architecture are typical of the Neo-Palladian style in which the Museum is built in, this special staircase has managed to gain notoriety as the most haunted part of the museum. If the tales are to be believed, visitors have reported feeling cold spots near the staircase. Furthermore, cleaners and some (un)fortunate visitors have also reported seeing an entity walk up and down the spiral staircase.
Who it is or why an entity haunts the staircase is a dark and murky question… some say it’s the ghost of one of the museum’s former directors and accomplished biologist, Carl Alexander Gibson-Hill, who was said to have died by suicide just days before he was due to relinquish his post at the museum. Others believe that it has something to do with the exhibits that were stored in the room at the top the stairs in what is perhaps, a classic case of a cursed artifact. Those who peddle this version of events claim that some shrunken heads from the headhunters of Borneo used to be kept up there, or perhaps, these were some items taken wrongfully from a powerful local bomoh (Malay shaman or medicine man).
Whichever tale you want to believe (or not), do pay a visit to these stairs on your visit to the Museum. When you find them, complete the following task:
Bring a “ghost” to the stairs and take a photo of your “ghost” with the spiral stairs in the background. Upload your photo(s) with your “Found” log. Logs without the photo will be deleted.
Additional notes: You may choose to use any image or form of a ghost you prefer. You could print out a picture of a ghost, print a cutout of the Virtual Cache logo, bring your own “ghostly” figurine or even just sketch out a “ghost” on a piece of paper on the spot. If you’re feeling extra creative, you could dress yourself or a partner up as a ghost for the photo, or even try to snap a photo of the actual(!) ghost. However, no edited or altered photos are allowed for obvious reasons.
Example:
I look forward to your visits and your photos, and of course, if you do encounter anything… err… odd while you are there, please report it in your logs as well. Finally, if there’s something strange in the neighbourhood, who do you call?
Additional Information for Visitors
Opening hours: 10 am – 7 pm, daily
Closest MRT stations: Dhoby Ghaut (North-South Line, Circle Line, North-East Line), Bras Basah (Circle Line) and Bencoolen (Downtown Line)
You may enter the museum from the front entrance, facing Stamford Road, or from the back entrance, facing Fort Canning Park.
No admission fees are charged for entering the museum building, you need only purchase a ticket if you intend to visit any of the exhibition galleries.
Virtual Rewards 3.0 - 2022-2023
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between March 1, 2022 and March 1, 2023. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 3.0 on the Geocaching Blog.