When I was young, my parents would tell me spooky stories about Haw Par Villa in an effort to (teasingly) get a scare out of me, and many other kids can attest to having the same experience. But instead of being frightened, I was fascinated! The idea of having a peek into hell’s inner workings was a dream come true for my story-crazed young self, and whenever I got to go to Haw Par Villa (which was not often, unfortunately), I felt like a kid in a candy store rather than the 10 Courts of Hell. And if you’re like me, there is no better time to visit than now with Haw Ror Villa 3!
Haw Ror Villa 3 arrives this year, the third edition of Haw Par Villa’s horror festivities! Just in time for Halloween, it promises a uniquely Chinese cultural twist on the spookiest time of the year! Join me as I dive into the Haw-rifically fun festivities happening this year!
A Hellishly Good Time
To celebrate its fourth anniversary this year, the Hell Museum has been transformed from a gallery of terror and torturous punishments into a heart-pounding escape room filled with numerous twisting and turning puzzles throughout the exhibition for you to unravel! Test your nerve as the accursed denizens of the Ten Courts of Hell scheme to keep you trapped there forever unless you can keep a cool head and decipher the various puzzles scattered throughout the Hell Museum to escape their clutches successfully!
What’s more, two additional zones, the Shaman’s Bazaar and The Villa Has Eyes – An Interactive Guided Tour, have been added to the lineup!
The Villa Has Eyes – An Interactive Guided Tour takes the form of an eerie detective story where participants have to solve a grisly murder case that took place where the original Haw Par Villa once stood.
The gripping storyline follows participants delving into the complex backstory of one of the richest families in Asia while exploring the park, led by the ‘lead detective’, to solve mysteries that will allow them to put a lost soul to rest. But watch out! Vengeful spirits lurk around every corner at Haw-Ror Villa 3, and participants must be on their toes to succeed.
Lastly, a popular feature of past Haw-Ror Villa events is making a triumphant return, bigger and better than ever! Once you’ve escaped the Ten Courts of Hell and successfully freed the lost soul wandering the park, head to The Shaman’s Bazaar! Here, you can find a slice of Heaven in Hell, with suitably spookily-themed food and drinks and various local artisans offering a wide variety of similarly-themed handmade goods!
However, that’s not all the newly expanded Shaman’s Bazaar has to offer! Steel yourself and test a taboo at the spookiest time of the year as visitors get to enter a real coffin in the Rebirthing Experience. If that’s not your cup of tea, feed the hungry ghost inside your brain with engaging new exhibitions about Hungry Ghosts and the concept of being reborn!
Haw-Ror Villa 3
📅 Dates: 18, 19 October and 25, 26 October
📍Location: Haw Par Villa, 262 Pasir Panjang Road
⏰ Opening hours: 7pm to 11pm
A chance to spend a fun-filled night in one of my favourite places in Singapore? Sign me up! You’ll be able to catch me wandering around the Shaman’s Bazaar, taking in as many sights, sounds and smells as I can because once this event goes away, it’s gone for a whole year!
You can snag early bird tickets for a discounted price, and if you want to look into past Haw Ror Villa events, you can look here! For more information, check out Haw Par Villa’s Instagram and Facebook, or sign up for their mailing list!
Visuals courtesy of Journeys Pte Ltd (Management of Haw Par Villa).
