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Phnom Penh
Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum
(Security Prison 21)
Street 113
Status: Former High School; Former Political Prison; Genocide Site; Museum
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Warning this article depicts acts of one of the most brutal regimes in modern history. Reader discretion is advised
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.Attribution: Michael Gruijters at Dutch Wikipedia
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
History
When the Khmer Rouge – the Communist Party of Cambodia who won the civil war in 1975 – took over the Country they converted many buildings into political prisons including the Tuol Svay Prey High School.
Between 1975 and 1979 – when a Vietnamese invasion overthrew the Khmer government – it is estimated that 20,000 people were imprisoned here and all but 12 were eventually murdered.
79 foreigners were also imprisoned here after being captured – usually by accidentally entering Cambodian waters – including a New Zealander who was burned alive.
They were tortured unmercifully into giving the names of their family members, friends and neighbours which just brought more people into the endless grinder.
In the beginning they arrested, tortured and murdered members of the former regime but as time went on and they ran out of political enemies they began to create them and feed back on themselves. When the prison fell a lot of the prisoners inside were former members of their own party.
After the Khmer regime fell the former prison was converted into a museum by the puppet government set by the Vietnamese.
Paranormal Activity
This location is considered one of the most haunted places in the world. Listverse rated this site as the second most terrifying place on Earth; only the Paris Catacombs surpassed it.
Three times a year monks and government officials come to the former prison to pray for the victims and pay their respects. There is no placating them and there is no negotiation to get them to cross over with these ghosts.
A pervading and insidious sense of evil and darkness permeates every square meter of this site. Many people report the hair standing up on their neck the entire time they’re here and an inability to feel clean after leaving.
The museum staff have taken to leaving some food in the building when they go outside to eat lunch because if they don’t leave an offering to the thousands of tortured souls the ghosts become very upset and loud.
The rattling of shackles and phantom screams of pain are very common here especially after dark when the museum is closed and quiet.
There are numerous stories of seeing apparitions on the property but what is unique about this site is that all of the ghosts appear completely cloaked in darkness with no features discernable.
In empty rooms, and sometimes right in front of people, objects are thrown hard at the floor by something unseen; they usually shatter.
Other reported activity: disembodied voices often begging for mercy “sechakdei me tda krounea”; phantom moans and screams; time slips of the building during the Khmer Rouge regime; empathic feelings of hatred, fear, and terror; physical sensations ranging from extreme pain in the extremities to nausea and intense headaches and migraines; electrical disturbances; extreme cold spots; unexplained mists; light anomalies and feelings of not being alone and not being wanted.