{"id":1367,"date":"2022-11-20T19:56:55","date_gmt":"2022-11-21T00:56:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.alllifing.com\/?p=1367"},"modified":"2023-02-02T01:01:54","modified_gmt":"2023-02-02T06:01:54","slug":"the-mystery-of-caledonian-house-penangs-99-mansions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alllifing.com\/?p=1367","title":{"rendered":"The Mystery of Caledonian House, Penang’s “99 Mansions”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Penang is dotted with colonial-era buildings. None, however, are shrouded in as much mystery as Caledonia House, an abandoned manor in the heart of a palm oil plantation in Nibong Tebal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This imposing mansion – replete with columns, symmetrical balusters, and porticos – was built in the 1840s for the Ramsden family, one of Britain’s wealthiest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The clan, renowned sugar tycoons in Port Wellesley (now Seberang Perai), first set up the estate as a sugar plantation before turning it into a rubber estate in the early 20th century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The original spiral staircase remains intact. Image: Instagram @amorgan_uk<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n


This double-story bungalow with a dance hall, balcony, and ten rooms – each with five or six doors – earned it the moniker “The 99-Door Mansion”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Business flourished until World War II when the manor was used as the headquarters of the Japanese army during their occupation of Malaya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John St. Maur Ramsden, the baronet’s eldest son who owned it, returned to the home after the war, but three years later, things started taking a dark turn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The staircase where Ramsden was shot. Image: Instagram @sueannkong<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n


In June 1948, Ramsden was shot twice in the back of his head as he walked up the grand staircase of Caledonia House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Suggested motives ranged from political violence during the postwar period to suspects such as Ramsden’s local assistant and jealous competitors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A series of arrests and court trials transpired, but the murder remains unsolved to this day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After Ramsden’s death, ownership of the plantation changed hands with local business people. By the 1960s, oil palm replaced rubber, but for unknown reasons, the house was left abandoned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rumors swirled around the dilapidated house, from reports of tortured screams to stories of a bomoh<\/em> (witch doctor) who had opened the manor’s “100th door” into the supernatural world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The time-ravaged exterior of Caledonia House. Image: Instagram @serina_sands<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n


Today, the house – which mysteriously caught on fire in July 2020 – still stands with much of the original structure in place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Time has ravaged the manor, with grime-covered walls, overgrown weeds, algae, and branches clawing at its facade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Calls have been made to restore Caledonia House, but much like the manor, the whereabouts of the current owner seem to be a mystery.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Penang is dotted with colonial-era buildings. None, however, are shrouded in as much mystery as Caledonia House, an abandoned manor in the heart of a palm oil plantation in Nibong Tebal. This imposing mansion – replete with columns, symmetrical balusters, and porticos – was built in the 1840s for the Ramsden family, one of Britain’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1370,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[212,213,210,49,215,211,214,85],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alllifing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1367"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alllifing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alllifing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alllifing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alllifing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1367"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.alllifing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1367\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1369,"href":"https:\/\/www.alllifing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1367\/revisions\/1369"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alllifing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alllifing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alllifing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alllifing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}