If you work late nights or permanent night shifts, you will probably hear your fair share of strange stories. Taxi drivers, especially, seem to encounter things that cannot always be explained.
Since last year, I have been listening to my favourite Singapore radio station, Love 97.2FM and Mr Zhou’s Ghost Stories podcasts. Many of the stories involve taxi drivers picking up unusual “passengers” late at night. Some drivers even claimed their business suddenly became poor because there was an unseen “extra passenger” sitting in the front seat — something only certain people could apparently see, causing potential customers to avoid the taxi altogether.
This experience happened to me back in 1997 in Singapore.
I was meeting my friends for steamboat dinner and was already running late. After alighting at MRT station at City Hall MRT Station, I headed towards the shopping mall taxi stand to grab a cab.
Back in the 90s, taxi fares in Singapore were far less standardised than they are today. Some taxis started at $2.20, others at $2.40 or even $2.80, and certain meters seemed to climb frighteningly fast. I rarely took taxis unless I was desperate. At the time, I only owned a pager — mobile phones were still uncommon and expensive — so there was no easy way to call my friends or book a taxi.
When I arrived at the taxi stand, several taxis were lined up waiting for passengers during the busy pre-5pm rush hour.
I noticed that the first taxi already had someone sitting inside, so I naturally walked past it and entered the second taxi in the queue.
The driver immediately turned to me and said, “You should take the first taxi.”
I was confused and simply told him to drive.
At that moment, I thought nothing of it.
But years later, after hearing countless similar ghost stories from taxi drivers, I suddenly remembered that strange encounter. What if the “passenger” I saw in the first taxi was not actually there at all?
To this day, I still wonder whether I unknowingly saw something I was never supposed to see.
So here is my warning to taxi drivers: if people keep avoiding your taxi for no obvious reason, you may want to ask yourself whether you truly are driving alone.
This story was later broadcast on Mr Zhou’s Ghost Stories podcast on 29 April 2022.
You may also want to check out my posts on things you should avoid doing during the Chinese Hungry Ghost Festival and other Chinese ghost festival taboos.