As a child, my parents used to scare me from going to dark, secluded places.
"Evil spirits will swallow you," they warned.
As an adult, I now know that's not true.
The only "hantus" (Malay for ghosts) I came across on Thursday night as I went about in the dark for this assignment were the ones I saw huddled in cars and on benches.
And no, they did not disappear into puffs of white smoke, though they'd give you the evil eye for disturbing their peace.
These were lovers locked in nocturnal embrace outdoors, cherishing every whisper of sweet nothings from their partners.
On Thursday night, I might have been the cause of many a magical moment lost.
You see, my car's headlights had on several occasions inadvertently unmasked their little romantic corners when I visited some of these lovers' haunts.
I wasn't being nosy on purpose. I was just trying to understand what all the online buzz was about.
Recently, many netizens have been talking about these islandwide lovers' haunts, after juicy details of the so-called sex-for-contracts case became public.
Overnight, carparks at Singapore General Hospital (SGH), Mount Faber and Hort Park became famous.
That such places exists is no big secret - they're as old as the word "love" itself.
But when you have a fine-looking woman like Ms Cecilia Sue, the IT sales executive at the centre of the corruption trial, accusing former Central Narcotics Bureau head Ng Boon Gay of forcing her to perform oral sex at these carparks, it would naturally invite curious minds.
Some netizens on hardwarezone.com and sammyboy. com have shared their favourite lovers' haunts, while others vowed never to reveal theirs.
Click on the thumbnails below for some of Singaporeans' favourite 'hot spots', or read the full story here.
