It was before I was born at my kampong, before PAP came to power, there was only a dirt path going up to my kampong (sits on a hill), midway from the main road to my kampong, there was a cotton tree next to those common toilet (bucket system, where you can see all the shit).
It was said that the cotton tree has a pontianak, after 8pm, no one would walk the path, and the path was not lighted. The people at the kampong know about this, and as soon as it gets dark no one will go to the toilet. There was this case of a man who came to our kampong to look for his relative, it was about 9pm when he walk along the path. When he was close to the tree, he saw a woman carrying a baby crying there, he asked her if she was OK, she did not reply, so he went closer to her. As he lays his hand on her shoulder, and asked her if she need help, she raise her head, and under the moonlight, he saw those burning red eyes and distorted face, he immediately spring back. The pontianak said I need a young man like you, with mouth wide and drooling. For a moment he was frozen, and then he garner all his strength and run as fast as he could up. According to my Grandpa, that guy face was all green when he came up to our kampong.
He fell sick for the next couple of days, after they brought a medium to him, he was ok. The cotton tree was struck down by lightning and burnt one day, then lights were installed there when PAP came to power, as a promise LKY made to my Grandpa. After that nothing
was heard about the pontianak. BTW, the pontianak never kill anyone, maybe that is the reason no one was called to destroy it. There were hauntings during the Chinese seventh month behind the toilet, they said the hungry ghosts went to feast on human manure.
I have seen the spot where the cotton tree once stood, now Novena square is on top.