'I wouldn't Go In There' because of Robert Joe!

Meet Robert Joe (RJ) - the urban explorer and blogger who tracks down true and often untold stories hidden behind Asia’s most notorious haunted sites. Our explorer visited at least 10 locations and in the transcript sent to us, Robert shares his interesting findings when filming "I Wouldn't Go In There" - now showing exclusively on National Geographic Channel (Astro Ch 553). Find out more after the jump!

Q: When did you start getting interested in the paranormal? 

• Robert: I think we all loved ghost stories when we were young, whether hearing them from our parents or from people we met at parties or at camp. People like to be scared, they enjoy the sensation of being surprised and thrilled to some extent. I think the desire to be frightened is in some ways also a desire to feel alive. In that sense, fear is a measure of how alive you are. But the thing about IWGIT is that it goes beyond the ghost stories, it’s not really about paranormal stories at all. It’s about the history behind them that might have led to all these ghost stories in the first place. 
  
  

Q: Have you had any ghostly experiences? 

• Robert: Haha, thankfully, I haven’t had any paranormal experiences, even during the filming of IWGIT. But we’ve visited a lot of scary places, including forgotten tombs, long abandoned hospitals and a detention center; they’re mostly places not frequently visited by people plus they echoed with the ghost stories the locals have shared with us. Also, most of these sites are usually dark, damp and neglected and you don’t feel comfortable, making it the perfect setting for these hauntings. There were times that I felt things I couldn’t explain, but I wouldn’t be so quick as to attribute them to paranormal activity. 
  

• Robert: I must say Rifle Range made quite an impression on me. There’s just something eerie and off about this apartment complex where it’s amazingly dark in the middle of the day. It’s clearly a series of buildings with a long history and everything seems a little older. There are a lot of corners; it seems like people are constantly coming out of or around corners. But ultimately, the stories that we got from the people on the street were probably some of the most memorable and interesting that I heard during the entire series. That was definitely one of the most fascinating places, although everywhere we visited had its fair share of scary moments.
  
  

Q: What are the research methods that you used? We read that you used a combination of old traditional and modern technology. So what were your most important gadgets that you used to visit these places and to do your research?

• Robert: I use a lot of gadgets, but the thing about them is that you sort of hone in on what you find most useful to you at a particular point in time. Obviously one great thing about using a smartphone is how you can look things up on the internet and use GPS to make sure you’re in the right place. My camera was probably my most trusty tool, simply because what I’m doing is documenting things as I come across them in the exploration. I also take notes either visually by taking pictures on my camera or just typing it down on my smartphone. Oh, and it also helps to have a flashlight; I’d say that these are the three things any self-respecting urban explorer can’t do without and were my most essential possessions during the filming of IWGIT.
  
  

Q: The history behind some of these places that you visit is pretty significant. Which one moved you the most? 

• Robert: That’s really hard to say as every location we visited had experienced some pretty painful and traumatic events in their pasts. However, one that still resonates with me is something we heard from someone here in Malaysia. We spoke to a gentleman in Butterworth who had witnessed a beheading. He said something that really stayed with me: there are just some things that are not meant to be seen. And somehow that still stays with me, even up this day. 
  
  

Q: What was your most interesting find here in Malaysia? 

• Robert: I think the most interesting thing for me was being able to speak to people and have the chance to listen to their stories; each one of them is like an actual walking historical document. All these people who lived in this one apartment complex (Rifle Range) and had seen so much, I thought it was pretty incredible to come across so many different stories. One guy that we spoke to in Rifle Range had been living in the same apartment for 35 years which I thought was amazing since that’s pretty uncommon nowadays.
  

• Robert: In general, we would often burn incense, joss sticks and paper effigies before entering areas that were culturally sensitive as a nod of respect to the traditional rites appropriate for the area or location we were shooting in. Not so much to prevent unlucky things as much as we felt it was just the right thing to do.

Q: Why stress more on the history of these places instead of just accepting the ghost stories and the paranormal activities? 

• Robert: Because IWGIT is not just another run-of-the-mill paranormal investigation show. We’re certainly interested in the ghost stories, but we see it more as a tool to help expose the history of a certain place. I think it’s by diving into the history and researching more on the cultural and historical influences in each society that you begin to see and understand how these ghost stories manifest. You’re uncovering things that shed light on the human condition and these stories sort of act as a barometer on what happened to the community in that area.
  
  

Q: For the Malaysian episode, you worked with Nazrudin Rahman, a local personality here. What was it like working with him? 

• Robert: That guy was great! He was really animated, very professional and also very engaging. He was very excited and it was really cool working with him. He was very into his work. We explored some old and abandoned building which I think had been used by a very rich merchant back in the day and it was creepy, but that was really fun. Everyone whom we worked with, whether they were local celebrities, experts or people off the street all helped IWGIT to become what it is, I‘m grateful to have had the chance to work with all of them. 
  
  

Q: It must have been a really great experience talking to people from different walks of life in each of the places in Asia that you went to about their beliefs and their local ghost stories. Could you tell us about the experience? 

• Robert: The people that we met and spoke to along the way really facilitated the IWGIT production; I don’t think we could have done it without them. Every one of them was welcoming and accommodating in their own way, and we met some proper characters and experienced an amazing mixture of cultures too. All in all, it was a really eye-opening experience because in some ways their stories are as important as the histories that we find because the history is their story.
  
  For example, the last episode we did was at a fishing village in Diu, India. There was a moment when we interviewed a fisherman on a boat. Because it was monsoon season, all the boats were on dock and you could jump from boat to boat and not hit the ground. It looked like it was about a kilometer. While we were talking to this fisherman, all the other kids from the area piled onto the boat and I was afraid the boat would rock over. But it was really amazing to see that. Moments like that were just amazing. 
  
  

• Robert: I guess that’s for the audience to decide but I feel we’ve found a pretty significant number of connections between things that happened historically (based on the historical facts and research) and the haunted stories that exist. I think we’ve vindicated ourselves. We did a good job to shed light on a lot of stories which people may not have known about. 

Q: What did you discover about Penang, historically, through your research? 

• Robert: Penang was a good example of a lot of things that have happened in Asia over the last century, involving stacked colonial presences and how these colonial presences interact. You get a little snapshot of moments of transition and some of the terrible things that can happen during them which I thought it was a really good example of. 

Q: What’s next for Robert Joe (R.J.) after this? 

• Robert: I had the most amazing time working on the first season of IWGIT and am now engaged in the post-production work and various promotional activities for IWGIT since it’s premiering real soon on National Geographic Channel. However, I really hope we get the opportunity to make a second season as there are still so many places left to explore. Asia is a treasure trove of ghost stories and has a long history dating back to ancient civilizations and I would love the opportunity to explore and investigate further. What we’ve found during the making of season 1 was that the best leads came from the locals so we hope that after watching IWGIT, viewers will visit the National Geographic Channel Asia Facebook page to suggest where we should head to next. 

Q: What do you hope to achieve through the IWGIT series? 

• Robert: At the end of the day it’s about storytelling, I want the stories that we’ve uncovered to be told to our viewers, because ultimately it’s their (Asia) stories and their histories which happened in their own backyard. I hope IWGIT delivers an accurate and captivating take on storytelling and history. In each episode, the viewers and I embark on an investigative journey to discover the details which lay hidden in urban legends and sites of mystery. What I would like people to take away from the show is a better understanding of the events that occurred at these locations and also a better knowledge of their history. 
  

"I Wouldn’t Go In There" premieres exclusively on National Geographic Channel on 23 August 2013 at 10.00pm with 2 back-to-back episodes and thereafter every Fridays at 11.00pm.