Kellie's Castle History
Kellie' Castle (Kellie's Folly) sorrounding by the river is located near Batu Gajah, Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia. The unfinishedruined mansion, was build by a Scottish planter called William Kellie Smith. According to differing accounts, its was either a giftfor his wife or a home for his son.
History
William Kellie Smith was from a village in Scotland known as Kellas. In 1890, at the age 20, he arrived in the then undeveloped Malaya. Here he met an estate owner called Alma Baker, who had won concessionsfrom the state goverment toclear 360 hectares of forests in Perak. With the substantial profits made from his business venture with Alma Baker, Smith started planting rubber trees and dabbled in the tin minning industry, In time, he became the owner of Kinta Kellas Estate and The Kinta Kellas Tin Dredging Company.
Now with his fortune made, he returned home to marry his Scottish sweetheart Agnes, and brought her over to Malaysia in1903. The following year, the couple was blessed with a daughter whom they named Helen. For many years after that, Agnes tried to conceive, but to no avail. Willian Smith desperately wanted a son and heir to take over his empire in the Malaya Isles. After many years, Agnes finally gave birth to a son, Anthony, in 1915. The birth of his child was the start of even greater success for William Smith. To celebrate Anthony's birth, William Smith decided ti expandon his mansion. Smith started planning for a huge castle which he planned to call Kellas House, after hometown in Scotland.
Construction Beginning
Becouse of his fascination with the hindu religion and the indian culture, Smith's plan was for this house to share similiar architecture to those of Madras, with all its bricks and tiles imported from India. He even employed a big group of indianlaborers to build his dream house, to keep the Kellas House authentically indian. The mansion inaccesible from the main road through a bridge running across a stream.
Construction Difficulties and Smith's Death
Unfortunately for Smith, tragedies struck soon after the construction of the Kellas House began. A virulent strain of the Spanish flu spread from Europe to soon after World War I ended in Europe, killing many of the workers in the Kellas Estate. Another seventy workers constructing Smith's dream castle also became victims of the flu. Smith, who had already spent a fortune on his house lost a lot of money becouse of this.
In the end Kellas House later known Kellie's Castle or even Kellie's Folly to some was never completed. William Kellie Smith himself died of pneumonia during a short trip to Portugal in 1926. His heartbroken wife decided to pack up and return home to Scotland selling the estate and Kellie's Castle to a British company called Harrisons and Crossfield.
Today .....
All these years faded into memory, the castle has been reconditioned to serve as a visitors spot and enjoy the scenery and breeze at the rooftop. Descendants of the tamil laborers brought over to Malaya to work on the mansion still live nearby even now. Kellie's castle is now a popular local tourost attraction and was used as a setting in the 1999 film Anna and The King.
Myths... Legends... Rumors...
There have benn many myths or legends or rumors spreading around about the mysterious castle.
Some say that Smith's spirit still wandering inside the castle, especially along the corridors, guarding his great mansion. Andthat's why much of the structure stillintact after so many years.
Some say there are lots of spirits wandering around the castle since workers died during the contruntion and people died during the 2nd world war.
It is bellieved that there are 4 underground tunnels. One is connecting the Kellie's Castle to the hindu temple 500m in the west, one is connecting to the main gate garage in the south and one is connecting to the road in the east.
How about the last one? It's still undiscovered. There are rumors about the secret tunnel had been used as an execution hub of the Japanese Army in World War II. And some say it was the secret tunnel being used by Chin Ping (the famous communist leader in Malaya) in between 50s to 60s. Some say the Smith's car is parked in one of the tunnel.
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