EXORCISING THE GHOST OF HUNTING PAST

SUBANG 22 OCTOBER 2011: Forget Halloween – what COC Trailblazers did recently in The Summit Hantu Hunt 2011 was decidedly creepy too!

With loosely-bandaged mummy, fang-baring vampire, well-equipped Ghostbusters team and scythe-wielding Grim Reaper on the prowl, the stage was set for a ghoulish showdown among several brazen-hearted hunters.

Instead of the traditional ‘trick-or-treat’ guising, the mortal participants were delectably served with a ‘treat of tricks’; in the form of demonic questions and unearthly challenges.

 

The Summit Hantu Hunt 2011

Hantu Best-Dressed Costume team









 

Hunt-U Busters

Hunter Ming Yang in his Halloween mask













  

Yet for years, COC Trailblazers for all their misconstrued creativity had been savagely panned by certain quarters due to their mishandling of prior hunts.

The Trailblazers KL Motor Hunt 2008 was gently frowned upon for lacking in areas of food, venue and organising skills (read here); while a glance at some of their inventive Q&As in 3K Triple One KSAS Treasure Hunt 2008, should suffice to send tingling chill down the spine of masters and precipitate cardiac arrest among the novices.



Indeed their past endeavour to be cryptically different seldom threatened to reach the plateau of run-of-the-mill, let alone scale the dizzy heights of virtuosic. Similarly during the 2008 hunt, an innovative attempt to produce a dissertational tulip, worthy of submission as thesis paper in university was duly rewarded with brickbats, instead of Nobel Prize nomination for contribution to literature.



An atypical narrative tulip already induced a minor migraine; however a multiple 11^th-hour verbal correction on the hunt morning further compounded the throbbing headache (read here). Enough to make the participants feel like phone subscribers who have just received the latest edition of Yellow Pages book, only to be told they have to make manual Tipp-Ex amendments on dozens of pages.



The misery and ridicule may have sufficiently traumatised the three Captains that somehow not a whisper of their open hunts for regulars was heard for quite a while! The word had it that the triumvirate of Trailblazers may have temporarily decided to concentrate on beginner’s hunts; though one gets the feeling that they wisely preferred to lay low till they were ready to come back and face the regular hunters again.

   

Captain Tiger Swan & Captain Black Hawk

Captain Jack Swallow giving final briefing

















 



 

Which they did in 2011 with this blood-curdling hunt! But ironically the Trailblazers attempted to exorcise the ghost of hunting past with a Hantu Hunt. An eerie coincidence? Perhaps!

We had doubts too about whether they had learnt their lessons. An abysmal repeat of another horror show would definitely trigger another harrowing experience and mass exodus of their remaining fans; with unforgiving damnation from their hunt detractors.

Surely the Captains must battle their own inner demons to resist the temptation of setting over-creative tulips or hellish questions, reserved for the masters in such a public hunt.

“Hopefully not another Triple One” was the wishful prayer of hunter Kar Peng on the eve of the hunt. Hunter Chian Min commented drily “Not a ghost of a chance!”

However the most compelling remark of all, surprisingly came from Captain Jack Swallow himself during a phone conversation, when he humbly confessed that even he struggled to fathom the logic of his past Q&A. “Now I look back; I also not sure how to arrive at the answers!”.

It was certainly comforting for the tortured souls that at least one Captain finally realised that hunters were not gypsies with crystal balls to mind-read the COC.

With such redeeming comment, should the regular hunters still crucify Trailblazers for their past sins? Perhaps it was still worthy of a last visit to the hunt purgatory for possible atonement, before the final judgement on them was unanimously passed.

True to the spirit of the Hantu Hunt, the hunters were given a hair-raising moment when a pictorial treasure question was suddenly unleashed during the briefing.

Treasure Question



For participants who had trouble recognising them, it could have gone all grisly when the COC under the hallucination that the briefing session was held in Summit USJ cinema enforced the customary rule of no photography. But of course, we are talking about 21^st-century modern hunters with resolve and unrestricted access to the Net; hence it didn’t take them too long to figure these out.

And in the hunt morning, the participants were tormented with grotesque pictures in a Name-The-Horror-Movie task. A revisit of the Sleepy Hollow and The Amityville Horror may have completed the challenge; but in the process, reevoked unpleasant memories of the past. 

Likewise there was no respite for the hunters later during the driving hunt, as more morbid spirits and ghosts haunted them along the way. 

Q23. Perhaps the dish for today's theme.



Q1 One replaces another for a cooked up apparition.

A.   Tahan Holidays Sdn Bhd

Q3. The spirit returns.

A.    Hor Dental Surgery

Q6 This ghost once required.

A.    Wisma BNG

  



More frightful challenges menacingly awaited them back in the Summit USJ. A compulsory search for Dracula, werewolf and other Rovers was a prerequisite before a vital question can be released.

Just when the hunt came to the finale, the Black Abyss Challenge ominously beckoned at the end. In a dimly-lit chamber, a sinister-looking witch requested the hunters to gallantly dip their hands into a box filled with ‘centipede’ and ‘rat’; reminiscent of an episode from Fear Factor. Certainly not a feat for the faint-hearted!



The witch in the Black Abyss



Hantu Rovers in Summit USJ



But make no mistake! Despite its macabre overtones, this indeed was a fun hunt with reasonably-set questions and tricky treasure posers.

That the thrill was achieved with such well-thought thematic challenges was all the more gratifying. With the hunt distance less punishing and the tulips less complicated, it can only seem to suggest a marked improvement from the Captains’ previous misadventures.

“Wonderful event” was the thumbs-up verdict delivered by hunter Jayaram Menon.

Perhaps this is the way Trailblazers should proceed in the future. Forget the unholy essay-like tulips and mentally paralyzing questions in open hunts. This way, you can’t go too far off as they did on this occasion.

Of course, it would take more than a Hantu Hunt to lay to rest the ghost of their hunting past but, with more such great hunts, the Captains surely expect to move a few strides closer to salvation.

Praying for another Hantu Hunt? Spooky thought indeed!
Hell, why not?



   

Participants at answer presentation

 

2nd-Runner Up

  









 

1st-Runner Up

Champion

 

More photos are available at Facebook - The Summit Subang USJ (Hantu Hunt)
http://www.facebook.com/#!/media/set/?set=a.293219314041080.87895.108837185812628&type=1