During its heyday, Ho Parvilla was one of Singapore's hottest attractions, drawing around

a million visitors every year.

But Ho Parvilla, it's not quite your average amusement park.

Walk through the grounds of this storied Singapore attraction, and what you won't see

are Ferris wheels or clowns or, I don't know, fried doughstands.

Instead, everywhere you turn, there are statues, fantastic, enigmatic, slightly terrifying

statues.

I would say it's akin to walking through an Asian version of Alice in Wonderland.

There's a crab with a human head, there's a turtle serving tea to a deer, there is

a pool of frolicking mermaids.

But the park's most infamous attraction is the 10 Courts of Hell, which depicts in pretty

graphic detail the horrible fate awaiting you in the afterlife should you commit bad

behavior here on Earth.

Most people find the place spooky and scary, some even say that they were traumatized for

many years to come when they visited it during their childhood.

I'm Dylan Therese, and this is Atlas Obscura, a celebration of the world's strange, incredible

and wondrous places.

Today, we're visiting Hell, by way of Ho Parvilla.

It's the story of one family, their fortune, and their tragedy.

That's after this.

If you grew up in the United States, you might have visited Disney World as a kid, maybe

hugged a cartoon mouse or seen the Hall of Presidents.

...