Long the stuff of folklore and the source of ghost stories among Taipei residents, the spooky environs of the Xinhai Tunnel (辛亥隧道) topped a recent online poll of the “Top Ten Haunted Sites” in Taiwan.
Yam.com, which conducted the poll last month, said it received votes from 120,000 netizens. The results were released earlier this week, just a few days ahead of the start of Ghost Month on Wednesday.
A Yam.com official said that the tunnel’s western entrance is next to Taipei Municipal Second Funeral Parlor on Xinhai Road, a number of fatal accidents have occurred in or near the tunnel, and several large public and private cemeteries are located in the mountains behind the tunnel, all of which help give the area an eerie feeling.
There are also urban legends about motorists seeing ghostly figures when driving through the tunnel late at night.
Another road, the Taipei-Yilan Highway, or Provincial Highway No. 9, came in at No. 2 on the list.
The winding mountain road, which has many hairpin turns, runs from New Taipei City’s (新北市) Sindian District (新店) to Yilan County.
It has been the scene of scores of fatal accidents over the years and victims’ families are known to toss ghost money along the route to assure a peaceful rest for the departed.
Coming in at No. 3 is the Chinese Culture University’s Daren Hall, which houses the arts and foreign languages departments.
There is a popular rumor about students that the building’s elevator is haunted because it sometimes takes people to “B1,” a non-existent floor.
However, one alumnus said the rumor is the result of a prank.
“Some students wanted to play a joke and put a ‘B1’ sign on the elevator’s button panel as a Halloween prank. They were just trying to have some fun by scaring people,” the graduate said.
The university did not comment on the poll.
Two “haunted houses” made the list, one in Singjhong Village (興中) in Chiayi County’s Mingsyong Township (民雄) and one in Keelung.
Singjhong Village head Yao Feng-chung (姚鋒鍾) said there were tales about the Mingsyong house many years ago, but most locals just regard it as an ordinary old house.
Keelung residents who live close to the old house belonging to the Lin clan on the list also say there is nothing scary about the building, it just looks a bit old.
The Katoli Circus, an abandoned amusement park in Greater Taichung’s Dakeng District (大坑) was also a top vote-getter.
It is considered the most famous haunted site in central Taiwan and is a popular place for late-night visits by young people.
The dilapidated building in Greater Tainan that once housed the Singlin Hospital, its doors and windows now padlocked, made the list, as did the Xining Public Housing complex in Taipei.
One Xining resident, surnamed Yu (余), who has lived there since he was a child, said there was nothing scary about it.
“It takes about seven years to be able to get an apartment in a public housing project in Taipei. There are not enough places for humans to live around here, let alone ghosts,” he said.
Also on the list were a temple in Greater Kaohsiung and an apartment building near Baishawan (白沙灣) in New Taipei City.
A Yam.com spokesperson said the poll was “just for fun.”
“We always have a healthy respect for the powers of the supernatural world. The sites chosen for the poll came from recommendations and reporting by bloggers, the media and netizens. The poll is not meant to denigrate any of these places,” the spokesperson said.
Additional reporting by Lin Liang-sheng, Ling Yi-chang and Lai Hsiao-tung
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
RSS