The Taipei-Yilan Highway has been voted Taiwan’s most-haunted site in an online survey of the nation’s top 10 haunted places conducted by Internet portal Yam.com.
The winding mountain road, which runs from New Taipei City’s Xindian District (新店) to Yilan County — also known as Provincial Highway No. 9 — has many hairpin turns. It has been dubbed the “Highway of Death,” because of the many fatal accidents that have happened on it. In recent years, traffic on the road has declined considerably with the opening of the Hsuehshan Tunnel and the Chiang Wei-shui Memorial Freeway (Freeway No. 5) in June 2006.
Some motorists have reported seeing ghostly apparitions, human-like figures shrouded in white floating through the air, while driving the mountainous area.
Drivers have been warned against speaking to or picking up female hitchhikers at night on the road, as there are a number of tales about such incidents having scary endings.
Yilan County Councilor Tsai Wen-yi (蔡文益) said the Taipei-Yilan Highway has seen reduced traffic and fewer accidents since the Hsuehshan Tunnel began operating in 2006.
“A program was implemented to widen the road and it was made more beautiful with landscaping works. Thus it is now more suited for leisure and tourism. The ghost stories are from the past and have no connection to the road’s new look,” Tsai said.
No. 2 on the online poll is Greater Taichung’s Port Road, the site of the Wellcome Restaurant blaze in 1995 that resulted in 64 deaths. It is the worst fire disaster in the nation’s history.
Locals claim to have seen a “ghost ship” appearing over the site late at night, with anecdotes saying the phantom ship will only set sail after it has gathered 100 souls.
Though two decades have passed, some locals say they are still scared when the restaurant and the fire are mentioned.
Greater Taichung City Councilor Huang Kuo-shu (黃國書) said the location was once a lively business section in the city, “but since the fire, the area has declined considerably.”
“We would like to revitalize the neighborhood,” Huang said.
It has been two decades since the fire and most people have forgotten about it, unless they are old residents in the area, he added.
Huang said the area has the just-launched Taichung rapid bus route passing through it with a stop nearby, as well as new hotels and stores opening, and the locals are happy to see signs of rejuvenation.
“Things are coming back to life, but now that it has come up in this list of haunted places. People in the area feel frustrated,” he said.
Taipei’s Xinhai Tunnel is No. 3 on the list. The location is a rich source of ghost stories, with scary experiences claimed by motorists passing through it late at night. The tunnel passes under an old graveyard, and the Taipei Municipal Second Funeral Parlor is at the Taipei-side entrance.
Other places on the list include Dayuan Township (大園) in Taoyuan County (the site of crash of China Airlines Flight 676 in 1998), Ita-Thao Harbor at Sun Moon Lake, an abandoned hospital in Greater Tainan, Daren Hall at the Chinese Culture University, a house in Chiayi County’s Mingsyong Township (民雄) that is said to be haunted, Taipei’s Sining Public Housing Apartments and Meichi Night Club in Keelung, which is said to be haunted.
Yam.com said the online poll took place between July 11 and Friday, and received 40,000 votes.
The seventh month of the lunar calendar is traditionally known as Ghost Month, and it began yesterday.
Taiwanese traditionally believe that during Ghost Month, the door to the underworld opens so that the spirits of the dead can come back to the world and partake of food offerings prepared by family members.
TRAGEDY: An expert said that the incident was uncommon as the chance of a ground crew member being sucked into an IDF engine was ‘minuscule’ A master sergeant yesterday morning died after she was sucked into an engine during a routine inspection of a fighter jet at an air base in Taichung, the Air Force Command Headquarters said. The officer, surnamed Hu (胡), was conducting final landing checks at Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base when she was pulled into the jet’s engine for unknown reasons, the air force said in a news release. She was transported to a hospital for emergency treatment, but could not be revived, it said. The air force expressed its deepest sympathies over the incident, and vowed to work with authorities as they
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
A tourist who was struck and injured by a train in a scenic area of New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪) on Monday might be fined for trespassing on the tracks, the Railway Police Bureau said yesterday. The New Taipei City Fire Department said it received a call at 4:37pm on Monday about an incident in Shifen (十分), a tourist destination on the Pingsi Railway Line. After arriving on the scene, paramedics treated a woman in her 30s for a 3cm to 5cm laceration on her head, the department said. She was taken to a hospital in Keelung, it said. Surveillance footage from a
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS