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Boo! Take a peek at these 12 spooky supernatural and ghost stories, haunted houses and eerie abandoned places in Hong Kong…
Hong Kong always has a slightly spooky season around the corner: Ching Ming (Tomb Sweeping Day) in Spring, the Hungry Ghost Festival in early Autumn, Chung Yeung (Double Ninth) in late Autumn and, of course, Halloween! While you come up with Halloween costume ideas and book those Halloween events, if you feel like getting spooked, here are 12 ghost stories, haunted houses and sites to visit for an extra eerie time — you’ve been warned.
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Bride’s Pool – Waterfall hike at Plover Cove, near Tai Mei Tuk
Named for its seriously spooky urban legend, this small river in northeastern New Territories features a string of waterfalls with plunge pools. As the story goes, a bride-to-be was on the way to her wedding — carried in a sedan chair by porters — when one slipped on the rocks. Tragically, she fell in, her heavy wedding dress causing her to ultimately drown. Legend says you can still spot her red cheongsam-dressed spirit lurking in the waters, waiting to vengefully drown unsuspecting visitors.
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The Braided Girl — Hong Kong ghost story about a phantom haunting CUHK with a single braid
One of Chinese University of Hong Kong’s many ghost stories, this creepy urban legend tells the tale of a beautiful girl with a single braid who attempted to illegally cross into Hong Kong with her lover. Travelling from the mainland to Hong Kong, the couple feared being stopped by immigration officer, so they leapt from a train carriage as it hurtled past the campus. In a fatal moment, her hair blew in the wind and a braid got caught in the door. Lodged tight, it ripped both the braid and her face. Today, male students are said to encounter a girl with braided hair and no face on an alley colloquially called Single Braid Road.
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Yim Tin Tsai — Abandoned Hakka village in Sai Kung
Once home to about 200 villagers, Yim Tin Tsai is now a ghost town, as residents moved to the inner city over the years and left it largely uninhabited. The 300-year-old Hakka hamlet is only 15-minutes away via sampans and is home to the only salt pan in Hong Kong. Explore the island’s historic landmarks like St Joseph’s Chapel and Jade-Girdle Bridge – we also recommend the easy circular hike around the island, where you’ll also pass by abandoned houses which uniquely blend East and West architecture.
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Club Captain Bear — Abandoned revitalisation project of Tai She Wan
A decapitated plastic elephant, an out-of-place giraffe figure and a lonely gorilla. Club Captain Bear is a failed bid to restore the ghost village of Snake Bay in Sai Kung via a holiday resort project. Today, you’ll find empty buildings with broken windows, mirrors and remnants from a mechanical zoo, along with an empty swimming pool filled with overgrown grass and coral. Dystopian, yes, but weirdly beautiful!
Read More: Things To Do In Sai Kung – What To Eat, See & Do
Windsor House — Hong Kong urban legend of fox spirit haunting the former social services building
The urban legend haunting this Causeway Bay building? A fox demon. In the 1980s, a couple celebrated their child’s first month at Windsor House’s banquet hall (formerly the Duke of Windsor Social Services Building). That night, the mother dreamt of a red-eyed fox demon who, offended that no one toasted to it during the celebration, threatened to kill her baby. Upon waking up, the couple found their baby had passed away, allegedly with all its blood drained. Markings resembling fox heads subsequently began to appear on the marble walls outside the banquet hall, which many suspected to be the demon’s work. Even more eerily, a playground was built on the rooftop for the deceased child, but it was never open to public.
Read More: Your Neighbourhood Guide To Causeway Bay
Nam Koo Terrace — The ‘Wan Chai Haunted House’ used as a military brothel
A Grade I Historic Building, Nam Koo Terrace on Ship Street is Wan Chai’s neighbourhood haunted house (making an appearance on the Wan Chai Heritage Trail). At the onset of the Japanese occupation, Nam Koo Terrace was seized and said to have been used as a military brothel, or ‘comfort house’ by soldiers. Witnesses claim to have been haunted by the spirits of women, with accounts including hearing cries and screams as well as seeing ghostly flames in the house. In 2003, a group of middle school students even attempted to stay overnight on the property, with three reportedly having to undergo psychiatric treatment afterwards.
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Tat Tak School — Abandoned village school in Ping Shan, New Territories
The abandoned Tat Tak School in Ping Shan is a site of both legend and historical tragedy. Lore claims a schoolmistress hung herself in the girls’ toilet while wearing a red dress, and her spirit now haunts the locked, barren property. This eerie tale is compounded by the village’s dark history of resisting British colonial eviction and Japanese forces during WWII. The school’s hillside contains mass graves from this period, making the location a poignant testament to its painful past.
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Burma Lines — Abandoned Hindu temple behind Shan Lai Court
Murray House — 75-year-old restored Victorian-era building in Stanley
Originally located in Central before being dismantled and moved to Stanley, the beautiful Murray House was one of the oldest surviving public buildings in Hong Kong, with a heavy and tumultuous history of its own. Originally the officers’ quarters of the Murray Barracks, it was occupied by the Japanese during World War II, who used it as a military police command centre and also execution grounds for Chinese citizens. Haunting, indeed! This longstanding belief that the wronged victims would continue to roam its halls led to this building being publicly exorcised — twice! One was even televised.
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The Lotus Pond – CUHK’s heartbroken ghost story
One of the most enduring legends at The Chinese University of Hong Kong surrounds the Lotus Pond in Chung Chi College. As the story goes, a young woman drowned in the pond after a failed attempt to elope with her lover. Her spirit is said to remain, appearing to male students after dark asking them for the time. Should anyone answer, “It’s 10pm,” the presumed hour of her death, she will reach out and pull them into the water to share her tragic fate.
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So Lo Pun — Haunted and abandoned village in the New Territories
Dubbed one of Hong Kong’s most haunted and remote abandoned villages, So Lo Pun lives up to its Cantonese name — “the compass is locked”. The name originates from persistent tales of compasses mysteriously failing in the area. Accessible only by a 3.5-hour hike, its crumbling houses and overgrown fields feel worlds away from the city. Local legends tell of an entire population that vanished overnight, contributing to its eerie and forsaken atmosphere.
Read More: Your Ultimate Hong Kong Hike Bucket List
Main image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, image 1 courtesy of Hong Kong UNESCO Global Geopark, image 2 courtesy of 2009500376onland09 via Wikimedia Commons, image 3 courtesy of Getty, image 4 courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, image 5 courtesy of Getty.
