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.
Taiwanese scientists have engineered plants that can capture about 50 percent more carbon dioxide and produce more than twice as many seeds as unmodified plants, a breakthrough they hope could one day help mitigate global warming and grow more food staples such as rice. If applied to major food crops, the new system could cut carbon emissions and raise yields “without additional equipment or labor costs,” Academia Sinica researcher and lead author the study Lu Kuan-jen (呂冠箴) said. Academia Sinica president James Liao (廖俊智) said that as humans emit 9.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide compared with the 220 billion tonnes absorbed
The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Wanda-Zhonghe Line is 81.7 percent complete, with public opening targeted for the end of 2027, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said today. Surrounding roads are to be open to the public by the end of next year, Hou said during an inspection of construction progress. The 9.5km line, featuring nine underground stations and one depot, is expected to connect Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall Station to Chukuang Station in New Taipei City’s Jhonghe District (中和). All 18 tunnels for the line are complete, while the main structures of the stations and depot are mostly finished, he
Taipei is to implement widespread road closures around Taipei 101 on Friday to make way for large crowds during the Double Ten National Day celebration, the Taipei Department of Transportation said. A four-minute fireworks display is to be launched from the skyscraper, along with a performance by 500 drones flying in formation above the nearby Nanshan A21 site, starting at 10pm. Vehicle restrictions would occur in phases, they said. From 5pm to 9pm, inner lanes of Songshou Road between Taipei City Hall and Taipei 101 are to be closed, with only the outer lanes remaining open. Between 9pm and 9:40pm, the section is
China’s plan to deploy a new hypersonic ballistic missile at a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLARF) base near Taiwan likely targets US airbases and ships in the western Pacific, but it would also present new threats to Taiwan, defense experts said. The New York Times — citing a US Department of Defense report from last year on China’s military power — on Monday reported in an article titled “The missiles threatening Taiwan” that China has stockpiled 3,500 missiles, 1.5 times more than four years earlier. Although it is unclear how many of those missiles were targeting Taiwan, the newspaper reported
RSS