The ghoul next door
Tomorrow is Halloween, the day when spirits of the dead are said to walk the earth. If you get easily spooked, don't read any further!
Lai Chi Chong
This popular hiking and camping site in Sai Kung is widely known to be haunted. The location's name reveals its tragic past. During the second world war, inhabitants of the village were killed by Japanese soldiers who impaled their heads on trees. When fishermen passed the coastal town, they looked up at the trees and thought they saw red lychee fruit on the branches - in fact they were looking at bloodied heads. Be careful not to get lost in this area. A number of hikers have been unable to get a compass reading because the needle spins out of control. Others have reported seeing a wizened old woman chasing away spirits with a red rope.
East Town Building
This building on Lockhart Road was originally used as a funeral parlour. Then, in the early 1950s, it housed a popular theatre - it was popular with everyone, including some pretty scary ghosts! Theatre staff once reported seeing a packed house in the cinema. Nothing unusual about that, except that only a few tickets had been sold for the show. And another staff member saw a woman's head rolling on the floor of the toilets. It's no surprise that the building was torn down in the late 1960s. Today's East Town Building takes the theatre's old name - and hopefully nothing more.
Kowloon Park
One of the spookiest parks in Hong Kong, Kowloon Park was originally called Whitfield Barracks and was a British military base. During the war, Japanese troops took control of the barracks. The bodies of those killed by the Japanese are thought to be buried in the park - so step lightly on the grassy mounds. And don't go too close to the trees on Halloween - they are said to be haunted by the ghosts of British soldiers who were hung on the trees by the Japanese.
Mount Davis (Mo Sing Leng) Road
This road runs past a number of cemeteries. As if that wasn't spooky enough, a mother and son were killed in a road accident here and their ghosts are thought to have been seen by taxi and bus drivers. According to one story, a taxi driver picked up the pair and drove them to Central. When he turned around to take their fare, there was no one in the back seat. In another tale, a bus driver slowed down to pick up a boy who was flagging him down, but stepped on the gas when he realised the youngster had no legs.
Happy Valley Racecourse
During the Lunar New Year in 1918, about 600 people died when a fire broke out in the packed rattan and bamboo stands at Happy Valley racecourse. After that, there were stories of race-goers seeing people on fire at the racecourse, as well as of horses acting strangely during races. Buddhist monks were called in to perform rituals to appease to the spirits - it must have worked as there have been no more strange stories ... yet.
