Halloween season is almost upon us. During the month of retelling spooky stories about spirits and dark histories (as well as warding off evil energy and paying respects to ancestors on Double Ninth Festival), and here are 13 buildings and houses in Hong Kong that have creepy tales and ghost sightings associated with them.
Many of these places are accessible to the public, but brave adventurers beware! To be safe, avoid taking a solo trip to the places on this haunted house list and leave before darkness falls to avoid accumulating negative juju…
31 Granville Road — Tsim Sha Tsui
31 Granville Road is the site of the horrific 1993 ‘Hello Kitty’ murder. Twenty-three-year old club hostess Fan Man-Yee was taken captive by four people over a matter of a stolen wallet. She was tortured in the Tsim Sha Tsui flat on Granville Road for a month before being killed or succumbing to her injuries.
Her captors then dismembered her, most gruesomely leaving her head inside a Hello Kitty doll in the apartment. Fan’s heinous murder was reported to the police by one of the perpetrators, a 14-year-old female who was in a relationship with another captor.
The residential building was demolished and a hotel built over the site in 2016.
Location: 31 Granville Road, Tsim Sha Tsui
Bela Vista Villa — Cheung Chau
Bela Vista Villa is a complex of vacation condos on Cheung Chau island. Nicknamed the “Resort of Charcoal Suicide“, it is rumoured that a woman dressed in traditional red Chinese clothing killed her son and then committed suicide in one of the villas in 1989. It is said that wearing this clothing when one dies transforms a person into a vengeful ghost.
Since then, over 26 units at this beachfront villa have been the site of numerous suicides and murders, with many individuals choosing charcoal as a method to suffocate themselves. The area is said to be shrouded in yin energy, and residents report seeing a ghostly female figure in the buildings and on Tung Wan Beach.
Location: Cheung Chau Beach Road North, Cheung Chau
Bridges Street YMCA — Sheung Wan
The YMCA on Bridges Street is known to many as housing the city’s first indoor pool, but it has a darker origin story dating back to the mid-20th century.
Japanese forces occupying the territory at the time used buildings on Bridges Street as barracks. When the Japanese army surrendered at the end of WWII, it is said that several soldiers committed suicide in the barracks to avoid being tried for war crimes. Passersby have reported hearing sounds of military marching and cries coming from the YMCA building.
Location: 51 Bridges Street, Sheung Wan
Cheung Sha Wan Abattoir — Cheung Sha Wan
The Cheung Sha Wan Abattoir was one of three main slaughterhouses in Hong Kong that processed tens of thousands of pigs, cows, and sheep. After the abattoir’s closure in 1999, the building was intended to be transformed into an arts compound. However, the plan was abandoned when artists expressed concerns about the haunted atmosphere. Today, the building sits derelict, protected by barbed wire and guards.
The abattoir is also well-known for the story of the “Spirit Buffalo”. In 1983, a buffalo about to be slaughtered cried out intensely, seemingly begging for its life. The shocked workers released the animal to live out its days peacefully near a Tsz Wan Shan temple. After the buffalo’s death, a temple worker was visited in a dream by its spirit, which proclaimed it an animal deity. A statue was erected in front of the temple to honour the Spirit Buffalo.
Location: 757 Lai Chi Kok Road, Cheung Sha Wan
Dragon Lodge — The Peak
What could be a highly desired property on The Peak is considered Hong Kong’s most haunted house. Estimated to have been built in the 1920s, the original owner of Dragon Lodge mansion went bankrupt, passing to a new owner who died inside the house. The third occupants were the Japanese army, some of whom reportedly decapitated Catholic nuns in the front yard.
At one point, the property was set to be redeveloped by Hudson Group; however, the project was abandoned because workers were convinced the site was haunted. Pictures taken by the anonymous urban exploration group URBEX show gruesome scratches all over the wallpaper, mouldy mattresses, and an exterior overtaken by vines and overgrown grass.
Location: 32 Lugard Road, The Peak
High Street Ghost House — Sai Wan
Located on High Street, the Sai Ying Pun Community Complex is often referred to as the High Street Ghost House by those who share ghost stories. This building was previously the site of the Old Mental Hospital, whose granite façade and verandah have been preserved. Beginning operations in 1947, it was the first and largest psychiatric facility of its kind in Hong Kong. The hospital became overcrowded and undermanned as the city’s population quickly grew to 1.5 million. With little understanding of mental illness and the stigma surrounding it, common treatments included drugs that caused depressive symptoms or even deaths, electroconvulsive therapy, and lobotomies in severe cases.
During WWII, Japanese soldiers commandeered the hospital, which was rumoured to have been used as a mass execution site. Bodies were allegedly buried in King George’s Park across the street. The hospital permanently closed when Castle Peak Hospital opened in 1961. Tales of ghost sightings and associations with war deaths and mental illness continue to haunt the building.
Location: 2 High Street, Sai Wan
Hong Kong Central Hospital — Central
Once a prominent healthcare provider for the grassroots, Hong Kong Central Hospital is now regarded as the most haunted hospital in Hong Kong. Closing its doors in 2012, rumours suggest that the hospital performed thousands of abortions annually, leading to eerie tales of restless spirits lingering within its abandoned walls. The site has become a popular spot for paranormal fans, with many reporting unsettling noises and some even claiming to hear the cries of infants. Inside, corroding medical equipment and a general state of decay contribute to an overwhelming sense of unease.
Location: 1 B Lower Albert Road, Central
Mount Davis — Western District
Mount Davis is known not only for its historical military strategic location but also as one of the city’s most haunted places. The 1960s urban legend of the “Big Head Monster” tells the story of a monstrous baby born with an abnormally large head, who allegedly devoured its mother before being buried at Mount Davis.
Later, during wargame sessions at the site’s old military bunkers, participants reported sightings of ghostly soldiers in World War II Japanese uniforms, with some describing encounters with eerie, transparent figures.
Another spine-chilling rumour from taxi drivers involves picking up a ghostly passenger at night, only to realise the passenger was not human when they mysteriously vanished mid-journey.
Location: Mount Davis, Western District, Hong Kong Island
Murray House — Stanley
Today, Murray House welcomes many tourists and locals alike. However, it originally served as a British officers’ mess as part of the military complex erected in Central in 1844, after Hong Kong was ceded by China. During the 1941 WWII Battle, the Japanese army seized it for use as a military police headquarters, where it housed torture chambers and jail cells; up to 4,000 people are said to have been executed within its walls.
After the Japanese occupation, the building was used to house government workers. In 1963 and 1974, exorcisms were conducted to ease workers’ fears about strange supernatural activity. When the land was sold for a Bank of China branch in the 1980s, the structure was dismantled and later rebuilt where it stands today.
Location: 96 Stanley Main Street, Stanley
Nam Koo Terrace — Wan Chai
Called “Wan Chai Haunted House”, Nam Koo Terrace was built by a wealthy Shanghai family circa 1915. It was then seized during the Japanese occupation and used as a military brothel, with women forced to provide ‘comfort’ to Japanese soldiers. Rumours of haunting began when an owner, To Chak-man, died of unknown causes inside the mansion during WWII.
Hopewell Holdings announced plans to demolish the Grade I historic building to make way for a hotel in 1993. Yet, no developments have occurred. Urban explorers and passersby tell tales of hearing people screaming from inside the house or seeing strange shadows in its dark windows.
Location: 55 Ship Street, Wan Chai
So Lo Pun — New Territories
So Lo Pun is an abandoned Hakka village buried in the Northeastern corner of Hong Kong. The hazy story of why the villagers vanished, leaving their homes to crumble, and the tendency of compasses to stop working correctly in the area (hence the Cantonese name means ‘Locked Compass’), have fueled rumours that something menacing happened to the villagers. There are various tales, including an illness wiping out the majority of the Hakka residents. Another story goes that a large group of villagers were on their way to a wedding on boats when an accident resulted in the revellers dying; those who survived left So Lo Pun behind in sorrow. Whatever the true story is, visitors to the ramshackle remains have reported feeling strange energies in the area.
Location: So Lo Pun, Plover Cove Country Park, New Territories
Tat Tak School — Yuen Long
Tat Tak School was opened to provide schooling to Ping Shan villagers in Yuen Long district from 1974 to 1998. When the villagers resisted British eviction efforts, they were overcome and later buried on the site. Villagers fighting back against Japanese occupational forces were also killed and buried around the school. Further, shortly before the school closed, a headmistress wearing a red dress also supposedly committed suicide by hanging in one of the bathrooms.
Rumours of an ominous energy and sightings of the headmistress’ ghost were already rampant when a group of students explored the school in 2001, one of them turning hysterical and biting her fellow classmate inside the building. Since then, Tat Tak has sat in ramshackle ruin of abandoned furniture and debris.
Location: Ping Shan, Yuen Long District
Wah Fu Estate — Pok Fu Lam
Wah Fu Estate is one of Hong Kong’s earliest public housing project, yet infamous for its haunted history. Built on the former Kai Lung Wan Cemetery, it is rumoured that during the Japanese occupation, the site became a mass grave for war victims. Since then, the estate is said to be plagued by ghost sightings and supernatural occurrences. Some residents claimed to hear soldiers’ footsteps at night, while others reported encountering ghostly figures in military uniforms in the lifts. There are also rumours of an “unrottable coffin” left behind, which construction workers accidentally touched and eventually led to strange occurrences or illness, and no one dared to move the coffin thereafter.
The nearby Waterfall Bay also has a dark history. During the Qing Dynasty, it is said that a group of pirates attacked and massacred innocent villagers, turning the area into a mass grave. The unclaimed remains were cremated and thrown into the waterfall. Since then, frequent drowning incidents have been reported, with locals believing that water ghosts in the bay seek replacements for their souls. Another long-standing legend tells of a faceless woman who washes her face by the shore at dusk.
Adding to the mystery, in the 1980s, residents reported UFO sightings, describing a massive, black, unidentified object hovering above the estate before vanishing into the sea.
Location: Wah Fu Road, Pok Fu Lam
Header image credits: Bob Mocarsky via WikiCommons
