Minxiong Haunted House (劉氏古厝民雄鬼屋) @ Chiayi County in Taiwan

My last post labelled "paranormal" was in 2021, almost five years ago! While my interest isn't dampened, it does take a lot more effort on my end given the stress of my work nowadays.

Nonetheless, I did pencil in an interesting place of attraction when I went to Taiwan in 2025, and it's rare for me to do that since visiting a haunted house outside of Singapore has just too many unknowns, and we had to self-drive to the destination, with no guide. 

GPS was a life-saver and we were brought to the correct place. There's even a carpark next to the haunted house, although it's from a cafe, and you are required to make a purchase. We did share with the operator that we shall check it out once we were out from the house. 

Official entrance to the haunted house; technically the area wasn't walled so you can go in from numerous entrances, but I guess "official" is the safest given that the passage would likely be well trodden on. 

Alex decided to visit the washroom in the cafe; so I proceeded to go in myself. It's not that I am super brave, but it's daytime, with the 4pm sun shining bright rays on me. 

Minor obstacles along the way. One advice.

Please note to put on mosquito repellent! 

Something weird happened as I reached this clearing. Remember I was using GPS to get to the haunted house? It was via Google Maps and I switched off the navigation after arrival. However, my phone suddenly announced that "you have reached your destination". That scared the shit out of me, and thankfully, Alex happened to meet up with me. 

Shortly after, we reached the haunted house. 

Minxiong Haunted House (劉氏古厝民雄鬼屋).

Abandoned for decades, the house was built almost a hundred years ago in 1929, in the baroque style said to be grandeur, by a rich merchant surnamed liu. The house is actually still owned by descendents of the merchant. 

Known as one of top three most haunted houses in Taiwan, there were of course numerous stories about the paranormal activities in Minxiong Haunted House; one of which was the suicide of a maid who jumped into the above well. 

Now, I stayed in the village before, and don't understand why this well had such low barrier?! I mean a person can actually accidentally fall into the well! Anyway, it was already filled up with wood and debris. Guess we will not see sadako climbing out of it.

Looks like a headless statue. Maybe for the better as I recall the lion statue in Singapore's red house, which was said to have its head following you as you move in front of it. 

I can so imagine a security guard guarding this place when night falls. No, it's not supposed to be the case, so if you manage to see one, just assumed you have the misfortune of seeing a ghost! 

Despite its "haunted" tag, I think it was still a sobering sight to see nature taking over man-made structures, with vines and roots of trees enveloping the facade of the house. And honestly, it was breathtaking.

Before checking the interior of the haunted house, please be aware that maintenance was lacking and the building might not be structurally sound. Toppled walls and columns can be seen; hence, do explore with care, and caution! 

Main entry point for the haunted house. I saw a few photographs of the house taken a few years ago and the column guardrails on the second floor can still be seen then. The plaque on top had the Chinese words, 兄弟和樂, which means harmony amongst brothers.

Blocked due to collapsed ceiling I guess.

Stepping in from the sides - roots and vines had also invaded the interior of the house, with trees providing a natural canopy instead. There were no ceiling, windows were stripped bare, and I didn't recall seeing any staircase. Even if there were, I doubt I would have the guts to climb up.

Don't bother taking shelter in event of heavy rain as you will still definitely be drenched! Furthermore, there's still the risk of walls collapsing / toppling, especially if you chance upon one of the many typhoons that hit Taiwan every year! 

The house was in a terrible state of disrepair but aside from the GPS incident, we didn't encounter any other paranormal activities. There were rumours of screams, crying etc but I am guessing that happened at night.

Video for viewing pleasure!

Served as an ammunition storage during the world war, please do keep in mind that Taiwan was then already colonized by Japan (1895 till 1945), and the house didn't quite play as a site for a battle. It was, however, said that in one incident, a group of Japanese soldiers shooting one another, resulting in no survivors. All rumours since there wasn't any written evidence. 

The Liu family had come out to clarify, although it's hard to kill rumours that had existed for so long! Designated as a cultural attraction by the county government, I sure hope we would see a different Minxiong Haunted House in the future! 

As we exited from the original path, we noticed a separate passage that looked out to a blue door, like a scene from Alice in the Wonderland. Question, did we proceed to check it out?

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Address

Minxiong Township,

Chiayi County, Taiwan

Map

As above.

Click HERE for 11 Days, 10 Nights Taiwan Trip: Summarised Itinerary for Chiayi Alishan (嘉义阿里山) - Kaohsiung (高雄) - Tainan (台南) - Taichung (臺中)

The Start of the 7th Ghost Month

It's hard to miss the excessive smoke at the start of 7th lunar month (8 August 2021) and although this scenario might be replicated during the 1st and 15th day of each lunar month; the scale during the 7th lunar month was way more intensive.

Paper money would be burnt, with offerings placed outside the home to appease the hungry ghosts and pray that they would leave the households alone during the month for which the paranormal beings are said to be released temporarily from hell, where they are being punished for their earthly sins. 

The aforementioned is applicable even for my sister, who doesn't have an altar at home! Such is the power of the 7th month. Frankly, I was tempted to do the same for a peace of mind but the saying is that once you start, it would be an annual rite that you cannot miss.

You don't need much; just some paper money, candles, incense sticks and offerings. Only issue is that we are inadvertently contributing to pollution with the burning. Pests like pigeons, rats, crows and cockroaches would also have a "field month" given the food offerings that were left outdoors. 

Given that I had lived in Singapore for a few decades, I have seen how the offerings appeared to have "improve" over the years. In the past, we could just make do with fruits like apples and oranges.

Nowadays, it's a scale-up menu with expanded variety like packet drinks, biscuits. For the affluent, it could be a roasted pig! Some individuals made it even easier; just buy a few packets of economy rice would do! If I am a hungry ghost, I think I would crave for durians; it's e season anyway. p.s. I like cat mountain king and gold phoenix species.

There's one thing I would follow during the 7th month; I would not jog too late. One reason is because I am scared to bump into one of the hungry ghosts. There's also the concern that I would accidentally step into the offerings; hence 'destroying' the meal for a famished soul with a risk of incurring its wrath. 

Proliferation of temporary altars at outside shopping malls; another tell tale sign of the ghost month. We still another 3 months to go and I am still deliberating if I should check out the cemeteries in the middle of the lunar month, known to be the spookiest. 

Revisiting the German Girl Shrine [Nadu Kuniang aka Berlin Heligtum Shrine] at Its Rebuilt Site @ Pulau Ubin [Ketam Mountain Bike Park]

I promised an update to the German Girl Shrine at Pulau Ubin back in 2015 and i can't imagine it took me more than 4 years to do so! Oh well, the western side of the island isn't as popular and most people i went to Ubin with didn't have the stamina to cover so much in one trip.

Except for the group i was with last Saturday! One of them, making her first virgin trip to Pulau Ubin despite being Singaporean all her life, is utterly interested about this German Girl Shrine and i thought it's a good opportunity to bring her there!

Furthermore, i could also take the opportunity to update the "new" building that was completed at the tail end of 2015. Back when i blogged about the shrine 4 years ago, it was still housed under a temporary tentage. 

L

ocation of the "new", permanent shrine is literally a few meters away from its temporary abode and as you can see, the interesting yet morbid origin of the shrine had brought quite a number of curious visitors although they didn't stay long and were in fact hesitant to step into the building. 

I thought this was the signboard with the words "Berlin Heligtum" / 柏林苑 was new; watched a video regarding the shrine before it was rebuilt and it appeared that the signboard was already in existent then! 

Classic - a stone incense stick holder.

Stepping in for a closer look; the "new" place didn't look big from the outside and was indeed rather small. If this is your typical shrine honouring deities found elsewhere, i can guarantee you it wouldn't attract any non-devotee. 

The stones on the side of the main altar that were honored with offerings and incense sticks; as mentioned in my original post here, this reminded me of the stone that gave 4D numbers at Loyang Tua Pek Kong temple! 

By the way, i have yet to explain how this German Girl Shrine came to be named as such. In a nutshell, back in the first world war, a German girl living on the island fell while escaping from the British and villagers started praying to her remains, with some winning lottery; hence, contributing to her popularity on the island. 

As she died at a supposedly young age, devotees assumed she would like things more befitting her age; hence the offerings that consisted of perfumed water and face powder popular a few decades ago, toys, sweets, nail polish, cosmetics and shoes. 

Main statue of the resident deity; this is definitely new as the one i saw previously was a typical barbie doll you can easily buy and replace from toy store! 

My friends were intrigued with the blending of religions at the German Girl Shrine; a Taoist practice yet imbued with traces of Catholicism coming from the angels and rosary beads! There's even a small Christmas tree on the side! 

For someone who had been accustomed to following both Buddhism and Taoism since young, i wasn't that surprised with such blend. There's actually a term for this interesting blend and i got to know this from this friend who came with us and whom had a master in history; syncretic religion! 

Now, can someone enlighten me? 

What do the words on the stone mean? 

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Location 

Ketam Mountain Bike Park,

Pulau Ubin, Singapore

Click here for my first post on the shrine!