The informant is my father who has always grown up in Taiwan but came to America for grad school. Understanding both cultures, he has a very wide understanding of the traditions in our household and its practices.

Informant:

When you were a child, after every sports game that you played in, we would always go watch you play. After each game, we would always go to the Japanese market near our house and would always buy you bubble gum. It was always something that you liked to do as a kid, blowing bubble gum became a habit after every game. It eventually became something you apparently needed that could calm you down when you were younger. The first time you were flying by yourself is when you were 9 years old. At the time you were not very nervous, but we prepared you a lot of bubble gum because it helped you relax when you were younger.

I guess that makes sense! That explains my weird thing I have for having to chew gum whenever I attend any type of event. Musical, sports, entertainment or even educational involved events I always have an urge to chew bubble gum, if I do not have that I usually chew on a straw. It is some kind of ritual for me to chew gum to ease my nerves. If I do not have anything to chew, I think I end up biting my own nails, which is a terrible habit.

The informant is my friend that loves ghost stories.

Informant: So, the Xin-Hai tunnel is one of the oldest tunnels in Taipei city. It connects one of the nearby rural areas to the Taipei City for faster transportation. It was notorious for accidents due to its poor lighting and steep curves. So one night a taxi driver picked up a young woman on the city side of the Xin-Hai tunnel around midnight on a rainy night. She told the driver to take her through the tunnel and that her home is just five minutes away from the other side of the tunnel. The taxi driver turned on his meter and proceeded through the tunnel. The young woman sat in the backseat quietly. She did not respond when the taxi driver tried to strike up a conversation. She was also motionless the entire trip. The driver pulled up to an old house, and the young woman apologized to the driver that she forgot her purse at work. She asked him to wait outside and she will go get money from her house. The taxi driver saw her go into the house. He waited and waited until twenty minutes had gone by. He grew impatient and went knocking on the door. An old man answered the door with a one hundred New Taiwanese Dollar (NTD) in his hand. The taxi driver was very mad and told the old man how he had wasted 20 minutes waiting outside. The old man stood there and let the driver finished his rant. The old man said, “I am sorry. That was my daughter. She died three years ago in a car accident on the other side of the tunnel. Since the day of the accident, she comes home every night.”

This story was freaking scary for me. Whenever I go visit my grandparents, this tunnel is the fastest way to getting to my grandparent’s house. After hearing this story, I might just have to take another route home, otherwise taking the taxi to my grandparent’s house will always haunt me knowing this story.

Informant is a good friend of mine that loves ghost stories

Informant: 

This one story that my sis told me when I was a kid that really creeped me out for a while So here goes the version I remembered.

An apartment in Taiwan recently had a female student hearing a soft noise of a girl moaning at night, it was the 5th floor (top floor) and usually no one would go up there. Being scared, the female student went to find a Taoist priest to come investigate.

The Taoist priest, after doing some rituals at the girl’s apartment said the previous tenant of the apartment was of a girl who committed suicide by jumping out the windows because of relationship troubles. The Taoist priest says the girl’s ghost has very strong hatred and warns the female student that 3 days later is the day the girl died, and her ghost will come through your door one last time “ you must not make eye contact with her, or you will die. I have laid traps that will block most of her vision, but just in case, you should hide under the table that night.”

So…on the third night, the female student did what The Taoist priest said and hid under the table.

The very next day, the Taoist priest came back to the apartment and found the female student dead. Apparently, Because the girl had jumped out the window and died falling….her ghost came in the door upsidedown .

This is actually a similar ghost story that I have found on the internet when I was digging around. This story is especially common in Japan where people have suicided by jumping off the rooftops of buildings. Like this story, because they fell on their head, they appear upside down and just looking at them will be the cause of your death. Many suicidal ghost stories are very common in Asia because of the high amount o suicide rates, it is honestly scary how people turn tragedies like suicides into ghost stories, but if it prevents people from suiciding I guess it is a way to save people from certain death.