There are many stories and legends about Qilai Mountain, most of which remain unsolved mysteries. Due to its rugged terrain, complex and ever-changing climate, and unpredictable fog, Qilai Mountain is one of the areas in Taiwan with the highest incidence of mountain accidents. Among them, there is a well-known eerie incident related to a ghostly photo from 1980.
The subject of this photo is a hiker who was attempting to climb Nanhua Mountain. The photo was taken on the Big Grass Slope of the North Peak. In what was originally a solo shot, a human figure appeared in the background in a very strange location. Since the photo was taken at the highest point of the mountain, it would have been impossible for anyone to be standing where the mysterious figure appeared — if there was anyone there, they would have had to be floating in midair. The paranormal TV show “Night of Roses” brought in experts to examine the photo, and they all agreed that it was not photoshopped but a genuine ghostly image.
Many who saw the photo wanted to figure out who the small figure was. There were two possibilities for the appearance of the figure: first, that the person was still alive, or second, that it was the spirit of someone who had gone missing in a mountain accident, trying to send a message to their family. Mountain rescue guide Lin Liangquan believed the figure might be that of He Jinhong, who had gone missing in a mountain accident several years prior. He sent the ghostly photo to He Jinhong’s sister, who also thought it was her brother who had disappeared in the mountains. However, another family member believed the figure was their own son.
The “Qiu Gao Incident,” another well-known disappearance case that occurred in 1979, involved the mother of missing person Hu Denning, who believed the figure in the photo might be her son, as the orange jacket the figure wore was the same one she had bought for him in Japan. The “Qiu Gao Incident,” which shocked society at the time, involved three university students — Qiu Gao, Hu Denning, and Li Fuming — who went missing after climbing Qilai Mountain. A search effort involving thousands of people was launched, but in the end, only some scattered items and three pairs of chopsticks stuck upright in the ground were found. What was the meaning of those three pairs of chopsticks? Where did the three people who vanished without a trace actually go? The mystery remains unsolved to this day.