Got hit by a ghost while playing ball at Taichung Park? Returned to the room and encountered a woman in a red cheongsam—weight dropped from 60kg to 50kg

▲ Many teenagers often play basketball at courts. (Photo/ Illustration, not the actual story characters)

By/ No paranormal experiences, no qualification as a travel journalist

It’s that time of year again—Qixi Festival, or rather, the seventh lunar month. Every year around this time, many friends share their ghost stories with me, but the one that left the deepest impression was an actual experience my friend Ah Xin had in Fengyuan, Taichung. Standing 174 cm tall, he once lost weight from 60 kg down to 50 kg after a ghost encounter in his youth...

Ah Xin lived in Fengyuan. Back when he was young and loved to party, he spent his nights out clubbing or hanging out with friends when he was 15 or 16. “I was either at clubs or just wandering around with people. One night, I went to a park with a friend to play basketball, and that was the day everything changed,” he told me.

“That park was usually full of people playing ball at night, but that day, it was empty. There was a staircase nearby that led up the mountain, with a statue of Chiang Kai-shek at the top, something like that,” Ah Xin recalled. He said he saw a guy sitting on the stairs, so he said to his friend in Taiwanese, “Shall we invite him to play?” His friend asked, “Invite who?” Ah Xin answered, “That guy sitting on the stairs. We’ve been playing basketball for a while, and he’s just been sitting there. Should we ask him to join?”

Thinking it was just a simple question, Ah Xin didn’t expect his friend’s immediate reaction: “Don’t even think about it, let’s get out of here!” His friend looked ready to leave right away. That’s when Ah Xin realized, “We left immediately, but we didn’t dare go home. We were afraid it might follow us, so we drove around Taichung for a long time, not getting home until past four in the morning.”

▲ Cheongsam (Photo/ Visual China CFP, illustration, not the actual story characters)

“But ever since that day, I don’t know if it was all in my head or what, I kept feeling like there was someone downstairs. Then I started hearing footsteps, and later, even singing,” Ah Xin remembered vividly. “From that day on, I just kept losing weight—kept getting thinner and thinner. I was about 174 cm and 60 kg, but I dropped down to 50 kg. I always felt that if I was alone at night, if I came home by myself, those sounds would come. And they did, every time.”

I thought Ah Xin was just messing with me, but seeing how serious he was, I figured I should listen properly. “No, I’m being serious, I’m not joking. The scariest part is coming!” he said, as if reading my mind.

“One night, I woke up and looked at the clock next to me—it wasn’t moving. Then I suddenly saw a woman in a cheongsam appear in the room. She looked about 20 years old.”

“Was she hot?” I interrupted the moment I heard the key word.

“Yeah, she was my type, but don’t interrupt me,” Ah Xin said seriously.

“She sat down next to me and started touching my face—but I couldn’t move. I could see the time, I could see this ‘person,’ but I just couldn’t move,” Ah Xin continued, making me more and more nervous. “She walked around next to me, then suddenly started crying, then got angry and slapped me—and that’s when I woke up.” But the craziest part for Ah Xin was the time he saw on the clock: “The time I got slapped and the time I woke up—it was exactly 3:15 AM.”

The next morning, Ah Xin told his mom what happened, and for a while, he steered clear of late-night activities. He became a bit more well-behaved before enlisting in the military. “I even stayed in a temple for a week. After that, things got better...”

I pressed further, “That park is so close to your home. Don’t you get creeped out passing by it these days?”

Ah Xin replied, “Haha, nah, you just don’t think about it too much. I’ve even gone back to that park since.” I couldn’t help but admire his courage...

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