What happened
The mansion was built in 1929, during Japanese rule in Taiwan, by the wealthy landowning Liu family of Minxiong Township in Chiayi County. The patriarch, Liu Rongru, is said to have wanted to outdo a rich neighbour. The result was an eclectic Taiwanese-Western house with three connected three-storey wings, a fountain pool and pavilions. The family moved out around 1945, reportedly because the house was far from town. Over time legends grew up: of Japanese soldiers who killed each other here, of sudden deaths among Kuomintang soldiers, of a maid who threw herself into the courtyard well and of talismans buried during construction. A real incident took place in 1949, when Nationalist troops were stationed in the house: a jittery company commander fired at a ‘ghost’ and killed a fellow soldier who was going to the latrine at night; the bullet holes are still in the walls. The family removed the roof and upper floors to avoid property tax, and the 1999 earthquake completed the ruin. Plans for a hotel (1978) and a café (2002) came to nothing. The house has featured in TV series and films, and in 2022 a horror film named after it was released.
Witnesses
Minxiong residents, people visiting the ruins on a dare, members of the Liu family; reports in the Taiwanese press since the 1970s.
Explanations and hypotheses
The Taiwanese press, which has covered the house for decades, found that none of the popular legends – the Japanese soldiers, the maid in the well, the talismans – can be tied to facts. The only documented event is the tragic mistake of 1949, itself a product of belief in ghosts. The ruin decayed for prosaic reasons: distance from town, taxes, family disputes and the earthquake. In 2018 a court convicted a fraudster who had used the house's legend to frighten and abuse a university student.
Legend A story handed down through generations – it can be neither confirmed nor disproved.