A House Like No Other : No.81 Chaonei
In a rather modernized corner of China sits an old manor house in ruin, Chaonei No.81. The old mansion sits in the Dongcheng district of Bejing and has been empty for almost 50 years. 50 years and no-one dare knock it down? Ask the locals, they’ll tell you the house is not a possession for the living and whoever knocks it down will have to bare its terrible curse.
Image via Pinterest
This story begins in 1949 after a highly ranked government official fled his home to Taiwan for safety after losing the civil war. He left his wife behind to fend for herself but rather than face the angry mobs and the horrors they would bestow upon her, she hung herself. Hers is the ghost that haunts Chaonei No.81, but that’s not all lingers in this old manor house.
True the historians were never able to validate this story as all of the records from this era were destroyed following the war. However local history sticks for a long time.
The Chinese Nationalist Army. Image via Alexander & Sons
No. 81 lives up to its reputation as China’s most haunted house. The neighbors claim to hear deafening wails coming from the house in the dead of night. Especially during thunderstorms when these shrieks are somehow even louder than the thunder itself.
Any haunted house is bad enough, normally plagued by a past of death and despair. This house, however, has a disturbing past in disappearances. In the very beginning, it was to be a church built for a renowned English missionary. He went missing just before the construction was completed.
Investigators later discovered a secret crypt underneath the foundations of the house, at the end of the crypt, hidden, was the entrance to a tunnel that weaved through the darkness and ended up in the Dashanzi neighborhood to the northeast. Knowledge came to light that the church was to be used as safe haven for orphan children. Although it has never been proven, you can only guess what the purpose of these tunnels could have been.
Image via – Occult Museum
Shortly after its construction, the Red Guards took the chapel, they left it as quickly as they commandeered it, thanks to the inexplicable phenomena inside. The curse was too much.
A Mr. Li Yongja told the New York Times ” Even in the 1970’s, people thought the house was haunted, as children, we would play hide and seek in the house, but we didn’t dare enter alone.”
in 2001 a group of construction workers working on the basement of the house next door thought it would be funny to break through the thin wall into the basement of No. 81. Legend tells us they were never seen again.
There are not many stories online of people actually being inside of the house. When passing the house many claim to be overwhelmed with a sense of dread. The house is also said to be icy cold even in the hottest summer months.
” No ghosts here” sign in the entrance of No 81 Chaonei – The Line-Up
No. 81 Chaonei is currently up for sale, but it’s not an easy sell with the renovation alone costing $1.5 million dollars. Its reputation and history dont help either. The current owner is so tired of trying to get rid of this house that he chalked ” 这里没有鬼 ” or ” No Ghosts Here ” on the entrance to the house.
The house is covered in Graffiti telling visitors otherwise and that all who dare enter will have a tough time leaving. There are rumors that the house was recently exercised and now the ghosts are gone. But the only way to know is to check it out for yourself. If you dare.
