Hong Kong ‘haunted house’ hosts Dangerous Dinner, US$700 a head for 9 courses
Yu Yuen sat abandoned until designer Sacha Yasumoto chose it to hold an exclusive dinner. If it’s haunted the ghosts are harmless, she says
For its size, Yu Yuen sits inconspicuously at the end of a cul-de-sac in Tung Tau Wai, a fairly unremarkable village in Yuen Long, in Hong Kong’s New Territories. The grand, two-storey, European-style mansion has eight bedrooms, and a fountain in its front yard.
Its name means “entertainment garden” in Chinese. Yet it is abandoned, and vegetation is growing over its roof and balconies as nature slowly reclaims it.
Although surrounded by village houses, car repair shops and parked cars, the house is seldom visited – because of the stories surrounding it.
Some say Yu Yuen was used by the Japanese army as a headquarters during the second world war, and that countless people were tortured and killed there.
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Experiencing a ‘dangerous dinner’ at a deserted Hong Kong villa
White shadows can be seen nightly on the upper floor, according to villagers. They also report seeing furniture floating in mid-air. It is also said that shouting and women’s cries can be heard coming from inside from time to time.
The most enduring story about Yu Yuen is that of seven maids murdered there.
