Discover the spine-tingling secrets of Beijing’s haunted subway. It is said that the Metro Line No. 1 was haunted by ghosts and had to have an exorcism when they started building it. But did it work?
From tales of ghosts to reported sightings of supernatural entities, the Beijing Subway has a hidden side that will leave you feeling spooked. If you’re looking for a thrilling adventure, take a ride on Metro Line No. 1 that runs underneath Chang’an Avenue and to the heart of Beijing, Tiananmen Square.
Line 1 is the oldest and most used Train line in the city since it opened in 1971. The Red colored metro line has some stories to it though – some say it was so haunted that an exorcism was required when they started building it.
The Beijing Subway System
The Beijing Subway system is not just an efficient way of transporting commuters around the city – it also comes with some mysterious stories that will have you on the edge of your seat. From spirits to ghosts, tales of strange encounters abound in this underground labyrinth – with many passengers claiming to have experienced something extraordinary while riding along Metro Line No. 1.
According to legends, people have disappeared into the tunnels and simply vanished into thin air, never to be seen again, and some people claimed that something sinister had pushed passengers onto the rails. Whether true or not, these spine-tingling stories have given Beijing’s subway a supernatural twist.
Metro Line No. 1 was mired in mystery from the very beginning when construction workers encountered strange events that seemed to be of supernatural origin. Some workers reported seeing apparitions and hearing eerie sounds coming from deep within the tunnels as they were working and it looks like the passengers are still experiencing some form of paranormal stuff when commuting.
Others even alleged that ghosts had instigated mysterious accidents which led to costly delays in the building process. Despite this, the exorcism seemed to have worked as the subway lines have only expanded over the years. Or perhaps it has expanded only despite the paranormal stuff happening in the underground labyrinth?
History of Beijing’s Haunted Subway
Beijing’s subway system has quite a long and mysterious history of haunting since they started construction back in 1965. Legend has it that when Line No.1 was being built, construction workers encountered multiple strange occurrences and dangerous accidents, broken equipment that halted the project. Some even claimed that it was because of something supernatural.
There were multiple explanations as to why this was happening and one of them was the theory that during the construction, several bones of dead humans were disturbed and destroyed, angering the spirits.
Due to this fear of angering the spirits, they brought in monks to perform some sort of ceremony, a sort of exorcism before being able to complete the work on what would be known as Line 1.
The Blessings and Rituals Performed by Monks
To get rid of the spirits, local monks were brought in to perform traditional rituals, blessings and prayers in and around the ground where subway construction was underway. The ceremonies were meant to purify the area to prevent any further hauntings and accidents. Whether or not it worked remains a mystery but one thing is certain – a ride down Line No. 1 may be an experience that will leave you with a shiver!
The ceremony went on for days supposedly and the monks advised that the last train would be at 11 pm as they thought that between 11 and 1 am was the time when the souls needed rest. They also said that the train would take a last tour without any living passenger, only to deliver the souls back to where they belonged.
Since then, rumors have spread about encounters with ghosts throughout the subway system. Whether these rumors are true or not remains a mystery – but they certainly add some excitement to your daily commute!
The Princess Tombs at Gongzhufen Station
But what bones exactly were disturbed during the construction? There are more than one story about what graves they encountered when building the metro line. On Line 1 there is a subway station called Gongzhufen Station, or The Princess Tombs that have several local legends connected to the place.
It is named after the tomb of two princesses from the Qing Dynasty, and when they started building in 1965, it was verified that the two princesses were Princess Zhuang Jing Heshuo and Princess Zhuang Jing Gulun, the third and fourth daughter of Emperor Jiaqing.
The two princesses died only two months apart aged 30 and 28 in 1811, so they decided to bury them together.
The tombs were not left alone over the years though and they had to go through tomb robbing in 1937, and finally in 1965 when the subway line was built straight through it and the tombs had to be relocated.
After this, a ghost story centered around this subway station started, when the passengers and staff started seeing a female ghost on the station platform, wearing a traditional Qing dress and sometimes being carried in a sedan chair.
One story about the sighting of the ghost of the princesses was that a boy working in the station encountered the ghost in the middle of the night and ran off, refusing to come back and quit his job at once. This story is however also connected to the urban legend of the Yonghegong Lama Temple Station.
The Last Train Still Leaves at 11 PM
Whether they took the monks’ advice into consideration when making the train schedule, the last train on Line 1 leaves Pingguoyuan stop at 10:55 pm. The last west-bound train leaves Sihui East at 11:15 pm.
With the darkened passages and deserted stations, many avoid traveling on Line No. 1 after dark. The last train departs at 11 PM – any later than that and you’ll find yourself alone with only a few brave souls wandering the tunnels. The lit lights flicker and dim, surrounding you with an eerie darkness.
Stories abound of apparitions, some even say they’ve seen a ghost train run empty through the long lifeless corridors. So hurry back home before the last train takes off, or else there will only be the ghost ride left with no living passengers.
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References:
Beijing horror story – Global Times
https://kknews.cc/story/kb2q43p.html
公主坟- 维基百科，自由的百科全书
https://m.tanling.com/archives/1487.html
公主坟闹鬼事件，抬轿子的地铁站-灵异事件
https://kknews.cc/emotion/y88bbn.html
北京公主坟闹鬼事件真相，地铁一号线竟是坟场改建
