The Dragon Lodge

Or “Longlu House”, The Peak, Hong Kong.

The area of Victoria Pea, Hong Kong was a popular European settlement area in the 19th Century and it is here that the Dragon Lodge was built at 32 Lugard Road. The mansion was built by General Long Wan (or Lung Wan in some sources), a chairman of the Yunnan Provincial Government. Who’s name contains the Chinese character for dragon. The rumour is that the first owner went bankrupts and the second owner died in the house, during WWII the Japanese used the building for operations and then it went into new hands.

From1945 – 1952 Tom Mun-Long called the lodge his home and was a successful construction company owner. He rebuilt the damaged mansion after the roof collapsed following the Japanese occupation and when he left the place he rented it out. In 1954 the property saw more expansion and by the 1980’s he property and roads around it were abandoned and overgrown.

There is reference to the sale for he place in 2004 where the lodge was sold for 7 million HKD and in 2010 work started, but then stopped not long after. Seemingly the stories of the bad feng sui and the hauntings got blamed for it. Then in 2019 it was purchased by Chinese conglomerate HNA for 550m HKD. To this day it remains unused and suffers from graffiti and people breaking into explore or deface it, despite their attempts to secure it.

But why? So here goes – from the point it got abandoned in the 1980’s the rumours of it being the most haunted house in Hong Kong spread more rapidly. A previous owner dying, the mention of hearing children’s cries and then the one I found more grizzly was the story that Japanese soldiers beheaded Catholic Nun’s in the courtyard. I have retrieved an old article from a woman who blogged about a haunting there, you can read it from my googledrive I hope. (Email me if it doesn’t work or leave me a comment)

What I could not find was any more information than the same rumours across both English and Chinese sites, mostly the sources seemed the same and reporting the same things. I found a reference which talked about and incident there, a young lawyer, Wimbush, was found dead and it was recorded as suicide. Perhaps over time the two have just melded into more stories for the Lodge.

27 Lugard Road article this talks about how in 2012 a property owner wanted to open a boutique hotel and that 140k signatures soon arrived against it. This seems to be down to accessing the roads and concerns about that, but again are people linking minor incidents or other incidents into it? Have I now made that worse

What I also found was reference to the idea that Hong Kong’s property market can suffer up to 20% for a property listed as haunted.

Another interesting thought, a former resident said that as children they were told not to go on the property because it was haunted. They rightfully pointed out this was probably just to stop kids playing there but maybe that has just added more fuel to the fire?

If you have any experiences then please let me know.

http://www.hkhudson.com/enproductshow.asp?id=199

https://finance.discuss.com.hk/viewthread.php?tid=27932280

https://www.ft.com/content/6705af16-9939-44ea-b5d9-1730c1b3cc17

Some lovely old photos – https://gwulo.com/node/12461/photos

http://www.skywalker.autozine.org/Place/372_The_Peak/Page4.html 2016 photos

A floor plan ,via Centaline

https://imgur.com/vFso7

Kolmanskop

It is a ghost town in the Namib desert, in Southern Nabia, it was named after Johnny Coleman, a transport driver, who, during a sandstorm abandoned his ox wagon on a small incline opposite the settlement. It was a small but rich mining community however, it now a tourist sight ran by a joint firm Namibia-De Beers.

In 1908, Zacharias Lewala, a worked found a diamond and showed it to his supervisor and after miners from Germany settled there because it was rich in diamonds. At its height it was producing around 11.7% of the world’s diamond production.  A town sprang up around it in 1912 was built with amenities such as a hospital, ballroom, power station and school. It was a prosperous place in its time. The town was built in the German architectural style and had a railway linked to nearby Lüderitz.

After the First World War the town declined around the 1920’s as supplies of diamonds began to deplete and in 1954 or 1956 (depending on the source) they ultimately abandoned the town. The residents went south to try and get their chance on the next area with a supply, with many residents leaving possessions behind in their haste to chase the new money venture. The new area meant that instead of hard mining they could be scouted on the beaches.

Destination Truth investigated the town during rumours of it being haunted, it seems that the abandoned town keeps many interested. Tourists now need a permit to engage and enter the town, Kolmanskop is now being claimed back by the desert and so walking around tourists will find themselves knee deep in sand, but it is still very popular. It has been used as filming location and photographed widely, as it creates some very unique images thanks to it’s location and geography.

Drive South Africa- it mentions that there is a house just outside of Windhoak, Liebig House that has also been abandoned for about 30 years at the time of their article where people have reported ghosts and hearing spirits in the hallway of the house, but I cannot find anything else about it.

https://namibian.org/tours/activities-and-day-trips/kolmanskop-ghost-town

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/eerie-fascinating-pictures-kolmanskop-desert-diamond-ghost-town


By SkyPixels – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=50450485

Pyramiden

‘The Pyramid’ is a Russian settlement in Svalbard, Norway. It is a three day travel by car from Oslo, three hours plane to Svalbard or five hours by Artic Ship ‘Polar Girl’, it is not mostly abandoned, the last people left around 15 years ago or more, and it is only 1000km from the North Pole. The main inhabitants of the town are now white bears but dedicated explorers still find a way over once in a while.

Founded in 1910 by Sweden, as of 1927 it was sold to the Soviet Union and closed in 1998. The town is abandoned by the Russian mining company trust, Artikugoll, and until 2007 was considered a ghost town, in 2007 renovations began, guided and independent tours can be organised and visitors are not permitted to enter the buildings. Its popularity has invariably grown as a ghost town and with it the usual disrespectful vandals are present. It is no doubt obvious from my blogs that I dislike the practice, the mindless destruction merely stops proper researchers and the serious urban explorers that are being criminalised for sharing their finds with us.

The most recent development is the Tulip Hotel, in 2013 it was opened and whilst there are some tourism plans there is no immediate plan to re-open the settlement.

An episode of the History Channels “Life After People” featured Pyramiden, they predict that the frigid climates contribution to slow decay mean the major buildings would still be visible in 500 years time. In the cultural centre you can look into the interior, there is an auditorium which also has the northernmost grand piano in the world, Red Oktober, unfortunately the poor thing has been rendered unplayable due to neglect and deterioration.

If you have visited or you do, then please tell me about your experience.

https://en.visitsvalbard.com/visitor-information/destinations/pyramiden

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g503714-d1842148-Reviews-Pyramiden-Spitsbergen_Svalbard.html

 

By <a href=”//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Bjoertvedt” title=”User:Bjoertvedt”>Bjoertvedt</a> – <span class=”int-own-work” lang=”en”>Own work</span>, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

Gonjiam Hospital

Gwanju, South Korea has the Gonjiam Psychiatric Hospital that was closed in the 1990’s. It says that there were mysterious deaths, mad doctors who were as crazy as the patients but in reality the hospital closed for more mundane reasons. It closed through lack of money, unsanitary conditions and problems with it’s sewage disposal system.

When the owner left the country and left no documentation about the land or buildings on it the whole ended up left as it is. Whilst closed and left abandoned it is by no means left unvisited, regularly people go to the place to see it and people often break in. In 1996 the owner fled to America because it was said that he was as insane as the patients, but in reality it sounds more like a dodge to be incarcerated for the terrible conditions and the fact he would likely end up spending more to update the building and so abandoned ship, so-to-speak. Families that lost their loved ones didn’t seem to get the answers they needed about why or how deaths happened.

It then leads to stories about terrible experiments and information that should have been hidden away… this is most likely that they were not told because no one had the knowledge or because the full details might well have been upsetting, who knows? Not me.

Paranormal events are also said to occur at the place, some comments around the net on various sites say that people have experienced being scratched and that glass had been hurled around. There are also mentions about capturing EVP’s too. All in all however it seems that the reality is people were poorly treat, experienced a disservice and the owner disappeared to avoid facing up to it all.

There is also a film based on this place, the film came into controversy as the owner filed a lawsuit saying that the negative press would make an effect on attempts to sell the building. A court case in Seoul, March 2018 over ruled attempts to stop it being shown and it was released. It is a fairly generic horror for it’s type so I think if you get a moment to watch it, then it’s not all that bad for horror fans. 

Overbrook Asylum

It is also known as the Essex County Hospital, the area is heavily guarded for the sake of preventing further vandalism and general criminal activity. I for one salute this, preservation of these buildings seems to be scarce in my country so I am always glad to hear when action is taken anywhere.

In 1986 the land was designated for the new location of the insane asylum and was located in Verona, now Cedar Grove, it was selected as a remote location, high altitude and peaceful for rehabilitation.

Like many it was soon victim to being at full capacity, it was so large it had its own train stop, grew its own food and the farming was considered to be helpful towards the rehabilitation of the patients. It was its own little town and even had a semi-professional baseball team.

The 1960’s and 70’s brought the further introduction of new treatments, medication and brought a decline in admitted patients. It still operated into the 1990’s and slowly parts were abandoned, which meant urban explorers and then local legends started. In 2007 Essex Court announced a smaller, modern place would be built. Overbrook would become a 90 acre country park.

For New Jersey teens exploring this was a rite of passage, “the asylum”, “the bin” and “the hilltop” tested their mettle. It is a sad fact that the buildings have been demolished. Now the site will hopefully be used for local benefit.

The site for the asylum is not that of the sanatorium, the Essex County Mountain Sanatorium stood elsewhere but was left entirely without preservation and nothing remains. The once lovely building for aiding tuberculosis sufferers is no longer standing. Nearby the penitentiary from 1872 will eventually follow suit no doubt.

In 2008 Choke was filmed at the Overbrook Asylum and so has been preserved in the form of video/film at least.

21^st December, 1917, an article appeared in The New York Times about a terrible tragedy at Overbrook. A set of boilers failed during a cold wave, 24 patients died within 20 days. There were 1,800 patients at the time in the asylum and it gave rise to 32 cases of frostbite. The conditions were bad enough that the director sent a letter to relatives, he encouraged them to take their relatives away until the situation could be resolved.

Ghost Adventures visited the site but they did not give the official location during the filming, but Ghost Hunters and their sister show, GH Academy also visited. The TV shows go with the idea that forgotten patients still wander the halls. Much like Danver’s and others of a similar build the idea of the underground tunnels draws a good deal of attention too.

Building II was the location for the morgue and criminally insane, apparently, I do wonder why these two always feature together on plans… and it is said that there is a nurse there walking the halls. Alongside this are reports of screaming, bangs and direct threats on a vocal level for people to leave the property.

I could find nothing outside of the TV shows about hauntings, I am more than aware about the claims from these shows about false evidence too. Many locals seem quick to dispute the cases and tales as well, so have you anything to add?

By J. E. Bailey – Images of America: Cedar Grove, Public Domain, Link