The Haunted toilet of HKU

HKU is generally a very new campus compared to the old buildings we have in the UK. Only a handful of buildings can claim 100 years, but ghost stories are not reserved to the ancient. One recent evening, I found myself walking along the Chong Yuet Ming building on campus with a group of locals. Soon enough, the conversation and nervous giggling were translated for for me and I was told the story of Hong Kong University's haunted toilet.

Only a few decades ago, if not less, Hong Kong businessman and billionaire, Li Ka-Shing made a large donation to HKU, and an amenities centre was built and named in honour of his late wife, Chong Yuet Ming. She was also wheelchair-bound (this is important).

Left: Chong Yuet Ming. Right: Li Ka-Shing

Since then, claims have been made that the building, especially regarding the 3rd floor girls toilet, is haunted. Why? It was all designed to keep Chong Yuet Ming's spirit at rest.

Chong Yuet Ming Amenities Centre

At the minute a lot of the building is being renovated and so the toilet cannot be accessed - I've also heard that it might have been demolished. But there are supposed to be a number of features that have freaked people out.

So let's start with the door to the bathroom. On the front I am told is the usual symbol of a woman, but with one strange addition - large shoulder pads, a staple feature of Chong Yuet Ming's wardrobe. None of the other bathrooms in the building have this design. Inside the bathroom, there are 3 water pipes that run along the ceiling - seen to be signifying the 3 incense sticks used to show respects the dead.

I'm guessing it looks something like this?

Further to these signs, the door handle is placed unusually high - too high for a wheelchair-user to reach, and there are a few steps leading up the girl's bathroom, again making it impossible for say, a ghost in a wheelchair, to leave the bathroom. Supposedly none of these features are replicated elsewhere in the building.

The last reason to believe the building is designed to keep Chong Yuet Ming at rest here? The building, from certain angles, looks like a tomb. Certainly, sightings of a ghost matching Chong Yuet Ming's description have been reported by many.

CYM amenities centre....or tomb?

Whether these are simply creepy coincidences or there is truth behind the stories,I don't know. But certainly while the HKU campus may not be built on an ancient indian burial ground with a long history, it definitely has some stories to tell.