Threesday: Scared in Shanghai

In our Threesday feature, Shanghaiist takes the time to count out three of well... whatever catches their fancy that week. This week: spooky things around and about Shanghai!

Shanghai can be a scary, scary place. Even if it's not particularly prone to celebrating Halloween, there are quite a couple of bone chilling things to check out in time for our favorite non-holiday. We've pinpointed a couple of things that ought to get you sufficiently spooked before Halloween.

1. The Normandie building: A real haunted house.

The Normandie building, located in the French Concession, was built to commemorate the Normandy warship, which sunk during WWI. It's designed to look like a ship, jutting out from a street corner. The building was host to lots of entertainment folks in the 1930s and 40s, but was soon abandoned by its tenants... save for one actress: Shangguan Yunzhu, who lived in the corner apartment of the building and committed suicide in the 60s. Creepy.

Stories have been floating around among current residents about the place still being haunted by the ghost of Yunzhu and other people who committed suicide during the Cultural Revolution.

Do you dare to find out for yourself? We recommend going late at night, with no companions and no flashlights. Or at least get your least favorite friends to.

2. Shanghai Nightmare: A fake, but still frightening, haunted house.

While we've featured it once before, we think this house of spooks is worth mentioning again. After all, there's only nine days til the end of the month (when it closes) and this is the greatest way we've found to get our adrenaline rushing.

Besides a "beheading room," there's also a long pathway of laser-lit mirrors, a theater full of stiff bodies, and a monster bar (to drink those fears away?). We've also heard things will be jumping out at you from every corner. Yeesh!

Open hours are 7 pm-midnight Fri.-Sat. and 7pm-11pm Wed., Thurs. and Sun. Entry is 98RMB for standard entry and 188RMB for VIP tickets. For further information, contact Shanghai Nightmare at 5375 2589 or visit their website.

3. Shanghai Red: A Shanghai-based horror film

An alternative to roaming the streets of Shanghai late at night: you can get freaked out in the comfort of your own home watching the ONE psuedo-horror film that takes place in Shanghai.

Shanghai Red is a murder mystery that takes place right here in contemporary Shanghai. It didn't get much hype when it was released in 2006, but we'd give it a spin if only to see our beloved city on the big screen. Or the little TV set that sits in our room.

If you're in the mood for other creepy Chinese films, Urbanatomy has an awesomely horrific list of Chinese horror flicks for you.

Now that you're tired of being frightened, why not turn the tables and fright some people around you? We're psyched about our upcoming Halloween Rampage party at Not Me and there's nothing quite like starting it out with a collective zombie walk down the street before the partying begins.

Best of all, if you're with us recreating scenes from Thriller, you get in for free. Nothing scary about that!