Spooky Happenings Await at Shimao Gongsan's Best-Kept Secret: The Horror Experience Museum

I had lived in Beijing several years before that frightful night. I thought I had run the gamut of thrills this town had to offer, but I was wrong. Never one to be superstitious, I was still partial to a good spooking on occasion, going as far as to venture into every abandoned building Burbex suggested and the infamously haunted Chaonei 81, only to be frightened by nothing more than a bao’an. I knew that a city with centuries of history and millions of people surely held some secrets, yet it was not until a year ago to this very day that I discovered the abomination I sought – perhaps Sanlitun’s most unspeakable evil.

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I had been shopping Muji’s sales rack, but found it still too expensive for my budget. As I headed out their backdoor, I spun around to orientate myself and spied a sight most peculiar: a vicious rabbit 20 feet tall, its stuffed insides spilling out, poised on a poster. It read: The 21st Door - Horror Experience Museum.

I snapped a picture and WeChatted it to various friends, but none had heard of such a place. The scariest part was that the internet offered little information either, this was Sanlitun's burgeoning Shimao Gongsan mall after all. What was this mysterious museum? What horrors did it hide? I gathered a team resembling the Scooby Gang: brawn, brains, beauty, and a sacrificial comic relief – if anyone were to die, I did not want to be the first.

We headed up to the second floor. We bought our tickets, RMB 99 each. A fair price to dice with Death. For an additional fee, they offered amulets for protection but our naive youth led us to think we were impervious. The doorman sent us down a dark corridor. It came to a dead end. We turned around, but behind us, he locked the door. Infernal screams filled our ears, but we soon recognized them as our own. The door in front of us opened to reveal a dining room dimly lit by candelabra. That's when visions began to plague the corners of our eyes. Our tormentor teased us – some nefarious creature in the room – but it was too quick to be seen in the low light. Still, the blurred shadow instilled pure fear in us all. We leapt and wept. Some ran back, attempting to exit from whence we came. I ventured deeper in, desperately searching for an escape elsewhere.

After 20 rooms of crawling, climbing, and crying for dear life, I burst through the final door, landing myself back in the ghost town of a mall. Was I out of that hellish landscape? I felt like I was missing something.

I used to think I had lost myself on ol' Dirty Bar Street. But, Sanlitun hides a far worse wickedness. Whatever devil lurks behind those fearful doors, it kept a part of each of us, and I doubt we will ever be the same again.

The 21st Door - Horror Experience Museum
Daily, 10am-10pm. 0201, 2/F, Shimao Mall, 13 Workers' Stadium Road, Chaoyang District (Next to Mr. X)
朝阳区工人体育场北路13号世贸广场（工三点）2楼0201

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Images: Dianping, Zhihu