From the past to present, numerous ghosts stories were passed around in Taiwanese folklore, there were shared orally or distributed in articles and books, later on these stories were incorporated in television programs, movies and other new channels like the internet. The oral tradition of listening and sharing ghost stories by the people never dispersed because of the “progress” in society and science. On the contrary, ghost stories continued to spread among the public within different times and places through multiple channels. No matter if it was passed down orally, visually or documented, there has been an extensive amount of relevant sources. The people are passionately involved in sharing and listening ghost stories, not solely because the content of the ghost stories are worth researching, but also the act of orally passing on the stories are worth analyzing in depth, many academic angles are also factors to consider for research analysis. However, toward the many rumored ghost stories in Taiwanese folklore, scholars are reluctant to study them seriously, the monitory who came in contact with the stories merely treated them as complementary sources for their research, a pivotal point to discuss before reaching the main research subject. Rarely was there anyone who treats these ghost stories as an independent research subject matter. This article reviews the past research done on ghost stories on the one hand, on the other, point out a number of worth ghost stories’ sources; meanwhile discusses the possibilities for ghost stories as the main interest of research.

ghost；ghosts stories；paranormal events；legend；fiction