The Little Girl in Red (紅衣小女孩), Dakeng, Taichung, 1998

The Dakeng Scenic Area lies in Beitun District, Taichung. Its trails climb toward Fengdongshi, the "Wind-Moving Stone." In 1998 a large extended family surnamed Lü walked the stretch from Fengdongshi to Dakeng trail no. 9. One of them, known in the record only as Mr. Lü, filmed the outing on a V8 home video camera.

March 1, 1998. A family day in the hills. A man greeted the camera, in one version flashing a "YA" sign. The tape rolled on. Nobody noticed anything strange. In ETtoday's words, not one family member saw her that day.

Then came a death. Chinese Wikipedia says one of the hikers soon fell ill and died. SETN says a man in the group died shortly after they got home, and the family found the footage while arranging the funeral. ETtoday reportedly named him as Mr. Lü's brother-in-law, severely emaciated before the end. One English summary speaks of a car crash instead.

Behind the hiking party walked a small figure in red children's clothing. Her face looked very old, like someone from ancient times. Others described it as livid and ashen, or dark and fierce. Her eyes stayed in shadow. Her walk was "輕飄飄", light and drifting, almost floating. And the man who had greeted the camera now seemed to have two extra pointed teeth. He was the man who died.

Most accounts say the tape aired on 神出鬼沒, a GTV channel 27 programme hosted by 周明增 and 馬世莉. SETN credits the "鬼話連篇" segment of 玫瑰之夜 instead. Producer Ling Zhi-wen is linked to both. Even the date is uncertain. Most retellings say 1998, but ETtoday says Mr. Lü only found the tape again in October 1999 and phoned the production team.

The show appealed for anyone who knew the girl. One small boy reportedly came forward. He had seen a girl in red, he said, and followed her. Then she suddenly vanished. The search led nowhere. There was no solid proof of who she was.

Experts brought in by the show tied her to 魔神仔, the mo-sin-a, a Taiwanese mountain spirit that leads people astray. Others spoke of a mountain wraith, or a vengeful ghost seeking a replacement. Folklorist Pu Qingfeng later called her a "female heavenly demon," a child who died over 100 years ago, and said her feet did not touch the ground.

The sceptical reading is simpler. She was a straggler from another hiking group, and the camcorder's lighting made her face look ghastly. Around 2012, 潘建志 put forward a light-reflection theory, though critics noted it did not explain the way she walks. The producer said on a talk show that the footage was definitely not faked. HK01 later reported, without verification, that the producer had confessed and apologised. That allegation conflicts with the denial on record.

The legend never left Dakeng. In 2015 director Cheng Wei-hao turned it into The Tag-Along, which grossed about NT$85 million at home. The Tag-Along 2 followed in 2017 and became the top domestic film of the year. The Tag-Along: Devil Fish came in 2018. Hikers told of eerie night sounds and unexplained cold near the site. And in 2014, an elderly woman missing for five days in Hualien said a girl in red had led her away.