The Haunting of Bus No 375: A Midnight Ride into Darkness

On a cold night in Beijing, November 14, 1995, Bus 375 made its final departure from the Yuan-Ming-Yuan bus terminal. This was the last bus of the night, headed for Xiangshan (Fragrant Hills). The only people onboard were the driver and a female conductor. The bitter wind howled through the dark streets as the bus stopped at the South Gate near the Summer Palace. Four passengers boarded: an old woman, a young couple, and a young man. The couple sat near the driver, while the old lady and the young man settled near the door.

The only sound filling the eerie night was the hum of the bus engine. The road was deserted, and not a single other vehicle was in sight. As the bus journeyed through the silent streets, the driver spotted two shadowy figures standing by the side of the road. Waving to catch the driver’s attention, three people climbed aboard. Two men supported a third man between them, whose head hung low, obscuring his face. The trio was dressed in traditional Chinese robes from the Qing Dynasty. Their faces were deathly pale, giving off an unsettling vibe.

The passengers on the bus exchanged nervous glances, sensing something was very wrong. Trying to calm them down, the conductor explained, “They’re probably just actors filming nearby. Maybe they got drunk after work and forgot to change clothes.” Despite her efforts, the bus was filled with tension, and no one spoke. The only sound left was the eerie whistling of the wind outside.

After a few stops, the young couple exited the bus, leaving the old lady, the young man, and the mysterious newcomers. The bus driver and the conductor resumed chatting as if nothing had happened. Suddenly, the old woman jumped up and accused the young man of stealing her purse. She grabbed him by the collar and demanded the driver stop the bus so they could take him to the police station. The young man, shocked, couldn’t believe what was happening.

When the bus finally halted, the old woman dragged the young man off. As the bus disappeared into the darkness, the old woman let out a deep breath. “Where’s the police station?” the confused young man asked.

“There isn’t one,” the old woman replied. “I just saved your life.”

Stunned, the young man stared at her in disbelief. “Saved my life? How?”

“Those three people on the bus—they were ghosts,” she whispered. She explained how, since they boarded, she had been watching them closely. When the wind blew through the bus, she saw something terrifying—none of them had legs.

The young man’s face turned pale, and sweat beaded on his forehead. He stood frozen in shock, unable to speak.

The old woman wasted no time and called the police, reporting the strange event. The next day, Bus 375 failed to show up at its terminal. The bus, along with the driver and conductor, had vanished. The police scoured the city for clues, but the bus was nowhere to be found. They questioned the old lady and the young man, but their ghostly tale was dismissed as nonsense. The authorities believed they were either lying or mentally unstable.

The story, however, caught the attention of local news outlets. The Beijing Evening News and The Beijing News reported the strange disappearance, and the old lady and young man were even interviewed on live television. Two days later, the police made a chilling discovery—the missing bus was found submerged in the Miyun Reservoir, 100 kilometers from its last known stop.

Inside, they found the decomposed bodies of the bus driver, the conductor, and an unknown man. The bus should not have been able to reach the reservoir with the amount of gas it had left, and when the police inspected the fuel tank, they found it filled with blood.

There were other unsettling details: though only two days had passed since the bus disappeared, the bodies were severely decomposed, far more than was natural for that amount of time. Even in summer, decomposition couldn’t happen so quickly, and the autopsy confirmed no foul play was involved in their deaths.

Another mystery baffled the police: the bus had passed through several security checkpoints, yet none of the cameras had recorded it. It was as if the bus vanished into thin air, reappearing only when it was found in the reservoir. No one could explain how it got there without being seen.

To this day, the fate of Bus 375 and its passengers remains one of Beijing’s most haunting unsolved mysteries. Was it a case of lost souls, or something even more sinister?