I heard this story from a talk show when I was in Taiwan. It was a weekly session at midnight when the special guests (singers, actors, etc) contribute true, personal ghost stories.
A young woman (the special guest) was spending a quiet evening with her boyfriend at home. Later in the night they heard someone knocking at the front door. Surprised that someone would be visiting at such an hour, the boyfriend advised her against answering the door. The young woman, however, got brave and went to answer the door. She said there might be an emergency. Furthermore, there is a famous Chinese saying that goes, “If you didn't do any harm to others during the day, you shouldn't be afraid of a ghost knocking on your door at night.”
So, she opened the door, thinking nothing of it. A woman stood on the front door as she opened the door. She noticed the stranger had a hideous face that was half burned beyond recognition.
“Please help me… I need money to take with me to the other side,” the apparition pleaded. In the Chinese tradition, families always burned paper money and provided food and fruits for the deceased to take with them to the after life.
The young woman, trembling, replied, “I will help you. But please don't harm us.”
With her promise, the ghost disappeared before her eyes. The next day, the young woman, with her boyfriend's help, asked around the neighbourhood about the ghost and found out a young woman had been burned to death wrongfully. Her family had abandoned her grave without burning any money for her. So the young woman visited the dead woman's grave and offered her paper money and fresh fruits. She never saw the ghost again.
By Sandy Huster