Eighteen Arhats Cave (十八羅漢洞)

Located on the flank of Yunlong Mountain (雲龍山) in eastern Keelung, Eighteen Arhats Cave (十八羅漢洞) was established in 1971 as an outgrowth of the nearby Shengji Temple (聖濟宮), and likely occupies a former World War 2 bunker once manned by Japanese troops. Both initiatives were funded by Guo Yushui (郭玉水), a member of the local gentry from a family of Chinese medicine practitioners who later moved into local politics. It was a popular spot for domestic tourism in the 1970s, enshrining the eponymous arhats as well as numerous other deities and legendary figures. The cave temple suffered catastrophic damage during Typhoon Herb (颱風賀伯) in 1996 and subsequently closed. Much of what remained of the exterior of the attraction was dismantled in the early 2020s, and the site became a fixture of the urban exploration scene in Taiwan shortly thereafter. The entrance to Eighteen Arhats Cave in 2016. A tantalizing mystery sealed with bricks. Oversize statues of Thousand-Armed Guanyin (千手觀音) flanked by…