Chaonei No. 81, arguably Beijing’s most celebrated “haunted house,” has seen a steady stream of visitors over the years. Until recently, they were a niche assortment — mostly thrill-seekers, urban explorers and history buffs — looking to experience firsthand the lurid tales of the once-grand French Baroque-style mansion, which has long sat dilapidated and abandoned. Foremost among the many legends associated with Chaonei No. 81 is that the mansion is haunted by the ghost of the mistress of a Kuomintang official who hanged herself there after her lover abandoned her following the Communist victory in 1949.
朝内81号堪称北京最有名的“鬼屋”，多年来访客不断。不过直到不久前，来参观的还是一个小众类型——主要是追求刺激者、都市探险者和历史爱好者——他们想在这座一度辉煌却早已年久失修的法国巴洛克式大宅中亲身体验那些可怕的故事。在朝内81号的诸多传奇中最有名的故事是：1949年共产党赢得战争之后，一个国民党军官去了台湾，他的姨太太被遗弃在这里，于是上吊自尽，她的鬼魂仍在宅子里徘徊。

But the release in Chinese film theaters last week of a big-budget 3-D thriller inspired by Chaonei No. 81 has prompted an unprecedented deluge of visitors. Since its premiere on Thursday, the film, called “Jingcheng No. 81” or, in English, “The House That Never Dies,” has already earned about 160 million renminbi, or around $25.7 million, putting it third on the domestic box-office charts, behind “Tiny Times 3” and “Transformers: Age of Extinction,” according to the Chinese movie website Mtime.com.
上个星期，根据它的故事拍成的一部大制作3D恐怖片在中国院线上映了，这为朝内81号带来了数量空前的游客。这部影片名叫《京城81号》，英文名字翻译过来是《永远不死的房子》(The House That Never Dies)。根据中国电影网站Mtime.com统计，该片自上周四首映以来，已经获得了大约1.6亿人民币的票房收入，约合2570万美元，在国内票房排行榜上排名第三，仅次于《小时代3》和《变形金刚：绝迹重生》(Transformers: Age of Extinction)。
“I never thought my job would be like this,” said Xu Wen, the groundskeeper of Chaonei No. 81. Mr. Xu, who has worked at the property since 2011, estimated that the number of visitors since last week had been upward of 500 per day, far more than in the past.
“我从来没想到自己的工作会变成这样，”朝内81号的管理员徐文（音译）说。徐文从2011年开始在这里工作，他估计自从上星期以来，游客已经达到每天500多人，比过去多多了。
The gate to the compound where the mansion and an outbuilding, also said to be haunted, are situated had previously been left open for much of the day. But to deal with the sudden surge in interest following the film’s premiere, the owners, the Beijing Catholic Diocese, have decided to keep it closed to help control the flow of visitors.
院中有一栋大宅和一个外屋，据说外屋也闹鬼，院子大门本来一天大部分时间都开着，但是为了对付电影上映后突如其来的游客潮，这里的主人——天主教北京教区决定关闭大门，以控制客流量。
“The buildings are too old,” Mr. Xu said. “If there are too many people inside at once, it’s more likely that someone will get hurt.”
“这栋建筑太老了，”徐先生说，“如果一下让太多人进来，很可能会伤到人。”
On Tuesday morning, about 50 people, mostly young, wandered around the property, exploring and taking photos. Among them was Gong Xiangyu, a 20-year-old student who, after seeing the film that morning, decided to walk the 20 minutes or so from the theater to see the real Chaonei No. 81, which is located on a bustling thoroughfare in the heart of Beijing.
星期二上午，大约有50人围着这栋建筑徘徊，其中大部分是年轻人，他们仔细查看，拍着照片。其中包括20岁的学生龚翔宇（音译）当天上午刚看完电影，就决定从影院步行20分钟过来看看真正的朝内81号——它坐落在北京市中心的喧嚣闹市之中。
“I think what’s cool about this film is that the house is actually in Beijing, unlike the haunted houses we see in American movies,” said Mr. Gong, currently on summer vacation from Beijing People’s Police College. “The house itself isn’t really scary like the one in the movie — there are too many people here — but I guess I am scared of falling through the floorboards.”
“我觉得这个电影很酷的一点就是这栋房子真的在北京，不像我们在美国电影里看的那种鬼屋，”龚是北京人民警察学院的学生，现在在放暑假，“这栋房子其实不像电影里那么可怕——这儿人太多了——但我好像有点害怕走在地板上陷下去。”
Some historians and officials from the Beijing diocese disagree about the history of the mansion. Church officials have said that the house was built in 1910 as a Chinese-language school for foreign missionaries and later also took in diplomats, businessmen and scholars. Historians, however, say that the buildings at Chaonei No. 81 were constructed as a private residence for the French manager of a railroad company. After the Communists took control in 1949, it is generally agreed that the buildings swung between various states of use and disuse.
有些历史学家和北京教区的负责人对这栋建筑的历史有不同意见。教会负责人说，这栋房子于1910年建立，是为外国传教士开的中文学校，后来外交人员、商人和学者们也加入进来。历史学家们却说，朝内81号是一个法国铁路公司经理建造的私宅。各方一致认为，1949年共产党获得政权后，这栋房子有过各种用途，也一度荒废。
“This history is very difficult to get straight,” said Mr. Xu, who has taken an active interest in unearthing the mansion’s history.
“它的历史已经很难弄清，”对发掘这栋房子的历史很感兴趣的徐先生说。
Part of the allure to visitors no doubt also stems from the house itself, which in its decaying state is seemingly an ideal setting for paranormal activity (or, at the very least, rumors about it).
毫无疑问，对于参观者们来说，部分吸引力也来自这栋房子本身，它衰败的状态似乎为各种异常行为提供了极好的背景（至少也可以用来传传奇怪事件的谣言）。
Inside the barren house, piles of brushwood, litter and building materials lie strewn about. Graffiti, much of it apparently recent, is scrawled across the walls. In the dark basement of the gray-brick outbuilding in back, a tunnel where several construction workers are said to have vanished has been blocked off.
在这栋荒凉的房子内部，枯树枝、垃圾和建筑材料堆得到处都是。墙上布满涂鸦，很多都显然是最近才画上去的。主楼后面的外房由灰色的砖石砌成，有个黑洞洞的地下室，里面有个被封闭的地下通道，据说有几个建筑工人在里面消失了。
Plans to renovate the buildings, which are on a historic preservation list, are awaiting approval, church officials said last month.
这栋建筑名列文物保护名单，上个月，教会负责人说翻修计划正在等待审批通过。
Hua Shanghuang, 15, said the buildings made an “ideal backdrop” for a haunted-themed cosplay, or costume play, a performance activity that originated in Japan. On Tuesday morning, Ms. Hua, who wore a long black wig, black dress, black tights and black heels, and a friend — “the ghost” — who was clad in a red tartan skirt and a white blouse speckled with fake blood, roamed the property, striking menacing poses for a photographer.
15岁的华尚煌（音译）说，这栋建筑可以作为闹鬼主题的cosplay（起源于日本的一种化妆角色扮演活动）的“理想背景”。星期二上午，华戴着长长的黑色假发，穿着黑色连衣裙、黑色长筒袜和黑色高跟鞋，她的朋友“鬼魂”穿着红色格子衬衫和染着假血的白色外套，两人在这栋建筑内徘徊，摆出恐吓的姿势，让一个摄影师为她们拍照。
However, Ms. Hua seemed somewhat skeptical about the presence of actual ghosts at Chaonei No. 81.
不过，华似乎不相信朝内81号真的有鬼魂存在。
“How could there be ghosts here?” she exclaimed. “It’s so bright!”
“这儿这么亮，怎么可能有鬼呢？”她大声说。