Literary records
Shen Congwen, a writer in western Hunan, described his experience of returning to his hometown to interview a famous wizard in Yuanling Man.
When Shen Congwen asked about the formula of "driving a corpse", he replied: "Nothing unusual, just reading Wen Tianxiang's Song Zhengqi. He was also allowed to perform at will, and his people shirked and said, "You can't do it without practicing kung fu. You left a long time ago. "Wandering along while, there is no purpose. But Shen Congwen seems to see through the mystery from the Voltaire smile of the wizard: "I am full of curiosity about an absurd legend that has been circulating for many years. I went to visit a person who knows life well and asked him how the dead can catch up." In his sophisticated eyes, how different is your behavior from that of a madman? " [3]
Mechanical drag corpse
How can the dead be driven away by the living? Many scientists are studying it. Opinions vary.
Some people think that people will be stiff immediately after death. This phenomenon is called "rigor mortis". After 48 hours, the corpse will recover some softness, and then the corpse in Xiangxi will become stiff again. But at this time, the joints such as hip joint can still move slightly (20 degrees) under the action of external force, which is one of the physical conditions for the dead to walk. Arrange the two bodies in a line, straighten the forearms parallel to the ground, and then use a long and thin bamboo pole to fix them with a rope along the arms, so that the two bodies will be connected into a three-dimensional shelf and will not fall over (this is why two dead people are needed).
At this time, if you tie a rope to the first corpse and then gently pull it at the other end with your hand, the corpse will walk up with curved straight legs like a marionette under the action of external force. In fact, this is not as clear as "dragging". From Chuanbian to Xiangxi, the geographical condition is downhill, and the path is generally downhill. When the potential energy is converted into kinetic energy, the corpse rack is more convenient. These paths are carefully selected by the corpse carriers, and there are few uphill roads. It's really hard to move one by one. This is the biggest secret of corpse removal.
Pretend to carry the body
The so-called "corpse drive" is actually "corpse transport". The corpse driver asked someone to dismember the body and then sprayed a special potion on the residual limb to prevent the residual limb from rotting. A man's stump is on his back, wrapped in a long and big black robe and wearing a big straw hat, which covers his whole head and makes it difficult to see the outline of his face. Another person dressed as a "corpse driver" threw yellow paper in front and rang the bell to guide the corpse carrier. The two also deliberately created an atmosphere of terror, which made people afraid to get close. If the journey is long, their roles will change every day.
Other statements
CCTV's "Approaching Science" reported that a corpse carrier would leave the body with only the head and limbs, abandon the trunk and tie a new trunk with straw. When carrying, a body porter will carry the body on his back and put on a black shroud together. In order not to let the family members of the deceased see through it, the corpse driver will collect it separately, and only let the family members have a rough look at the body. This explanation does not explain how to transport multiple bodies at the same time, nor does it explain how the bodies jump forward.
According to media analysis in Taiwan Province Province, the main tool for transporting corpses is bamboo. The corpse carrier used bamboo to pass through the armpit of the deceased's big sleeve shroud, arranged several corpses together, and let two corpse carriers carry bamboo to transport the corpses. The arm of the corpse was tied to the bamboo, and the big sleeves made it possible for the bamboo to be covered; The toughness of bamboo makes it swing up and down when it moves forward, driving the corpse to swing up and down, which looks like a jumping corpse from a distance.
Another way of saying this is that "corpse removal" is actually a gang smuggling activity, and this creepy queue is used to cover up illegal drug trafficking.
Academic value
There are many records about ancient corpse driving in folk classics, but it is more common in regional legends. Xiangxi has been rich in cinnabar since ancient times, and cinnabar has many pharmacological effects. Today, there is still the habit of using cinnabar in the funeral custom in Xiangxi: before the deceased enters the coffin, he needs to use cinnabar to point his forehead, vest, chest, left and right palms, foot and other seven orifices, together with his ears, nose and mouth, to seal his seven souls and three souls. After digging a grave for the dead, the bottom should be sprinkled with cinnabar, which means "old curtilage field" in the town. The research results of many experts and scholars show that the Miao nationality was the first to invent weapons, criminal law and witchcraft. Among them, corpse removal, as a folk custom, is part of witchcraft. It should be said that the study of autopsies has multiple academic values for understanding the historical culture, national culture, religious culture and folk culture of Miao nationality.
(Source: Network)