"Western Hunan has a long history of corpse-driving, and people who die in other places are led by corpse-drivers, who walk step by step through the night in the mountains. Catching the corpse people hand shaking copper bell not tightly, the dead body clad in spells and also step by step, the mountain road, but where you can hear the sound of the copper bell ringing place, chickens do not sing the dog does not scream, birds and animals to avoid, and even the swimming fish are y submerged in the bottom of the water."
? Catching corpses, as the name suggests, is that the living person to drive the corpse. In local jargon, it is also called moving the spirit, walking shadow, walking feet, rose in the middle of the Qing Dynasty, originated in the upper reaches of the Yuan River. In China, since ancient times, there has been a concept of returning to one's roots. Although people die as if the lamp is extinguished, but to see people in life, to see the corpse in death, the people who died away from home, often have to be transported back to their hometown for burial. This has given birth to this special line of work to catch the corpse.
? Speaking of the whole process of corpse driving, folklore is very wide, three important terms: walking corpse, corpse driving craftsmen, dead body inn.
In the pre-liberation period, if you stay in the mysterious mountain village inns in western Hunan, you are very likely to see the dead body walking, of course, of course, the body will not walk on their own, which requires a special person, through a special way to lead the way, this person is to drive the corpse Mr., locals call "corpse driving craftsman". Usually, no matter how many corpses, are driven by him alone, some of the necrophiliacs will also take one or two apprentices, one is afraid of slippery roads in the dark, the body toppled over, more than one person more than one to take care of, and the second is that some corpses are horrible deaths, and more than one person can also give themselves boldness. The necromancers usually do not play lanterns, holding a copper bell known as soul-sucking bells, shaking jingling, with the local people's words, is to let him behind these souls of the countryside to find his direction, not to the soul away from the body, to become a lonely ghosts.
"Walking feet" of the time to choose is also quite elaborate, the necromancers are generally day and night, will not go through the village over the town, but to choose some of the barren mountains, or mountain paths slowly, it is also very good to understand, if the day with a team of corpses strutting around, not scared to death na? Secondly, it is also taboo to dogs and cats and other animals rushing the body, if the body is mutilated, but also can not explain to the employer. Catching corpses on the way to the "dead body inn", only to catch the corpse craftsmen and corpses to stay, the living do not live, due to the income is not expensive, these inns, although it seems to be out of doors, but also run a good business. The necromancers drive the corpses to the inns before dawn and leave quietly at night. The corpses stand neatly against the wall behind the door panels, and when it rains hard, they stay in the store for a few days and nights. The employer will pay half of the money to the corpse collector in advance, and when the destination is reached, the corpse will be handed over and the remaining money will be paid back, and the trip will be completed.
Yuanling County, Nanmu store township has a widow, according to the old man said, in his grandfather's generation that era, the village has a crippled master, used to do carpentry, people call him 'Li Crippled', Li Crippled after the leg breaks, can not do the work, then in the nearby mountains to open a small store, the store only two rooms, no name, but reportedly earned a little money, Li Crippled. Later, he also married a daughter-in-law. The old man did not explicitly say, but we can probably guess, this should be what we often call the dead body store. Dead body store is usually wide open, when asked the old man this will not attract thieves, the old man grinned, said: "for the dead to live, which dare to go in yo!"
? There are written texts detailing that the activities of the dead bodies are mainly found in the four counties of Yuanling, Luxi, Chenxi, and Xuipu in western Hunan.
? To the north it cannot cross Dongting Lake, to the east it only reaches Jingzhou, to the west it only reaches Fuzhou and Wuzhou, and to the southwest it reaches Yunnan and Guizhou. Legend has it that these places are the jurisdiction of the ghost country of the ancestors of the Miao people, and any farther is out of the boundaries of the earth, and even if the Taoist judicial art is high, it can't drive those corpses. Shen Congwen, a famous Hmong writer, wrote in one of his articles, "Passing through Chenzhou (present-day Yuanling), that place produces cinnabar, and there are people who know how to drive corpses. If you have good eyes, you will have the opportunity to see a group of dead bodies walking on the highway, when the car is close, but also know to avoid the roadside, exactly the same as the living."
Xiangxi has a characteristic, there are many ethnic minorities here, there are Tujia, Miao, Hui, Yao, Dong, Bai and other more than 30 ethnic groups, many experts and scholars today, the results of research show that the Miao were the first to invent weapons, criminal law, sorcery of the nation, and so the necromancers at that time was also regarded as a "half-human, half-witch" existence of much reverence. Therefore, the necromancer was also regarded as a "half-man, half-witch" at that time, and was highly respected. What is witch? Ancient people said, "Witch, also known as medicine. In the eyes of the ancients, the so-called "healing" is the highest state of life and even all social activities of human beings. The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine is evidence of this. In the previous era of underdeveloped science, folk generally believe that "medical" and the gods related to Hunan in the Warring States period is the state of Chu, "Chu land" has also been used down to catch a corpse, compulsion, etc. are part of the Chu witch culture, and witch has black witchcraft and white witchcraft points! The first one is to drive a corpse, which is usually regarded as white witchcraft.
Catching corpses is a handicraft work, a lot of rules, and because of different techniques, divided into a number of schools, the corpse of the family rules are not the same, the more widely circulated roughly two points.
? First, the male does not pass the female. In western Hunan, the body of a man not pass women, witchcraft pass women not pass men. Why do you only pass on men to catch corpses? In fact, it is very easy to understand, men are strong and courageous, in the view of the necromancers, Yang Qi heavy, can suppress the dead body's Yin Qi.
Second, pass inside not pass outside. Catching corpses family on their own craft masterpiece are strictly confidential, never leaked, only the blood relationship between the male only have the right to inheritance.
Where beheaded (to be sewn together), hanged, standing in a cage, these three can be driven. Legend has it that because they were all forced to die, they died unconvincingly, missing both home and loved ones. Available spells will be hooked to their souls, to the respective bodies within the town spells, and then spells to drive them to climb mountains, even on the boat across the water to return to their hometowns.
1. Those who are struck by lightning will not be driven away. These people are considered by the Miao people to be unfilial, unkind and wasteful, and their souls have long been destroyed by the god of thunder;
2. Those who are thrown into the river and hang their necks will not be driven away. Their souls have been entangled by the wild ghosts, so if they are recruited back to the river, it will affect the old ghosts' reincarnation. ghost gate there to call them back.
In the western Hunan folk, since ancient times, there is this industry to catch the corpse, but this industry is when and who created it? It is said that this has a close relationship with "Qi Men Dun Jia". The "Qi Men Dun Jia" is a Taoist metaphysics, divided into two kinds of magic and divination, originated in the nine palace algorithm.
Catching the origin of the body, folk book records: According to legend, thousands of years ago, the ancestors of the Miao Pu (Miao: Gong Gong) Chi Yu rate of troops in the Yellow River and the enemy against the killing, until the corpses are everywhere, the blood flow into the river. After the battle to retreat to the rear, the soldiers to the wounded soldiers are carried away, Apu Chiyu order Apu military division to send the war dead brothers back to their hometown.
So Apu military division dressed in the likeness of Apu Chiyu, stood in the middle of the bodies of dead brothers, in a burst of silent incantations, prayers to the gods, originally lying on the ground of the body all of a sudden stood up, with the Apu Chiyu high Prime "festival" behind the rules to the south. The enemy's pursuers came, Apu Chiyu and Apu military division even hand in hand for the law to lead to the "five fog", the enemy will be trapped in the Vertigo Array ...... This is the earliest version of the corpse.
Because of the Apu military division of the "Division" (implementation, operation of the meaning) of the spell so that we get out of danger, we have since called him "old Division"; and because the Apu old Division of the last used in the real of the enemy is the "fog"! ", and "fog" strokes too many difficult to write, so it was rewritten as a "witch" instead of the word. In fact, this witch word is also a hieroglyphic: above a cross on behalf of the sky or fog, the lower side of a cross on behalf of the ground, and the middle of the vertical on behalf of the "Festival"; vertical on each side of a human character, the right one on behalf of the Apu Chi, the left one on behalf of the Apu Lao Si, meaning that the two can be united to make the sorcery.
The first theory: the body is actually back. Corpse chasers will be coated with potion to embalm the body beforehand, covered with a black cloth, and then take two or three disciples, take turns carrying the body until the destination. As for the incantations recited in their mouths, and the bells shaken in their hands, they are actually meant to create a scary atmosphere and keep the living away. Because the corpse chaser walks at night, the black light is easy to visual error, so the corpse looks like walking on its own. This argument is now more widely spread.
The second theory: the body was carried. This theory first came from a Taiwan electronic version called "strange power". 2006, "strange power" published an article to reveal the mystery of the corpse, the general meaning is that, in the corpse, the corpse will be used to chase the corpse, the corpse will be a thin bamboo pole, from the armpit of the corpse through the armpits, and will be tied to the arm on the bamboo pole, the corpse is wearing a wide life jacket, covering the bamboo pole, and the corpse is carried by the bamboo pole to go. As the bamboo pole bends under pressure and drives the corpse to sway, it looks like an upright corpse jumping with its hands held flat in the night.
The third theory: the split body after carrying. CCTV 10 sets of "close to science" program has aired a "walking corpse", reported that a corpse will only leave the head and limbs and discard the torso, and another with straw and other tie a new torso. One of the carriers would carry the body on his back and put a black cloth over it. In order to prevent the families of the deceased to see through, the necrophiliacs will be alone to do the coffin, only let the family roughly look at the body. This explanation does not explain how to transport multiple corpses at the same time, nor does it explain how the body jumps forward.
The fourth theory: fake dead people say. This conspiracy theory that in fact there is no such thing as a corpse, the body is a living person loaded, "corpse" is actually a gangster's smuggling activities, through this creepy scramble to avoid the procession, to cover up the drug trafficking illegal behavior. "Catching corpses" when the "fake dead" will wear a big straw hat, the head will be covered, wearing a long robe and coat, arm paper money. Limbs bundled on the bamboo, the purpose is to not let the joints of the hands and feet to bend, is its according to the back step looks stiff, just like a dead body.
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