Real Unexplained Supernatural Events in Chinese Folklore - Part 8

When I was in high school, my family still lived in a 2-bedroom apartment provided by my father's workplace. It was one of those old multi-story buildings where two households shared one bathroom and one kitchen.

Our neighbors were a family of three, and they had a daughter about three years older than me. Our families had a good relationship, and I often visited their home. The girl from their family would also come over to do homework with us. I called her mom, Mrs. Wang, who was very kind but had a very tough life (I'll explain why later).

Mrs. Wang's father had passed away when she was just five years old, leaving her mother to raise her and her four siblings. Life was very difficult for them, but they managed. Luckily, their eldest daughter graduated from a teacher's college and was assigned to teach mathematics at Wuhan No. 15 Middle School.

As the eldest daughter was busy with work, there was no one to look after her child, so she brought her mother to live with them to take care of the grandchild. Mrs. Wang was the youngest daughter and also moved in with her sister's family while attending school at Wuhan No. 15 Middle School.

Every morning, Mrs. Wang would wake up early, around 5 AM, to help her sister buy groceries. They would often take a narrow path that led to the market. One day, as they were walking along this familiar path, something strange happened. They saw a large fireball rolling towards them. Mrs. Wang was terrified and called out to the girl who was with her to look. However, the girl didn't see anything unusual and was surprised by Mrs. Wang's frightened reaction. She asked Mrs. Wang why she had yelled. Mrs. Wang, thinking that it might have been her imagination, didn't pay much attention to it. They bought groceries and went to school as usual, and Mrs. Wang didn't mention the incident to her mother.

Around 8 PM that evening, during evening self-study at school, Mrs. Wang was sitting in her usual seat near the door. Everyone was quiet, focusing on their work, while the teacher was busy grading papers at the front of the classroom. When the teacher called Mrs. Wang's name to collect her homework, she lifted her head and suddenly saw the classroom door open just a crack. An extremely old woman was smiling at her, her mouth wide open, with no teeth (but it was impossible for a street sweeper like this to be in the school). Then, in a flash, she saw a black shadow, resembling a recording of sudden movement, rushing towards her. At that moment, the teacher called her name. Mrs. Wang instinctively responded with "Here," but immediately after, everything went black, and she didn't remember anything else.

Mrs. Wang remained in this state for an entire year, completely unconscious and with no memory. Her mother cried daily, using a spoon to scoop water from a water jar while repeatedly calling Mrs. Wang's name (a ritual known as "calling back the soul").

Doctors from major hospitals in Wuhan couldn't determine the cause of her condition, and she lay at home in a comatose state. Mrs. Wang's classmates visited her, combed her hair (at that time, girls had very long hair), and during that year, all her hair fell out.

Mrs. Wang's mother wanted to invite a spiritual medium from their village to help, but her elder sister and brother-in-law, who didn't believe in superstitions, opposed the idea, arguing that if even hospitals couldn't help, what could a spiritual medium do? So, the situation dragged on.

One day, on the anniversary of her father's death, when their entire family returned to their hometown to sweep the tomb, Mrs. Wang's mother had a dream. In the dream, she saw her deceased husband and heard him say that their daughter Xiaxia (Mrs. Wang's nickname) was walking on their village road. After this dream, she finally understood and urgently invited a spiritual medium from their village.

The spiritual medium claimed that Mrs. Wang's soul had been captured by a malevolent spirit, which had also placed its malevolent energy in her body. The medium concocted a mixture of herbs and incantations, which Mrs. Wang consumed. After ingesting it, she vomited profusely, expelling a lot of white saliva-like substances. She continued this treatment for about half a month, and gradually, she regained consciousness and began to recover.