Hello. As a touhou fan, I assume you're more or less interested in myths like youkai, ghost, demon and so on? This thread is to share what you know and what you've experienced. Maybe not the usual entertainment, but I guess it's fine
First, as the new TH13, I'd like to share something I know about Jiang Shi...
Jiang Shi is originally from China, the taoists (shaman for clearer definition) couldn't pay the fee to transport all the soldiers' corpse back home so they decided to revive them and let them walk by themselves. They discovered this when a black cat (in some stories, a black lynx) jumped over a corpse and it jumped up. A huge success! Except... the Jiang shi weren't intelligent enough to behave, and went on a rampage. Their instinct drove them to seek Chi (life force) from living creatures and human was of course a meal. Sooooo, the escorting team fought back, but heck, as a corpse the Jiang Shi didn't feel pain, they also gained a great deal of defense due to their body decay. Because of this, the Jiang Shi's only way of travelling is hopping, with their arms outstretched (to grab the prey). They were enhanced with Taoist magic and became very very dangerous. The soldiers can't defeat them, in fact, there was no way to defeat a Jiang Shi at that time. So, people sit down and discussed. They then found out these techniques:
1. To avoid a Jiang Shi:
- They're dead, so they can't see nor smell. The only way for them to target is sound. That's right, do not run or scream when you see a Jiang shi. Stand still and hold your breath, they'll pass you.
- They're summoned by Taoist magic, so it's possible to counter it with taoist magic (they use I Ching, which heavily bases on Yin-Yang: everything has a counterpart). A charm, a mirror or a ba guai sign on your door, the Jiang Shi can't pass it (but they can jump in your windows so I don't see any point)
- A bunch of monk chanting an anti-evil chant, this works on every kind of Chinese demon, quite expensive tho, and also requires the monks to outlevel the evil, or else they can still go in and kill everyone.
- A rooster: its call bring the Sun, and the Sun pushes down all evil. We all knew that didn't we.
2. To defeat a Jiang Shi:
- Dislocate the joints, they can't attack.
- Cut off the head, pretty typical.
- Hold the legs tightly. This will eventually stop the Jiang Shi, their body is hardened and straight, so they can't reach you as you lay down on the ground.
- Stab it with a weapon made of peach wood (like silver in western myth)
- Fire.
- Black dog's blood: dog is the animal that can sense spirits and protect you from evil, the black dog is the superior at this (myth, don't ask me why). So they say its blood works wonder on evil.
- Sunlight.
In the chart of Asian demons, Jiang Shi is placed "dangerous", higher than normal zombie or ghost, less than normal fighting youkai. They are also listed as a "servant" like shikigami because the taoists can controlled them now.
So yeah, they're full of weakness right? But the Chinese didn't think it's enough. They then realized how effective it'd be if they used Jiang Shi on war. An army of dead who you don't need to care about casualty, deadly and don't know to betray! Sooo ideal. Therefore, the Taoists and monks once again made them massively, with more power. Actually they didn't give them more power, but at one session, there was a thunder. This made one Jiang Shi much more stronger with enhanced magic. It can then walk like normal people, go through wall, can't be controlled by normal skilled taoists and have a surreal speed. They are called Dai Jiang Shi, cut off their heads doesn't do anything, they can pick it up and place it back now.
Screwed? Not yet. These Dai Jiang Shi then went even further thanks to some monk who used everything he knew to revive his love. The girl turned into a Jiang Shi with full memory, not afraid of charms, ba gua mirror, can be active in board day light and can even swim. The girl found out her body is super and instead of living with the monk, she killed him and went on a rampage. There was no way to stop her, the whole city died and hundreds of monks are summoned to sealed her. They had to cut off her head, put it in a jar and locked it in the deepest, most secret cave. Her body was tied and kept in another place.
So, that's the story of Jiang Shi, and all of them as you can tell, are just made up horror stories. However, years ago when my grandpa died, we flew from HCM city to Hanoi (Vietnam) to look at him the last time. You know, we kept the coffin in the house for some days for the monks to chant, the relatives to cry and the music to play. I and my mom arrived at midnight, and she passed out crying. I didn't cry, but I loved m grandpa, so I drew close and look at his face through the glass. Suddenly a black cat rushed in and jumped over the coffin. I saw my grandpa opened his eyes and his body bounced. The coffin was hit hard and almost fell off... The cat then ran away as quietly as it appeared, and everything went back to normal.
Later I read an explanation... it was electricity. The meat part below the cat's feet have (+) current while the corpse has (-), when a cat jumps over it makes an electrical current enough to move the body. Although it wasn't very clear but I suppose it stopped the fear in me.
I'll tell another story later, as it's 2am here... why don't you share yours? Touhou related or any paranormal activity will do
