Grass Ghost Granny: Why Villagers Say an Old Woman Casts gu

In Xiangxi and Guizhou, there used to be a term called “grass ghost granny,” referring to a woman rumored to cast gu.

In the village, such women were very unpopular. People said she raised gu insects, and whoever displeased her would fall ill, suffer stomachaches, vomit blood, or have their livestock suddenly die. Legend has it that some grass ghost grannies could not even control themselves; the gu they raised would need to “eat people” on a certain day, so she had to find a way to release it, otherwise the gu would devour her herself. Some places also say that those harmed by gu first lose their appetite and waste away day by day.

So whenever someone in the village fell ill or something happened to a household, the first thing people thought of was to suspect someone of casting gu. The suspected old woman would very likely be isolated by the whole village—no one willing to speak to her, no one daring to eat anything she gave. Some were interrogated repeatedly at home, some were driven out of the village, and in earlier years there were even accounts of people being beaten or their houses burned.

Later, folklorists conducted investigations. They found that those called grass ghost grannies were often widows, elderly people living alone, or women with no men in the family to back them up. Sometimes they were just odd-tempered, or their home was near a water source and their cattle and horses did not fall ill often. Others pointed out that in the past, some illnesses of unknown cause—such as a swollen abdomen or constant emaciation—were likely actually schistosomiasis or other parasitic diseases. No one understood back then, so everything was blamed on “casting gu.” To put it plainly, the village’s misfortunes were pinned on the most helpless person.

Nowadays, mentioning casting gu is mostly treated as telling a story. But in the days when this term still held power, those old women who were crushed by it for a lifetime—no one remembers their names.

So if you see someone online claiming “I witnessed casting gu with my own eyes,” keep your eyes open.

#Gu #网络转载 #西南民俗