Don't Let Corpse Drivers Stay Overnight at Night

Elders in western Hunan have spoken of "corpse driving," saying that those who die far from home, whose families are too poor to hire a boat or cart to carry them back to their hometown, have a special kind of person who does this work, called a corpse driver.

Corpse drivers have many rules. They travel only at night, resting during the day in mourning halls or abandoned temples. The person walking in front holds a small brass gong in one hand and a rattle in the other, with yellow paper tucked at his waist. When the rattle sounds, those following behind jump forward one after another.

Households along the road who hear the rattle have their own rules: close the doors, shut the windows, blow out the lamps, no one is allowed to open a window, much less look outside. The elders say that when the rattle sounds, anyone who peeks through a crack in the window will see a line of people who cannot speak, jumping in the moonlight. Seeing them is nothing; but if you speak out and startle one of them, great trouble will follow.

One winter, at a small inn in the mountains, the owner surnamed Yang was cleaning up at night when he suddenly heard a rattle in the distance. He heard it and quickly blew out the lamp, bolted the door, and told his wife and children not to make a sound. But that night, the rattle actually came to his doorstep and stopped.

Someone knocked on the door outside, dong dong dong, not heavily. The owner asked through the door, "Who is it?" Outside, someone said, "A traveler, asking for a place to rest my feet." The voice was hoarse, sounding very tired. The owner remembered what the elders had said: such people do not enter houses where people live at night. He hesitated, but still opened the door.

Standing outside was a middle-aged man, thin, dressed all in black, his face hidden by a bamboo hat. He said he wanted to borrow a woodshed in their backyard for the "guests" he was bringing to rest for one night, and they would leave early the next morning, and he wouldn't skimp on the money. The owner glanced behind him, and in the moonlight stood four or five people, motionless, heads bowed, wearing wide-brimmed hats, all in blue-gray clothes.

The owner's scalp went numb, but the money on the table was heavy. He nodded, opened the door to the woodshed in the backyard, and let them in. Before entering, the corpse driver warned him of three things: one, no matter what you hear tonight, do not leave the house; two, do not open the woodshed door; three, do not agree to anything anyone says.

The owner returned to the house and told his wife. The couple lay in bed, neither able to sleep. In the latter half of the night, there was movement in the courtyard, first a rustling, as if someone was walking on the ground, then someone called him outside the window: "Old Yang, open the door."

The voice was exactly like his father who had died many years ago. The owner sat up suddenly, and his wife grabbed his hand and shook her head. He remembered the corpse driver's words, gritted his teeth, and made no sound. The person outside called several times, then slowly walked away.

After dawn, the owner pushed open the door, and there was nothing in the courtyard. The woodshed door was closed, and inside was empty. The few silver dollars on the table were still there, and next to them was an extra piece of yellow paper, with a vermilion symbol drawn on it that he could not understand.

The owner pasted the talisman on the inn's door lintel. Later, whenever he heard people talk about corpse driving, he always shook his head and said, "Money is not easy to earn. That night, I almost agreed.".

#Paranormal #短篇故事 #民间故事