A Jiangling Granny 江陵姥

Granny Zhao of Jiangling made her living as a wineseller. During the Yixi era (405-19 CE), humps suddenly rose in the floor of her room. Granny investigated this strange occurrence, and sprinkled wine onto them each day at dawn and dusk. She once saw a thing like a horse’s head emerge, but no holes were left in the floor behind it. When Granny died, her family heard a sound like weeping coming from beneath the earth, and later, when someone dug down, they saw a strange worm-like thing, its size impossible to guess at, which quickly vanished. People call such things Earth Dragons.

From Zhugongjiushi.

Li Fang 李昉, et al., Taiping guangji 太平廣記 (Extensive Gleanings from the Era of Great Harmony), 10 vols (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1961), ix, 418.3402:

江陵姥

江陵趙姥以沽酒為業。義煕中。居室內忽地隆起。姥察為異。朝夕以酒酹之。嘗見一物出頭似驢。而地初無孔穴。及姥死。家人聞土下有聲如哭。後人掘地。見一異物蠢然。不測大小。須臾失之。俗謂之土龍。

出渚宮舊事

Wang Wenming 王文明

[2584] Wang Wenming was serving as Magistrate of Jiang’an towards the end of the Song Taishi era (465-71 CE). His wife had been ill for a long time, and their daughter was outside preparing congee for her mother when, just as it was nearly ready, it transformed and became blood. She poured it away and made more, but this too changed in the same way. Her mother soon died, after which, while the children were weeping before her spirit tablet, their mother suddenly appeared, lying atop the bier as if she still lived. All of the children called out in sorrow, at which she immediately vanished. Previously, Wenming had coveted a maid who served under his wife, who was then pregnant and about to give birth.[1] On the day of his wife’s funeral, he sent the maid to look after the house, while everyone else went to see the tomb site. Just as the workers began to open the ground, the wife entered the house and beat the maid. After this his daughters all prepared their father’s food. They killed a chicken, but, after its blood had stopped running, the fowl suddenly leaped up, flew high and called out for a long time. Wenming died soon after, and each of the male relatives who succeeded him was soon buried by his successor.

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From Shuyiji.

Li Fang 李昉, et al., Taiping guangji 太平廣記 (Extensive Gleanings from the Era of Great Harmony), 10 vols (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1961), vii, 325.2583-84:

王文明

[2584] 王文明。宋太始末江安令。妻久病。女于外為母作粥。將熟。變而為血。棄之更作。復如初。母尋亡。其後兒女在靈前哭。忽見其母臥靈牀上。如平生。諸兒號戚。奄然而滅。文明先愛其妻所使婢。姙身將產。葬其妻日。使婢守屋。餘人悉詣墓所。部伍始發。妻便入戶打婢。其後諸女為父辦食。殺雞。割洗已竟。雞忽跳起。軒道長鳴。文明尋卒。諸男相續喪亡。出述異記

[1] This sentence revised and improved on the advice of Ofer Waldman (personal communication, 24 May 2021).  

Wang Yao 王瑤

Wang Yao fell ill and died in the third year of the Song Daming era (459 CE). After Yao’s death a spirit appeared, tall, thin and black in colour, chest bared but wearing knee breeches. It kept coming to the house, sometimes singing and whistling, sometimes speaking of scholars. It would often pelt their food with dirt and filth. It also attacked and struck the Yu family, neighbours on the eastern side, while continuing to visit the Wangs. Yu spoke to the spirit: “Having stones thrown at me is nothing to fear. If you were to throw coins, though, that would truly cause suffering.” The spirit then hurled several dozen new coins, which flew and struck Yu in the forehead. Yu spoke up again: “New coins can’t cause pain. I only fear black coins!” The spirit then pelted him with black coins. This happened six or seven times over, after which he had obtained over a hundred cash.

From Shuyiji.

Li Fang 李昉, et al., Taiping guangji 太平廣記 (Extensive Gleanings from the Era of Great Harmony), 10 vols (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1961), vii, 325.2583:

王瑤

王瑤。宋大明三年。在都病亡。瑤亡後。有一鬼。細長黑色。袒著犢鼻褌。恒來其家。或歌嘯。或學人語。常以糞穢投入食中。又于東鄰庾家犯觸人。不異王家時。庾語鬼。以土石投我。了〈了原作子。據明鈔本改。〉非所畏。若以錢見擲。此真見困。鬼便以新錢數十。飛擲庾額。庾復言。新錢不能令痛。唯畏烏錢耳。鬼以烏錢擲之。前後六七過。合得百餘錢。出述異記

Liu Kuo 劉廓

When the Song-era Chen Youzhi (d. 478 CE) was on garrison duty, Zhu Daozhen once served as Magistrate of Chanling, and Liu Kuo in the Revenue Section for Jingzhou. The two lodged together in Jiangling, and both enjoyed playing weiqi (a chess-like game), meeting night and day. Daozhen died on the sixth day of the third year in the Yuanhui era (475 CE). After several months had passed, Kuo was seated in the study when he suddenly caught sight of a person, who handed Kuo a letter, telling him: “Written by Zhu of Chanling.” It read:

Ever missing meeting for chess,

Never wanting separation.

Your fated approach draws near,

I dream you may soon visit.

When Kuo finished reading, the letter was nowhere to be seen. He was confined to bed by illness and soon died.

From Zhugongjiushi.

Li Fang 李昉, et al., Taiping guangji 太平廣記 (Extensive Gleanings from the Era of Great Harmony), 10 vols (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1961), vii, 325.2583:

劉廓

宋沈攸之在鎮。朱道珍嘗為孱陵令。劉廓為荊州戶曹。各相並居江陵。皆好圍棊。日夜相就。道珍元徽三年六日亡。至數月。廓坐齋中。忽見一人。以書授廓云。朱孱陵書。題云。每思棊聚。非意致濶。方有來緣。想能近顧。廓讀畢。失信所在。寢疾尋卒。出渚宮舊事

Liu Shulun 柳叔倫

At the beginning of the Song Emperor Xiaowu’s Daming era (457-65 CE), Commander-in-Chief Liu Shulun was lodging in the former residence of the Hengyang Wang. In the fifth year Daming (461 CE), he suddenly saw a footprint, two cun in length (c.6.6cm). Lun had a maid called Xixin, and when he sent her to fetch water to launder clothes, a thing appeared in the empty air, overturning the vessel and spilling the water. Lun drew his knife and called out to the maid, then heard something rush closely past him, so chopped at it with the blade, feeling it strike home. When he shone firelight upon it, blood covered the ground. Twenty days later, the maid fell ill and died. Lun then moved her corpse outside. The following day he went to find the corpse but was unable to find it.

From Guanggujinwuxingji

Li Fang 李昉, et al., Taiping guangji 太平廣記 (Extensive Gleanings from the Era of Great Harmony), 10 vols (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1961), vii, 325.2582-83:

柳叔倫

宋孝武大明初。太尉柳叔倫。住故衡陽王故第。大明五年。忽見一腳跡。長二寸。倫有婢細辛。使取水澣衣。空中有物。傾器倒水。倫拔刀呼婢。在側聞有物行聲。以刀斫之。覺有所中。以火照之。流血覆地。後二十日。婢病死。倫即移尸出外。明日覓尸。不知所在。出廣古今五行記

Wang Huaizhi 王懷之

In the twentieth year of the Yuanjia era (443 CE), Wang Huaizhi’s mother passed away. When the burial was finished, he suddenly caught sight of an old woman up a [lacuna] tree, her head bearing a great amount of hair, her body clothed in white luo top and skirt, her feet not standing on any branches but rather standing upright in the empty air. He returned home and told this story, after which his daughter suddenly fell ill, her face changing to mirror that of the spirit in the treetop. He therefore gave her fragrant musk, and she soon returned to normal. Successive generations have said that fragrant musk dispels evil, and this demonstrates that.

From Yiyuan.

Li Fang 李昉, et al., Taiping guangji 太平廣記 (Extensive Gleanings from the Era of Great Harmony), 10 vols (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1961), vii, 325.2582:

王懷之

王懷之。元嘉二十年。丁母憂。葬畢。忽見[□]樹上有嫗。頭戴大髮。身服白𧟌裙。足不踐柯。亭然虛立。還家敘述。其女遂得暴疾。面仍變作向樹杪鬼狀。乃與麝香服之。尋如常。世云。麝香辟惡。此其驗也。出異苑

Yu Jisui 庾季隨

Yu Jisui had a moral bearing, and was exceptionally brawny. During the [Liu] Song Yuanjia era (424-53 CE), he had fallen ill and was lying down during the daytime when a cloud-like white vapour emerged into his room, rising to more than five chi (1.5m). After a moment, it transformed into a rooster, and flew up onto the other bed. Jisui hacked at it. The blow brought a noise, after which the thing evaporated, and blood flowed out across the floor, but he could still hear the sound of an old Man woman weeping, constantly calling for her son, the sound approaching from some distance. [2582] It came and reached the bloodstain, at which Jisui chopped again, and a thing like some sort of ape fled out the door, then turned to glower at Jisui, before abruptly vanishing.

When the bu period arrived (3-5pm), two dark-robed young boys appeared, entering straight through the door, crying out: “Yu Jisui killed an official!” Before long there were more than a hundred people, some wearing black, some wearing vermilion; on reaching his room, they all called out: “Yu Jisui killed an official!” Jisui waved his sword and shouted loudly, at which the spirits all fled and evaporated. Stepping back, he flung himself into the temple. His son, realising suddenly that his father had disappeared, went to the temple, finding his father being pursued by spirits, which used a leather bag to gather up his qi force. After several days he was dead.

From Shuyiji.

Li Fang 李昉, et al., Taiping guangji 太平廣記 (Extensive Gleanings from the Era of Great Harmony), 10 vols (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1961), vii, 325.2581-82:

庾季隨

庾季隨。有節槩。膂力絕人。宋元嘉中。得疾晝臥。有白氣如雲。出于室內。高五尺許。有頃。化為雄雞。飛集別牀。季隨斫之。應手有聲。形即滅。地血滂流。仍聞蠻嫗哭聲。但呼阿子。自遠而來。 [2582] 徑至血處。季隨復斫。有物類猴。走出戶外。瞋目顧視季隨。忽然不見。至晡。有二青衣小兒。直從門入。唱云。庾季隨殺官。俄而有百餘人。或黑衣。或朱衣。達屋。齊喚云。庾季隨殺官。季隨揮刀大呼。鬼皆走出滅形。還步忽投寺中。子忽失父所在。至寺。見父有鬼逐後。以皮囊收其氣。數日遂亡。出述異記

Guo Xiuzhi 郭秀之

Guo Xiuzhi settled in Hailing. In the twenty-ninth year of the [Liu] Song Yuanjia era (452 CE), aged seventy-three, he fell ill and remained in the main room. To the north was a large date tree, more than four zhang tall (c. 13.2m). When a young maid rose early, opening the door and sweeping the floors, she caught sight of a person up in the tree, tall, strong and black in colour, wearing a black wrapper and cap, black leather shirt and trousers. In its hands it held bow and arrows, and it faced directly south. The entire household came to look, and all seeing it understood. Xiuzhi came leaning on a cane to see it. The figure told Xiuzhi: “Your servant has come to summon the gentleman. The gentleman should prepare himself quickly.” At sunrise it was suddenly no longer visible. The same happened over fifty-three days in total. After Xiuzhi had died it ceased.

From Shuyiji.

Li Fang 李昉, et al., Taiping guangji 太平廣記 (Extensive Gleanings from the Era of Great Harmony), 10 vols (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1961), vii, 325.2581:

郭秀之

郭秀之。寓居海陵。宋元嘉二十九年。年七十三。病止堂屋。北有大棗樹。高四丈許。小婢晨起。開戶掃地。見棗樹上有一人。修壯黑色。著皁襆帽。烏韋袴褶。手操弧矢。正立南面。舉家出看。見了了。〈了字原闕。據明鈔本補。〉秀之扶杖視之。此人謂秀之曰。僕來召君。君宜速裝。日出便不復見。積五十三日如此。秀之亡後便絕。出述異記

Wang Chengzhi 王騁之

The wife of Wang Chengzhi, from Langxie, was from the Xie clan of Chen Prefecture. She gave birth to a son, whose childhood name was Nuzi. After a year had passed, Wang summoned one of his wife’s maids to advance as his concubine. Xie fell ill and died in the eighth year of the Yuanjia era (431 CE). Wang’s graveyard was in Guiji, so she was temporarily interred on the eastern ridge at Jiankang. After the burial, when they had completed the fanyu funerary rite, he returned quickly by sedan chair. He was leaning on a table when he was pushed from the empty air and shoved over onto the floor. An angry voice then spoke: “Why did you not sing my lament? Do you order me to depart in silence?” Chengzhi replied: “It is not a permanent burial! The rites are therefore not complete.”

From Fayuanzhulin.

Li Fang 李昉, et al., Taiping guangji 太平廣記 (Extensive Gleanings from the Era of Great Harmony), 10 vols (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1961), vii, 325.2577:

王騁之

瑯邪王騁之妻。陳郡謝氏。生一男。小字奴子。經年後。王以婦婢招利為妾。謝元嘉八年病終。王之墓在會稽。假瘞建康東岡。既窆反虞。輿靈入屋。憑几忽于空中擲地。便有嗔聲曰。何不作輓歌。令我寂寂而行耶。聘之云。非為永葬。故不具儀耳。出法苑珠林

Suo Yi 索頤

The father of one Suo Yi, who lived in Xiangcheng under the Liu Song (420-79 CE), did not believe in the strange or the monstrous. There was an ill-fated house, where residents always died, but which his father quickly bought to live in. For many years there was calm and good fortune, and his descendants prospered as he served as a ‘two thousand bushel’ official.[1] He then received an official transfer. Before he departed, he invited relatives near and far to gather for food and wine to see him off. Yi’s father then told them: “Is there, in the end, good or bad luck under heaven? This place has been called cursed, but since we have resided here there have been many years of peace and good fortune. Moreover, now we have gained promotion; where are these spirits? From now on, this residence will be known for good luck, and we will dwell without suspicion.”

On finishing this speech, he went to the toilet. Before long, he saw a thing emerging from the wall. About the size of a rolled mat, it was a little over five chi tall (c. 1.5m). Yi’s father went back, took up a blade, and hacked at it. It stopped, then turned into two people. He hacked at it again, horizontally, and it became four people. They then wrested the blade away from him, hacking back against Suo, and killing him. Taking up knives they reached the raised seating area and stabbed his children and grandchildren to death. Killing all of those named Suo, only those with other family names were spared.

Yi, who was then only young, was scooped up by his wet nurse and taken out through a rear gate, hiding with another family, and he alone survived. Yi’s courtesy name is Jingzhen, and he rose to occupy the post of prefectural chief in Xiangdong.

From Fayuanzhulin.

Li Fang 李昉, et al., Taiping guangji 太平廣記 (Extensive Gleanings from the Era of Great Harmony), 10 vols (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1961), vii, 324.2575-76:

索頤

[2576] 宋襄城索頤。其父為人。不信妖邪。有一宅凶。居者輙死。父便買居之。多年安吉。子孫昌盛。為二千石。當徙家之官。臨去。請會內外親戚。酒食既行。父乃言曰。天下竟有吉凶否。此向來言凶。自吾居之。多年安吉。又得遷官。鬼為何在。自今以後。便為吉宅。居無嫌也。語訖如廁。須臾。見壁中有一物。為卷席大。高五尺許。頤父〈賾父二字原空闕。據黃本補。〉便還取刀斫之。中斷。便化為兩人。復橫斫之。又成四人。便奪取刀。反斫索。殺之。持刀至座上。斫殺其子弟。凡姓索必死。唯異姓無他。頤尚幼。乳母抱出後門。藏他家。止其一身獲免。頤字景真。位至湘東太守。出法苑珠林

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[1] ‘Two thousand bushel’ (er qian dan 二千石) refers to the official salary paid in grain to prefectural officials.