Creepy Kids: Chinese Urban Legends

 

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In lieu of Halloween month, how about some Chinese Urban Legends, shall we?

Our local Expat magazine, The Red Star, featured an article that featured some Chinese Ghost stories/legends, so really, it would be much easier to just let them share the first with you. :)

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"According to traditional Chinese superstition, if a child gets extremely frightened or experiences some type of heavy trauma then his or her soul will leave the body. So if a young child is endlessly crying without any reason it probably got scared soul-less. The tradition of ridding the child of this unknown ailment is to take one article of clothing the child has worn that day to the nearest intersection and waving it about while calling out the child's nickname commanding it to return home. For example, 'Come back home baby, come home to mama and daddy.' Next, go home and lay this article of clothing over the child's sleeping body and rub his or her earlobes. The crying and feeling of emptiness your child is suffering from should clear right up as it lays there confused about what got into their parents."-The RedStar October, 2013 Issue

Our close Chinese friend, Abigail, is from a village in China, and she said this sight is so common for her. She has often heard people doing this and seen parents on the side of the road waving their kids clothing.

My goodness, poor children!! Can you imagine the amount of counseling they will need later in life for the major trauma they experienced that scared them "soul-less "?! Not to mention the fact that they were told that they were soulless and  from waking up in the middle of the night to their parents rubbing their earlobes, rejoicing that their soul was back?! Major issues people, major.

I'm not gonna lie though, part of me really wished I had seen this before, in order to take a picture and show you of course. But of course, for the sake of the child, am delighted I haven't!