Forces in the world beyond our understanding, dead aunt following mom home

In the rural countryside of Suzhou, my family had suffered a tragic loss. The matriarch of the family, the beloved aunt of me, had committed suicide by drinking poison. our family was devastated and all of us attended the funeral, as was the custom in the area.

However, there was a custom that advised against the attendance of women who had miscarried within 100 days or those who had recently given birth. This made the funeral all the more complicated and emotional for the family, especially since the aunt’s body was placed in the morgue due to the summer heat.

During the ritual, someone had mentioned that the aunt’s suicide may have been caused by Feng shui. The house was located in front of a pond where many people had drowned, and if the house faced the pond, it was believed to attract evil spirits. A few years after the aunt’s death, the pond was filled up, which was seen as a sign of respect for the deceased.

The wake was held for three days, as per tradition, before the burial. On the day of the burial, it rained heavily, and my mother, along with grandma and other relatives, attended the burial. After returning home from the burial, mom began to feel extremely cold and tired, even after being covered with blankets. She described the sensation as similar to lying in the morgue, and our family became worried.

My father sent her to the hospital, but nothing was found. It was then that the family sought the advice of my grandfather, who suggested that the aunt’s spirit may have attached to my mom. The family then sought out a psychic, who was a relative of ours, for help.

The psychic confirmed that the aunt’s spirit had attached to mom and that a rite was necessary to cast out the ghost. The rite had to be held at night and required incense ashes and Hell money, which is burned for the dead in China. The psychic performed the rite by placing Hell money on her forehead and whispering something that I couldn’t quite hear. our family was then asked to leave the room, and the psychic instructed me to place a line of incense ashes in front of the door, as a symbol of shutting the door.

After our family left the room, the psychic grabbed a handful of ashes and threw them into the air before walking towards the direction of the grave land. This was known as sending off the ghost.

The next day, my mother had recovered from her cold and tired state. She described the sensation as being surrounded by ice and feeling extremely cold, but after the rite was performed, she felt relieved and at ease.

I couldn’t explain what had happened, but I was grateful for the psychic’s help in casting out the ghost. The incident had left a deep impact on me, and I began to view the world and the living and the dead in a different light. I couldn’t explain what had happened, but I knew that there were forces in the world beyond our understanding.