one
In the fifteenth year of Qianlong's reign in the Qing Dynasty (AD 1750), jade articles were lost in the official treasury, and the officials interrogated the garden workers living near the official treasury one by one.
When it was the turn of a man named Chang Ming, the official had not even asked a few questions . He suddenly noticed that something was wrong with Chang Ming's expression. His face was pale, his eyes were dull, the corners of his mouth twitched a few times, and he suddenly made a sound that could only be attributed to an immature boy. Only then could he say: "Chang Ming did not steal the jade, but he killed the person. I am the wronged soul of the person he killed!"
The officials were frightened, and the government officials on both sides were also in chaos. After all, it was an era when everyone had ghosts and ghosts in their hearts, and they all became uproar when they actually saw the ghosts possessing them. The presiding officer finally managed to stabilize the situation. He felt that his yamen would never be able to handle such a mysterious case, so he immediately transferred it to the Criminal Department.
The Ministry of Punishment appointed Ji Rongshu and Yu Wenyi as chief interrogators to try the man who was Chang Ming but whose soul was unknown.
The man continued to describe a horrific and bizarre murder case in a childlike voice:
"My name is Erge. I am fourteen years old. I live in Haidian. My father's name is Li Xingwang. On the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month last year, I went to watch the lanterns on the street and met my neighbor Chang Ming. He played with me. It was quiet at night. We were going home together when we were together. On the way, Chang Ming suddenly started teasing me and touching me. I resisted, scolded him, and told him to tell my father what he did to me when he got home. Chang Ming When Ming heard this, his eyes immediately turned fierce. He dragged me to a secluded alley, strangled me with his clothes belt, and buried me under the river bank. My father couldn't find me and was very anxious. He asked me about what Chang Ming had done while watching the lanterns. When he was with me, he suspected that Chang Ming had kidnapped me and hid me, so he complained to the censor of the city. Even the Ministry of Punishment was alerted. They sent people to investigate carefully, but to no avail, so they had to complain that they lacked evidence and could not find the truth. Ji Lai has put this case aside, and you two adults, please redress my grievances and avenge me!"
As he spoke, the man began to cry, his cry still sounding like a child without opening his voice.
The presiding judge Ji Rongshu still couldn't believe it. After thinking about it, he asked sharply: "Don't cry yet. If what you said is true, I will naturally make the decision for you. Since it was a case last year, why did it take you so long to file a complaint?" Woolen cloth?"
The childish voice replied: "Your Majesty, I have been wronged and have nowhere to be reincarnated. I have become a lonely ghost. I follow Chang Ming every day, trying to possess him, and then go to the Yamen to file a complaint. But every time I leave, I When he was four or five feet away, I felt as hot as a blazing flame, and I couldn't get closer. Later, the heat eased a little, and I was able to get closer to him about two or three feet away. Then slowly, I got closer to about one foot… Yesterday, suddenly I found that all the heat in his body had disappeared, and it happened that the Yamen was interrogating the case of missing jade. He was standing in front of the court, and I happened to possess him."
The presiding judge Yu Wenyi still couldn't believe it and asked: "Then do you still remember the date when Chang Ming was interrogated by the Ministry of Justice after you were murdered last year?"
The man immediately named a date, and upon checking, it turned out that the time matched.
At this time, it was no longer enough not to believe it. The two presiding officers asked where his body was buried.
The man accurately told which willow tree was next to the river bank, and sent the yamen to dig. Sure enough, they found the body of a young man. The body was not completely decomposed. He asked Li Xingwang, Erge's father, to identify it. Li Xingwang cried sadly. : "My son!"
two
The case caused a sensation in the capital, and many onlookers went to the river bank to see the "crime scene", pointing at the corpse pit where two bodies were dug out and spitting stars. It also caused an uproar in the court. Although the process was bizarre, the results were verified to be true.
The government trial is still going on, and the person on trial is still in an extremely abnormal state. During the interrogation, he is called Chang Ming, and the person is sober, and his speech is consistent with Chang Ming; when he is called Erge, the person seems to be drunk. , speaking into a childlike voice. The most amazing thing is that there are two voices arguing with each other.
Although it is a mystery whether this person is Chang Ming or Er Ge, there is no doubt that Chang Ming murdered Er Ge.
The Ministry of Punishment reported the truth to Emperor Qianlong, who ordered the criminals to be executed in accordance with the law.
On the day when the edict was issued, the soul of Erge in that man was very happy. Erge was a young man selling rice cakes in the streets. He actually sang the shouts of selling rice cakes, and his father burst into tears after hearing this. . The wronged soul said: "Father, take care, I'm going!" From then on, it seemed as if it had left Chang Ming's body. From then on, when he asked Chang Ming again, he no longer made a childish voice.
three
The strangeness of this case is even shocking to hear today.
So, are there really evil spirits possessing them?
In fact, this case is of the same nature as the "ghost possessed state" that we often hear in daily life. In medicine, it is called "hysterical possession state", which is manifested by a person's sudden change in personality traits, language, posture, etc. , the voice became another person.
Modern medicine has a relatively clear understanding of this: hysterical possession and hallucinations are equally common mental abnormalities. The root cause is the explosive expression of the subconscious. Patients often have strong potential symptoms due to long-term and huge psychological pressure. Appeals, but there is no way to talk in daily life, long-term depression and distortion, leading to the disease once encountering an unexpected event, and this event happens to be the "last straw" on the patient's heavy heart. It will happen.
For example, in the "Surprise Case of Possession by the Wrongful Soul" during the Qianlong period, the perpetrator had been burdened with heavy psychological burden and mental pressure for a long time because he killed an innocent teenager. He always suspected that the victim's wronged soul was surrounding him. Therefore, A year later, when the Ministry of Internal Affairs was interrogating an antique theft case, he mistakenly believed that the incident had been revealed. He could no longer hold on and spoke of his crime in the voice and manner of the victim.