廖亦武：萬聖節特別禮物——中國：吆屍人（中英文）

So if the sordid tales you grew up with no longer make you shiver, it’s time to reanimate your roster with global tales of ghosts, hauntings, and petrifying processions.

With Halloween nigh, and the season in many parts of the world ripe for campfires and spooky stories, people gravitate toward fear even in a complex and sometimes scary world. Here are some favorites — lore and fiction, with maybe some truth sprinkled throughout — that The Associated Press gathered from its journalists around the planet:

Table of Contents

China: The Corpse Walkers

France: The Legend of St. Denis

Mongolia: The Death Worm

Nigeria: Madam Koi Koi

Britain: The Talbot Hotel

Indonesia: Ghosts of the Bintaro Train Tragedy

Japan: Yotsuya Kaidan

Kenya: The Legend of Ngong Hills

The Philippines: The Ghost on Balete Drive

If you were out on the road in China in the old days — if you believe the stories, that is — you might have encountered a strange procession.

First, a man carrying a white paper lantern and scattering fake paper money ahead of them, chanting, “Yo ho, yo ho.” Then, a towering, hooded black figure wearing a ghastly mask and marching in an awkward, wooden gait. Bringing up the rear, another man guiding the giant by touch, perhaps with a black cat.

They were corpse walkers — and the giant was the corpse.

Bad things happen when someone gets buried far from home: Without descendants to feed their spirit and keep their grave clean, they’ll have a hard time settling in. They could even come back as a hungry ghost. So when a traveler died, the family would hire people who knew the strange art of walking a stiff body home.

When interviewer Liao Yiwu asked about memories of corpse walkers in the 2000s, some said they’d use a black cat to imbue the body with static electricity to make it walk. Others said there was a third man hiding under the cloak and giving the corpse a piggyback ride.

People kept their distance, he wrote, but the corpse walkers were always welcome at inns because they paid three times the normal rate and were said to bring good luck.

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萬聖節臨近，世界許多地方都迎來了篝火晚會和恐怖故事的時節，以下是美聯社從全球各地記者收集到的一些最受歡迎的內容——傳說和小說，也許還夾雜著真相：

如果你以前在中國的路上——如果你相信這些故事——你可能會遇到一個奇怪的遊行隊伍。

首先，一名男子提著白色紙燈籠，在他們面前撒滿假紙幣，嘴裡喊著「喲嗬，喲嗬」。然後，一個高大的、戴著兜帽的黑色身影，戴著可怕的面具，以笨拙、木訥的步態行進。另一個人在最後，透過觸摸引導巨人，也許還帶著一隻黑貓。

他們是‘’行屍走肉‘’──而巨人就是屍體。

當一個人被埋在遠離家鄉的地方時，就會有無妄之災：沒有後代來餵養他們的靈魂並保持墳墓的清潔，他們將很難安頓下來 ……因此，當一個漂泊者去世時，他的家人會聘請懂得將僵硬的屍體送回家的奇怪藝術的專業師傅。

當作家廖亦武問及2000年代行屍走肉的記憶時，有人說他們會用黑貓給屍體注入靜電，使其行走。還有人說，還有第三個人躲在斗篷下面，將屍體背在背上。

他寫道，人們保持距離，但吆屍人在旅館總是受到歡迎，因為他們支付的費用是正常價格的三倍，據說可以帶來好運。