Tales of the Strange from the Yunling Mountains: Thirty Nights on Watch

I collect all kinds of folk taboos and strange tales from Yunnan. Send me your stories in a private message, and I’ll write them up...

[Countryside + supernatural folklore + mountain legends + Yunnan and Guangxi legends + folk tales + eerie happenings + Chinese-style horror + folk customs + mystery and the paranormal + suspense + anthology + audiobook style]

I once traveled through the Yunling Mountains, deep into the Miao and Yi villages of western Yunnan. I lodged in remote village inns and sat around the fire at night with old mountain folk, listening to their tales. Most spoke of the underworld: some told of deadly poison worms, others of mistakes made while escorting spirits, coffins suspended from cliffs that whispered at night, or bronze drums that beat by themselves. Some spoke of how, after the night watchman’s lamp went out in an old village, footsteps could be heard pacing across the floorboards above. Fearing these tales would be lost, I lit a candle and wrote them down. There were thirty in all, and I titled the collection Strange Tales from the Night Watch.

The Yunling region is a land of towering mountains and dense forests, rife with miasma and the practice of witchcraft. Strange happenings have been common here since ancient times. Yet all thirty tales come from humble folk of the mountains and countryside, and their truth is impossible to discern. Believe them or not, the choice is yours. Some claim to have witnessed these things with their own eyes; others say the stories were passed down by their ancestors. I dare not judge them, nor dismiss them lightly. After all, some things in this world cannot be measured by ordinary reason. Let these stories stand as they are, for those who come after us.

I record them here. They may serve as conversation over tea, or as warnings for those traveling at night. As for whether these events truly happened, I cannot say. Read them as strange tales, and take them with a grain of salt.

People say eerie tales are always false, yet spirits dwell in the deep mountains. Show the gods a little respect, and they may protect you; stray too close to people, and the miasma may claim you.