Is there really a ghost in the Forbidden City? Why does the Forbidden City have to close urgently every day at 5 PM? And why is it necessary to paint the walls with dozens of tons of pig's blood every year to ward off evil spirits?
Legend has it that many palace maids appeared under one of the walls in the Forbidden City, leading to frequent reports of ghostly encounters. Many visitors have claimed to witness palace maids passing through walls while holding lanterns.
This story dates back to the 1980s in the Forbidden City.
At that time, the Forbidden City was not fully open, and most of the palaces and walls were under renovation. Liu Buzhu was one of the construction workers.
One day in September, while they were working well, a deafening thunder suddenly roared from the sky, followed by a downpour.
Initially, they thought the rain would stop soon, but it continued until evening.
Liu Buzhu and another carpenter, Li Zhongping, had to stay behind to guard the materials while everyone else went home.
As the two men lay on their makeshift beds in the middle of the night, they were suddenly awakened by a noise from outside.
The sound was rustling, as if a tarp covering some wood was being blown up by strong winds. Out of a sense of responsibility, Liu Buzhu put on his clothes and decided to check it out.
As soon as he opened the door, he found that heavy rain was still pouring outside.
He really didn't want to go out, but there was a lot of cement among the materials that would be ruined if it got wet. Reluctantly, he braved himself and stepped outside.
The Forbidden City at midnight was devoid of any figures; it was pitch black and had an eerie atmosphere. The rain hitting the glazed tiles produced a strange hissing sound.
Liu Buzhu couldn't understand why emperors of old would choose to live in such a place.
Upon arriving at the place where the materials were stored, he indeed saw a tarpaulin being blown up by the wind. Fortunately, it wasn't the cement. He braved the heavy rain to tie the tarpaulin down with a rope, thinking about hurrying back.
Just then, he caught a glimpse out of the corner of his eye of what seemed to be a group of figures approaching from behind.
He turned around and discovered a group of women dressed in Qing Dynasty attire slowly walking towards him from beneath the high wall at the back.
The palace maids did not speak; they walked silently. He couldn't tell if it was due to the rain, but their faces seemed shrouded in mist, making it impossible to see their features clearly.
What was even stranger was that despite the number of people walking, there was not a single sound of footsteps, as if they were floating in the air. He couldn't even hear the sound of rain hitting them.
At first, Liu Buzhu thought it might be a film crew shooting a scene, but upon reflection, he realized that no one would film in such heavy rain, and he hadn't seen any cameras.
While he was puzzled, something even more bizarre happened.
He saw those women disguised as men turn a corner and walk straight towards the wall. The towering red wall that had stood for hundreds of years appeared to them as if it were nonexistent; they walked right through it without pausing for a moment.
Before long, all the palace maids had disappeared into the wall.
Liu Buzhu hid behind the materials for a long time without any movement before cautiously stepping out from behind.
He tried hard to convince himself that what he had just seen could not have been real; perhaps it was just some mechanism set up by a film crew, and those people were merely actors.
However, after careful inspection, he found that it was indeed a solid wall with no mistakes at all.
Liu Buzhu was completely bewildered at that moment.
Since childhood, the eerie stories about ghosts told by the elders have finally come true for me today.
Once I realized what was happening, my faint courage vanished without a trace, and I ran back like a madman. It wasn't until I saw the dim light in the house that my racing heart finally calmed down.
Li Zhongping had been waiting for him, not having slept since he noticed he was gone for so long.
Seeing him drenched, Li Zhongping understood that something unusual had happened.
After pondering for a long time, Liu Buzhu finally mentioned to Li Zhongping the incident of the palace maid passing through the wall. To his surprise, Li Zhongping did not seem shocked; instead, he began recounting several strange occurrences he had encountered during the renovations at the Forbidden City over the past few years.
It turned out that this deep palace had been home to emperors for generations, and countless brutal murders had taken place within its walls.
With so much resentment gathered here, it was inevitable that various terrifying supernatural events would frequently occur.
Although there have always been specialized sorcerers to suppress these occurrences throughout history, strange happenings still happen from time to time.
As for the ghost of the palace maid that Liu Buzhu saw, it is said to be the personal maid of a consort who was secretly executed along with her mistress due to some mistakes made by the consort, beneath the high walls.
Because of the lingering resentment, she often wanders about.
Tourists have seen her more than once, and it always seems to happen on rainy days. Some even managed to capture photographs of those ghostly palace maids.
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