Short Stuff: China's Corpse Walkers | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

[Music]. Hey and welcome to the short stuff. I'm. Josh and there's Chuck. It's just us, but Jerry and Dave are here in spirit. And speaking of spirits, >> Uhhuh. >> we've got a pretty spooky real life uh. Halloween adjacent episode, even though. it's a real deal custom over in China. >> That's right. Because spooky month. continues. It's stuff you should know. >> Yeah. So, we're going to go Chuck today.

to the Jang Xi region. There's no way. you can't say region like that. >> I know. >> Uh of Hunan Pro province. Oh my god, >> you're doing great. >> That's in South Central China. Um. and if you go there, local custom will. tell you that if somebody dies, if someone dies away from their home, especially their birthplace, they have. to return back to it to be buried. Because if they don't, they will have a. restless spirit that vexes the living,

maybe even possessing them. >> Uhhuh. >> The thing is, sometimes people do die. away from home. And there's there's a. remedy for this that the people in Hunan. Province have come up with, and that is. to walk the corpse back home to be. buried. >> That's right. Uh and if if not, then. you're just going to be cursed to wander. the earth. Uh pretty upset, harassing. people, uh possessing people. And here's. the thing. If you uh lived in rural.

China uh back then and you were a rural. peasant, you probably died pretty close. to home because you didn't travel that. much. So, it wasn't that big of a deal. But occasionally, you might find. yourself away from home and you need to. get walkbacked. Uh and this is a. tradition that dates back to uh like. 1616 and continued into the 20th. century. >> Yeah. TheQing dynasty apparently is. where it finds its roots. And the idea. that they were doing this in the the 60s. potentially even is pretty in pretty.

interesting. But apparently it was Mao. who who stamped it out because it was. superstitious and therefore. counterrevolutionary. >> I don't know if it still goes on in. little random pockets. Although it's. much easier to get a corpse back home. these days. >> Yeah. Traditional might do it. You never. know. >> Maybe. Maybe. So, but traditionally, speaking of tradition, it was the Dowist. priests who were responsible for walking. corpses back home. And to do this, Chuck, they basically had two options.

available. One was much more efficient. than the other. Uh, the first one was. corpse walking, which is essentially. what it sounds like. The thing is, we. should say this here, like I don't know. if we've emphasized this enough. This. was a magical. event. >> Yeah. >> Where a Dowist priest basically. reanimated a corpse enough to have it. walk behind him to to be led by the.

Dowist priest back home to be buried. This dead person would walk back home. with the Dowist priest. That's corpse. walking. >> Yeah. for days, weeks, months, depending. on how far away they were from home. Uh. the priest would carry a lantern uh that. was a light both day and night, although. would they would usually do this at. night. >> Uh because as we'll see, it was very bad. luck for residents of villages that they. would go through to see this kind of. thing happening. >> Um so eventually they would have people. runners out in front even saying like,

"Hey, we got a corpse coming. Uh I think. they were banging a gong. >> to kind of warn everybody." Um the the. corpse is behind the priest like we said. very very tall uh dressed in a black. robe and just following the directions. of the priest saying yo ho yo ho uh you. know it's just so the corpse knew which. way to go go. >> right they would be like yo ho yoho we. got a pothole coming up on the right. >> and the corpse would kind of like walk. around the pothole. Right. And there was. one other thing you would see in.

addition to this priest leading this. tall corpse dressed in a black robe back. home. You would probably see a black cat. running along with them. >> Of course, >> they essentially did not ever travel. without a black cat because this is how. the corpse was reanimated every day. Um. or I should say every night when the. priest and the corpse took uh their. journey back up. >> The black cat would rub itself all over. the corpse several times. And the idea. was the static electricity from the.

cat's fur was what reanimated the corpse. to move again. >> Yeah, that's right. Uh I'm gonna take a. quick moment since you mentioned cat to. tell uh people who have not yet seen. that I have a new kitten. >> a. >> that I think we're going to keep now and. it's all on my Instagram at Chuck the. Podcaster the story of Olivia uh being. rescued from the undercarriage of a car. >> Wow. and very sick with uh worms and. bacterium and uh seemingly near death. and had her little butthole stitched.

shut. >> uh and then unstitched. It was quite a. ride. We thought we were going to lose. her. >> Then we nursed her back to health. We. thought we there's no way we can keep. her because our dog Gibson has no chill. >> And it turns out they are in love. >> Oh my gosh, Chuck, that is a wonderful. story. >> It's wonderful. So, the the other two. cats are going to hate this, but uh as I. said on Instagram, they can get bent. because I think Olivia is staying and. she's very cute and you can go check out. the the story. It's been wildly popular. on my Instagram. >> That's awesome. Well, welcome to the.

family, Olivia. >> That's right. But Olivia was not a black. cat. Uh and since I took so much time. with that story, maybe we should take a. break and finish up with Corpse Walkers. >> Yeah, let's do that. [Music].

So, Chuck, I said that there were two. ways for a Dowist priest to lead a. corpse back home. The first one was. corpse walking, which we just talked. about. It was a priest and a corpse. The. much more efficient version is corpse. hering. And it's very much like how today um if. if uh somebody's transporting a car for. an owner, they're going to transport. more than one at a time and they're. going to group the cars together on the. back of a truck by the region that.

they're all going to. This was basically. the concept behind corpse hering. >> Yeah. Uh there were more priests. involved because there were more. corpses. So you'd had like, you know, a. priest up front, priest in the back, maybe a couple of priests on the sides. >> Uh I think this is when we uh talk about. the runner being out front. I think this. is when they had their runners. >> Yep. >> That would warn the town's folk that. they were coming. And the way it's. described, uh, sounds to me like, have you ever. seen at a at a like an NBA game, they'll.

have, uh, somebody come out at halftime. and it's like a guy that's dancing like. >> um like, you know, some popular. performer, but he's got uh a like a. curtain rod running through his outfit. on the top and attached to him at the. bottom. And there are fake, you know, dummies of people and every movement. he's making with the rods, they're. making an exact same time. So, it. appears as if there's like five people. dancing in synchronicity.

>> There's essentially nothing more. hilarious that you can see than that. >> So, you know what I'm talking about. >> Yeah, definitely. >> Is that what this is sort of like? Because that's how I pictured it. >> Sort of. Um, this was instead of them. being on either side of the priests, they would be in a single file line all. following behind the lead priest. >> Oh, okay. And then there'd be priests on. either side kind of coring them in. because you didn't want walking corpses. kind of wander off and you know try to. possess somebody or steal their chi. And. it did bear some some similarities to.

what you're talking about. We'll we'll. see that in a second. But I want to talk. about um a a Chinese American writer. named Louise Hung who wrote an account a. really interesting account of her. grandfather's experience way back in the. day when he was a a young boy. She. posted it on the Order of the Good Death. website, which we've talked about them a. million times over the years, but um. just to kind of summarize, if I may, please, her grandfather and his brother. uh lived in a town where a corpse.

procession walked through and they heard. the gong coming and they were hiding. with everybody else in town and just. keeping out of sight. But they were. brave enough to kind of peek out and. they saw, she says, a line of corpses. lurching, hopping, swaying through the. streets to the beat of the gong. They. saw white cloths covering the heads of. the dead, faces positioned up and. forward, supposedly looking toward their. final resting place. >> Yeah. And so like this happened like. this is not like a this like there.

weren't like legends of corpse walking, >> right? >> These happened in real life, >> right? And if you say, "I don't really. believe in magic, daist, or otherwise. I. don't really think a black cat's static. electricity could reanimate a corpse.". If this actually happened, guys. Guys, what was going on, guys? >> Yeah. A cat would be more likely to eat. the the nose off of that person. >> Yes. Yeah. Which is probably something. you had to watch out for.

>> Yeah. Uh what really was going on uh and. it was really going on like you said is. there was a dowist priest and Luis Hung. even said hey I'm not even sure all. these people were dowist priests. I. think they might have just been doing. the job. >> and kind of saying that. >> But uh in the in the case of the the. solo corpse walker, it would be a Dowist. priest carrying a corpse on their back. uh with a bamboo pole stuck up the back. to hold them upright as if they are. alive and a big black robe draped over. both of them. Mhm.

>> Kind of like the old bits with someone. on your shoulders in a big long trench. coat. >> Exactly. That's why the um corpses that. were in a single corpse walking. procession always were very tall. >> That's right. >> Because they were on the back of another. priest who was hiding. Uh and just to be. clear, they didn't like impale the dead. person on the bamboo pole. It was like. tied to them. >> Yeah. Um, so they the way that they did. this was they they could see kind of. through the black robe they could see. the lantern enough to be led. And.

remember the priest in front would be. like there's a pothole coming up on the. right. Yo ho, yo ho. So they would do. this and then obviously they would. switch off night to night who would. carry the corpse and who would do the. processing. Um, that was how corpse. walking worked. Corpse Hurting also used. bamboo poles, but they used them. horizontally. Kind of like you were. talking about with the basketball. halftime guy. >> Okay. Well, I'm glad I didn't spoil that. because people were probably just very. confused about what I was talking about. But. >> yeah, it sounds like they are all tied.

to the pole and the pole kind of runs. under their arms and that's what kind of. made me think of the the the dancer. I. should get one of those systems. I'm. sure you can buy those, right? Surely. they can't all be homemade. >> Yeah. Or make one. How hard could that. be? >> I'm sure there's a halftime basketball. dancer being like, "Yeah, you'll find. out, pal. It's really hard.". >> That'd be a fun That'd be a fun. Halloween uh get up. I already have my. or I don't have the outfit, but I have.

my idea this year, so I can't do it this. year, but I could probably do it next. year. >> Can you reveal your idea on this. episode? >> Uh yeah. If you saw the Righteous. Gemstones, I'm going to be uh Baby. Billy. Uh Walton Gogggins, brilliant. character. >> Okay, awesome. Uh oh, so wait, hold on one second about. the bamboo poles. >> Yeah, >> there would be two of them, one running. under each arm of the corpse. And so. basically, they were hanging the corpses. by their arms by bamboo poles. Then the. poles would be the ends of the poles. would be carried by a priest in front.

and back on their shoulders. And the way. that those two priests would walk, it. would get telegraphed through the bamboo. poles, which would make the corpses look. like they were just kind of bouncing. around. Their feet would probably hit. the ground and touch it here or there. So it looked like they were walking in. line behind the Dowist priests. Isn't. that nuts? >> And they would say NBA, it's fantastic. >> That's right. I don't think there's. anything that could top that, Chuck. So. I say short stuff is out.

Stuff You Should Know is a production of. iHeart Radio. For more podcasts of. iHeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio. app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you. listen to your favorite shows. [Music].