Bizarre Beijing: The Soldier and the Spotted Dog

According to traditional Chinese belief, the seventh month of the lunar calendar is Ghost Month 鬼月 guǐ yuè, a time when the gates of heaven and hell open, allowing ghosts and spirits to visit the mortal world. This year, Ghost Month will take place from Jul 29 to Aug 26. 

For a little background, check out our article about the ten no-nos you should observe during this holiday, then indulge in a spooky story courtesy of our friends at Bizarre Beijing (WeChat ID: BizarreBeijing), which they'll be sharing once a week until the gates of heaven and hell shut back up – aka Aug 26.

Spotted Dog

In the southern part of Zhejiang Province, in a military garrison, there lived a soldier named Hu Zhizhong.

One day he was sent as a courier to the north of Zhejiang Province, to Huiji.

One night during his journey up north, he slept and had a dream. In this dream, somewhere up in Zhejiang, on the road at night, he spotted a bizarre creature – it had the body of a human but the head of a dog.

Now, this creature approached him and said, "Look, I've already been a year without any food. You're on the road to Huiji, aren't you? Could you stop by my house and let me have some of your leftover rations?"

"No!" Hu Zhizhong roared in his dream.

The next day, he continued his trip with the dream already forgotten. He continued on the road to Huiji until nightfall when he came across an inn. He decided to spend the night there.

"Well, traveler," said the innkeeper, "there is a problem with my building here. It is haunted by a strange creature so much that not only do people refuse to sleep inside, no one can even sit down in the dining hall to eat. I do have an annex on the eastern side, untroubled by the spirit that haunts the main building. Would you like to stay there?"

"No, a room in the main building would be fine, " the soldier replied. "I'm an honest man and a man who doesn't fear evil. All who know me will tell you that. Let what evil spirit exists come, and I shall deal with it. I shall, in fact, kill it."

"Very well," sighed the innkeeper.

That night Hu Zhizhong had a boy from the inn bring him a meal. As the boy then left and Hu picked up his chopsticks to eat his dinner, a monstrous apparition suddenly appeared in the room. It was a man with an enormous head. This monster stood right before the table where the boy had placed Hu's food.

The boy wanted to flee but seemed riveted to the spot as the monster glowered at him. He just stood there, looking helpless at the giant creature before him.

Hu Zhizhong was not petrified, however. He leaped up and attacked the creature with his fists, pummeling him without a break.

If all this wasn't strange enough, what came next was even stranger. The monster started howling, like a dog. Then it cried like a man and spoke to Hu Zhizhong.

"Stop beating me! Stop beating me! If you hit me one more time, I'll be dead!"

Hu didn't let up, however. He kept striking the creature.

The creature then cried out a question: "Where's the spotted dog?"

From behind Hu Zhizhong, behind the standing screen, came something, a blur. It too attacked Hu Zhizhong, coming at him while he was still fighting the big-headed monster.

Hu Zhizhong – his hat knocked off his head and his belt askew – reached for the nearest weapon, a broom handle, and wielded it with effect. He soon battled his two attackers, pushing them outside all the way to the annex of guest rooms on the eastern side of the property.

All who heard the noise of fighting that night swore it sounded as if the whole building were collapsing.

And as odd as all this was, back in Hu's room in the inn's main building, Hu's hat, which had fallen during the battle in the room, climbed up and sat down right on the table where Hu had attempted to eat dinner. The hat looked to the east and seemed to sigh.

And then all was silent for the night...

The next day, Hu Zhizhong reemerged from the annex room and outside posted a sheet of paper.

"While I'm away, no one is to enter this structure. For one to do so before I return will be to invite a catastrophe upon one's head!"

He then left without looking back.

Ten days later he returned to the east annex. He had a servant bring him a scroll, brush, and inkstone. Then, with tears in his eyes, he wrote out the following poem:

To engage in one rash act of bravery can bring about self-destruction.
To depend on my physical prowess can mean to encounter danger.
You are given this one thread of a precious life,
So why waste it combating goblins?
Your poor deluded soul!
Don't bother now reporting for duty at the yamen!
No, instead you shall remain here in this inn,
And walk on the dark road bound for Hades.

Upon finishing the poem, Hu Zhizhong simply threw the brush to the ground, and there, in front of the astonished servant who had brought the calligraphy supplies, he disappeared into the air.

The servant later reported he had felt a rush of icy air that sent shivers up and down his spine as Hu Zhizhong vanished from the earth.

The prefect was notified. He sent men specially entrusted to look into the matter. They entered the now totally deserted eastern annex only to discover the bodies of Hu Zhizhong and two dogs lying in the northwest corner of the room.

READ: Bizarre Beijing: The Soul of the Great Bell

Images: Free Range Stock, Wikimedia, synotrip.com, Markus Winkler (via Unsplash), Pintrest