After doing my first ever episode recap, I realised I'd recapped the wrong videos at first so now I'll just have 2 posts for each "story" just like how they have 2 episodes covering a story. I've caught the episode recap bug and I'm enjoying writing the recaps whilst watching The Unbelievable because it makes it seem less scary for me (I'm a wimp) but when I replay to try to catch some of what they're saying, I feel like it's helping me to improve my Chinese so I shall continue until my uncharacteristic bravery depletes!
Links: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
Part 1
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| Haunted Mansion, Chinese Edition |
The hosts are presenting in front of an abandoned mansion which is infamous for being haunted and a lot of people visit there for paranormal experiences. The mansion has 80 years of history and its original owner was a famous merchant so a lot of famous people had been there before. During war with Japan
(I'm not 100% sure this is what she said but usually haunted places in Hong Kong had something to do with fighting the Japanese...), it was used as a military office until the 70s which was when it was abandoned until the present. Spencer comments on how the mansion is very ornate from the outside and says that a lot of people say that its feng shui is very good. However, some people say that places with good feng shui are not only beneficial for ghosts but also beneficial for ghosts. Spencer asks the Master whether this is true or not. The Master says that of course this is not true, only places that have "murderous vibe (殺)" can cultivate ghosts.
Lol sounding like some greenhouse, nursery for plants here. Howard then asks the Master that he's heard the mansion is next to a hospital and a lot of people say that a lot of ghosts live in a hospital and whether this will affect the feng shui. The Master says because a lot of people have died there, there's bound to be spirits hanging around so it will affect the feng shui somewhat.
The hosts explain that they visited Fung Moon Choon (封門村) in Henan which is one of the most haunted places in China and has the name of China's Number 1 Ghost Village. Maggie says Fung Moon Choon has over 200 years of history and is very difficult to get to because it's inside a valley. Spencer asks how comes people ever lived there if it's so isolated and Maggie replies that looking back in history, in the Ming Dynasty or people that originated from Shanxi had to run away and hide from war so they fled to Henan and settled in this isolated place to avoid battles. Then, at an unknown time, all of the people at the village suddenly disappeared. Lots of legends were told about this village which is why it became known as China's No.1 Ghost Village.
Spencer commends them for managing to climb and hike to such an isolated place and Howard says they managed to find it because they met a mountain climber who'd gotten lost and stumbled on the village. During the couple of days that they stayed at the village, they'd experienced a lot of strange occurrences and later found out from the internet that that village was called the No.1 Ghost Village.
Spencer then recounts that he'd heard some people had gone to Fung Moon Choon to make a film but during filming, the kept experiencing a lot of paranormal activity and accidents. Howard reiterates just how difficult it was to reach the village and that it took 2 hours to walk from the top of the mountain to the valley. Spencer says that they managed to find a fabled "Tai Si Yi", a chair that once you sit on it, weird things will happen and be able to see ghosts by seeing into their dimension.
Very Twilight Zone here, they don't really mean it in a sci-fi way, but it does end up sounding like science fiction when you bring in traveling to different dimensions.
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Creepy place but it also looks like a cool place to play
paintball. |
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| Eerie mist... Actually, Chinese mountain areas get hella misty! |
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| Anyone bring marshmallows? |
People in the olden days had written 10 words to describe Fung Moon Choon: 溝溝有遺骨，彎彎有陰魂 meaning at every pool there are (body) remains, at every corner there are ghosts.
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| Another drama-like scene! Puppy dog eyes at Howard hehehe. |
They say that a day before they left to film at the village, Maggie became unwell and had a fever. A crew member tells them that the plane tickets had already been bought so no matter what, they will have to go and continue to film but if she's really unwell, she shouldn't go because getting there is extremely difficult so he recommended her see a doctor first.
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Howard takes her to the clinic, the other patients are judging
them because they probably think he got her pregnant. |
Howard helps take Maggie to a clinic and she apologises and cries because she feels like she's being a bother. The doctor seems to be a Chinese Medicine practice because they take her pulse. Maggie cries again because she really wanted to go but the next day she isn't any better so they organised for her to return to Hong Kong to get better.
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| "Where is No.1 Maaaan????" |
The place they needed to go did not have any facilities for transport and is not on most maps so to get there they needed a proper guide to take them. They try to look for Fung Moon No.1 Man to take guide them to the village
(Before they found the guy, they showed footage of a shop that sold ghost money and paper dolls but actually, the dude works at a mountain gear and sportswear boutique looool. They set the scene but this guy also takes care of his day job! Actually, this is the best kind of business move because people wanting to hike to the village will need hiking supplies and conveniently, he can sell them these supplies! Entrepreneurship runs in Chinese blood loool.) They ask him how long it takes to drive to Fung Moon but the man says it's not possible, you have to hike there and it takes over 2 hours. No.1 Man says that the temperature there is approximately 10 degrees less than normal. He also says that there's not enough time to return from there in the evening and they must stay a night.
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| Here is No.1 Man! |
Howard then asks whether they can get to the village on their own without a guide and No.1 Man says it's very easy to get lost so they won't find it.
Google Maps will definitely be of no help lolol. Also this guy wants to make your moolah mang. No.1 Man said they might be able to find it if he drew them a map and they used a compass but the route also has a lot of wild animals
(this sales pitch, man! He even does a slight machete move when talking about the wild beasts! No.1 MAN!) He says there could even be leopards.
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| Howard: "FML why doe." |
In the end, they just ask No.1 Man to be their guide and he draws a map to show the route.
(Oh my days, no wonder he said you can't get there with just his map, he just draws a bunch of squiggly lines!)
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| GG following this map. |
The video cuts back to the hosts and Spencer asks Maggie what was wrong with her. She says she felt so apologetic but it was due to some sort of interference from the previous shoot that weird things began to happen and then she fell ill. The doctor didn't let her continue filming for the next shoot because of all the hiking. Apparently in that hotel, when she was alone in her room, she kept hearing strange noises so she thought she'd go to the corridor because whatever happened it would be easier to run away
(whut, has she not heard of all the ghost stories where they say it's better to just stay in your room because out in the corridor might be even worse?? Stick your headphones in and wait stick it out till dawn!) but at both ends of the corridor she continuously saw black humanoid shadows moving and then she managed to stick it out from 5 - 7am and it was from then that she started to get ill.
Lady, you got ill because you didn't get enough sleep! The immune system deteriorates after all nighters!
Spencer asks the Master whether being around a lot of "yin" (shady, haunted) places can affect your health and the Master says of course, especially because she's female so she is already of yin characteristic so going to such "yin" places will affect her health.
*Insert feminism comment here* Lol just kidding, but the Master also forgets to mention that filming outside in risky conditions and then not getting enough sleep is the more logical reason for ill health.
Part 2
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This the most G Master. Look at his Suicide Silence sweater!
He's into deathcore mang! |
Howard explains the name, Fung Moon, means that in the village, females couldn't birth sons and males didn't have heirs so slowly the population reduced to nothing. Spencer asks the Master whether the naming of the village had something to do with them not being able to birth sons and the Master says he believes it had nothing to do with the naming of the village. The Master asks Howard whether on the way to the village, did he think it was like a forest or more like a stone mountain. Howard says that on the way there were lots of steep drops and it naturally had a lot of green trees but mysteriously, as they walk further and further, the trees decreased and only strange rocks remained. The Master says the birthing problem in the village was to do with the feng shui and that it was like the village was sealed behind a stone wall.
The voice over says that No.1 Man suggested they set off in the morning to avoid needing to stay overnight but the filming crew declined because they wanted to stay overnight
(but before they didn't? Maybe it was just Howard that didn't, he's probably pooping bricks >.<). They asked him if anyone ever stayed over night before and No.1 Man said never because it's too scary and that he thinks the crew are crazy to want to stay the night! No.1 Man then helped everyone on the crew buy Accident Insurance
(this guy's the whole package! I bet he owns the insurance company too!) and then recruited an extra senior mountain climber just in case anything happens.
Senior Mountain Climber says that a lot mysterious things happen and it feels terrifying. However, some people also say that there's not much going on there, just the ruins of a mountain village. Howard says it sounds pretty terrifying and he doesn't want to go
loool.
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| Steep drops and winding roads... |
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| Gorgeous scenery |
The next afternoon, they went to drove for a couple hours and went up some winding mountain roads to reach the starting point for their hike. The reached quite a high altitude and the roads were very dangerous, pretty much if you swerved over the edge, you're a goner.
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Not the Haunted Village but probably a runner up in that
contest... |
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Creepy tunnel like the one Chihiro went through and got
STUCK IN THE DANG SPIRIT WORLD! |
They set up base camp at a nearby village and prepare supplies to take up to Fung Moon Choon.
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| New Master, he's not keen on this trip loool. |
They've also brought along a Taoist Master to go along with them. The Master says that he's never visited the village but it seems cursed/evil from his research and from what he's heard. He says that place is not really fit for filming and he advises them not to go there and says that because he's never been there before so he can't be sure that he will be able to help them if any situation arises. He can only try to the best of his ability.
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Does this count as a warning sign? I would run the other way of
this sign. Nopenopenope. |
There's a sign at the start of the path that warns that all you'll find down that road are ghosts.
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Look at the lil dude looking like he's dancing to Night Fever
doe! Paper talismans are so interesting. |
The Master hands them all some Taoist talismans to protect them, the they set off on their hike. Before they enter the village, they suddenly bump into a woman who said she got off the bus with the aim of going up the mountain to go pay respects to her ancestors but she got lost. However, apparently there's no public transport for miles so the filming crew have no idea what happened. The Master's words that "it's very evil there, you must be careful" are played again.
I'm not sure if he was warning the lady that it's dangerous around there or the production want the viewer to think that they'd bumped into some sort of ghost or possessed lady but she seems real enough to me... Hopefully she managed to find her way...
Howard notices a lot of red ribbons tied onto branches and he suspects that it's easy to get lost here so people tie these ribbons to branches to recognise their way.
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| Hansel & Gretel ribbon |
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| Wow, gorgeous scenery! |
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| I think it's some sort of water tank... or water storage? |
They finally see what I think they mean is a water tank that was built by the villagers.
The words they had in the subtitle doesn't come up in the dictionaries and my mum also didn't know what it was so I'm just going to assume water tank... They still need to walk another half an hour.
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| Warning graffiti telling visitors to be careful and stay safe. |
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Bold banner with bold claim that this is China's No.1 Haunted
Village. |
They finally arrive at the village but they cut back to the hosts. Howard tells them that the narrowest part of the path was only a foot's width and most of the journey, they had to walk single file because if they fell off the edge, they'd die. The hosts say that the path is so difficult that it essentially prevents people from visiting and the Master says he would call it a "Dead Village".
Maggie brings up the mysterious meeting with the lady going to pay respects. Howard explains it was very strange because as they set off on their hike, they bumped into the lady who asked them if they'd seen her friends because she was there with them to pay respects to some ancestors but when she got there, the bus and friends disappeared
(he says disappeared but he could also mean that it drove off). Howard also mentions that the whole journey up the mountain, they never once saw a bus. Spencer
speculates that the lady had somehow lucidly found her way up the mountain and Howard says that they also suspected that so they did not dare to question her too much.
Howard mentions the red ribbons he'd noticed and Spencer relates back to his experience in Aokigahara Forest (Suicide Forest in Japan) where they had to keep "bread crumbs" to make sure they could find their way back and they also had to periodically shout for each other because every now and then there would be someone that would go missing because all the surroundings look the same. Howard agrees that they did get lost on the route at one point.
Part 3
Spencer asks Howard where the banner of No.1 Ghost Village came from and Howard says they suspected that it was put there by people that had gone ghost hunting there previously as a sort of souvenir.
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| Consulting the Ghost-dar. |
Back in the field, they enter the abandoned village and the Master brings out his tools (sort of a Taoist compass) and he discusses some feng shui stuff with Howard.
Honestly the feng shui stuff went over my head. The Master says the compass is pretty stable at the village's entrance which means there's no problem there but he can't say that inside the village is completely safe. He said to tell whether they'd experienced any "problem" on their way there, they needed to check if their talismans have had any changes.
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| Does the talisman still work if it's broken? |
One of the paper talismans had ripped and the Master says it shows that on their way there, they'd passed "something" that the talisman had protected them against. The Master says, for the time being, there isn't too big of a problem. He then asks the crew again whether they really must stay overnight and Howard says yes, they must.
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| Master: "Why doe T_T" |
The Master does not look pleased at their decision.
Bet he was hoping that once they reached the village the crew would nope outta there and then he could go home and watch some TV and relax with a blanket and a cup of tea but no, now they have to camp out here for a night. I feel you brah.
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Avoiding looking at windows in case I see anything I
shouldn't D: |
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| This pic belongs in /r/AbandonedPorn |
Howard says in the village there's approximately 70 houses. Some of the houses' roofs have already collapsed but many remain intact and you can see in that the rooms and floor boards are still recognisable.
Wait isn't this village supposed to be from around the Ming Dynasty? How did it manage to be preserved like that? That's some hardcore natural preservation. Howard says in the village, he feels it's much colder than on the way there and the atmosphere is very mysterious because of their creepy trees. He says they were struggling to find a house large enough to house the whole crew (because it'll be safer to be together) where the floor boards aren't completely ruined
(ohhh so the floor boards are broken but recognisable, got it.)
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| This looks like Wales. |
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Oh look, more windows and doorways that I'm NOT looking
into. |
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| Wong family mansion. |
They discovered a place where in the house, there's an altar
(Wahhhh black and white photos...Too creepy for meeeee D:) and the Master said that because they're disturbing his home, they should burn some incense for him first.
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I didn't want to screen cap the close up of the Old Man's photo
but since this is zoomed out and Howard's also part of the scene,
I didn't feel as wrong screen capping this frame. |
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| No lung cancer in the afterlife |
Howard says the place with the altar was the home of one of the richest people in the village. A lot of people that visit the village who see the photo at the altar give offerings in the hopes of his blessing for safety.
Back with the hosts, Spencer says it's strange that in the abandoned village there's this photo of that old man. Howard explains that the old man was the Wong family mansion's owner and that since a lot of people visited the village to ghost hunt, they probably felt bad/guilty when they saw the photo so they'd give offerings of whatever they had on hand. Spencer says that due to the Cultural Revolution, people are not allowed to put photos of their relatives in altars at home to give offerings because they weren't allowed to have these types of beliefs and people in the past had to hide the photos under their beds if they wanted to give their ancestors offerings.
Woah, I didn't know this but come to think of it, the altar at my Uncle's apartment also doesn't have photos. I wonder if this is just a mainland China thing.
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These shutter doors are literally like the ones in Ancient
Chinese dramas! |
Spencer then suggests they look around the mansion that they're currently filming in and asks the Master whether the mansion is haunted because of its feng shui or because it's been abandoned for so long. He examines a shutter/door which is ornately decorated and exclaims that it is actually very beautiful.
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| Hallway/foyer |
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Is that a star in the sky? It's super bright! How surprising to be
able to see stars in Hong Kong! |
Spencer leads the Master to an area which seems to be of a foyer/hallway design because it does not have a roof. The Master says there's an open ceiling because they want to collect the water from Heaven's River. There's a pond to collect the water and the Master says that the water collected from Heaven's River (I guess that means rain) has evil prevention properties.
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| Ancestor placard cabinet |
They move across to an alcove where there's a sort of cabinet which was used to place placards of ancestors. Spencer says that someone that had previously visited had told him that the placards used to still be there but people had stolen the placards for whatever reason.
Wtf?!? If people actually stole them for shits and giggles, that's super disrespectful... Hopefully they were taken away by some people from their bloodline and put somewhere else instead of stolen! Spencer asks if they were to burn incense there with the placards still in the cabinet, would the spirits of those ancestors still be there. The Master says if that cabinet did really house the placards, then the spirits of the ancestors would often return there. So if they burnt some incense there for them, it would mean that they are paying respects to those ancestors.
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| Relevant. |
Spencer suggests that they burn some incense there to pay their respects and to see if any of those ancestors appear or are to be contacted. The Master asks his assistant for an incense holder and Spencer asks is it obligatory to have an incense holder. The Master replies that it's the holder that gets the message across and crosses the dimension.
I think from his analogy, the incense holder is the postman and incense is the letter.
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Generally, you bow 3 times whilst holding the incense and
thinking/saying good wishes for your ancestors. |
The Master advises Spencer to tell those ancestors that they're just there to pay respects and are not there to ask for any particular blessing. Spencer also says that they're just filming and he apologises if they've disturbed them.
Part 4
The hosts discuss the mysterious "Tai Si" chair again and they say that legend says anyone who sits on it will experience one of two outcomes. 1) They die a mysterious death, or 2) They will immediately be able to see ghosts. Maggie says that from the clip you can see that there's no furniture around the village apart from that one altar so how comes there's a chair? Howard says that they asked No.1 Man who told them that because there were so many scary stories about the chair, people that visited the village for ghost hunting didn't dare to move it so the chair remains at the village.
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| Ghost Paper Money ≠ Camping essentials |
Howard says that they didn't bring enough paper to burn so their last resort was to burn some of the ghost paper money for the bonfire and he wonders whether in doing so, will they actually attract spirits to come out. The crew explain to the Master the mountain climbers and the Masters can find somewhere more comfortable to sleep during the night because the crew want to stay out in the courtyard to try to film any paranormal activity.
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No wonder they didn't have enough paper to burn in the
bonfire. Their backpacks were weighed down by all these stone
figurines! |
The Master says it's best to stay together.
Again he looks scared, this Master doesn't instill a lot of confidence loool. The Master then says he'll "seal" the courtyard area (with a ritual) for protection but he says once he's sealed the area, they shouldn't step out of the boundaries because they will break the seal.
Not the good kind of breaking the seal!
Suddenly, the candles they offered at altar went out by themselves. The Master says it's because before, they disturbed the spirit which is why there's this problem now and that they should burn some paper money as an offering and as an apology.
They're going to run out of ghost currency real quick! How much did they pack?
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| Not a British Gas advert |
In their camera view finder, they see a strange flame-like shape by the altar but they claim there's nothing in that area and no candles burning there. They could not answer where the shape came from but they continued to give ghost paper money offerings in the hopes of keeping Howard safe because he was to stay in that room alone for the night.
They decided to ignore the Master's warning of not leaving the sealed area in the hopes of finding the fabled "Tai Si" chair.
This film crew are reckless mang, this how you end up dying first in a horror movie, just saying. The camera man suddenly tells Howard to stop walking because he thought he saw a shady figure go past ahead at the cross roads.
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| Run Forrest Run! |
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| Me. |
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| Oi, did you touch me bruv? |
They continue walking around the village when Howard suddenly yelps and asks if the camera man touched him. The camera man says no, he's always just been walking behind him.
That was some jump scare though! They're really Blair Witch Project-ing this. I didn't expect him to yelp all of a sudden, dang! Howard then peers into another room and asks the camera man to shine the torch inside because he thought he saw a person in there. Once lit up, there's no one there and Howard ushers them outside because he's freaked out. Howard says he can hear footsteps but there's nothing there.
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| Only the frame left on the chair. |
They finally find the "Tai Si" chair. The clip cuts back to the hosts and they discuss what they'd just seen. They ask the Master whether you can use ghost paper money to set up a bonfire and the Master chuckles and says of course not, everything has its own use. Ghost paper money is for giving to ghosts so you cannot use it to make a fire. It will end up attracting more ghosts because they'll go there to receive offerings.
Maggie then says that there was a rumour that during filming at the haunted village, someone sat down on the chair to rest and that person fainted. The person recounted that they saw a woman wearing white clothes who knocked them out with an axe. Then when they came too, they lucidly saw what seemed to be a lot of grave stones surrounding them.
Spencer asks the Master whether the feng shui of the chair is what causes such paranormal experiences and the Master says of course it has nothing to do with feng shui
(lol basically the Master has said no to every one of his questions about whether paranormal activity is related to feng shui hahaa, he looks like he's lolling inside when he answers Spencer's questions hahaa).
The Master believes that the chair must have a lot of history and when the spirit of its past owner returns to the land of the living, it would definitely sit back in this chair. Spencer says, hypothetically if the most powerful ghost was sitting on the chair, if you sat on top of it, there's no way you wouldn't get haunted. Spencer adds that with chairs like the royal throne (in the Imperial Palace in the Forbidden City, i.e. 龍椅), they are placed in a very fortuitous position. If your life/destiny doesn't have this type of fortuitous "qi", you can't sit there; at the very least, you will get ill. He gives that analogy that if the Emperor sits there, you would not be able to sit there because you have different "qi" characteristics.
