嚇死人不償命的十大荒誕故事(上)

When you were young, did your mother run around the house draping sheets over mirrors when a thunderstorm was on the way, or yell at you for opening your umbrella inside? These are just two examples of old wives' tales or superstitions that millions of people grew up hearing about and even if you don't actually believe in them, it's hard to shake them off completely. Superstitions often arise around the things that scare people most, so it's no wonder some of them are as freaky as the following.

當暴風雨快來臨的時候，你的媽媽是不是在屋子裏跑來跑去把所有的鏡子都蓋上牀單，或者當你在家裏打開雨傘的時候對你大喊大叫？這只是成千上萬人從小到大聽過的無數荒誕故事或者迷信中的兩個例子而已。就算你不相信這些說法，想要徹底擺脫它們也非常之難。迷信往往出現在那些最嚇人的事情中，所以其中一些和以下名單中那樣嚇人就也不足爲奇了。

y Pinky

10.粉鬼粉鬼

The story of Pinky Pinky is an urban legend and old wives' tale rolled into one. With the advent of democracy in South Africa in 1994, a story started doing the rounds in primary schools about a monster that awaits girls in the school toilet. Girls were warned by their friends not to wear pink to school because this would anger the creature, who would then try to attack or even rape them.

粉鬼（Pinky Pinky）的故事是由都市傳說和荒誕故事雜糅而成。1994年南非實現了民主政治，緊接着一個恐怖故事就在南非的各個小學流傳開來：學校的廁所裏有個怪物在等着女生。朋友們都警告女孩子不要穿粉色衣服去學校，因爲那樣會惹怒怪物，他會攻擊甚至強姦她們。

The hysteria grew and sightings of the monster, dubbed Pinky Pinky, were reported at many schools around the country. It was said to resemble a bogeyman or a tokoloshe (an African mythical creature) and had one paw and one claw. Boys could not see the creature but some claimed to have been attacked by it and left scratched and bruised. Naturally, no solid proof of the monster exists. No one really knows what prompted the Pinky Pinky tale. It has been suggested that it was an embodiment of the fear young girls had of going to school toilets by themselves in a society where instances of rape and other sexual abuse was (and still is) very prevalent. Pinky Pinky seems to have left the building in most cases, with only one or two sightings still being reported as the years go by. Several books and an art exhibition have been dedicated to the story. Today it is just a scary story that those who went to primary school in South Africa in the 1990s can relate to.

這種歇斯底里的恐懼愈演愈烈，全國許多學校都有報告稱見到了這名叫粉鬼的怪物。據說它很像一種妖怪或者託科洛希（非洲南部班圖民間傳說中似人的惡魔），有一隻手爪和一隻腳爪。男孩子們看不到這個怪物，但有人稱他曾遭受它的襲擊而且還留下了抓痕和淤青。自然，沒有任何確鑿證據證明粉鬼的存在。實際上，沒有人知道是誰編造了粉鬼的故事。有人指出這是因爲社會上強姦和其他性虐待（仍舊）太過猖獗，所以年輕的女孩們就對去學校上廁所產生了恐懼，而看見粉鬼就是恐懼的集中表現（極端恐懼下所產生的幻覺）。在多數情況下，粉鬼（Pinky Pinky）似乎都已經離開了學校。隨着時間的流逝，關於粉鬼的目擊報告少之又少（只有一兩例）。這個故事已經出現在一些書籍和一個藝術展覽中。現在它只是一個與20世紀90年代上小學的人有關的恐怖故事而已。

ses With Open Eyes

9.死不瞑目

It was once popularly believed that if a person died and their eyes remained open, they were looking for someone to take with them to their final destination. This was usually assumed to be someone within the family of the deceased person. To prevent this from happening, the British would close the eyes of the dead person and place two pennies on the eyelids to prevent the eyes from opening again. In Greek mythology, a coin was placed in the deceased's mouth to pay the ferryman to take their soul across the River Styx into Hades. This reasoning has sometimes spread to the British practice as well.

曾經人們都普遍認爲如果一個人死了，但是他的雙眼卻還是睜開的，那就說明他們正在尋找一個人陪他們走到生命的盡頭。而這個人通常被認爲是死去的人的家人。爲了避免這種事情發生，英國人會將死去的人的雙眼合上並在眼瞼上放上兩個便士，這樣眼睛就不會再次睜開。在希臘神話中，人們會在死人的嘴裏放上一塊硬幣當作酬勞，好讓擺渡者帶着他們的靈魂渡過冥河順利到達冥府。這個推論也在英國傳播開來成爲習俗。

In earlier times it was also believed that if a person died and their eyes stayed open, it was the work of evil spirits that wouldn't let them rest or a sign of a life left a creepy turn of events in a small village in north-east Namibia, a corpse halted his own funeral because he refused to keep his eyes closed. The man, who was in his eighties, had had a long, drawn-out illness before he finally passed way. When his relatives gathered at the morgue to prepare his body for the funeral, they were shocked to see it blinking several times. After asking for advice from a traditional healer, the family decided to bury the man in a blanket and not a coffin. Just in case.

更早的時候，人們還認爲如果一個人死了，但雙眼還是睜開的話，那就是惡靈在作怪不讓他們的靈魂得到安息，或者表明死者生前壯志未酬滿是遺憾。在納米比亞東北地區的一個小村莊裏發生了一件毛骨悚然的事情。一具死屍中斷了他自己的葬禮因爲他拒絕閉上自己的雙眼。這個男人，已經80高齡，在他去世之前忍受了長久的病痛。當他的親朋好友們聚集在停屍房裏準備爲他舉辦葬禮時，他們震驚了，因爲他們看見有時候他還在眨眼睛。向一位傳統的治療師徵詢意見之後，家人們打算把他裹在毯子裏，而不是放在棺材裏埋葬。這也是以防萬一啊。

Hands

8.死人的雙手

Next time you're at a funeral, make sure to look after your own health. Otherwise you might get closer to the deceased than you may have thought. Folklore has it that the hands of a dead person have healing powers. Regardless of what type of disease a person had, it was thought that laying the hands of a dead person upon them would cure it. In Britain it was believed that a dead hand was especially helpful in reducing swelling. Many times, an Irish household that experienced a death in the family would be overrun by sick people trying to get to the corpse. Ideally, the dead person should be the opposite sex of the sick person. After being touched by the dead hands, the sick person would have to lie down in a bed aligned north to south.

下次你去參加葬禮的時候，一定要照顧好自己的身體。不然的話，很有可能你比你想象中更接近死亡。民間傳說死人的雙手具有神奇的治癒力量。不管你生了什麼病，只要你把死者的雙手放在身上病就會痊癒。在英國，人們認爲死人的手對於減輕腫脹特別有幫助。歷史上多次記載一個愛爾蘭家庭的家人死去之後，生病的人就紛紛前來想要接近屍體。死人的性別最好與生病的人的性別相反。觸碰了死人的雙手之後，生病的人必須躺在牀上從北向南保持一條直線。

It was also thought that the sheets and other bedding the person was wrapped in when they died would contain some of the magic of their hands. People would wrap the material around the aching parts of their bodies to reduce the pain and cure the underlying disease.

人們還認爲死人在死去時包裹的那些牀單和其他寢具都包含了一些神奇雙手的魔力。人們會用這些布料東西包裹自己疼痛的部位，以減少痛苦和治癒潛在的疾病。

ing Gum After Midnight

7.午夜之後嚼口香糖

No culture is free from superstitions and many of them are connected with our fear of death. For instance, in many cultures it is still believed that if a baby cries constantly, someone in the household will die soon. If a corpse is brought into a house, three members of that household will die. Taking your socks off and leaving them at the foot of their bed is another way to invite death into the house.

任何文化都不能擺脫迷信而且許多迷信都與人們恐懼死亡有關。比如說，在許多文化中人們認爲如果一個小孩子哭個不停，那麼不久家裏就會死人。如果你把一具死屍帶回家裏，那麼家庭的三名成員就會死去。把襪子脫掉放在牀腳也會把死亡帶進家門。

Far more gruesome is an old wives' tale from Turkey that warns against chewing gum after midnight. In English-speaking countries, the superstition persists that chewing gum remains in your digestive system for seven years, but in Turkey children are told that gum chewed after midnight transforms into rotten, decaying flesh. In some parts of Turkey, the gum wouldn't wait until the witching hour to turn into dead flesh—any hour after dark would do it.

更加毛骨悚然的是土耳其的一個民間怪談，不能在午夜之後嚼口香糖。在說英語的國家，一直有這樣一個迷信：午夜之後嚼口香糖，口香糖就會一直在你的消化系統裏，長達七年之久。但是在土耳其人們會告訴孩子午夜之後嚼的口香糖會變成發出惡臭的腐爛的肉。在土耳其的某些地方，口香糖不到子夜就變成了死肉——天黑之後任何時候。

Spirits Follow You

6.惡鬼跟着你呢

In Korea, folks who take old wives' tales seriously go to a lot of effort to make sure no bad luck befalls them. For example, it is believed that when you move into a new home, the evil spirits and ghosts from the old home move right in with you. It is thought that they slip into the removal van and hide between your furniture to make sure they also end up at the new address.

在韓國，那些把迷信怪談當真的人會費很大力氣確保災禍不會降臨到他們身上。舉個例子，人們認爲當你搬新家的時候，老房子的惡鬼會跟着你一起住進來。他們會偷偷溜進搬家卡車內，隱藏在傢俱裏以確保他們也能到達新的住址。

There are certain "safe" days every month, when the evil spirits are not present or not paying attention, and Korean removal companies will often mark these days on their calendars. Residents will hastily move into their new homes on these days. To trick the spirits even further, they don't clean up behind them before leaving for their new home. It is said that this throws the evil ghost guys off track, making them think they haven't moved, until they're firmly established in the new house. Only then will the spirits realize their original and unwilling landlords have moved, by which time it'll be too late to follow them. Luckily the old wives' tale does not include anything about the spirits haunting the newly moved-in family at the old residence.

每個月都有幾天是"平安日"，那個時候惡鬼不在或者不會注意，韓國的搬家公司常常把這些日子在日曆上畫上標記。在這些日子裏，房客們就會匆忙地搬往他們的新家。爲了把惡鬼騙得更久，他們去新家之前沒有對老房子進行清理。據說這樣能擺脫惡鬼，惡鬼會誤以爲他們沒有搬家，直到人們在新家安定下來。也只有到那個時候，惡鬼才意識到他們的房主已經搬家了，這個時候追蹤他們已經爲時已晚。幸運的是，這個荒誕故事裏惡鬼並沒有在老房子裏繼續糾纏這新搬家的一家人。

翻譯：高陳影 來源：前十網