Forbidden City China: Does the silent witness to many sufferings hide a demonic power?
The Forbidden City in Beijing, China has a more than 600-year history of intrigue, murder, and assassination.
It is said that even long after the last emperor left here, the souls of those who once (un)voluntarily played the role of killers or victims roam the wide corridors here. Will they ever manage to escape? Or is the palace complex built in such a way that this is not possible?
The Forbidden City, literally the Purple Forbidden City in Chinese, hides a secret even in its name. The original Chinese name is Zijin Cheng, with Zi meaning purple, and refers to the North Star, the northern star in ancient China known as Ziwei.
It is considered the home of the Jade Emperor, the supreme ruler of the heavens. According to traditional Chinese astronomy, his family resides in the associated constellations. The Forbidden City thus represents the earthly counterpart of the heavenly palace.
That is why the earthly emperor also lives here, without whose permission no one may enter or leave. One feels cramped under those high ceilings even without knowing the dark past of the place, but it is still worth knowing.
You will suddenly see it with completely different eyes… And maybe you’d rather not want to look at all because of fear!
Tales from the Grave
The Forbidden City consists of 800 buildings with lavish gardens. In total, the entire complex has 720,000 m2, originally it was surrounded by an 8-meter high wall and a 52-meter wide moat.
The most famous local ghost stories include the testimony of a crying woman dressed all in white. The sound of a flute is also supposed to resound through the deserted corridors at night. But are they abandoned? And who is the sound to attract us to?
At other times, ghostly dogs are seen in the labyrinth of corridors, running in an unknown direction. Even those who do not directly see any paranormal phenomenon feel an inexplicable nervousness on the spot. As if someone, or something, was watching them the whole time.
They feel the presence of something that they cannot describe in words. Sudden gusts of cold chills people here, and even the most modern digital SLR cameras in the Forbidden City often show malfunctions, as if they were old cameras.
Or spots, shadows, or nebulae appear on the developed images, which were not there at the time of acquisition. Are these just common technical glitches or something more? And why do such things happen in almost all the places he is supposed to haunt?
Punishment for the massacre?
According to legend, the Forbidden City has been cursed since the day its founder, Chinese Emperor Jung-le (1360–1424) of the Ming Dynasty, officially opened it in 1421.
The devilish ruler is said to have killed 2,800 people in his harem on New Year’s because of the threat of a sexual scandal. The bloodshed is supposed to take place while the sound of New Year’s celebrations and joyful explosions of firecrackers reaches the execution.
Two years later, a devastating fire engulfed the complex. 250 buildings burn to ashes, and many people die. No amount of good luck charms can prevent tragedy. The devastated Emperor Jung-le perceives the fiery hell as punishment for his cruelty and dies of depression a year later.
Over the centuries, thousands of people are said to have disappeared in the Forbidden City. And even though the site serves as a museum, most of it is normally inaccessible to the public. Because it’s just full of ghosts?
Is this also why the city gates are closed after five o’clock in the afternoon and no one is allowed there at night? Trevor Tat, one of those strongly attracted to the Forbidden City, says:
“I believe that the walls here have witnessed many murders and deaths and that all that negative energy must have stuck to them.” Is he right? Or are local ghost stories more like hundreds of years old fairy tales?
