The Book of the Bizarre: Freaky Facts and Strange Stories (44 page)

DIA DE LOS MUERTOS OR NOCHE DE MUERTOS

In Mexico, candles—one for each deceased relative—are lit by families on the night following November 1,
Dia de los Muertos
or Day of the Dead. November 1 is the day to honor dead children and wayward spirits, and November 2 is the day to honor deceased family members and friends. Families begin preparations sometimes weeks in advance. Arriving at the cemetery, they clean the graves and lay fresh soil to create the mounds of earth on which flowers, flower petals, and candles will be arranged in artful designs. Offerings are placed on the graves, including
pan de muerto
(bread for the dead), flowers, sugar skulls or sugar animals, and favorite items of the deceased. Each region has its own specific variations on the holiday. Some have lively processions with dancing, and people paint their faces to look like skeletons. Other areas' celebrations are more somber and include traditional songs and candlelit processions beginning at 12:01
A.M.
on November 2.

CHING MING OR GRAVE SWEEPING DAY

Observed on April 5, this traditional day to honor the dead is celebrated by Chinese populations throughout
the world. This annual celebration begins by weeding gravesites and cleaning headstones. Fresh flowers are brought to the graves, and incense and paper money are burned there. Some families bring also paper clothing or other items to burn as offerings.

Feasts are laid out on each of the graves as offerings to the ancestral spirits. Three sets of chopsticks and three Chinese wine cups are laid out next to each headstone. The head of the household bows three times with each wine cup, pouring its contents into the grave. Some families eat the feast on the graves as a kind of picnic, and others set off firecrackers to scare off evil spirits and let the dead know the living are there.

Especially in China, people carry willow branches with them and hang the branches on the front door of their houses to ward off any wayward or evil spirits that wander during the Ching Ming celebration.

NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCES

“Near-death experience” was a term first coined by Raymond Moody, an American psychologist, in the 1970s. According to Moody, the following are characteristic phases of a near-death experience (NDE):

• First, people floated out of their bodies, leaving pain or injury behind. They were able to see things they could not have seen from the vantage point of their body. Many also reported being joined by guardian spirits and meeting dead relatives and friends.
  
• The next phase was a transitory one; people often compared it to floating along a passageway such as a tunnel or bridge.
  
• The NDE climaxed with a sensation of unconditional love or the feeling of coming home.
  
• A life review completed the experience.
  

HAUNTING LADIES

In the sixteenth century, Lady Glamis, convicted of witchcraft and trying to murder the king of Scotland, was burned at the stake. Her ghost now haunts Glamis Castle in Angus, Scotland. Many visitors have seen her floating above the clock tower. Meanwhile, Anne Boleyn, Catherine Howard, and Jane Seymour are all said to haunt Hampton Court Palace, just outside of London.

MORBID STUDENT BODIES

The students at the University of Colorado at Boulder are known for their morbid fascination with the local story of Alferd Packer and his cannibal monstrosities of the 1870s. Fifty years after Packer's conviction, the university students voted to rename the school cafeteria as the Alferd Packer Memorial Grill. It serves the usual standards, although some have unusual names. One of the most popular dishes is the “El Canibal” burrito.