The Mysterious Head by Pu Songling
At a Peking inn, a girl's head and then an arm appear through a hole in a partition. After the head appears repeatedly, one frightened trader cuts it off; the traders are arrested, then released after about six months because no one appears for the prosecution and the magistrate cannot resolve the case. The head is ordered buried.
By Pu Songling · Genre: Weird Fiction, Short Story, Horror · 261 words
First lines
Several traders who were lodging at an inn in Peking, occupied a room which was divided from the adjoining apartment by a partition of boards from which a piece was missing, leaving an aperture about as big as a basin. Suddenly a girl's head appeared through the opening, with very pretty features and nicely dressed hair; and the next moment an arm, as white as polished jade. The traders were much alarmed, and, thinking it was the work of devils, tried to seize the head, which, however, was quickly drawn in again out of their reach. This happened a second time, and then, as they could see no body belonging to the head, one of them took a knife in his hand and crept up against the partition underneath the hole. In a little while the head re-appeared, when he made a chop at it and cut it off, the blood spurting out all over the floor and wall. The traders hurried off to tell the landlord, who immediately reported the matter to the authorities, taking the head with him, and the traders were forthwith arrested and examined; but the magistrate could make nothing of the case, and, as no one appeared for the prosecution, the accused, after about six months' incarceration, were accordingly released, and orders were given for the girl's head to be buried.
Genres
- Weird Fiction — A girl's head repeatedly appears through a partition without a visible body, and the ensuing investigation leaves the occurrence unexplained.
- Short Story — One compact narrative follows the traders' encounter, the beheading, their imprisonment, and their release.
- Horror — The traders' fear culminates in a sudden beheading, with blood spurting over the inn's floor and wall.
Tags
unexplained appearances · beheading · inns · imprisonment · Peking
What this Textopian page supports
The Mysterious Head is listed on Textopian as a short story by Pu Songling, dated Date unknown.
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- Work type: Short story
- Author: Pu Songling
- Date: Date unknown
- Language: English
- Genres: Weird Fiction, Short Story, Horror
- Length: 261 words
- Structure: 1 section, 1 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Difficult (College Level)
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