Tuesday, July 18, 2017

The Horrifying Mosina Goblinoid (魔神仔)


Photo taken from the intranet. An artist impression of Mo-sin-a. 

This is a real story happened in the mountain of Nantou (南投), Taiwan a few years back. The hero of this story is Ming, my Taiwanese friend.

Ah Pek is Ming's distance uncle who lived in Puli, Nantou County. This Ah Pek has a special ability, i.e. he can see ghosts! Because Ah Pek needs to frequently go to his orchard at the other side of the mountain to watch over his fruits until very late, he always come across ghosts. But the most horrific of all is not ghosts, but the Mosina Goblinoid.

This Mo-sin-a is said to be specific to Taiwan mountainous regions. It is some sort of demonic entity which is similar to the Japanese Kamikakushi. According to Ah Pek,if there are many Mosina in a mountain, even the powerful mountain gods would shy away from them. Ghosts would not harm people and they can be handled by chanting Buddhist mantras, but Mosina will kill and the mantras are less effective to a Mosina so said.

Mosina are believed to live in groups and they are inferior demons active in dense jungle. They will call out your name at your back and if you answered, then you will be hypnotized and follow them to their realm.

If you hear heavy footsteps with a sense of high atmospheric pressure when walking alone in a jungle, then most likely that some Mosina maybe present. Ah Pek said that many mishaps faced by mountain hikers are the work of Mosina.

One day, Ah Pek visited Ming and gave him a 'fu' (talisman) and told Ming that he might have some problems in near future as his face aura wasn't looking too good.

Ming wasn't too worry about Ah Pek's remarks as his uncle was known to make joke of Ming. No one really knows when this Ah Pek gets serious and when not. 

One week later, my senior from a mountain hikers' photographic society invited me to hike up the Nanhu Mountain. Ming was a little hesitate because the Nanhu Mountain is one of the difficult mountain to tackle and that the weather changes quickly too. Many hikers lost their ways and lives, and coupled with some spooky tales; Ming started to feel regret in joining this money wasting and tedious society.

Soon it was time. Ming together with other 6 people and a local guide assembled at the Nanhu Mountain foot on a Saturday morning. They planned to camp on the mountain over night so that they could photograph scenic sun rise.

No one could foresee that such a beautiful mountain photograph project became Ming's most unforgettable nightmare!

As recalled by Ming, three days before the departure, he had a very strange dream. In the dream he was being chased after by a group of dwarfs. Just as when the dwarfs were about to apprehend him, Ming awoke in a pool of cold sweat. Perhaps that was a very bad omen?

The Nanhu Mountain proved to be a very challenging mountain to hike because of its dangerous landscape and hanging cliffs that could be fatal if one is not careful.

So said, the group arrived on the mountain peak later than expected. They were faced with many problems, it was either the weather turned from bad to worst, or that the walkie-talkie could not function. At the same time, three of the group members started to feel sick.

It was quite late when the team finally put up canvas tents. Since everyone was very tired, all of the folks fell into slumber very quickly too.

In the middle of the night, Ming was awoke by a series of heavy footstep noises outside the tent. He looked outside and saw five dwarfs about 1m in height. 

Before Ming ventured outside to take a closer look, his friend, Jason who was sleeping beside him suddenly went berserk and shouted 'NO!' and then rushed out of the tent into a piece of forest nearby.

Without hesitation, Ming followed close behind Jason. After 10 minutes or so, Jason suddenly collapsed beside a waterfall. Quickly, Ming approached Jason and tried to sprinkle some water on Jason's face so as to revive him.

After some effort, Jason finally came to his senses. But as soon as Jason opened his eyes, he pointed at Ming's back and shouted: "MO-SIN-A!"

Ming turned his back and saw that a group of dwarfs staring at him. Almost immediately, Ming felt dizzy and fainted onto the ground.

When Ming awoke, it was 4 days later in a local hospital.

Later, other team members told Ming that he was found by a search and rescue team after missing for 3 days. The rescue team found Ming was covered with mud and weeds. Had it not because of one rescue members saw a flash of light came from the ground, Ming may still be out there. While Jason is still missing until today.

At this point, Ming remembered Ah Pek's talisman that he worn around his neck and he was told that by the time Ming was hospitalized, no talisman was found on his body.

Perhaps it was indeed his Ah Pek's talisman has helped Ming. But every time Ming brought this issue up with Ah Pek, the old man only smiled and said: "Nonsense! Ah Pek knows no magic!"


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