According to Haizhu district police, on July 23 a man, surnamed Huang, visited a feng shui store and struck up a conversation with the sales assistant Xin (pseudonym). After a brief display of what sounds like basic cold-reading, Huang convinced Xin that he had supernatural powers and told her he was a 'Master Dragon Seeker'. Huang also introduced Xin to his female disciple, Youxin, a "female geomancer".
On July 30, Youxin and Xin met for tea. After Xin confessed an unrequited love for an older man, Youxin told her to book a room at a nearby hotel, specifically Room A12 on the 4th floor as that was where the "chi" was most powerful. "We've done many rituals there before," Youxin said.
After she had taken a shower, Xin was told to put on some lingerie. "This way, we can see what's in your body", said Youxin. After examining her the "geomancer" told Xin that someone had put a curse on her and that "only my master can set you free".
After the "Master Dragon Seeker" arrived he told Xin that the person she was in love with had placed a curse upon her. Xin and Huang began negotiating the cost of the ritual he would perform, with the sales assistant settling on the cheapest ritual at a bargain price of 32,000 yuan. Xin admitted that she could only afford 20,000 yuan however, so Huang "convinced" Youxin to loan her the remaining 12,000. Xin was told she had to pay back the loan within 49 days or the ghost would come back to haunt her. Ghosts are sticklers for things like that.
When she arrived at Huang's house the following day, Xin was reportedly too freaked out to sleep (the ritual apparently required that she be asleep) so she was given sleeping pills which she gulped down with a bottle of beer.
Xin was again made to shower (ghosts hate cleanliness) and then dress in the lingerie Huang had chosen. "I see a demon in your vagina," the exorcist told her. The only way to exorcise the demon from her vagina was with a penis. Xin acquiesced to the penis-cism. Though Huang was adamant that they weren't having sex as he had a condom on. "A Taoist priest cannot have relations with women," the man with his penis inside her reportedly told Xin.
Xin would later tell police that Huang claimed to have exorcised the evil spirit in under five minutes. "He also claimed to have been a virgin and had never touched women before, so the entire ritual was a huge sacrifice for him," she said.
Feeling like she might have been duped, Xin confided in her boss. When the two arrived at the conman's apartment they found that he had vanished. Youxin was also out of contact.
Huang was apprehended by police on August 1, after which he claimed not to have had sex with Xin.
"We Taoist priests are not allowed to do such things. If you don't believe me, we can get a doctor to check. I have very severe diabetes and have long been impotent. I'm also almost blind," Huang said.
Pressed for information on the exorcism itself, Huang said that there were some things that "metaphysics and science cannot explain".
[Translation help from Kenneth Tan // Image by James Griffiths]
Source: Thew Shanghaiist
