All around the world, different cultures have their own urban legends, their own unique boogeymen or reasons to not go out walking alone at three in the morning. I’ve always been a fan of these myths, and the mystery that permeates their very being. Despite my rational brain knowing that these are fictional, that inkling of doubt and sprinkling of plausibility is just enough to make the idea of urban legends exhilerating.
That’s why this video from the YouTube channel TopTenz immediately caught my eye. Simon, the host of the show, presents and explains several urban legends from all over the world, and this particular one caught my eye. It’s a tale about a bus in Beijing, China that disappeared under mysterious circumstances one night, and turns up a few days later with a grisly, inexplicable scene contained within. It’s an unbelievable situation that actually happened, and I find it fascinating the way the legend of The Last Bus to Fragrant Hills attempts to rationalize those events.
This notorious legend of Bus 375 was said to have happened in Beijing in the fall of 1995. The way the story goes varies from telling to telling, but the gist is that one night Bus 375 was heading from the Yuan-Ming-Yuan terminal to Xiang-shan (Fragrant Hills). This was the last bus for the night, and in it was the conductor, the driver, and four other passengers: an old lady, a young couple, and a boy. After a bit, the driver noticed two men on the side of the road who were asking to be let onto the bus. At first, the driver was adamant to let them on since they weren’t at a bus stop, but as he neared them he realized that the two men were supporting a third man who looked weak and weary, and his head was bowed which obscured his face. All three men were allowed on, and everyone on the bus noticed something peculiar. The men were all wearing traditional Qing Dynasty robes and their faces were gaunt and as pale as the moon.
The passengers were unsettled by the men, but the conductor urged them to stay calm and consider that maybe the men were simply actors in costume. After a few stops, the young couple exited the bus. All of a sudden, the old woman started making a fuss and claimed that the boy had stolen her purse. The boy protested, but the old woman demanded that the driver stop the bus at the next stop so she could take the boy to the nearest police station. When the bus stopped, the old woman and the boy stepped out and watched the bus drive away. The boy then noticed that there was no police station in sight, and the old woman told the boy that she saved his life. Naturally, the boy was confused, but the old woman explained that she had been watching the three men closely, and she knew they were ghosts when she saw that they had no legs.
Two nights later, after failing to report back to the station, the bus was found sunken in the Miyun Reservoir, which is about 100km from Xiang-shan. Inside the bus were three heavily decomposed bodies: the driver, the conductor, and an unidentified man.
Jim Nobles of thebeijinger.com lists more mysteries surrounding the incident, adding several deeper layers to this already preternatural mystery.
The bus did not have enough gas to drive all the way to the Miyun Reservoir and when the police opened the petrol tank, they found it was filled with blood.
Jim Nobles, thebeijinger.com
The bus did not have enough gas to drive all the way to the Miyun Even though the bodies were found only two days after they disappeared, they were very badly decomposed. Even if it was summer, the process of decomposition could not be this quick. An autopsy confirmed that there had been no intentional meddling with the bodies. How could they decompose so quickly?
Jim Nobles, thebeijinger.com
The police did a strict inspection of all the security camera tapes on each entrance leading to the Miyun reservoir, but the bus wasn’t seen in any of them. In fact, they found nothing out of the ordinary whatsoever. How could the bus get there without being seen?
Jim Nobles, thebeijinger.com
Duck Duck Design 