A strange case of the boy in red

A strange case of the boy in red

This is a very bizzare incident that wildly reported in China a few years ago. Many believed the story invovled with evil occultism. One of my friend was intresting in it for a while, so in the other day she decided to sumerize all the material(from a local TV program and multiple public news source) that she can find and to translate them into english. And iam here to share her work with you, hope you guys can come out with some intresting thought from your perspect.





Sorry this may be a bit long but it's real. I also posted it on tumblr with screenshots :mulcully.tumblr.com...

i.imgur.com... There is a TV interview about this case and I am wondering whether I should upload it on youtube. On November, 5 2009 a 13 year old boy named Zhijun Kuang was found dead in the family’s old house. The body was hanging from the wooden beam with both hands and feet tied firmly. The victim was wearing a red dress and a woman’s swimming suit. There was a pinhole on his forehead and a huge weight tied around his feet.

This is one of the creepiest stories I have ever heard of. Almost five years have been past, there are lots of speculations but no final conclusion on how the boy died. Some said the boy’s death is due to sexual asphyxia. For me it looks more like a ritual murder. And the police’s conclusion is death by accident.

First I want to give you some backgrounds of this case. This whole thing happened in a villiage in Chonqing China. The victim was the only son in the family. Before the tragic happened the boy’s parents who were once peasants were working in the north district of the city while the boy was studying at a local boarding school in a small town in the south district. The family usually met together every weekend.

They had an old house in a village not far from the boy’s school. But since no one lived there it had been abandoned for a long time. The house had three doors, one front door, one side door and one back door. The back door was very discreet and blocked by two wooden planks plus one rebar. If you were not familiar with the house you wouldn’t even notice there was a back door.

The villagers said the boy was a nice and sensible boy except for a little introverted. He always went alone. They said they had never seen him playing with other kids. His classmates told the journalist that his favorite book was LiaoZhai which was a very famous ghost-story book in China.

And here is the course of the event.

On October 25 2009, before returning to school the boy told his parents he was going to weed the old house next week. During the following week his parents got no news from him and they started to get worried. On November 3 his father called him and no one answered. He contacted the school but teachers told him the boy had been absent from school for the whole week. The school’s explanation was that due to the outbreak of influenza A they had enough reasons to believe the boy was ill at home. The parents were shocked and totally freak out. They condemned the irresponsibility of the school. i.imgur.com...

The father immediately went to their old house. He found neither the front door nor the side door would open but the back door was not closed. The two planks and rebar were taken off on the ground. Entering the house he found the boy was hanging from the wooden beam with his hands and feet tied firmly. There was a huge weight tied around his feet. The body was wearing a red dress and a woman’s swimming suit. And there was a pinhole on the forehead. He also found 32 Yuan in the boy’s trouser pocket. The cell phone was still in his school bag. Nothing was missing.

He called the police. On December 3 the police released a report said the death was an accident. They told the father that his son was accidentally killed in some kind of game involving superstition which did not constitute a crime. They decided no to file the case. A journalist called the police to inquire the case but the police refused to talk about it. The father couldn’t accept such answers so he applied for reconsideration on December 11. Ten days later the police told him after a thorough investigation there was no clue of murder or suicide. The result of reconsideration was sustaining the original. The father hired a lawyer and decided to appeal to the people’s procuratorate. I don’t know whether there is a positive result because I didn’t find out any further news about it.

What made my hair stand on end is the detail of the case. Apparently this was not a robbing murder because no property loss. The autopsy showed there was no trauma except the pinhole on the forehead and the marks of rein.

The first abnormality attracted my eyes was the red dress and the woman’s swimming suit. The farther recognized the red dress once belonged to his niece. But there was no clue whose swimming suit was. Two crumpled black cloth was stuffed in the bra to form fake breasts. The mother told the journalist that her son had never shown any signs of transvestism. i.imgur.com... i.imgur.com...

The boy was hanging from the wooden beam. But the rope was tied around his hands instead of his neck. The way of tying was very professional with 12 loops on each hand and foot. I have no idea whether a man could make such knots to bind himself by his own. i.imgur.com...

Why was there a pinhole on his forehead? Was there any kind of sadomasochism involving putting a needle into one’s brain? No idea.

Another creepy thing was that the mother had a weird dream two days before her son’s death. In that dream there was a tall man wearing a hat and carrying a bag who she could only see his back. The mysterious man entered the old house through the back door. She didn’t know who he was. This made her so nervous that she kept asking her husband to go check the old house. At the second day his return, an eighty year old neighbor told him she saw a stranger who was wearing a hat and carrying a bag wandering in the village. And because of that hat the old lay didn’t see his face. Was this just a coincidence?

Reflecting every detail the farther still couldn’t understand why and how his son was dead. If the boy wanted to kill himself why he had made it so complicated. After all drinking pesticide was and is a major way of suicide in Chinese rural area.

The only suspect given by the father was the ex-husband of his wife. The boy’s mother married twice. He was the son of her second marriage. The mother had another child with her ex-husband. When they divorced her ex-husband gained the custody. But that child disappeared many years ago. Her ex-husband firmly believed she hid the child. Three years ago her ex-husband warned her if she would not hand over his child he would take revenge. But there was no evidence to prove this man to be the murderer.

Chinese occultists shared their opinions on the net. The five fundamental elements in Chinese occultism are metal, wood ,water ,fire and earth. The weight represented the metal. The beam represented wood. The swimming suit represented water. The red dress represented fire. Different from the western culture, in Chinese occultism a person has three souls and seven spirits. In my understanding the soul is more like matter. It can be taken out of the body a

a reply to: clapper

Sick and disturbing, the reason evades me.

..chinese satanism? O_o
..half an hour later you have to sacrifice something again

Was there any kind of sadomasochism involving putting a needle into one’s brain?

extraction of pineal secretions or whatever celebrity devil-worshiping craze is popular these days..
ditto the dress (emasculation)
weird #.. thanks for posting (!?)

Some how i can't post the full artical in the first post, here is the rest of it

Chinese occultists shared their opinions on the net. The five fundamental elements in Chinese occultism are metal, wood ,water ,fire and earth. The weight represented the metal. The beam represented wood. The swimming suit represented water. The red dress represented fire. Different from the western culture, in Chinese occultism a person has three souls and seven spirits. In my understanding the soul is more like matter. It can be taken out of the body and constrained in a container or another person’s body.

One theory said the motivation of the murder was to cultivate a sinister ghost. The effect of the red dress was to bind the soul. The weight made the soul no way to flee into the earth. The wood had a connection with the life so the beam had an effect to concentrate the soul. The pinhole which was caused by a special needle was used to separate the soul and lead the soul out of body. The woman’s swimming suit plus the age of the boy (13 year) represented a most negative time. This implied the murderer wanted to get a occultism purpose.

Another theory said the motivation of the murder was to break the soul and make it suffer the endless six-path incarnation.

I also found a third theory. In this one the motivation was not to gain the soul nor to break the soul but to prolong someone’s life.

Someone on the internet claimed that it was not an isolated case but a series of killing. They said there were similar cases but I haven’t found any detail information


Here is the the local TV interview(Chinese) artical

Yeah, sounds serial killer-ish to me. That's a pretty distinct m.o.

not many things disturb me anymore but this did, some people are just F&%$'ing sick.

How odd for the police to be acting how they are about it though that's a pretty big red flag. I don't understand how that could be an accident, In any way at all.

Clearly this is the most important information

But that child disappeared many years ago. Her ex-husband firmly believed she hid the child. Three years ago her ex-husband warned her if she would not hand over his child he would take revenge.

Another child and missing and ex with hate toward the boy, before I looked anywhere else i would look there.He also might have known about the back door.
The only other thing, was there any sign of sex forced or otherwise they don't say, the schools behavior was clearly considered wrong was there a molester in there somewhere, a 13 certainly would talk, after playing games with him did they need to kill him to keep him quiet.

Actually if there was any way he could have done it I would say it is the boys Father. he knew the door, he was around when the child (sister) who was not his went missing. Maybe he is a pervert not like they are uncommon nowadays.

interesting yet disturbing...

Doesnt sound like an accident, I too would question whether or not there was any sexual trauma to the boy... The pin hole in the forehead, if it were an actual "pin hole"- could it have been from someone pinning a picture? Say, pinning a picture of a woman's face over his? Even if the boy wasnt actually sexually abused, doesnt mean that someone didnt get gratification by seeing him there, imagining he was someone else?

Either that or maybe it was a prank gone wrong by kids his own age? Trying to humiliate him... hoping someone would find him and he would be labeled a cross dresser or something... Kids can be really mean spirited when they want to be. Maybe they thought his parents would come look for him- and he died waiting?

What was the cause of death?

Disturbing indeed

a reply to: Char-Lee

Good points! I was thinking at first the mothers ex husband but if he is adamant on finding his child i doubt he would be the murderer and if any person lost their child they are going to want revenge so it is quite normal for him too say that, but doing it and in such a bizzare way like that and saying it are 2 different things entirely, which makes me think maybe the boys father had something to do with both disappearances but why would he spend money on lawyers and fight it so bad? Unless it is a disrtaction? and he was quick to shift blame to his wifes ex husband aswell.

Is it normal for people in China to not hear from their 13 year old child for days? They left it quite awhile before notifying the cops.

a reply to: Char-Lee


After a month of investigation, the police offcial finally stated that there are no suspects in this case. But they did mention sexual asphyxia as a possible cause in their report.

WARNING disturbing images i.imgur.com...

The question is that as a 13 years old boy, how can he tied himself in such sophisticated way ?

a reply to: itswhatev

Maybe, but the scene looks too sophisticated to be just a game or prank, it matches the mechanics of Chinese occultism in many way which you rarely to see these days.

a reply to: Shana91aus

In some Chinese poor peasant family it's pretty normal for letting children alone in country town, they are so struggle to survive.

Usually, the police will sovle this type of case very quick especially under media pressure, if they lock down any suspects, they would probably torture them to confessed.

a reply to: UNIT76

Yes in a evil branch of taoism, they make everything into ying polar(negative) in order to summon deamon......it has somekind of machanics in it pretty much like the western occult practice.

oh my. what a disturbing story. especially about the dream his mother had being corroborated by the old woman. I have no idea what this could be. reminds me a bit of the book, The Alienist, by Caleb Carr. (which was about a psychotic serial killer who targetted boy-whores in the 1800s or something).

a reply to: clapper

it matches the mechanics of Chinese occultism in many way which you rarely to see these days.

it has somekind of machanics in it pretty much like the western occult practice.

it's everywhere if you know what to look for..

Wu Xing (Chinese: 五行; pinyin: Wǔ Xíng) are the five phases, or five elements in Chinese tradition (medicine, acupuncture, feng shui, and Taoism) They are similar to the ancient Greek elements, with more emphasis on their cyclic transformation than on their material aspects. The five phases are: Fire (火 huǒ), Earth (土 tǔ), Metal (金 jīn), Water (水 shuǐ), and Wood (木 mù).

there is also some Anton Levay (celebrity church of satan) material that would've fit nicely here too (cba digging thru hours of old footage to get the screenshot)

..someone will probably be here soon to remind us this is all "make believe"

Thanks for posting this! Things like this always interest me and now I'll have a new obsession for a bit trying to see what
else I can dig up on this case. Without being there and having access to all the material anything here is just speculation
but I think I may have an idea of what could have gone down and if it is right it is downright sad. (Sorry about the poor format. I'm in work on break.)

The Ritual
Do I think that a ritual was intended or in use? Yes. I don't think it was a ritual killing like many on here believe though. I'm not discounting murder, as I said, with such little to go on and taking the accounts of the police as somewhat truthful this is pure speculation.

The evidence doesn't support a random killing all that well.

The 5 elements representation: Yes, it could be argued that the elements were represented but I see this as a bit of a
stretch. There are far easier ways to represent the water element then going out and buying a girls swimsuit. A seashell
would suffice. Also, the dress was one of the family members so there is no way a random killer would know this kid
had the dress to use it as a trap for the soul or to represent the fire element. I will get to what I think the real ritual at play was after I address a few more details.

The rope: It is possible to tie your own hands together. The care and effort makes it curious yet I can't dismiss that if the
boy was willing to practice this it wouldn't be out of the realm of probability especially if he thought it would help with his final goal.

The pin prick: This one threw me and still does somewhat. However, I think that he may have pinned a spell, chant or evena note to his forehead that either fell off or was removed by someone.

What I think played out: Ultimately I think the boy was being molested. He could have had his own confusion about his
orientation although I don't know. I wouldn't be surprised if it was even from someone at the school. The boy loved ghost
stories and I think that was precisely what he was trying to accomplish.

In China if someone is dressed in red after they die legend has it they come back as a ghost. There is one ghost in particular, a female ghost, who if she commits suicide will come back to exact revenge on those who have done her wrong usually some form of sexual abuse. Anything starting to sound familiar?

The boy has enough of what is going on and decides he will come back as a NU GUI. However, there are not many mentions of male versions of this ghost so he steals a red dress from a family member. He wants to make himself as much of a woman as possible so he gets his hands on a girls swimsuit which would be much easier for him to come by then women undergarments. If it was a co-ed school it'd be all the more easier for him. The number twelve knots and even the 32 Yuan are pretty much good luck charms.

The boy decided on the day and called to say he wasn't coming home. Too many things had to fall in place for a random kill. There is the chance the boy was involved with someone older and things went wrong and things were covered up. The police even said it looked like he was playing a superstitious game although they fail to mention it in any detail. With no real signs of struggle or murder, as reported by police, I don't think this was a ritual killing.

I think things were covered up to protect someone of higher status and if it was murder it was someone close by. They would have had to know the boy crossdressed, wasn't going home etc.. . a rendevouz of sort is possible. As for the dream. They happen more than many would like to admit. People sense when a loved one is in trouble. Why have a weight and such elaborate rope design? Why not just poison himself? I have no idea. Maybe it was part of his ritual and he thought it would be more successful that way. In any case it is a shame this was swept under the rug.

a reply to: Shana91aus

You know the puncture in the head could just as easily be what it seems to me right off. The person who had him dressed as he was or found him dressed as he was pinned a derogatory sign on his forehead, removed it realizing that writing may be evidence , and took it with them.

a reply to: DetectiveT

Interesting but I think you overlooked a few important points let's look at those.

1. The boy was in a boarding school.
so why did the school not report him missing for a week?

2. This was not the only child involved because a missing sister years before must be considered. After so many years the ex-husband calls three years before the murder to threaten that if he does not get his child there would be revenge.

3. The rope was tied around each hand 12 loops on each but also there was a huge weight tied around his feet also tied with 12 loops.
They show only one rope hanging from the rafter so I don't know how the rope turned in to two to tie both hands it is reasonable to assume there was one rope tied around both hands.
www.reddit.com...

4. The bra was stuffed.
I think this discounts the whole occultist idea.

So here the timeline.

Oct. 25 before leaving from his weekly visit back to the town where his school is, the boy makes an excuse to be missing the next week saying he would weed the old house instead of coming home.

Nov. 1st he should have went to weed the house but he had not been to school all that week.

Nov. 3 Family calls him because they expected to hear from him, no answer call school and find he has not been there for a week!

Nov. 5 dad goes to old house and finds body, 11 days since they last saw him.

Other Important points:

The boy was known to have no friends and always be alone.
The parents knew he would be at the old house on Nov. 1 and they knew about the back door.
The parents seem to have another missing child, stepchild of the father.
The school did not call or check when the boy went missing. it was a boarding school seems reasonable they expected him to ask before leaving for home for a week if being ill.

The boys school bag was with him and had all his things normally in it.

No cause given by the police of death...only "some speculating asphyxia in their opinion (sexual asphyxia).

So again things point to the Father, he tried to implicate the stepfather, but I doubt the Stepfather would spent 3 years after his threat waiting to get revenge.

a reply to: Char-Lee

You're right I did miss the part about there being another missing child and the stuffed bra and they do deflate the occult angle. Yeah, it circles back to the father. I'm going to go over everything again when I get home. The way they so easily dismissed this bothers me though.

Hi, I am the author. Thanks a lot for paying attention to this strange case.
I have found something new in the Journal of Forensic Medicine published in October 2010, volume 26, issue 5. This article included several case studies. On page 395 it made an analysis on this case. It said the cause of death was positional asphyxia. It revealed more details about the scene.

please check this screenshot of the magazine : i.imgur.com...

The crime scene investigation showed there was a half candle, a lighter, a VCD player with lots of discs about the Japanese animation Saint Seiya, a Learning Machine and an iron chain laying on the bed. There were three old abrasion rope-marks on the beam. 70cm south of the body there was bench knocked over with legs towards the body.

Here is a brief autopsy report.
1. The whole body had a length of 163cm with dark red cadaveric ecchymoses on hands, lower limbs and feet.
2. Abrasion and contusion was found on the forehead.
3. There were signs of needlepoint like bleeding on both palpebral conjunctivas.
4. Soles stained by dust.
5. Congestion was found in the meningeal vessels.
6. No damage was found on brain parenchymal.
7. Diffuse needlepoint like hemorrhage was found in the lunge serosa.
8. No damage was found on any other organ.
9. There were no signs of poison.
10. On the crotch of the swimming suit a seminal stain was found.

Its major arguments are:
1. The victim lived alone.
2. The victim was an introverted teenager.
3. The victim was a transvestite.
4. The half candle and the wax marks suggested the victim has a tend of self-abuse.
5. The way of tying was very peculiar.
6. The suffocated signs were very obvious and a seminal stain was found.
It suggested the victim was accidentally killed while he was imitating the plot in the disc.

So here are my questions.
1. Is there any way one can tie himself in such a sophisticated manner and hang himself from the beam? Are there any men had tried to help the boy implement his self-abuse plan if there was one?
2. Why didn’t he chose to tie his neck if he wanted to experience the extreme pleasure in choking? The article said the positional asphyxia would take a very long time and few people preferred it.
3. Dose the animation Saint Seiya has such a great of sexually suggestive that can make a teenager kill himself through self-abuse?

This case has too much absurdity even the TV interview was more like to satisfy the curiosity. According to what I found, there were some inconsistent on the testimonies. The TV interview said there was a pinhole on the forehead and the mother confirmed it. But the article in the magazine said it was an abrasion and contusion. Another thing I didn’t mention was the exact age of the boy. The date on the identification card was 1996-8-16. But the TV interview told us the boy was dead when he was 13 year and 13 day old. Maybe it was a mistake or just stunt. Or maybe the boy’s parents had changed his age when they applied for an ID card. Because in China a child can go to school only when he reaches age six while the new school year begins at September. So to this boy, he had to wait to the next year if he was born on October. If he was really 13 year and 13 day old, I can’t stop myself from thinking about the occultism correlation.

Maybe this whole thing was just an accident. I truly hope so cause I can’t accept the sinister behind it.
R.I.P