For this episode, I travelled to Taiwan to visit a temple dedicated to Unmarried Women who had passed on. I could not understand why a temple needed to be built for deceased unmarried women. I soon found out that the Taiwanese believe unmarried women who pass away become wandering spirits. To send them to a better place, their souls have to be sent to a temple or married to a living man. I was surprised to learn that prior to a ghost marriage, many customary rites need to be undertaken, just like in a marriage between two living people. Fascinated by this phenomenon, I met up with Master Zhou Ying-Jun, who has presided over many human-ghost unions. She told me that the spirits of these women find their potential husbands when men who have had a string of bad luck visit places with plenty of yin energy such as hotels, riversides or abandoned places. The spirits then begin appearing in their dreams, sometimes even touching the men physically! They harass the men and attempt to convince them that their luck will change if they agree to the marriage. This goes on until the men finally relent. According to Master Zhou, […]