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Xiahou Hong claimed that he could see ghosts and speak with them. When the horse ridden by Xie Shang, General Who Guards the West, suddenly died, Xie was deeply distressed. He said to Hong, “If you can bring this horse back to life, then you truly can see ghosts.” Hong went away for a long while, then returned and said, “The god of the temple took a fancy to your horse and carried it off. It will come back to life now.” Xie sat facing the dead horse. Before long, a horse suddenly came running in through the gate. When it reached the carcass, it vanished, and at that very moment the dead horse began to stir, rose, and walked. Xie said, “I have no heir. This must be punishment for some fault of my own.” Some time passed without Hong bringing him any word. Hong said, “The ghosts I have seen lately are only minor ones. They surely cannot fathom the cause of this.” Later, he happened to encounter a ghost riding in a new carriage, with some ten attendants, and wearing a blue silk robe. Hong stepped forward and seized the ox by the nose. The man in the carriage said to him, “Why are you blocking my way?” Hong replied, “There is something I wish to ask. Xie Shang, General Who Guards the West, has no son. A man of such grace and fine reputation should not be left without descendants to continue his ancestral sacrifices.” The man in the carriage was visibly moved. “The man you speak of is my son,” he said. “When he was young, he had an affair with a maidservant in our household and swore that he would never marry again, but he broke his vow. The maidservant is now dead and has lodged a complaint against him in Heaven. That is why he has no son.” Hong reported the whole matter to Xie, who said, “Such a thing did indeed happen when I was young.” At Jiangling, Hong once saw a great ghost carrying a spear and a halberd, followed by several lesser ghosts. Frightened, Hong stepped off the road to let them pass. After the great ghost had gone by, he caught hold of one of the lesser ghosts and asked, “What sort of being is that?” It replied, “He kills people with that spear and halberd. Whenever he strikes someone in the heart or belly, they invariably die.” Hong asked, “Is there any remedy for this affliction?” The ghost said, “Apply a poultice of black chicken, and they will recover.” Hong asked, “Where are you going now?” The ghost replied, “To the provinces of Jing and Yang.” At the time, an illness of the heart and belly had been spreading day after day, and no one who contracted it survived. Hong therefore taught people to kill a black chicken and apply its flesh as a poultice. In eight or nine cases out of ten, the treatment succeeded. The present practice of applying black chicken poultices to those stricken by malign spirits originated with Hong.