Do you believe in spirit baby? In Chinese, we call them 婴灵 (Yīng Líng). They are the souls of babies who were aborted, miscarried, stillborn or died shortly after birth. Most of the time, they were not properly buried (especially aborted in hospital, their remains would be thrown into biohazard bags along with other bodily fluids for burning) or have a name/tablet for themselves.
Many Chinese superstitions follow the belief that their souls are helpless and they will linger in the world as they are unable to be reborn. This is especially true for those who are aborted, as it would generate resentment and hatred. Therefore, they would haunt their loved ones, especially their biological mother by causing harm to them and the rest of their family members.
Earlier this month 4th August 2024 Sunday, it was the first day of the Chinese Hungry Ghost Festival (Zhong Yuan Jie) and many people would offer food and necessities to their loved ones. Because of this festival, my friend has prompted me to write this article.
She lost her first baby approximately 16 years ago due to a miscarriage in the first trimester. At present, she still gives offerings and prayers to her unborn child. Her shunfu (teacher or temple/feng shui master) advised her to perform rituals (婴灵超度 Yīng líng chāodù Spiritual Baby Transcendence) as long as possible. This is to help her unborn child to accumulate good deeds and to illuminate the path to heaven.
So every year during the Hungry Ghost Festival, she would pay her respects along with her husband and children. This also helps her family to acknowledge the spiritual baby and through these actions, it will bring the spirit baby love and warmth.
These are a few photos she shared with me when she did her prayer in the temple. Her unborn baby did not have a name, just a number along with part of her husband’s surname and her surname on the temporary tablet. This is to show her that the temple did the transcendence on her behalf. She could now place her offerings on the floor.
I have no exact explanation for why some temporary paper tablets are stuck right at the bottom of the floor and some are high up on the tables. I think this could be their ranking or their height differences. Those who have passed away like our grandparents or ancestors have a much higher ranking than the young ones. Another potential reason is that the young spirits were too short to reach the table, hence the offerings were placed on the floor for easy reach. I remember when I visited Hell’s Museum in Singapore, children’s offerings were always on the floor.
Some people believe that if parents or loved ones do not help the spirit baby to transcend, their souls will bring harm to the living. Through listening to Mr Zhou’s Ghost Stories (Singapore Radio Love 97.2 FM), those with third eyes can see small spirits lingering around some women, especially their baby/child clinging to their back causing the women to get back pain. For those souls who were not born, they gradually grow up. They are unlike children who passed away at a young age. Those children who passed at a young age will not grow up and their spirits will stay as they are when they pass.
This story was told by Miss Mole (Ho Ai Ling) on Mr Zhou’s Ghost Stories on 28th August 2020 from 8 mins onwards. I have shortened the story. This happened to a Singapore actress. She was always having a tight chest around 2 pm. One day, when she was with another actress in the dressing room to change their costumes, they heard a child’s voice say red is pretty. Then on her next working day, again she felt ill (tight chest) around 2 pm and had to go off work. After a medical test, the doctor did not find anything wrong with her. Her friend suggested she seek alternative help. When she reached the medium, she was told that her unborn child was full of resentment and hate towards her as to why the child was aborted. So every day around 2pm, the child would clamp her chest causing her harm. After the ritual, she was no longer feeling her chest pain.
This is another story told by Miss Mole (Ho Ai Ling) on Mr Zhou’s Ghost Stories on 13th November 2020 from 18 mins onwards. This is just a quick summary of the story, please go and listen to the full story if you are able to understand Mandarin. Gary’s father is a taxi driver and had stomach aches for ages. He sought help from several professionals but nothing worked for him. His friend suggested seeking the Chinese medium/Shunfu/Masters for help. Through the medium, Gary then learned that his parents had aborted a girl after him. The reason the girl/his sister was aborted was that Gary was born in the Year of the Dragon and the unborn girl would have been born in the Year of the Tiger. These two zodiac years clash according to his grandmother and she insisted Gary’s mother abort the unborn child due to Chinese superstitions. They then went to seek advice from the Spirit medium. Through the medium, they found out that their unborn daughter had met someone and wanted to get married. After they hosted the Ghost Wedding (冥婚 Míng hūn), his father no longer had stomach pains.
These are the two stories that relate to spirit babies. There are more stories on Mr Zhou’s Ghost Stories podcast MeListen app: 26th June 2020 by Mr Zhou started at 3 minutes, 7th July 2023 by Mr Zhou started at 7 minutes and 25th August 2023 started at around 23 minutes.
So do you think everyone’s body has a soul? Once you have passed on, will your soul be able to see the light or will you be lingering around? Nevertheless, my advice is to respect every life.