Weird News: The Horned Miracle in China
Monday, March 29, 2010
What causes the unwelcome body modifications inflicted by nature? Are they wanton mutations or badges of honor indicating a level of blasphemous enlightenment unknown by their recipient? Whatever the case, the fantastic distortions of living, sentient forms don't often show up this prodigiously. Having this happen in an Asian backwater is not surprising. The horned lady's case is reminiscent of the sorts of peasant-driven folklore that used to haunt cultures all around world.
One wonders why a rural origin is so common in these tales. A number of reasonable factors can be rattled off: poverty, austere diet, strange diseases, possible inbreeding, contaminated waters, etc. These are the scientific conjectures. Those who lean toward a supernatural origin will speculate about possession of one kind or another. Maybe welding these explanations together will clear things up. Bodily possession--at face value--need not be supernatural, and a perfectly natural manifestation of strangeness like this skirts the borders of the supernatural in our own minds.
