By Tim Binnall
A search and rescue operation for a pair of women lost in the Chinese wilderness was significantly hampered by the duo's belief that the people looking for them may have been ghosts. The odd case, which unfolded last week, reportedly began when the two unnamed Beijing residents ventured into a forested mountain area to forage for medicinal herbs. After the pair failed to return home 16 hours later, authorities were alerted to the situation and a search for the women was promptly launched. Rescue workers combed the wilderness for a whopping 20 straight hours until finally locating the lost duo, who had a rather surprising explanation for why they were so hard to find.
While recovering from the ordeal, during which they had no food or water, the women indicated that they had heard people calling their names on multiple occasions over the course of the lengthy search. However, the pair explained, they remained silent due to a long-held folk belief that such voices in the wilderness could be spirits attempting to draw an individual to their doom. Remarkably, the women revealed that they even ran away from the rescuers because of the spooky superstition. Thankfully, the duo and the search party eventually crossed paths, and the lost foragers realized that they were being saved rather than haunted.