In the scorching early summer weather of the last days of April 2023, with the desire to answer readers' questions, VTC News electronic newspaper reporters returned to Thach Thanh district to learn about the current life of the family that locals call "ghost soldiers".
Main alley to Mrs. Thanh's house. (Photo taken in 2017).
Over time, from a poor mountainous district, Thach Thanh has changed dramatically, most of the roads and alleys have been paved with asphalt and concrete... Thanh Van commune - the residence of Mr. and Mrs. Nguyen Thi Thanh - Mai Hong Thai, is now also merged into Van Du town.
After 3 hours of traveling by bus, we arrived at the headquarters of Van Du Town People's Committee. We were received by Mr. Le Van Dung - Vice Chairman of Van Du Town People's Committee (former Chairman of Thanh Van Commune People's Committee).
Mr. Dung was one of the active members in the campaign to encourage Mrs. Thanh and Mr. Thai's family to reintegrate into the community, but failed. " Their family's life has changed a lot now, Mrs. Thanh and Mr. Thai are both dead, " Mr. Le Van Dung said sadly.
Mr. Dung sipped his tea and said that after the time when public opinion was stirred up by the articles about the “ghost” family, Mrs. Thanh and her husband and children still lived in complete isolation from the outside world. Only Mr. Thai, once a month, rode his bicycle to Nga Thach commune (Nga Son) to collect his and his wife’s pension, while Mrs. Thanh and her three children hardly left the house.
Mr. Dung said that the family's life of seclusion, far from the "earthly world", seemed to have ended when in 2022, Ms. Thanh suddenly passed away. " Ms. Thanh passed away, and her relatives brought her back to her hometown in Nga Son for burial. After that, her relatives also excavated the mysterious garden and dug up dozens of tons of iron and steel ."
The entire garden was cleaned up, all the steel was transported back to the countryside. Mr. Thai and his two children, Mai Thi Thanh and Mai Van Toan, also left the garden to return to their hometown of Nga Son. Many people hoped that from this point on, the remaining members of Mrs. Thanh's family would return to normal life.
Mrs. Thanh's house in 2017.
According to Mr. Dung, when they first returned to their hometown, Thanh and Toan lived like normal people. People even thought about finding jobs for them to work as factory workers. However, the glimmer of hope was extinguished. After a short time in their hometown, the two sisters started to miss their "strange house" and quietly returned.
“ After returning to his hometown, Mr. Thai became seriously ill and was also brought back to Thach Thanh by Toan and his sisters. At the end of 2022, Mr. Thai passed away and was also brought back to his hometown for burial by his relatives, ” said Mr. Dung.
After both Mrs. Thanh and Mr. Thai passed away, many people were worried about Thanh and Toan because even though their parents chose an eccentric lifestyle, their grandparents were still the support for the two sisters. "We also advised the two to return to Nga Son, have a house, and live with relatives, but they refused and continued to live on that land," said Mr. Dung.
Mr. Dung said that on the old land, in addition to rebuilding the house, Thanh and Toan planted corn, peanuts and raised chickens. Their attitude was not as extreme or strange as before, but they naturally refused to accept help from others.
“ Let me take you to see for yourself what life is like for the two sisters now .” Faced with our concern, Mr. Dung added: “ Don’t worry, things are different now, as long as you don’t introduce reporters or journalists, that’s fine .”
Following Mr. Dung, I couldn't help but shiver when I remembered Ms. Mai Thi Thanh's shout: " Stop! " during our first encounter, nearly 6 years ago, in front of that mysterious house.
Journey to approach a family living in "delusion" in Thanh Hoa. (Video recorded in 2017).
Starting in 2017, the strange life of Mrs. Nguyen Thi Thanh's family (in Thanh Van commune, Thach Thanh, Thanh Hoa) suddenly received special attention from the public after rumors tinged with supernatural elements.
Mrs. Thanh’s family is called a strange family because she, her husband, Mr. Mai Hong Thai, and their three children live a life that is almost completely cut off from the local community. They have turned their house and the land they live on into a wild, mysterious oasis. Family members are almost never allowed to leave, but outsiders are also absolutely forbidden to enter.
The reclusive, lonely life of Mrs. Thanh's family lasted for decades. During those decades, many mysterious rumors made the lives of Mrs. Thanh's family members tinged with ghostly colors.
In Thanh Van commune, Ms. Nguyen Thi Dung - Secretary of the Thanh Van Forest Protection Station Party Cell and her husband Mr. Pham Van Ho - Director of Thach Thanh Protective Forest Management Board, were people who were very close to Ms. Thanh's family.
Mrs. Dung's house is a few hundred meters away from Mrs. Thanh's house. Talking about Mrs. Thanh's family, like many others, Mrs. Dung said that she also could not explain the strange things that happened to her neighbor's family.
According to Mrs. Dung, Mrs. Thanh used to be one of the outstanding members of the forestry farm, having won the title of Emulation Fighter. Quick, resourceful, and good at business, Mrs. Thanh's family was among the wealthiest in the area. Her children were known for being good students and well-behaved.
The unbelievable strange thing happened to Mrs. Thanh's family in 2001. Mrs. Dung clearly remembers that day, while she was at home, Mrs. Thanh came to visit. Sitting in the middle of the house, Mrs. Thanh spoke in a serious voice, as if announcing an important matter: " Aunt Dung! I have to do the Holy work. I will make an appointment with you in 2010, when I complete the Holy work, I will let you be the first person to meet. Uncle and aunt, just try to help the poor and you will be blessed." After announcing, Mrs. Thanh stood up and hurriedly left.
Seeing her appearance and tone of voice, Mrs. Dung simply thought that Mrs. Thanh wanted to learn to be a shaman. Then Mrs. Thanh called to sell her herd of buffaloes and cows for a total of 13 million VND. With the large sum of money, Mrs. Thanh went around the commune to buy tens of thousands of bowls and thousands of plowshares.
Mrs. Dung saw Mrs. Thanh’s family using bicycles to carry large boxes of bowls and piles of plowshares home. “ In the area, Ms. Thanh bought all the bowls and plowshares. It took several car trips ,” Mrs. Dung recalled.
At this time, Mrs. Dung was surprised, thinking that Mrs. Thanh sold her buffaloes and cows to switch to selling bowls and plowshares. But the population here was not dense, so how could those two items be sold in such large quantities? Mrs. Dung expressed her feelings when she saw the strange thing, but Mrs. Thanh still answered in a "high and mighty" tone: " I am doing "holy work", don't ask too many questions. Telling you, I will reveal the secret of heaven ."
According to Mrs. Dung, Mrs. Thanh buried the bowl in the garden, and part of the plow blade was buried, and part was tied to a straight tree trunk and stood upright like a flagpole in front of the house.
Seeing this strange act, Mrs. Dung tried every way to advise her but to no avail. Finally, Mrs. Dung had to inform all the agents and grocery stores in the area that no one was allowed to sell bowls and plowshares to Mrs. Thanh anymore.
Unable to buy bowls and plow blades, Mrs. Thanh switched to buying broken tires and a lot of iron bars. After buying the tires, Mrs. Thanh, her husband and children burned them, took the steel wires inside the tires and rolled them into rolls like giant rolls of thread. The steel bars, mainly the 6 mm type, were strung tightly around the garden.
Seeing the strange acts, people in the village and commune flocked to see them. However, Ms. Thanh's family members chased them away and fenced off the garden and gate. Commune and forestry officials came to investigate and try to stop them, but they were chased away.
Not only that, Mrs. Thanh also dismantled the big house to get materials to build many strangely shaped huts in the garden. Some huts were only waist-high, flat, and the only way to get in was to crawl.
Having cut off all ties with their neighbors, Mrs. Thanh's family has also cut off all products of the civilized world. Her family no longer uses electricity or clean water. Everything from food to clothing is mostly self-sufficient. Many people in the neighborhood say that Mrs. Thanh wants to drag her whole family back to the Stone Age and call it a "dumb" family.
The strange actions of Mrs. Thanh made many people confused. And, this also made many people not dare to go near Mrs. Thanh’s house. People were afraid of the “mysterious power” of the woman and her family hiding in that “ghost garden”.
Many people in Thanh Van commune told us about this fear. Accordingly, many people are afraid that if they come near Mrs. Thanh’s house, they will be “tamed” by her and then have to obey her orders just like her husband and children.
Ms. Dung said that when Ms. Thanh first started acting up, Mr. Thai ran around asking his relatives to persuade his wife. However, after a while, he was completely controlled by his wife. Not only did he not object, Mr. Thai also actively helped his wife do things that were unlike anyone else.
Ms. Thanh's three children, Mai Thi Thanh (born in 1980) is in 11th grade, the second son Mai Van Tam (born in 1982) is in 8th grade, the youngest son Mai Van Toan (born in 1985) is in 6th grade. They are all good students and good at studying. However, after a while, all three children dropped out of school to join their mother in doing strange and confusing jobs.
Ms. Dung said that, helpless with the strange actions of Ms. Thanh's family, Ms. Dung invited relatives of Ms. Thanh's family in Nga Son district to come up and find a solution. That time, Mr. Thai's father and Ms. Thanh's younger brother went all the way up.
At that time, everyone agreed that the next morning they would take Mrs. Thanh's family back to their hometown, hoping to escape the "mysterious house" with the hope that all members would return to normal life.
However, the next morning, when there was no movement at Mrs. Thanh’s house, Mrs. Dung and her husband rushed over to investigate. “ When we arrived, we were shocked to see Mr. Thai’s father and Mrs. Thanh’s younger brother helping her with strange things. Mr. Thai’s father said, “I think my son is doing very well here, he doesn’t have to go back to his hometown anymore, ” Mrs. Dung recalled.
“ But the strangest thing was that the second child died, but they didn’t know. The neighbors didn’t see Tam anywhere, and when they asked, they said he was sleeping. It wasn’t until a foul smell came from the house that they realized he had died. Yet every day, the four of them still slept in the same bed, hugging each other, ” Mrs. Dung shuddered.
After discovering the body, the neighbors tried to persuade relatives to visit the family, but the family refused. They said they could not disturb them because their child was sleeping. When the authorities arrived, they had buried the child's body right behind the wall of the house.
(To be continued)
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