Sandalwood is an evergreen tree that grows in the tropics, with hard wood and a strong aroma. Since ancient times, many peoples in the world have used it as an ornament for tombs, religions, sacrifices and other activities. Therefore, sandalwood has gradually been endowed with a mysterious color. In October 2007, in Spain, a series of bizarre homicides revolved around a tomb of an indigenous tribe in South America called “Sandalwood Talisman”…
●Looking for the mysterious Sandalwood Talisman ●
Professor Heck is a Belgian anthropologists have been studying the ancient and mysterious “sandalwood culture” in some parts of the world since the 1970s.
In May 2007, Professor Heck led a research team to visit Guyana, a small country in South America. In addition to Professor Heck, there were five members of the team, namely his nephew and assistant Kleiman, two students, an accompanying archaeologist and a translator.
In a forest tribe far from modern civilization, they stumbled across a burial mound washed away by a flood. The skeletons in the tomb showed a terrifying struggle. In addition to a few simple stone decorations, there is a funerary object called “Sanxiang Fu” in the tomb. This “sandalwood talisman” is about half a foot square, and it is engraved with a ferocious head of a god, and there are some hollow patterns and patterns on the edge. According to the accompanying local guide, the head was a deity with magical powers to exorcise disease in tribal legends. From this, it can also be judged that a person who died of a sudden illness was buried in the tomb.
Archaeologists judged from the tomb washed away by the flood that the deceased should be the daughter of a tribal chief hundreds of years ago. At the same time, he concluded that the deceased was buried alive by observing the pattern on the “sandalwood talisman” and the painful gesture of the remains.
In order to facilitate further research, Professor Heck decided to take away the remains and the “sandalwood charm” in the tomb. But this move was immediately dissuaded by the guide. He said: There is a local saying that after the soul of the deceased is buried in the ground, it is deeply attached to the “sandalwood amulet” and cannot be easily disturbed, otherwise, it will lead to revenge of the dead.
Naturally, Professor Heck would not believe in such a myth. Besides, this discovery is enough to fill an important research gap, how can he easily give up? The guide couldn’t resist Professor Heck’s insistence, so he invited a mage from a nearby tribe to “transcend” the deceased, hoping to alleviate everyone’s “sins”. After the ceremony, the old mage told Professor Heck: “We have a very old ‘sandalwood talisman’ song here, and two of the lyrics are ‘the souls of the dead go with the talisman, and the fragrance will rise to paradise’. Since you insist on taking it away ‘Sandalwood talisman’, then I hope you remember that if this ‘sandalwood talisman’ brings you any misfortune and ominousness in the future, there is only one way to resolve it, that is to remove the smell of sandalwood.”
Professor Heck He didn’t believe this statement at all, but he still carefully recorded the words in his notebook. Because these ballads and sayings can provide the most vivid data for their own research.
●Vengeful sandalwood charm ●
In mid-December 2007, Professor Heck’s team arrived in the Spanish port city of Malaga. They rented a small passenger car with air conditioning and transported the skeletons from the tomb to the research laboratory in Madrid in advance. For the sake of safety, the “Sandalwood Talisman” is carried by him. However, something unexpected happened: the night the truck carrying the bones departed, the young translator died suddenly in his hotel room. His death was very terrifying, his face was blue, his mouth was wide open, and his face showed a terrifying look.
No trace of violence was found at the scene, but the deceased showed a stance of struggle. The autopsy showed that the cause of death was due to excessive convulsions and tachycardia, but nothing exciting happened that night, and the deceased had been alone in his room. Confused, the police told Professor Heck that the smell of sandalwood had been detected in the air of the deceased’s room.
impossible! Professor Heck’s first reaction was these three words. Because the previous afternoon, he personally urged the two students to lock the “Sandalwood Charm” into a special small metal box, and then stored it in the hotel’s storage room. The only key to the box has been pinned to his waist. Professor Heck took the police to the storage room, and the scene inside shocked everyone: the small metal box was open for some reason, and the “Sandalwood Talisman” was erected upright on the top of the container, and the room exuded a faint aroma. Under the dim light, the face of the god of exorcism seemed to be looking down at all living beings with a slight sneer, making people shudder with palpitations.
The death of the translator cast a shadow on the hearts of the members of the research team. Although everyone did not say it clearly, they invariably thought of the legend about the “Sandalwood Talisman” – the revenge of the disturbed undead.
After two days of panic, the archaeologist in the group broke the silence, and he raised his opinion doubtfully: “Even if the legend is true, the dead should not be a translator. Because of the whole group, he is the only one who has contact with ‘Tan The number of incense talismans is the least.”
This remark inspired others, and archaeologists believe that with years of experience: some terrible epidemics sometimes broke out in ancient primitive tribes. In the case of backward medical care, in order to avoid large-scale infection, people The sick are forcibly buried or burned. The deceased in the tomb discovered this time may have been buried under similar circumstances, so it is not surprising that there is a “sandalwood talisman” in the burial. From a scientific point of view, are there unknown viruses lurking in bones and “sandalwood”? In order to unravel the mystery as soon as possible, archaeologists plan to rush to Madrid in advance to examine the skeletons sent with advanced instruments.
Unexpectedly, a few hours later, the archaeologist who was preparing to leave for the next day also died violently in the guest room in the middle of the night. The scene and the cause of death were exactly the same as the translation. The “Sandalwood Talisman” locked in the box ran out as if it had grown legs, but this time it stood upright under the bedside lamp in the archaeologist’s room.
Two consecutive murders within a week have attracted the attention of the police, but they have been unable to trace any leads. The news spread, and Malaga was divided for a while. In particular, cases involving ancient tombs that are rarely known have become more and more mysterious and unpredictable. In the end, the police had to keep the “sandalwood amulet” intact, and sent a special car to send Professor Heck and others to Madrid with their belongings.
As soon as Professor Heck arrived in Madrid, he invited several medical scientists to examine the remains in the tomb. The cause of the deceased was found to be a type of typhoid fever common in tropical rainforest areas. Although the disease is contagious at the time of the outbreak, the pathogenic bacteria will also die with the demise of the body of the sick person, and will not lurk in the bones.
Since there is no pathogenic infection, Professor Heck and others felt relieved. So I safely took out the sealed “sandalwood charm” and started sampling research.
However, just after 10 days of calm, the same situation reappeared – in January 2008, two of Professor Heck’s students unexpectedly died in the laboratory. The “sandalwood talisman” that was used for research was erected on the experimental platform, and the god of exorcism stared at the front with round eyes.
A series of death cases made Professor Heck, who has always been calm, terrified. He remembered the popular French film “The Phantom of the Louvre” in 2003, which tells the story of a mummy undead disturbed by posterity attached to a beautiful modern woman. Created scenes of inescapable terror. Is there really a so-called undead possession in reality? Or is it really the undead attached to the “Sandalwood Talisman” who came to take revenge? If true, who is next?
●Solve the mystery of sandalwood charm ●
According to the past experience in detecting cultural relics cases, the police began to consider the factors of economic interests. After investigation, the police found that Professor Heck did not have much fortune in Belgium, and that the “sandalwood” culture he had been passionate about for many years was an obscure study. Although this “sandalwood charm” has some value, it is different from the usual cultural relics after all. It is more of a research value, and basically does not have the meaning of collection or appreciation.
Just when everything was lost, the forensic doctor in Malaga provided Madrid with a detailed autopsy report. The report pointed out that although the interpreter and the archaeologist had the same death performance, the smell of sandalwood that remained in the body of the deceased and in the air of the room was different. The smell of the former is relatively fresh, which should be formed by the burning of fresh wood; the smell of the latter is stale, and there is no burnt smell after burning.
At the same time, a cleaner in a hotel in Malaga also recalled a detail: on the evening of the translator’s death, Professor Heck’s nephew had ordered the cleaner to clean the small fireplace in the translator’s room, citing the cold weather on the ground floor. burn up.
So far, two related clues have brought a character who seems to be outside the case – Professor Heck’s nephew and assistant Kleiman into the police’s sight.
Kleiman, 36, studied archaeology and anthropology at universities in Brussels, Belgium and Madrid, Spain, and has been with his uncle since graduation. According to Professor Heck himself: In terms of knowledge, Kleiman’s aptitude is average, and he lacks intellectual academic creativity. But his professional skills are relatively solid, especially good at doing basic work. Therefore, being an assistant is quite competent for Kleiman.
Although Kleiman became an important suspect for the police, he could not find any motive for the crime. What’s more, he had sufficient alibi in several cases.
Just when the police were confused, the forensic doctor finally made a breakthrough discovery after comparing the internal substances of several victims: the forensic doctor concluded that the cause of death of several deceased in the “Sanxiangfu” case was inhaled a rare South American Curare. This curare only has anesthesia effect under normal conditions, but under the action of high temperature, it will produce strong psychedelic properties, making people see very terrifying pictures in the illusion, resulting in violent convulsions and heartbeats of muscles that the human body cannot bear Excessive speed, and the poisoned person will struggle in pain before dying, in a state similar to suffocation. In addition, this curare has another characteristic, that is, it can quickly evaporate from the dead body. If it is not carefully examined, no trace residues in the bone marrow can be found at all.
Almost all the spearheads point to Kleiman. As a result, the police immediately confronted Professor Heck, raising many doubts about Kleiman. Hearing this, the old man was stunned—their uncles and nephews had never had any conflicts or disputes. Kleiman was conscientious in his work and got along well with his colleagues. His personal life also belonged to the middle class in Europe. Can’t think of any reason for him to do such a thing.
And the police have never found evidence to prove that Kleiman possessed the curare. With inexplicable questions. Professor Heck had a private consultation with police.
One evening in February 2008, Kleiman went to his uncle’s office as usual, preparing to go home together. However, Professor Heck told him that he would work overtime at night to copy the pattern on the “Sandalwood Talisman”. Kleiman said inexplicably: “We don’t need to be in such a hurry.” Professor Heck shook his head, and said with lingering fears: “Now is an extraordinary period, and what happened before and after the ‘Sanxiang Talisman’ is too puzzling. If it is true If there is undead revenge, I am afraid that it will be your life and mine.”
Kleiman asked: “Do you have any good solutions?” Professor Heck nodded and said, “Do you remember the advice of the mage?” , Fragrance rises to paradise’, maybe by removing the scent of ‘sandalwood talismans’ in this way, the disaster can be resolved. I invited a few friends to come to the laboratory tomorrow and use chemicals to remove the smell of ‘sandalwood talismans’. At this moment, Kleiman’s face flashed a hint of panic, but he quickly echoed: “Your idea is very reasonable, but I’m worried that it will damage the ‘Sandalwood Talisman’.” Professor Heck replied Said: “Most of the data has been sorted out, and the rest of the pattern is copied. I will work overtime tonight to drive it out.”
Kleiman knew that his uncle was going to the restaurant on the street for dinner now, so he found a reason to stay. down. After watching his uncle’s retreating back from the window, he quickly returned to his office next door.
Soon, Kleiman came back to the lab with a small bag, now wearing rubber gloves on his hands. I saw him tiptoe to the experimental table, skillfully unscrew the 40-watt light bulb, and replace it with a 100-watt light bulb; then, he opened the metal box containing the “Sandalwood Charm” with the key provided in advance, and removed it from the bag. Take out a small glass bottle, dip the colorless liquid in the bottle with a soft brush, and then brush on the “Sandalwood Charm”. After that, several half-open windows in the room were closed tightly. When everything was done, he whistled softly and walked towards the gate. However, at this moment, the door of the laboratory was slammed open, and the police in ambush showed Kleiman his credentials.
The police found that kind of South American curare in Kleiman’s small bag, and he had to confess in the face of irrefutable evidence: it turned out that during the trip to South America, Kleiman learned while dealing with daily affairs that two European institutions decided to , invested 7 million euros in four years to fund the research project of “Sanxiang Fu”. This news aroused the greed in his heart-if all the people involved in the investigation died, he would not only have a huge funding of 7 million by himself, but also become a top figure in this field with a lot of first-hand information, which is fame and fortune The good thing about double income.
So Kleiman withheld news of the funding and, out of curiosity, asked an interpreter to help buy curare from the natives. After returning to Spain, he took the opportunity to copy the key to the metal box. Fearing that the translator would reveal his purchase of curare, he “experimentally” put a piece of ordinary sandalwood soaked in curare into the fireplace in the translator’s room… After the first successful murder, Kleiman witnessed In order to avoid the floating of people’s hearts caused by the confusion, he did not stop doing it again and again, and used the same method to apply the arrow poison on the “sandalwood charm”, so that the poison gas was emitted under the high temperature of the light bulb, which successively eliminated other Several people. But later because of the intervention of the police, he wanted to wait for the wind to calm down before getting rid of his uncle. Unexpectedly, Professor Heck “pre-empted” and asked someone to remove the scent of “Sandalwood Talisman”. And that kind of curare itself has a slight sour taste, which must be covered with the strong smell of sandalwood. Kleiman was afraid that things would be revealed, so he decided to commit the murder ahead of time. But who knows that the agency is exhausted and still falls into the legal net designed by the police and Professor Heck.
The mystery of the “Sandalwood Talisman” was finally revealed, but the only surviving Professor Heck was filled with emotion. In the preface to his forthcoming book, he wrote: “For several years of research, I have paid attention to the ‘evil’ of human beings in too many ancient civilizations, and I am always naively glad that everything has been buried in the loess. But this time , A void undead has inspired a living soul’s evil flower, which opens and withers arbitrarily. While we are awake, it is more worthy of discussion and study than the sandalwood talisman.
