Lü Yancun's daughter-in-law, Sun Minglian, told a reporter that not far from the incident location was Xingshan Mountain. The villagers suspected that the "wolf" might have come from there. Photographed by our reporter, Zhao Xingchao.
Text and photos by our reporters Lu Ranran and Zhao Xingchao.
In Lüjiacun Village of Jiangji Town, Ningyang County, Taian City, the passing of an old man disrupted the tranquility of the village. On the night of October 21, Lü Yancun, a 68-year-old man from Lüjiacun, and his wife Dong Yelan were bitten by an unidentified animal while guarding their ginger field. On November 27, Lü Yancun suddenly passed away. Both his wife and the villagers suspected the unidentified animal to be a wolf, leading to the rumor of "the wolf is coming" spreading throughout the village. As a result, the villagers dared not go out at night, and children no longer played on the streets after school. Located near Xingshan Mountain, does Lüjiacun really have wolves? On December 7, the reporter conducted an investigation into this matter.
The elderly man was bitten while guarding the ginger field at night and passed away one month later.
Dong Yelan, Lü Yancun’s wife, said that in October, the family's more than one acre of ginger was nearing maturity. To prevent theft, the couple decided to guard it at night. On October 21, they took bedding to a temporary straw hut in the ginger field to sleep for convenience in guarding it. “At 9 PM, I heard a sound like a broken motorcycle starting. I told my husband that it might be someone riding a motorcycle to steal the ginger, but he said I was overthinking it and urged me to rest.” The strange sound continued for about 20 minutes before gradually disappearing, and the two fell asleep.
Around 10 PM, while sleeping, Dong Yelan suddenly felt a heavy object pressing on her quilt. Then she heard her husband shouting. “I was still half-asleep, so I turned on the flashlight and shone it toward my husband beside the pillow. A creature about half a meter long and 30 centimeters high was biting his face. In our struggle and pushing, the unidentified animal abandoned its attack and fled southward out of the straw hut.” Dong Yelan then helped the blood-covered Lü Yancun back to the village.
Subsequently, the family immediately took Lü Yancun to the village clinic. After examination by the doctor, it was found that his face and throat had been bitten and scratched to varying degrees. Afterwards, Lü Yancun received intravenous fluids for eight days, and his body gradually recovered.
“My husband has always been in good health; he rarely catches a cold. We thought that after receiving the injections, everything would be fine, and he could soon return to work in the fields,” said Dong Yelan. However, just one month and three days after being bitten, Lü Yancun suddenly exhibited symptoms of a swollen head and hydrophobia. His family rushed him to the hospital. After diagnosis by several hospitals, it was suspected that he had contracted rabies, with no available treatment. On November 27, Lü Yancun returned home to recuperate but fell ill and passed away less than two hours after arriving home.
The rumor of "the wolf is coming" spread through the village, and villagers dared not go out after dark.
Since the death of the elderly man Lü Yancun, rumors of wolves attacking people have spread in Lüjiacun. Some say that wolves have been sighted near Lüjiacun, while others claim to have seen a wolf themselves. However, Dong Yelan herself is uncertain whether it was a wolf that attacked them.
“The event happened too suddenly, and I was scared. I only saw that the animal had a very large and long tail, with fur mixed in black and yellow. Dogs probably wouldn’t have that much courage; if you scare them, they run away. But that animal kept tearing at us for a while before running away, showing no fear of humans. We suspect that the animal came from the mountains to the south, possibly a wolf,” said Dong Yelan.
Since Lü Yancun was bitten, the villagers have been worried whether there are really wolves and if they will cause trouble again. The farmland of the village is located to the south, and not far beyond that is Xingshan Mountain, covered with dense forests. Now, villagers going to work in the fields always travel in groups and try to get as much done during the day as possible. Villager Yang Xiulan said: “Previously, when watering crops in the fields, we would often stay until past midnight, refusing to go home until the job was finished. Now, everyone goes home before it gets dark, regardless of how important the farming task is. Everyone is afraid since the tragedy of someone being bitten to death happened right here.”
Less than 500 meters from where Lü Yancun was bitten lies Lüzhuang Primary School in Jiangji Town. Wang Lanying's four-year-old grandson attends this school. “Every noon and evening after school, I wait early at the gate and then take the child home, not letting him wander around the village,” she said.