The true Hmong Myth behind "Zaj hav dej"

[Ph D wanna Be]

Morninglory,

that was prostitute looking for money, man. Thhey should have some kinkysex with her rather than running awawy.

I can see sting operation from a mile away. LOL
good thing they ran away, If they had stay longer they'll be on the front news paper. lol Sting operation at lost lake.

[morninglory]

like to try with gost once..haaaaaaa aaaa

Txhob hais hais os...ib ntsis los tiag tiag os. 

[Roc]

Lost lake is cold because the water comes from the bottom of Friant Dam, it's basically the water at the bottom of Millerton Lake. Like said, the water is always very cold, even in tripe digit heat. A lot of people go into shock when they enter the water and then drown. Hmong ppl aren't the only ones who say that Lost Lake is haunted, a bunch of meeka know too. That's the weird thing, I wanna find out why everyone seems to know that something weird is going on there. Not just hmong and meeka, chinese, korean, mexican etc... it's really weird.

[Roc]

Oh and lost lake isn't a lake, it's a stream haha

[Roc]

Here's some stories of Lost Lake I found on the net:

One witness and their sister in-law were fishing late one evening alone at one of the day beach areas. The witness reported that as they were shining their flashlight on an island across the water, they saw a dark figure moving in the brush. At first they figured it was a coyote or something, but then realized it was too big to be an animal. Just as they were about to turn off their flashlight, the light hit the figure. It appeared to be a young Asian boy, perhaps four feet tall, pale, and only wearing swim trunks. Right as the flashlight was turned off, the person heard a large splash like something heavy was thrown into the water. The witness claims it couldn't have been a fish as whatever it was made a loud splash. They then turned the flashlight back on and searched the area for the little boy, but found nothing. Spooked by this incident, both parties left in a hurry and have never gone back.

The second incident comes from the same two people mentioned before, but this time at a different location in the park. Once again they were fishing late one night, this time off of the broken bridge. Both were talking as their poles were in the water when they looked down towards the water and noticed a large figure in the water swimming to shore. When it reached land, it beached itself and stayed motionless for several minutes. What happened next terrified the two witnesses. Whatever it was, it then stood up on two legs and began to walk around as if it was searching for something. They estimated it was about five feet tall, but couldn't really make out any features as it was so dark. The creature then crouched down on all fours, layed on it's belly and then slithered back into the water and disappeared. Both witnesses were terrified and needless to say, got the hell out of there.

So here we have two seperate types of incidents at the same (generally) location and by the same witnesses. Two possibilities here. One is that whoever told the story is fabricating it, but given the ghost sighting and the stories I've heard about Lost Lake I'm not sure. There's been stories of a young hmong boy hanging himself from one of the trees there as well as several other suicides. Could the ghost they saw have been the same little boy that hung himself?

[Jubi]

Do you mean spirits that lives in the sea?

It's kind of scary when one thinks about it. I've never encountered anything frightening like that when I use to live there and when we use to go fishing at Lost Lake. I only have fond memories of it. Because so many deaths and drownings have happened at Lost Lake, Hmong believe that there might be a "xyw" that lives in the lake, nws pheej tsis txawm mus thawj thiab, so the "xyw" will remain in the lake until another unfortunate soul drowns to replace his. Kind of like a soul replacement, it repeats.

[rambo]

Oh and lost lake isn't a lake, it's a stream haha

Manzanita is not a lake .. its a river/stream like body water n still its called a "lake"

[saki saki]

Did you people hear about that Hmong dude that drown in the Mississippi River in MN? If some one knows it better then me.. please correct me.

I kinda of heard a story about how he drowned.. It went like this. The dude went to the river and was crying for a couple of days. and that's when he went. So the families did that thing that Hmong people do to look for answers. What they found was that. When the dude was crying by the river for a couple of days.. The Zaj came and took his spirit.. Now I don't know if he jumped off a bridge or drowned by the shore... Anyways the Zaj told the Dude who was looking into the reason. The Zaj told him that in 3 days they will release his body and that the families can go find his body at this location. The Meekas people was also looking for the body for a while now. So the Zaj told the families to go to this place.. And so the mom and the sis went there and his body started to float up to the surface. Now that's freaky.

[Boost]

that saliva is poison

Its not poison...    Bacteria.

[sexymomma]

not sure if i believe in zaj. I want to and kinda do. there this one story that happened in thailand too. there was rumor that some villagers had caught a zaj, who can transformed himself into anything, but, after the zaj accidently got shock by the electricity near the lake, he then loss his power. therefore people was able to catch him. Heard he was sent to china for show. dunno if true.  they sa y the zaj is still alive. uh, poor zaj.