Case No. SF211
Mirror Ghost in China Town

The Brief

On 5 October 1995, officers of the SFPD made forced entry to a small emporium in China Town. The shop had been closed for twenty years, although it was found to be filled with antiquities reported stolen from museums and private collections between 1975 and 1985. There had been no activity in the shop for the last ten years.

The cold case was quickly passed to the west coast evidence response team. The following is their understanding of what transpired, along with the findings of the mid-west team who also looked into this case in December 2000.

The Facts

Long ago, perhaps more than two-thousand years ago, a Chinese courtesan called Plum Blossom run afoul of the taoshih, Mao Sei Ben. Mao Sei Ben imprisoned her spirit in a silver-backed mirror of lacquered bamboo. Plum Blossom vowed vengeance on her tormentor but she was bound to the mirror. As a mirror ghost she can appear in any mirror as long as her own remains uncovered, but is trapped unless her mirror is broken.

In 1976 Wilson Lee, proprietor of an emporium in San Francisco's China Town died. The shop was left to Lee's only son, Henry. However, Henry lived in Baltimore and had little desire to work in the shop. The shop was closed and left to fester. On the items in the shop was the mirror containing Plum Blossom.

For ten years, Plum Blossom flitted from mirror to mirror stealing trinkets that she liked the look of and filled the shop with them. Among these trinkets was the jade pendant of talent coincidentally created by Mao Sei Ben. It was this pendant that put the west coast agents on the trail of the geomancer (see case 0008-GCF). After ten years so much grime had built up on Plum Blossom's mirror that she became trapped within it.

The west coast team discovered the presence of Plum Blossom when they inadvertantly released her. She was recaptured and trapped in the mirror that was then buried in the grounds of the west coast headquarters.

Following the west coast team's investigation into Mao Sei Ben the team realised that Plum Blossom might be the only force who could stop the geomancer, if they took the risk of releasing her. However, Mao Sei Ben knew they had the mirror and came after them. The mirror was moved to an abandoned warehouse ten miles outside Los Angeles. The west coast team lured Mao Sei Ben there but before they could use the mirror, he killed them. The mirror remained undiscovered.

The mid-west team hit upon the same plan to stop Mao Sei Ben, however they learned from their predecessors' mistakes and used Plum Blossom to kill the geomancer. In so doing she possessed Jane Munroe and almost killed agents Wainwright and Burchill before agent McKraken convinced her that Munroe was a kindred spirit, hunting for her own vengeance against Apache Joe.

The spirit of Plum Blossom was ripped from Jane Munroe as she entered the protective field around the west coast team's headquarters. Plum Blossom remains at large. It is likely she is now a full blown vengeance spirit and a danger to the public. This case remains open, and will be pursued by the new West Coast Team.

Unanswered Questions

• How did the mirror get into the Chinese Emporium in the first place?
• Where is Plum Blossom? Now that Mao Sei Ben is dead, what are her plans and her goals?

Related Cases

• 0008-GCF: Golden Jade Triad.