Villagers scared witness by hundreds of fish hung in darkness
Villagers scared witness by hundreds of fish hung in darkness
2025-09-22
A villager in Changhua had a fitting experience marking the end of Ghost Month on Sunday night, when they saw what appears to be hundreds of owls glaring at them in the darkness. It turns out the “owls” were milkfish cut open in half and hung up to air-dry overnight, a method of preserving fish known as “ichiya-boshi.” The fish were being prepared at the village chief’s yard, which he had recently introduced to local fish farmers. To be fair, they do resemble owls from a distance. Take a look for yourself.
Milkfish numbered in the hundreds are cut open in half and hung up to dry. The sight is nothing to write home about during the day, but a scooter driver was scared witless when they saw the dead fishes’ eyes staring back at them while they were on the way to the village chief’s at night.
Huang Yao-hui
Fubao Village chief
They were like, “Oh my goodness! Why are there so many owls?” They kept yelling, “Help! Help! Owls!” I was like, “Stop acting like a crazy person, ok?” But they were convinced that what they saw were owls. To be honest, it did also look like owls to me at a glance.
The village chief admits that the hung fish do look like owls in the darkness, and says that he can see why his visitor got frightened.
Huang Yao-hui
Fubao Village chief
The eyes do glow when headlights shine against them. That’s why they thought I had many owls at my place.
The villager breathed a sigh of relief when they found out what scared them weren’t owls, but fish left to hang dry overnight.
This method of preserving fish is “ichya-boshi,” meaning “dried overnight” in Japanese. The fish is cut open and gutted, then soaked in a 10:1 briny water and left to air-dry overnight. This results in chewier flesh and a saltier flavor. Fish commonly used for ichya-boshi include the fourfinger threadfin, the large yellow croaker and the Okhotsk Atka mackerel. Fubao villagers started making milkfish ichiya-boshi to preserve their farmed milkfish.
Chiang Yan-deng
Fuxing Township head
It smells and tastes just like freshly caught fish, and it tastes even better with a dash of lemon juice.
Fubao Village, located in Changhua’s Fuxing Township is also commonly referred to as the dairy cow village for being the largest daily producer in Taiwan. Milkfish is also farmed in the village. The village chief had fish farmers learn how to make ichiya-boshi to prevent losses due to milkfish freezing to death over the winter. The village chief’s visitor was probably not yet aware of the practice, so they thought they saw hundreds of glaring owls. To their relief, it turned out to be dried milkfish instead.
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#鬼月 #scary #fish #yummy #一夜干 #虱目魚
夜色中 上百隻眼睛閃亮亮!? 村民嚇得大喊救命
2025-09-22
猛看，真的會被嚇到！彰化縣福興鄉福寶村，有村民晚上騎機車來找村長，在前面厝埕，看到有好幾排眼睛盯著他看，嚇得大喊救命，怎麼那麼多貓頭鷹？！村長急忙解釋，這是虱目魚一夜干啦，想說魚跟貓頭鷹差那麼多，還以為村民開玩笑，結果自己在夜色中遠遠看了也覺得，虱目魚眼睛閃閃發亮，還真的有像貓頭鷹！
上百條虱目魚剖半吊起來風乾，白天看不覺得有什麼，但是晚上看過去就真的會嚇到人。就有村民晚上騎車來找村長，還沒見著村長，先見到厝埕有上百雙的眼睛，瞪大眼直盯著他看，嚇得他直喊救命。
[[福寶村長 黃耀輝]]
“突然進來看到，哇，怎麼那麼多貓頭鷹在那裡，一直喊救命，怎麼那麼多貓頭鷹來，我說你不要裝瘋子好嗎，他說哎呀是貓頭鷹耶，我乍看之下也是很像貓頭鷹”
朦朧夜色中，村長一眼望過去，乍看也覺得頗像貓頭鷹，難怪會嚇到村民。
[[福寶村長 黃耀輝]]
“(機車)燈光照牠的眼睛會稍微發光，他就誤認說，怎麼會有這麼多貓頭鷹，來到村長家”
村民後來知道，嚇到他的眼睛，其實是餐桌上的美食，這才鬆一口氣。
一夜干是源自日本的魚貨保存方法，將魚剖開洗乾淨，浸泡在接近鹽水，經過一夜冷風風乾，魚肉變緊實，口感吃起來扎實帶有海味，常見的一夜干有午仔魚、黃魚、花魚，而福寶村因為養殖虱目魚，村民用虱目魚來製作一夜干。
[[福興鄉長 蔣煙燈]]
“這跟現殺的都一樣，氣味都一樣，尤其又加一些檸檬口味相當好”
彰化縣福興鄉福寶村，又叫乳牛村，除了養牛也養虱目魚，因為寒流來虱目魚會凍昏，村長才會請老師教村民製作一夜干，沒料到竟會譜成意外插曲。下次看到，停個幾秒鐘，會轉頭的肯定是貓頭鷹，不會動的，就是虱目魚乾啦。
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