However, Wu remained haunted by the deaths of her rivals, and reported many nightmares and hauntings, in which she was convinced she was beset by bleeding apparitions in tattered, stained court gowns, their ankle-length hair matted and filthy through neglect. Wu was troubled enough by her guilt to order the banishment of all cats from the palace. Within a few months, she had decided that Chang'an itself was a bad location and persuaded her imperial husband to relocate the entire court 200 miles east.
