Bertha Haines was seven years old when her brother went missing.
Her adoptive mother went mad and thought she was a jinx, so she wanted to find a family to give her away.
When her grandfather found out, he flew into a rage and separated from her adoptive parents, living apart and cooking separately.
At a young age, Bertha followed her grandfather to the riverbank to collect scraps. While working, she inevitably saw corpses being pulled ashore. At night, she was too scared to sleep alone, so she would follow her grandfather wherever he went.
Her grandfather told her that the dead were not actually scary. When you bring them ashore and bury them, you're doing a good deed, and a greatly virtuous one at that. They will respect you and not harm you.
As time passed, she became unafraid.
Sometimes she would even lend a hand to her grandfather, helping them carry bodies for cremation and then bury them on the mountain.
