Japan cow head story. Japanese urban legends. Kuchisake-onna or woman with a torn mouth
The lone clatter of heels on a deserted night street. A piercing wind ruffles his hair and crawls into his bosom. I turn up my collar and wrap my coat tighter. It seems that someone is looking at me. I look around, noticing a dark figure slowly wandering along the road. White dress, long dark hair, no face visible. It seems that this is just a traveler going about his business, but I know for sure that she is pursuing me. I quicken my pace. Here is my entrance, the desired floor, the door of the apartment. With trembling hands I try to insert the key into the keyhole - nothing happens. And then I hear footsteps behind me...Urban legends of Japan. Part II
- Yes, I heard a lot of scary stories,
read a lot of scary stories...
Sake Komatsu "Cow Head"
Urban legends are a very popular topic, both in Japan and around the world. People love to be afraid, that's why Europe loves Asian horrors so much. After all, who, if not they can scare us to tremors in the knees and stuttering. The slit-mouthed woman, Tek-Tek, Tomiko and other characters are now widely known abroad. Residents of the Land of the Rising Sun shared their horror stories with us.
The previous article looked at some of the urban legends about vengeance, cursed places, deformities, ghostly school dwellers, technological innovations, and puppets. Now we will tell about other terrible stories that have come to us from Japan.
Messages from beyond
One very popular story is about an old house that a couple moves into.
The area was beautiful - quiet, calm, close to a school and a supermarket. Yes, and the house was sold for cheap. Ideal for a young family. Friends came to help with the move, and the housewarming was celebrated at the same time. As it was already late, the friends stayed overnight. But at twelve o'clock everyone was awakened by the sound - "top-top-top". As if someone was running through the corridors with bare feet.
The next night, when the couple went to bed, they were awakened again. This time they heard a child's voice. The child was saying something, but it was impossible to make out the words.
The couple decided that someone was playing a joke on us, scaring and imitating a ghost. Deciding that there was someone in the house, the couple began to examine the dwelling. The search turned up nothing. House is like a house. Nobody here.
Having descended from the attic, where the newlyweds were looking for a joker, they saw a blue pencil. Of course, he did not belong to the spouses. At that moment, when they went upstairs, nothing was lying on the floor. And they didn't even have colored pencils.
Later, the couple noticed something strange about the layout of the house. Looking at the building from the street, there was another window next to the bedroom where the new tenants were staying. Therefore, there was another room nearby. But in this place there was no door in the corridor, only a plain wall. Having torn off the wallpaper, the couple nevertheless found another room.
The newlyweds cautiously opened the door. There was nothing in the room, just bare walls. At first it seemed that the wallpaper was dirty, but after looking closely, the couple saw that all the walls were covered in blue pencil. Two phrases went from top to bottom, dotting the entire space of the nursery:
"Dad Mom, I'm sorry, please get out of here.
get out of here get out of here get out of here get out of here
get out of here get out of here..."
Such stories are often played with various minor variations. Either they come to the house for the holidays, or a film is being shot there. In the manga and anime Triplexaholic, Yuuko comes to a lonely cottage with all the honest company. Wanting to play a prank on Watanuki, she incites the others, and they stage a scary story. At the end, even the ghost himself appeared, making inscriptions. But Kimihiro Watanuki revealed the plan, albeit quite frightened at the same time. Friends having a rest, they leave the house that sheltered them. They are escorted by a lonely ghost, who really lives in a walled-up room and writes messages on the walls in ink.
This story has been known since the Edo period. But only its name is mentioned, but not the plot. It was written and said about it like this: "Today I was told a terrible story about a cow's head, but I cannot write it down here, because it is too terrible."
The story was passed from mouth to mouth and so it has come down to our days. But we will not retell it in this article. She's too creepy. It's scary to even think about it. We'd rather tell what happened to the elementary school teacher who knew the story.
During a typical school trip, a teacher decided to entertain his students by telling scary stories. Children loved horror stories, so they listened carefully. The teacher, seeing that the students calmed down and stopped making noise, decided to tell the most terrible story that he knew - “Cow's Head”.
As soon as the teacher began to talk, the children were horrified. They shouted in unison, "Sensei, stop it!" Some turned pale, some covered their ears, some wept. But even then the teacher did not stop talking. He spoke and spoke. His voice sounded measured and monotonous, and his eyes looked into the void with an unseeing look. It was as if someone else was speaking the words of history. As if the teacher was obsessed with something...
The bus skidded to a halt, pulling over to the side of the road. The teacher came to his senses and looked around. The driver was covered in a cold sweat and was shaking like a leaf, and the students were unconscious. Since then, the teacher never even mentioned the story of the cow's head.
The author of the novel, Komatsu, admitted: "The first person to spread the word about the cow's head story among science fiction publishers was Tsutsui Yasutaka." Here it turns out who is the culprit of the birth of another horror story.
These are the urban legends, artificially created, but revived.
Water element
Here is one of them. Once a group of friends went to the sea, deciding to take a break from the stuffy city. They settled in an inexpensive hotel and immediately went to the beach. Employees of the hotel secretly told that yesterday one of the guests drowned - an elderly woman. Her body has still not been found. The kids were scared, but that didn't stop them. After all, they were at sea. Sun, good weather, great company. How can you think of terrible things in such an environment?!
By evening, when it got dark, and the whole company gathered in the lobby of the hotel to chat and drink soft drinks, they found that Koichi had not yet returned from the beach. They immediately raised the alarm, but they never found him.
The next morning, the police discovered the body, and friends were called in for identification. While medical experts worked, the body was left on the beach. Friends of the deceased identified him. No doubt it was their friend.
- And yet, it's hard to say, but .... - hesitated one of the policemen. “See for yourself,” and he removed the sheet from the corpse.
Everyone was numb. An old woman clung to the lower half of Koichi's body.
- This is the woman who drowned before your friend. Her nails are stuck too deep into the guy's body. She could only do this if she were alive...
Another horror story also tells about a group of students who decide to relax by the sea. They found a rock of suitable height and began to jump into the water from it. One of the friends, who is fond of photography, was standing down on the beach and taking pictures of the others.
One of the guys jumped, but never appeared on the surface. His friends called the police and started looking for him. A few hours later the body was found. The young man drowned.
A few days later, the student who had taken the photographs began to look at the prints. One of them showed his drowned friend. He laughed carelessly, and from the water, countless white hands reached out to him, wanting to take him into their arms ...
Borrowing from the West
Some plots, firmly planted in the minds of people, are repeated in various variations, adapted to a particular country. For example, a lot of Japanese horror stories have something in common with American stories. This is not surprising, the US is a very young country. It does not have a history of thousands of years, like China, Russia or Japan. America created its folklore on the basis of those already existing in other states.
So, a very popular horror story about an incident in a student hostel. This is how the story is told in Japan.
One day a student Asako came to visit her friend Sakimi. They talked late into the night about all sorts of trifles, drinking tea and eating sweets. Asako looked at her watch - the last train she could take home was about to leave. Halfway through the journey, the girl suddenly realized that she had forgotten her friend's assignments that had to be handed in by tomorrow.
When Asako returned to Sakimi's house, there was no light anywhere. But since tomorrow the good work was to correct the bad grade, the girl decided to wake her friend. But the door was not locked, and the girl entered the house without hindrance. Asako remembered leaving her worksheets on the nightstand by the door. She didn't turn on the light, groped for the papers, and quietly closed the door behind her.
The next day, Sakimi didn't come to school, didn't answer her phone, and after class Asako went to find out what happened to her friend. There were police cars, an ambulance, reporters and a crowd of onlookers outside the house. Asako pushed her way to the fence and told the police that she was a friend of the girl who lived in the house. The detectives let Asako into the house and reported that Sakimi had been killed during the night. They began to question the girl: when she left her friend, did she say that someone was following her ...
Finally, a shocked Asako was brought into the room. Next to the bloody bed was an inscription written in blood: "It's good that you didn't turn on the light."
The girl turned pale as a sheet. So when she returned for her homework, Sakimi was already dead and the killer was still in the room. If Asako had turned on the light, she would have been killed too...
Familiar story? That's what we said.
In Japan, scary stories related to stalkers are very popular. Such horror stories are ubiquitous, but they can be heard especially often in America. True, instead of a stalker, a maniac killer is operating there.
One woman was pursued by a stalker. He stood under the windows of her house, watching when she went to work or went on business. The police couldn't do anything with him. As soon as the guards of the law arrived, the persecutor hid. It was also impossible to catch him.
The woman was exhausted by constant stress. She could not sleep peacefully, could not work normally. But it soon got worse. The stalker found out the woman's phone number, and silent calls rained down on the unfortunate woman. The phone rang constantly, but if the woman still picked up the phone, in response she heard only hoarse breathing.
Unable to withstand such mockery, the woman asked the police to trace the call. The next time the stalker called, the police tried to figure out his number. To do this, the woman was asked to talk with the pursuer for as long as possible so that he would not hang up. But this time the criminal behaved differently than usual - he laughed. The woman could not stand it and still hung up. She received a call from the police on her cell phone.
- We're coming to you! Get outside immediately! The phone you just received a call from is in your house!
The laughter that the woman heard came from behind her, but no longer on the phone ...
Urban legends in Meiji Japan
cow blood chocolate . In the Meiji era, chocolate production was born. Although Japan, of course, got acquainted with the taste of chocolate much earlier - back in the 18th century. Dutch traders brought the exquisite sweetness to Nagasaki. In 1878, Fugetsudo made the first Japanese chocolate. The new taste became popular, but despite its success, the taste caused some doubts among the population. And when the rumor spread at the end of the century that chocolate was made from coagulated cow blood, sales of the sweetness fell. Now there is no such relation to chocolate. The Japanese love it very much and give chocolate made with their own hands on Valentine's Day and White Day.
Ghost trains. In 1872, the first trains began to run. A network of railways sprawled throughout Japan, linking all corners of the country into a single chain. They played an important role in the modernization of the Land of the Rising Sun, so a lot of people's attention was paid to the innovation.
In addition to ordinary trains, ghost trains could also be found at that time. Most often they were seen by machinists working late at night. The ghost train looked exactly like a normal train, even the sounds were the same. He suddenly appeared from the darkness, causing an emergency braking of a moving locomotive and a pre-infarction condition of the driver.
The reason for the appearance of ghost trains was considered to be the tricks of kitsune - a fox, tanuki - a raccoon dog and mujina - a badger. Animals changed shape and scared people.
According to an old Tokyo story, a ghost train often appeared on the Jōban line. One night, while driving through the Tokyo district of Katsushika, the engineer saw a ghost train flying towards him. The man guessed that it was just an illusion and did not slow down. The trains collided, and the real one passed through the ghost one.
The next morning, many mutilated badger bodies were found around the tracks where the collision occurred. They lay around, covering a huge space with carcasses. The locals suspected that the badgers had gotten together and changed shape into a menacing-looking train, in retaliation for being kicked out of their burrows. In the Kensho-ji temple in Kameari, a burial mound was made for badgers. The stone monument marking the place of the burial mound for badgers can still be seen by the curious in the temple today.
Power lines. In the Meiji era, not only railways, but also power lines became widespread. At that moment, many looked with suspicion at the new additions to the landscape that brought light into the houses. Various rumors spread.
Coal tar was used to insulate electrical wires. A legend has spread among the people that the greasy black substance covering the wires is made from the blood of innocent girls. In the midst of these rumors, many girls were afraid to leave the house. Enough brave and savvy girls, sometimes dressed like married ladies. They wore simple kimonos, blackened their teeth, and styled their hair in marumage-style hairstyles - a rounded knot at the top. Resourcefulness will lead out of any situation, even help to get around the urban legend.
Power lines scared not only young women, but everyone else. If the blood of innocent girls is needed for isolation, then the wires themselves could infect anyone with cholera. It was only necessary to pass under the wires hanging overhead. But it was possible to protect oneself from a terrible disease: if you hold an open fan over your head, then nothing bad will happen.
Star Saigo. In 1877, the Satsuma anti-government armed uprising took place. It ended in complete failure and the death of the leader Takamori Saigo. Immediately, a rumor spread that the fallen hero could be seen in the night sky.
It so happened that the Earth and Mars converged at a minimum distance, which is why Mars was especially large and bright. Not knowing that the red star was another planet, people mistook it for a star - an ominous prediction for Saigoµ's enemies. It was said that if one looked at the luminary through a telescope one could see Saigoµ himself in full combat attire. At that time, woodcuts depicting the so-called star Saigoµ were popular.
These are outdated horror stories that frightened people in a different time, completely different from ours. Many years will pass, and what once frightened us will seem funny to other generations. Stories live only thanks to the memory of the people, and the scientists who wrote them down.
scary scary stories
There are many more urban legends that are interesting to fans of horror stories, ethnographers, and philologists. For example, the story "Woman on All Fours" or "Spider Woman" tells of an encounter with a terrible woman who moves on all fours. Sometimes it's just an unusually creepy girl, and sometimes the story tells of a woman growing additional limbs at night, like a spider. Its bite is fatal to humans. But sometimes she can turn her victims into her own kind.
An exciting and terrible story happened to a young man tormented by the riddle of a red scarf. His childhood friend wore it without taking it off. Even when they grew up and went to high school, the scarf always remained tied around the girl's neck. Entering the institute did not change anything, and only when the young man married a fashionista did he find out why she always wore a red scarf. As soon as the young wife untied the jewelry, her head rolled to the floor. The scarf held her in place. They say the woman in red and the man in blue still live happily ever after.
There is also the story of the Hyotoko mask and the running ghost and the reincarnation of an ugly child. And more, and more, and more ... There are quite a lot of urban legends told in whispers and frightening people to convulsions. You have to find out the rest.
Authors: Great Internet and HeiLin :)
To dream of yourself or someone with an enlarged head portends success and fame if you are engaged in intellectual work in real life.
A small head in a dream portends poverty, painstaking and thankless work.
Shaggy head in a dream - fortunately, bald - a warning against evil deeds.
A chopped head - to chagrin.
A head with lush hair - to love, shorn - unfortunately.
A broken and bleeding head - to exhausting work, but money.
Permed head - trust your friends who will divulge your secret.
Head in a hat - to hardship and misfortune.
A talking head without a body portends an important meeting with influential people who have power and the ability to provide you with the necessary support.
Seeing your head in a dream is a disease.
If in a dream you see yourself with two heads, this is an opportunity to make a quick career and get rich.
A child's head without hair means future family happiness and prosperity in the house.
The head of the animal warns: be more selective in the choice of friends and profession.
There is a pig's head in a dream - go on the road, a lamb - make a profit, a lion's head - to lose.
Seeing dark and blond hair on your head at the same time portends great doubts about the upcoming choice, in which you should be extremely careful not to make a mistake.
All blond hair on the head is a sign of complaisance and kindness, dark hair is a love trap.
A redhead is a falsehood, a change in relationships.
A golden head is a sign of dignity and courage of your chosen one.
Chestnut head - to failures at work, neatly combed - attachment to the hearth, singed - avoid trouble, burning head - to profit, lice - to poverty, dandruff head - unexpectedly gain great wealth.
A head with big ears - you will be highly honored, with long hair - suffer a loss, with short ones - to prosperity.
To anoint your head is to experience happiness. Chop someone's head - win.
Seeing a diadem on your head is a sign of disagreement on some issues.
Feeling a severe headache in a dream - you will be overcome by many worries.
If you dream that splashes of water are falling on your head, this means a passionate awakening of love, which will end happily.
Washing your hair in a dream is an omen of your prudent and effective decisions.
Seeing someone washing their hair with shampoo means that soon, secretly from others, take a trip, taking part in unworthy scams.
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The Japanese can trace the history of their culture from ancient times, they trace their genealogies for centuries, and they have preserved very old urban tales. Japanese urban legends (???? toshi densetsu) are a layer of urban legends based on Japanese mythology and culture. Often they are terribly scary, perhaps the point is precisely in their hoary antiquity. Children's school horror stories and quite adult stories - we will retell some of them.
15. Tale of the Red Room
For starters, a fresh-faced horror story of the 21st century. It's about the pop-up window that pops up when you've been on the Internet for too long. Those who close this window soon die.
One ordinary guy who spent a lot of time on the Internet once heard the legend of the Red Room from a classmate. When the boy came home from school, the first thing he did was sit down at the computer and start looking for information about this story. Suddenly, a window appeared in the browser, where on a red background was the phrase: "Do you want?" He immediately closed the window. However, it immediately reappeared. He closed it again and again, but it kept reappearing. At some point, the question changed, the inscription read: “Do you want to get into the Red Room?”, And the child's voice repeated the same question from the speakers. After that, the screen went dark, and a list of names appeared on it, written in red font. At the very end of this list, the guy noticed his name. He never showed up at school again, and no one ever saw him alive - the boy painted his room red with his own blood and committed suicide.
14. Hitobashira - pillar people
Tales of pillar people (??, hitobashira), more specifically, people buried alive in pillars or pillars while building houses, castles, and bridges, have been circulating around Japan since ancient times. These myths are based on beliefs that the soul of a person walled up in the walls or foundation of a building makes the building unshakable and strengthens it. The worst thing, it seems, is not just stories - human skeletons are often found at the site of destroyed ancient buildings. During the aftermath of the earthquake in Japan in 1968, dozens of skeletons were found immured inside the walls - and in a standing position.
One of the most famous legends about human sacrifice is associated with Matsue Castle (???, Matsue-shi), which dates back to the 17th century. The castle walls collapsed several times during construction, and the architect was confident that the pillar man would help remedy the situation. He ordered an ancient ritual. The young girl was kidnapped and, after the proper rituals, walled up in the wall: the construction was completed successfully, the castle is still standing!
13. Onryo - vengeful spirit
Traditionally, Japanese urban legends are dedicated to terrible otherworldly creatures that, out of revenge or just out of harm, harm living people. The authors of the Japanese Encyclopedia of Monsters, after conducting a survey among the Japanese, were able to count more than a hundred stories about a variety of monsters and ghosts that are believed in Japan.
Usually, the main characters are onryo spirits, which have become widely known in the West due to the popularization of Japanese horror films.
Onryo (??, offended, vengeful spirit) is a ghost, the spirit of a deceased person, who returned to the world of the living to take revenge. A typical onryo is a woman who died because of a villainous husband. But the wrath of the ghost is not always directed against the offender, sometimes innocent people can be its victims. Onryo looks like this: a white shroud, long black flowing hair, aigum (??) white and blue makeup, imitating deathly pallor. This image is often played up in popular culture both in Japan (in the horror films "The Ring", "The Curse") and abroad. There is an opinion that Scorpion from Mortal Kombat is also from onryo.
The legend of onryo dates back to Japanese mythology towards the end of the 8th century. It is believed that many famous Japanese historical characters who really existed became onryo after death (politician Sugawara no Michizane (845-903), Emperor Sutoku (1119-1164) and many others). The Japanese government fought them as best they could, for example, building beautiful temples on their graves. It is said that many famous Shinto shrines are actually built to "lock up" the onryo to prevent them from getting out.
12. Okiku Doll
In Japan, this doll is known to everyone, her name is Okiku. According to an old legend, the soul of the little dead girl who owned the doll lives in the toy.
In 1918, seventeen-year-old boy Eikichi bought a doll as a gift for his two-year-old sister. The girl really liked the doll, Okiku did not part with her favorite toy for almost a minute, she played with it every day. But soon the girl died of a cold, and her parents placed her doll on their home altar in memory of her (in the houses of Buddhists in Japan there is always a small altar and a statue of Buddha). After some time, they noticed that the doll's hair began to grow! This sign was regarded as a sign that the girl's soul had moved into the doll.
Later, in the late 1930s, the family moved, and the doll was left in a local monastery in the city of Iwamizama. The Okiku doll still lives there today. They say that her hair is cut periodically, but they still continue to grow. And, of course, in Japan, everyone knows for sure that the cut hair was analyzed, and it turned out that they belong to a real child.
Believe it or not - everyone's business, but we would not keep such a doll in the house.
11. Ibiza - little sister
This legend takes stories about annoying little sisters to a whole new level. There is a certain ghost that you may encounter while walking alone at night (to be honest, many of these urban legends can happen to those who wander the city alone at night.)
A young girl appears and asks if you have a sister, and it doesn't matter if you answer yes or no. She will say: "I want to be your sister!" and after that he will appear to you every night. Legend has it that if you disappoint Ibiza in any way as a new big brother or sister, she will get very angry and start killing you on the sly. More precisely, it will bring "twisted death."
Actually, Ibitsu is a well-known manga by artist Haruto Ryo, published from 2009 to 2010. And it described a wise way to avoid problems with this obsessive person. The heroine of the manga sits in a pile of garbage and asks the guys passing by if they want a little sister. Those who answered "no", she immediately kills, and those who answered "yes" - declares her brother and begins to persecute. Thus, in order to avoid trouble, it is better not to answer anything. Now you know what to do!
10. Scary story about a ghost passenger who never pays
This horror story is narrowly professional, for taxi drivers. At night, a man in black suddenly appears on the road, as if from nowhere (if someone appears, as if from nowhere - he's almost always a ghost, didn't you know?), Stops a taxi, sits in the back seat. The man asks to be taken to a place that the driver has never heard of (“will you show me the way?”), And the mysterious passenger himself gives instructions, showing the way only through the darkest and most terrible streets. After a long drive, seeing no end to this journey, the driver turns around - but there is no one there. Horror. But this is not the end of the story. The taxi driver turns back, takes the wheel - but he cannot go anywhere, because he is already deader than dead.
It doesn't seem like a very old legend, does it?
9. Hanako-san, toilet ghost
A separate group of urban legends are legends about the ghosts of the inhabitants of schools, or rather, school toilets. Perhaps this is somehow connected with the fact that the element of water among the Japanese is a symbol of the world of the dead.
There are many legends about school toilets, the most common of which is about Hanako, the toilet ghost. About 20 years ago, it was the most popular horror story for elementary school students in Japan, but even now it has not been forgotten. Every Japanese child knows the story of Hanko-san, and every schoolchild in Japan, at one time or another, has stood in fear and hesitated to enter the toilet alone.
According to legend, Hanako was killed in the third stall of the school toilet, on the third floor. There she lives - in the third booth of all school toilets. The rules of conduct are simple: you need to knock on the booth door three times, and call her name. If everything is done politely, no one will get hurt. She seems to be completely harmless if not disturbed, and meeting her can be avoided by staying away from her cubicle.
It seems there was a character in Harry Potter that looked a lot like Hanako. Remember Moaning Myrtle? She is the ghost of a girl who was killed by the look of the Basilisk, and this ghost lives in the toilet room, however, on the second floor of Hogwarts.
8. Hell Tomino
"Hell of Tomino" is a cursed poem that appears in Yomota Inuhiko's book titled "The Heart Like a Tumbleweed" and is included in Saizo Yaso's twenty-seventh collection of poems, which was published in 1919.
There are words in this world that should never be spoken aloud, and the Japanese poem "Hell of Tomino" is one of them. According to legend, if you read this poem aloud, trouble will happen. In the best case, you will get sick or in some way crippled, and in the worst case, you will die.
Here is the testimony of a Japanese: “Once I was reading “Tomino Hell” live on the radio show “Urban Legends” and sneered at the ignorance of superstition. At first everything was fine, but then something began to happen to my body, and it became difficult for me to speak, it was like suffocation. I read half of the poem, but then I could not stand it and threw the pages aside. On the same day I had an accident, seven stitches were put in the hospital. I don’t like to think that this happened because of the poem, but on the other hand, I’m afraid to imagine what could have happened if I had read it to the end then.”
7. The cow's head is a scary story that can't be written down.
This short legend is so terrible that almost nothing is known about it. This story is said to kill anyone who reads or retells it. Now let's check.
This story has been known since the Edo period. During the Kan-ei period (1624-1643), her name was already found in the diaries of various people. Moreover, it is only the name, and not the plot of the story. They wrote about her like this: "Today I was told a horror story about a cow's head, but I cannot write it down here, because it is too terrible."
Thus, this history is not in writing. However, it was passed from mouth to mouth and has survived to this day. Here's what happened recently to one of the few people who knows Cow's Head. Here is a quote from a Japanese source:
"This man is an elementary school teacher. During a school trip, he told scary stories on the bus. The children, who were usually noisy, listened to him very carefully. They were really afraid. It pleased him, and he decided at the very end to tell his best horror story - "Cow head".
He lowered his voice and said, "Now I'll tell you the story about the cow's head. The cow's head is..." But as soon as he began to tell, there was an accident on the bus. The children were horrified by the incredible horror of the story. They shouted in unison, "Sensei, stop it!" One child turned pale and plugged his ears. Another roared. But even then the teacher did not stop talking. His eyes were blank, as if he was obsessed with something... Soon the bus came to an abrupt stop. Feeling that there was trouble, the teacher came to his senses and looked at the driver. He was covered in a cold sweat and trembling like an aspen leaf. He must have slowed down because he couldn't drive the bus anymore.
The teacher looked around. All the students were unconscious and foaming at the mouth. Since then, he has never spoken of "Cow's Head".
This "very scary non-existent story" is described in Komatsu Sakyo's short story "Cow's Head". Its plot is almost the same - about the terrible story "Cow's Head", which no one tells.
6. Fire in a department store
This story is not from the category of horror stories, rather, it is a tragedy that has become overgrown with gossip, which is now difficult to separate from the truth.
In December 1932, a fire broke out in a Shirokiya store in Japan. Employees were able to get to the roof of the building so firefighters could rescue them with ropes. When the women, descending the ropes, were somewhere in the middle, strong gusts of wind began to blow open their kimonos, under which they traditionally did not wear underwear. To prevent such dishonor, the women let go of the ropes, fell and broke. This story allegedly caused a major change in traditional fashion as Japanese women began to wear underwear under their kimonos.
Even though this is a popular story, there are many dubious moments. For starters, the kimonos are so heavily draped that the wind can't blow them open. In addition, at that time, Japanese men and women were calm about nudity, washing in joint baths, and the willingness to die, just not to be naked, inspires serious doubts.
In any case, this story is actually in Japanese firefighting textbooks and is believed by the vast majority of Japanese people.
5. Aka Manto
Aka Manto or Red Cloak (?????) is another "toilet ghost", but unlike Hanako, Aka Manto is an evil and dangerous spirit. He looks like a fabulously handsome young man in a red cloak. According to legend, Aka Manto can walk into the school women's restroom at any time and ask, "Which raincoat do you prefer, red or blue?" If the girl answers "red", then he will cut off her head and the blood flowing from the wound will create the appearance of a red cloak on her body. If she answers "blue", then Aka Manto will strangle her and the corpse will have a blue face. If the victim chooses any third color or says that they do not like both colors, then the floor will open under her and deathly pale hands will take her to hell.
In Japan, this killer ghost is known by various names “Aka manto” or “Ao Manto”, or “Aka Hanten, Ao hanten”. Some people say that once upon a time, Red Cloak was a young man who was so handsome that all the girls immediately fell in love with him. He was so frighteningly handsome that the girls fainted when he looked at them. His beauty was so stunning that he was forced to hide his face behind a white mask. One day, he kidnapped a beautiful girl and she was never seen again.
This is similar to the legend of Kashima Reiko, a legless female ghost who also haunts the school toilets. She exclaims, “Where are my legs?” when someone enters the toilet. There are several correct answers.
4. Kuchisake-onna or woman with a torn mouth
Kuchisake-onna (Kushisake Ona) or woman with a torn mouth (????) is a popular children's horror story that gained particular notoriety due to the fact that the police found many similar reports in the media and their archives. According to legend, an unusually beautiful woman in a gauze bandage walks the streets of Japan. If a child walks down the street alone, then she can come up to him and ask: “Am I beautiful?!”. If he hesitates, as is usually the case, then Kuchisake-onna rips off the bandage from his face and reveals a huge scar that crosses his face from ear to ear, a giant mouth with sharp teeth in it, and a snake-like tongue. Then the question follows: “Am I beautiful now?”. If the child answers "no", then she will cut off his head, and if "yes", then she will make him the same scar (she has scissors with her).
The only way to elude Kushisake Onna is to give an unexpected answer. “If you say 'You look average' or 'You look normal' she will be confused and you will have plenty of time to run away.
The only way to elude Kushisake Ona is to give an unexpected answer. If you say “you look fine”, she will be confused, and you will have enough time to run away.
In Japan, wearing medical masks is not unusual, they are worn by a huge number of people, and the poor children seem to be afraid of literally everyone they meet.
There are many explanations for how Kushisake Onna got her terrible shapeless mouth. The most popular version is that of a runaway lunatic who is so insane that she cut her own mouth open.
According to an ancient version of this legend, a very beautiful woman lived in Japan many years ago. Her husband was a jealous and cruel man, and he began to suspect that she was cheating on him. In a fit of rage, he grabbed a sword and slashed her mouth, yelling "Who's going to think you're beautiful now?". She has become a vengeful ghost that roams the streets of Japan and wears a scarf over her face to hide her terrible scar.
The US has its own version of Kushisake Onna. There were rumors about a clown who would appear in public restrooms, approach children, and ask, “Do you want to have a smile, a happy smile?”, and if the child agreed, he would take out a knife and cut their mouth from ear to ear. It seems that this clown smile was appropriated by Tim Burton to his Joker in the Oscar-winning "Batman" in 1989. It was the satanic smile of the Joker, brilliantly performed by Jack Nicholson, that became the hallmark of this beautiful film.
3. Hon Onna - the exterminator of horny men
Hon-onna is the Japanese version of a sea siren or succubus, so she's only dangerous to sexually horny men, but creepy nonetheless.
According to this legend, a gorgeous woman wears a luxurious kimono that hides everything except her wrists and her beautiful face. She flirts with some dude she's charmed with and lures him to a secluded spot, usually a dark alley. Unfortunately for the guy, this won't lead to a happy ending. Honna removes her kimono, revealing a hideous naked skeleton with no skin or muscle - a pure zombie. She then embraces the hero-lover and sucks out his life and soul.
So Hon-onna preys exclusively on promiscuous males, and for other people she is not dangerous - a kind of forest orderly, probably invented by Japanese wives. But, you see, the image is bright.
2. Hitori kakurenbo or hide-and-seek with yourself
"Hitori kakurenbo" means "playing hide and seek with yourself" in Japanese. Anyone who has a doll, rice, a needle, red thread, a knife, nail clippers and a cup of salt water can play.
First, cut the body of the doll with a knife, put some rice and part of your fingernail inside it. Then sew it up with red thread. At three in the morning, you need to go to the bathroom, fill the sink with water, put the doll in there and say three times: “The first one leads (and give your name).” Turn off all the lights in the house and head to your room. Close your eyes here and count to ten. Return to the bathroom and stab the doll with a knife, while saying: "Pali-knocked, now it's your turn to look." Well, the doll will find you wherever you hide! To get rid of the curse, you need to sprinkle the doll with salt water and say "I won" three times!
Another modern urban legend: Tek-Tek or Kashima Reiko (????) is the ghost of a woman named Kashima Reiko who was run over by a train and cut in half. Since then, she wanders at night, moving on her elbows, making the sound "teke-teke-teke" (or tek-tek).
Tek-tek was once a beautiful girl who accidentally fell (or intentionally jumped off) from a subway platform onto the tracks. The train cut her in half. And now the upper body of Teke-teke wanders the city streets in search of revenge. Despite the lack of legs, it moves on the ground very quickly. If Teke-teke catches you, she will cut your body in half with a sharp scythe.
According to legend, Tek-Tek preys on children who play at dusk. Tek-Tek is very similar to the American children's horror story about Clack-Clack, which parents used to scare children who were walking late.
Touching in their childish superstitious naivete, the Japanese carefully preserve their urban legends - both children's funny horror stories and quite adult horror. While acquiring a modern flair, these myths retain their ancient flavor and quite palpable animal fear of otherworldly forces.
I was still a youngster when my father told me this story. We sat with him in the kitchen, drinking coffee, and the conversation turned to mysticism.
It is worth noting that the pope was a believer who recognized the existence of various transcendental forces, but at the same time he was a logician with a practical mindset.
Well, so closer to the topic, as they say. After drinking some coffee and eating it with honey, I asked my father the question that worried me so much: “Dad, nothing mystical happened in your life.” Papa wrinkled his brow and thought for a while, going over in his mind cases that somehow fell under the category of mystical. Then he said: “Well, actually there was something. I was born in the most tragic period of our history - in August 1941. Ukraine was the second after Belarus to be bombed by the Nazis. The city of Dnepropetrovsk in a matter of weeks turned into ruins. My mother showed real heroism by hiding and raising me and my older sisters to my feet in the shelter. Ten or twelve years passed, but the city recovered at an extremely slow pace. I, like most children of the same age, grew up in the ashes of war. Life was hard. I had to work all day helping my mother, forgetting about carefree childhood, adolescence and youth. The only entertainment we had was raids on rural melons, located outside the city. Watermelons and melons were our only children's delight, because even ordinary sugar was impossible to get.
And so, one day, after agreeing with my friends about another sortie for melons, I went to the village. I got there before the rest of the guys. Sitting on a bench near Uncle Vanya's hut, I began to examine the field where our youthful joy grew. Having noted the ways of moving and possible withdrawal in the event of the appearance of a watchman, I looked at the road, waiting for the appearance of accomplices. But he noticed on it only a lonely woman in a black dress, with a scarf on her head. I would not focus on the widow - there are few of them left after the war - but she suddenly made a strange maneuver, going into an impenetrable thicket of thorns. It was also strange that she walked right through them, completely unaware of the scratches that, of course, should have occurred. At the same time, she walked with a confident gait and a fairly quick step. I jumped off the bench and followed the stranger. Such behavior was extremely mysterious, and teenage curiosity haunted. Running up to the beginning of the thickets, I saw her head in the distance. Gently parting the thorny bushes, I followed her. The bush tangibly scratched my legs, which were not covered by shorts, but I, stoically, continued to pursue the object. Looking ahead, I was surprised that the woman was not visible. “Maybe she got sick in the sun and fell,” I thought at that moment. Already rather quickly jumping through the thorny bushes, I moved in the direction in which I last saw the silhouette of a woman. And so, parting the tall bushes, and looking at the ground, I stopped, paralyzed with fear. A head was sticking out of the ground. A huge head, larger than a human, with unnaturally bulging eyes, as in Graves' disease. I didn't see the nose at all. I can only say that this head was not human at all: unnaturally round as a pumpkin, with bulging eyes, pale as chalk and without hairline. What is strange, next to her lay the very black scarf in which the woman walked into these thickets. Beside myself from the horror that first bound me, I rushed away from there. Not noticing any thorny bushes, no heat, no fatigue, I jumped out onto the road like a saiga. Fortunately for me, my friends were waiting for me near the bench. I did not tell them about what happened, because who knows what it was, and what a meeting with this promises.
In conclusion, I note that my father was not a dreamer and supporter of practical jokes, and therefore, I willingly believe him.
Cow Head" There is a terrible horror story called "Cow Head". This story has been known since the Edo period. During the Kan-ei period (1624-1643), its name was already found in the diaries of various people. But only the name, not the plot. About her they wrote: "Today I was told a horror story about a cow's head, but I cannot write it down here because it is too terrible. "Thus, it is not in the books. However, it was passed from mouth to mouth and has come down to our days. But I I won't post it here. It's too creepy, I don't even want to remember. Instead, I'll tell you what happened to one of the few people who knows "Cow's Head." This man is an elementary school teacher. During a school trip, he told in scary stories on the bus. The children, who used to make noise, listened to him very carefully today. They were really afraid. It pleased him, and he decided at the very end to tell the best horror story - "Cow's head." He lowered his voice and said: "And now I I'll tell you a story about a cow's head. The cow's head is..." But as soon as he began to talk, a catastrophe occurred on the bus. The children were horrified by the incredible horror of the story. They shouted in one voice: "Sensei, stop it!" One child turned pale and plugged his ears. The other roared "But even then the teacher did not stop talking. His eyes were empty, as if he was obsessed with something ... Soon the bus stopped abruptly. Feeling that there was trouble, the teacher came to his senses and looked at the driver. He was covered in a cold sweat and was trembling like a leaf. He must have stopped because he could no longer drive the bus. The teacher looked around. All the students were unconscious, foaming at the mouth. Since then, he never spoke about the "Cow's Head." Commentary: Actually, the cow head horror story doesn't exist. What is the story? How terrible is it? This interest spreads it. - Listen, do you know the scary cow head story? - What is the story? Tell me! - I can't, she scared me too much. - What are you? Okay, I'll ask someone else on the Internet. - Listen, a friend told me about a story about a cow's head. Don't you know her? So "a very terrible non-existent story" quickly gained wide popularity. The source of this urban legend is Komatsu Sakyo's short story Cow's Head. Its plot is almost the same - about the terrible story "Cow's Head", which no one tells. But Komatsu-sensei himself said, "The first person to spread the word about the cow's head story among science fiction publishers was Tsutsui Yasutaka." So, it is known for sure that this legend was born in the publishing business.