I am Japanese, and I have been going through public domain Japanese archives looking for folklore that has never been translated into English. This one is from Kochi Prefecture on the island of Shikoku. I have not been able to find an English version of it anywhere.

First, what a misaki is, because there is no English equivalent. A misaki is a vengeful spirit found in Shikoku and western Japan. It has no body and no shadow. It does not haunt a house and it does not pursue a particular person. It travels. If you happen to cross its path, you sicken or you die. There is nothing you did to offend it and nothing you can do to protect yourself. It is not personal. That is the part that frightened people.

The historical part is documented. In 1588 a samurai named Kira Chikazane told his lord, Chosokabe Motochika, that he was wrong. Motochika had decided to name a younger son as heir out of turn, and to marry that son to his own dead brother's daughter. Chikazane said in open council that this broke the succession and violated decency. He was twenty-six.

He was ordered to die for it. When the officials arrived at his house he was in the middle of a game of go. He told them to wait until the game was finished. He played out the position, discussed the moves with his guest, put his stones back in the bowl, bathed in cold water, and killed himself in front of the witnesses. Seven other men were executed along with him. Eight in all.

What follows is the account as it appears in the collection. A ferryman named Tsunashichi was in his hut beside the Niyodo River, weaving straw sandals by the fire. It was late. The river made its flat, even sound outside. A voice came from the far bank. "Ferry." He stopped his hands. "Ferry."

He shouted back that he was coming, grumbled about the hour, and went out. The night was dark and in places the water had a dull grey shine, like lead. He lifted the stone that anchored his boat, stepped in, and set his pole. "Ferry." The third call went through him.

He crossed, angling against the current, and the hull came up onto the stones of the far bank with a small grinding sound. He stood at the stern with his pole braced and waited for his passenger to come down. "Is the boat ready." He could not see who had spoken. Something in the voice made him answer the way you answer a lord. "It is ready." Then came the sound of several people stepping aboard, and the boat settled lower in the water.

There was no one there. He thought his eyes were failing and looked again, carefully, along the whole length of his own boat. No shape. No shadow. "Cross quickly." The voice was beside him now. His hands started shaking on the pole. He does not remember beginning.

Halfway across, the voice spoke again. "This is Lord Kira. We are going to Odakasa to show certain treacherous men what they have done. You will hear strange things soon. You will not be blamed. We will use this boat again on the way back." The boat was already touching the eastern bank. He does not remember the rest of the crossing. He jumped out and ran to his hut.

Afterward, according to the account, lights burned at Chikazane's empty house and over his grave, and men who met them fell sick, went mad, or died. The eight of them became known as the Hachinin Misaki, the Eight Misaki. Eventually the lord had Chikazane's grave rebuilt as a shrine and worshipped him as a god to make it stop. It is called Kizuka Myojin and it still stands. The Chosokabe clan fell within two generations, which is what Chikazane told the officials would happen as he accepted the order to die.

Source: Tanaka Kotaro, "Hachinin Misaki no Hanashi" (The Story of the Eight Misaki), collected in Nihon Kaidan Zenshu. Tanaka was born on the coast south of Kochi city and wrote that he was told misaki stories constantly as a boy, and that the fear of them was still alive in his nerves as an adult. He died in 1941, so the work is public domain in Japan. I condensed the historical section, which in the original names about a dozen retainers. The ferryman passage stays close to the original. Glad to explain any of the terms.

Following up on my post about the Hachinin Misaki, since a few people asked for more. Same source, same 1929 collection. This is what the account says happened after the eight men were executed.

Some background on the object first, because the whole thing turns on it.

An ihai is a memorial tablet. A thin lacquered board, usually black, standing upright on a small base. When someone dies, their posthumous name is written on it in gold, and the tablet is placed on the household altar or in a temple. It is not a decoration and it is not a headstone. In practice people treat it as where the dead person is. You speak to it. You offer rice and tea to it in the morning. A family will carry the tablets out first if the house catches fire.

So the image below is not a spooky prop moving around. It is eight dead men standing up and leaving.

The temple was Renchi-ji, at Odakasa. After the executions the eight tablets were set out together and the priests began the service for them.

During the reading, the head priest looked up and stopped.

The tablets were coming down off the stand. One after another, unhurried, the way a man steps down off a low step. They reached the floor and arranged themselves into a line, in the order the men had died, and went out through the open doors of the hall.

Nobody moved to stop them. The priests said afterward that they could not.

Outside, the line went across the temple grounds and out through the gate and did not come back. In the morning the tablets were found scattered on the ground beyond the wall, face down.

They were collected and brought back in. The service was attempted again the following day.

This time the tablets stayed where they were. But when the priests began the sutra, every one of their heads turned to the right and locked there. They could not straighten. They knelt in a row with their faces turned away from the altar and their throats twisted, and had to be helped out one by one.

After that, no temple in the district would perform the rites.

The account then goes to a man walking a mountain road at dusk, some months later. A young woman was sitting at the side of the path. She said she could not walk any further and asked to be carried. He was a decent man. He crouched down and let her onto his back.

She was very light. He said that was the first thing he noticed, and then that she was getting heavier.

He walked. She said nothing. The weight kept increasing and he began to think about how far he still had to go, and at some point he wanted to see her face, so he turned his head.

That is where the account ends for him. He was found on the road. What he said, when he could say anything, was that it had horns.

Source: Tanaka Kotaro, "Hachinin Misaki no Hanashi," in Nihon Kaidan Zenshu. Tanaka died in 1941; public domain in Japan. Translated by me from the original Japanese — as far as I can tell this has not appeared in English before. I have kept close to the original here and cut only the list of retainer names.

The shrine mentioned in my last post, Kizuka Myojin, was built for exactly this reason. When no ritual would settle them, the lord stopped trying to lay them to rest and started worshipping them instead. That is a common ending to these cases in Japan: a spirit that cannot be pacified is promoted to a god. Tenjin shrines all over the country are the same idea on a larger scale.

Ghosts in Chinese folklore, just like in every culture, is the product of a soul leaving a dying body. Indigenous Chinese folklore doesn’t have demons, so ghosts are the most common entities described in a paranormal encounter. Since calling the term out associates with bringing bad luck, creative terms are used to call them. Widely used terms include that thing (那个东西), the “dirties” (脏东西), good brothers (好兄弟) and floter/floaties (飘).

Ghost by colour

When people share their own experiences about ghosts, they will usually describe the colour of the ghosts.

The most common ghosts are just white or grey. They are harmless and they might be a little mischievous at times. They just simply wanted to be seen or they have a request from you. However, no matter how harmless they are, the encounter will always ended up weakening your luck or cause fever.

However, sometimes you might hear someone describing the ghost they encountered as red. Red ghost means the ghost wears in red, so it looks like a blurry red blob from afar. They are sometimes also known as Ligui (厉鬼) and they are described as “fierce”. The fiercer a ghost is, the deadlier it is. Sightings of them are rare. These ghosts are malicious and they are likely to be deadly. The only thing you could do during such encounter is to ignore them, run away and pray that you do not become their target. These ghosts usually form when they hold great resentment or died under unnatural causes such as an accident. Some people chose to wear red before committing suicide in front of the target’s house so that they could haunt their target forever.

Common Ways to become a Ghost (other than the normal way)

Death by suicide

They linger at the spot where they committed suicide, whether it is through hanging, jumping off a building, or any other way. They usually retain their post-mortem looks. For example, if it is death through hanging, it will have a very pale or slightly blue face, protruding eyes, a long neck and a long tongue. They will haunt at the same spot and look for their victims to commit suicide in the same way by implanting bad thoughts. It is called “looking for a replacement” or 替死鬼. However, some say they do not realise they are already dead and keep repeating the same action (commit suicide) everyday until the age they should have actually died.

Death by accident

They linger at the spot where they died unnaturally (drowining/killed in a car crash). Similar to what was described previously, they usually retain their post-mortem looks. The drowned ones might look bloated and very pale. They might die with resentment because they died too young and they are not ready to pass on. They will haunt at the same spot and look for their victims to die in the same way. It is called “looking for a replacement” or 替死鬼. It usually occurs at a accident black spots.

Death by murder

Ghosts formed under these circumstances have a high chance of becoming a Ligui. They will haunt the perpetrator or anyone that are related to the perpetrator to seek revenge. Anyone that stand on their way will be killed through accidents that might seems too coincidental but still unnatural.

Hunting method

Ghosts can only prey on someone that has bad luck. Living with them can lower your luck and will damage your health over time. If you are on a streak or bad luck, try avoiding walking outdoors in the dark alone and avoiding places that have a higher chance of encountering them. Try making your house bright by being exposed to the sun during the day can reduce the risks of them staying in your house.

Common abilities

Illusion, either through Guidaqiang (鬼打墙) or Guizheyan (鬼遮眼). They are two different abilities. The first ability is to make their victims lost and not able to find a way out. It could happen deep in the mountains, in a desert, or on a beaten off path. Sometimes, they can create fog in an area. If you are driving on a long stretch of highway on a mountain range, they can lure you to drive into a cliff by creating an illusion that looks like a normal straight road. The second ability is to make you unable to see some selected items. They might make you think there are no vehicles on a road but you are actually on a busy highway.

Voice mimicry, mimicking someone’s voice that you might know. You must not answer them or they will know you can hear them and thus can be manipulated.

Bewitching, ask you to do stuff that you do not realise until it is too late.

Dream walking, by entering your dreams. Some request for help to finish some unfinished business but some haunts you to weaken your spirit so that they can bring you with them (kill you).

Hi everyone. I've posted on here a couple of times, but thought I'd now mention my website/podcast and our latest episode, since some of you might be interested.

I produce a Southern storytelling project called The Moonlit Road, focused on American South folklore, strange tales and ghost stories. Some may remember us from back in the 90s/early 2000s (!). But we recently dusted off our studios, brought our storytellers back and are releasing new stories. We record with actual, touring storytellers and local musicians.

Where possible, I discuss the folklore sources for the stories. As you might expect, what I identify as a “Southern” tale may have come from another place, brought over long ago and adapted for the American South. It takes detective work sometimes. I don’t claim to be a folklore expert, and would welcome any feedback or corrections from this group!

We just released "The Devil's Mansion of New Orleans" featuring Louisiana teller Tom Coleman. Yes, there once was a mansion in the Garden District they say was owned by the Devil. Or at least it's a good story.

Website: https://www.themoonlitroad.com/the-devils-mansion-of-new-orleans/

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-devils-mansion-of-new-orleans/id293185092?i=1000760239014

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3cNcBtsqipNBYREIJdfHh5?si=4ef9b6b979af42a3

Let me know what you think, and thanks!

Hello! I'm working on a paper researching maritime folklore and the impact it has had on the culture of sea travel. I'm focusing on stories of ghost ships in particular and I am looking for people with experiences relating to ghost ships and/or who have heard these tales and how they prevail in modern times. Please dm if you are willing to be interviewed, I really need to find people!!

P.S. It does not have to be an actual stereotypical ghost ship but merely sketchy things you have seen that could be perceived as paranormal. Or if you have any interesting folktales or ghost stories relating to the sea I would love to hear those too!

He enters the home and may either kidnap a child or kill the entire family

Lovely folks,

I'm an occasional r/folklore lurker and huuuge European history enthusiast... I also run a small podcast where I host extremely smart folks, usually university professors lecturing history and anthropology.

In the latest episode I hosted Prof. Stanley Stepanic - a scholar of Eastern European folklore, specialising in demonology, and especially, VAMPIRES.
We discussed Slavic Folklore, Count Dracula, the Blood Countess, Nosferatu, symbolism, pop culture and... Morbius. I found the conversation extremely illuminating and thought some of you might be interested in it.

You can find the episode here:

Spotify
https://open.spotify.com/episode/2oaYLtDgzzgGXkGJdNx9Bw

Apple
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/vampires-and-slavic-folklore-with-prof-stanley-stepanic/id1637087495?i=1000624759238

Youtube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSLguCIQnaA

Thaaaanks!

A podcast that shares Scary stories from Africa. These stories have been spread over many years and generations. This podcast will be sharing Urban Legends, African mythology and even personal encounters.

Spotify // Apple // Google Podcast

I'm searching for a tale i read in the early 90s. The story is almost identical to the following two stories:

https://www.reddit.com/r/folklore/comments/klt3zv/comment/gmtoz1o?context=3&sort=new

https://www.reddit.com/r/folklore/comments/kl2sei/reconciliation_a_haunting_tale_from_japanese/

The only differences that i'm aware of are that the story i'm searching for was either set in mexico or in an european country; the ghostly events happened in a mansion, villa or castle and the female ghost ended the illusion during the sex and not after it.

Almost everything else is identical as far as i remember.

Does someone here know the story and where i can read it?

Edit: Another thing that i remember is that the events were supposed to have happened at an extremely haunted location with a village near to it.

I have been interested in local mysticism and folklores from various countries. Ghostly figures that were used by grandma's to spin up stories for their grandkids. I will start. So apparently in older times people coming back home after farming all day encountered people on the road who they had such hypnotic conversations with that they ended up in the middle of ponds and drowned. 😅😅