Legends of strange, unexplained events such as spirit abductions and ghostly fires.
Entries: 31
The legend that Sugawara no Michizane, who died in exile at Dazaifu on false charges, became a vengeful spirit and brought disasters on the capital, such as the Seiryoden lightning strike. He was later worshipped as Tenjin, the god of learning.
The legend of the vengeful spirit of Taira no Masakado, who rebelled in the Kanto region in the Heian period and was killed. His head, displayed in Kyoto, is said to have flown east in search of its body, and the Masakado head mound in Otemachi, Tokyo, is still carefully tended.
The dead said to rise from their graves at night and drink human blood. Derived from Eastern European folklore, they caused a "vampire panic" in the 18th century. Bram Stoker's novel Dracula fixed today's image.
What remains of a wizard or king who used powerful magic to make himself undying. Because its soul is hidden in another vessel, it is said to be impossible to destroy. It has become a standard undead in modern fantasy fiction and games.
A tradition that likens a "sun shower" (rain falling while the sun shines) and rows of fox fires seen at night in the hills and fields to a fox bride's wedding procession. Festivals re-creating the fox wedding are held in many places.
A mummified monkey's paw that grants its owner three wishes, but at a terrible price. It is world-famous from the 1902 horror short story by the English writer W. W. Jacobs.
A curse ritual in which a person nails a straw doll to a tree at a shrine with long nails at the Hour of the Ox (around 2 a.m.) to curse someone they hate. It spread against the background of legends such as that of Hashihime of Uji. Today it can even be a crime.
White or translucent balls of light that appear in photos. They are sometimes said to be spirits or energy, but they are thought to be the camera flash reflecting off dust, water droplets, insects and the like.
A sailing ship found drifting in the Atlantic in 1872. Its cargo and food were still aboard, but the captain's family and the entire crew had vanished. It is history's most famous "ghost ship" mystery.
A triangular area of ocean connecting the Florida Peninsula, Bermuda and Puerto Rico. It became famous as a "sea of mystery" where ships and planes vanish, but accidents there are not considered especially frequent.
The folk belief that people who suddenly vanish have been taken by gods, tengu or mountain spirits. Many stories tell of people returning years later, and records are found throughout Japan.
