Scary Japanese urban legends, myths and ghost stories. Read scary stories that inspired many famous horror movies, anime and manga. Find out more about them and send a chill down your spine. Years ago in Japan, there was a tradition where people would gather in a room and light 100 candles. Then they would start telling scary tales and ghost stories. At the end of each story, they would extinguish a candle. The room would grow darker and darker and the stories would become scarier and scarier. At the end of the final ghost story, the room would be in complete darkness. So let’s light a few candles and read on:
![Hikiko-san Hikiko-san](https://www.scaryforkids.com/pics/japanese-urban-legends-05.jpg)
That girl from “The Ring” is a demon not a ghost
lacole luv99
its not the same girl the one in the well is form the movie called “The Ring” The Carmen Winstead girl idk who she is i guess shes Carmen!
I can’t go anywhere without there being some twisted legend…Well there goes my trip after high skool
@shaphat I’ve heard a story a bit like that.. It was in a book I read, and instead of a doll, it was a psycho murderer. The story is a mixture between the one you said and When a Stranger Calls.
okiko’s photo looks like the girl from carmen winstead’s photo!I think it is the same girl.
I remember the toilet monster!!!!!!lmfao.!!!! I thought I was the only one afraid when the toilet would flush behind me and I was alone lol luv ya guys=o)
i mean kids used to believe in the toilet monster. now a days they believe in the toilet ghost.
any chance we can pee on the toilet ghost? :3
I’d like to see here the JP legend “The call from Mary San”. Since it’s rather popular. I saw it in tv program: “USO! Japan” and also read a manga that featured it.
It goes like this:
A young girl named Yumi was coming home from school on a rainy day when she saw a porcelain western-style doll abandoned near her home. Thinking it was really pitiful she took her home. She named her Mary and that night when she went to sleep she left her standing next to her inside the bed. The next morning she was surprised to see that the doll wasn’t standing as she left it but actually tucked inside the bed next to her. A bit disturbed by this, the next night she left the doll sitting on her nightstand. Even so the next morning she found the doll next to her inside the bed. The following days the same thing happened, regardless of where she left the doll the previous night it would always appear next to her in the morning. This happened for a week. Deeply disturbed by this, one day Yumi asked her mom if she’d moved the doll, but her mom said she hadn’t. Because of this she decided to get rid of the doll and threw her in a waterfall close to her home. Time passed and Yumi completely forgot about the doll. Then one night where her parents weren’t home yet, the phone rang. The girl went to answer it and said “This is the Tanaka house, who is calling?” but instead of answering, a creepy girl’s voice said “I’m in front of your apartment building” then hung up. Five Minutes later another call came “I’m going up the stairs from the 4th floor” the caller said. Frightened by this, Yumi then remembered Mary, thinking “Could it be her?” and went back to her bedroom. Until the next call came “I’m inside your house” it said so Yumi ran to the kitchen to get the number of her mom’s office and tried to call her. While waiting to be communicated she heard the creepy voice again “Right now…” Startled Yumi realized the voice was no longer coming from the phone “…I’m behind you” turning around she saw the doll, Mary was dripping wet and laughing madly. What happened to Yumi is a mystery but after that night Yumi stopped moving, talking and was unable to do anything on her own. Just like a doll.
*Though this particular legend is about the Mary Doll, in some variations of this story it is said that the same thing will happen when someone throws away a toy that had been particularly attached to them*
Wow I enjoy reading all of them but too creepy.
These Japanese sure know how to scare the freakin hell outta u… and why is it always the girls’ bathroom… i mean c’mon… aren’t there any other places to haunt in Japan? how about haunting a classroom when the history or mathematics or physics teacher bores u to death??
OMG The pics are so scary that I can’t even scroll up to read a story XD
Creepy and the pics gave me nightmares!!
Ive seen all the movies except the bullied ghost cant find anything about her anywhere….O yea 1 time i went to the restroom and i swear i thought i saw hanako-san but it turne out to b some1s weaveLOL=P
Hikiko looks like the scariest one here!!!
i love all these stories…except when its dark out, or im all alone in a bathroom, then i wish i never reade them
WAIT… why r so many of these japanese legends about TOILETS!?!!??!?!??!
awesome stories the slit mouth woman is the best!!
japanese ghosts have a thing for revenge
That is awesome!!! Really creepy!!! I am just glad that i am not Japanese, or that i live in Japan. My favorite one is the slit mouthed woman. These are awesome stories!!!
Does the toilet ghost smell like a dirty toilet?=D
few words: cool creppy awesome:-D
these are all so creppy.
and thats a good thing:D
Does anyone know if the Cow Head story exists? It said that it was the most scary story ever told and was burned but pieces of it still exist.
Scaryforkids says: You won’t find the Cow Head story on the internet, especially not in English. I have read a summary of the first part in Japanese. The story starts out something like this: There’s a little deserted village in the middle of nowhere and archaeologists are digging to find out why nobody lives there. They unearth a weird skeleton with the head of a cow and the body of a man. They do research and find out that years before, there was a famine. Everybody in the village is starving. They eat all the cows and horses, then they start on the pets, dogs and cats etc. Then people are dying from lack of food. One day, a figure wanders into the village and he has the head of a cow and the body of a man. (He is the “Cow Head” in the picture). The starving villagers attack him and kill him and eat him. That’s when the village becomes cursed and all hell breaks loose… and that’s where the Japanese summary I read ended. The rest is lost to history. I don’t think the rest of the story exists anymore.
im kind of creeped out now. dont you kinda wonder how japan celebrates halloweeen?!!! must be hella scary.