Spirits in Restrooms

In Japan, just in the last 70 years folklore about spirits that lurk in girl’s school restrooms have become popular.

These spirits are said to haunt specific stalls in these school restrooms.

These stories became so widespread across Japan twenty years ago—teachers across the country had little girl’s refusing to use the toilets at school.

This situation was eased when a policy was set forth that all young girls should go to the restrooms with a partner—so they were not alone.

One of the most widespread tales is about a female spirit called Hanako-san. It is said this young spirit haunts 3rd-floor school restrooms. She is seen in the 3^rd stall.

Hanako-san.

Children were told if they don’t see this spirit all they had to do is knock 3 times—many stories state this spirit is a demon—and call her name. Then Hanako-san would appear once they open the stall door.

Some stories state she is a little girl that wears a red skirt. Various regions of Japan describe her differently. One story states she has a bloody hand that she uses to grab her victims with. Another states this spirit is a lizard that devours its victims.

In tamer versions, this spirit just wants a friend—but in most, it is stated Hanako-san drags her victims to hell through the toilet in this stall.

The origin of this tale began during World War ll. It is said Hanako-san was a young schoolgirl who while using the toilet was killed when a bomb was dropped on her school. It is said she has been trapped in schools ever since.

Kashima Reiko

A second spirit, said to haunt girl’s restrooms in schools is called, Kashima Reiko. This spirit was cut in half by a train. Her disfigured spirit has haunted school restrooms since.

It is said as female students enter the stall where she lurks, she asks them where her legs are. If she is not satisfied by their answer—which I imagine is never—she rips their legs off.

Yet a third spirit that is said to haunt school restrooms is a male entity. This spirit is called Aoi Manto or just Manto.

It is said he lurks in the last stall. This spirit also asks his female victims a question. Do you want red or blue paper?

If the young student says “red” he then slashes their neck and back with a blade—killing them. If they respond “blue” he kills them by hanging.

One can understand why young female students in Japan are scared to use their school toilets.

Pink Nightgown and Curlers

A favorite folklorist is William Lynwood Montell. He wrote a book entitled Ghosts Across Kentucky. In it he shares a tale about a wife who is murdered by her husband in a jealous rage.

Ruth Ann Musick another favorite folklorist shares a West Virginia tale similar to Montell’s called The Fortune-Teller’s Warning. This tale is located here.

Montell’s tale is a first-person account.

When I was a teenager my family moved into an old house in Brandenburg, Kentucky.

I was assigned a bedroom but I preferred sleeping on the living room couch in front of the television. One night I stayed up late reading. It was around midnight when my dog Krypto began to growl and act strange.

His hair was standing on end and he was trembling. He continued to growl.

I looked up from my book and saw a woman standing in one corner of the room. She was looking at me. She wore a pink nightgown and had pink curlers in her hair. She didn’t say anything.

I assumed it was my mom, checking up on me. I said, “Alright, I am going to sleep now.” I then turned over and switched off the light.

When I woke up the next morning I remembered how Krypto had behaved and wondered why he was so nervous around my mom.

While I ate breakfast I asked my mom what she had wanted the night before. She asked me what I meant.

“What did you want when you came out into the living room last night? You just stood there and didn’t say anything.”

“I didn’t get up last night.”

“Yes you did. You were standing there just looking at me. You had on a pink nightgown, and had pink curlers in your hair.”

“I don’t own a pink nightgown or pink curlers. If you don’t believe me, check for yourself.”

Later, I did check her bathroom and discovered she only had green and yellow curlers.

I puzzled over this incident for several weeks then one day while talking to a neighbor of ours, Mrs. Miller--who lived in the house in front --she helped me solve this mystery.

She mentioned the young lady who used to live in our house had died.

She and her husband had lived there several years back. The husband wasn’t around much. He was a soldier stationed at Fort Knox.

The pair had eloped and the husband had never met his wife’s family.

The young bride became ill and her brother came to visit. The husband got a surprise furlough and came home just as the brother was saying goodbye to his sister.

As the soldier walked in their bedroom to surprise his wife he saw another man bend down and kiss her. She was in bed in her nightgown.

Her husband assumed the worst. He ran her brother off not listening to his attempts to explain. He then went back in and beat his wife while she lay in bed until she was unconscious.

He went out back and got a can of gasoline and drenched his wife with it and set her on fire. The beating didn’t kill her but the fire did.

Mrs. Miller heard him yell as he ran out of the house. “She will never cheat on me again.” Seeing smoke coming from one window she called the police.

She then told me when they carried the young girl’s body out she saw the edge of a pink nightgown and pink curlers on the top of her head.

Apparently, every time someone new moves into the house, the ghost of this girl comes back to see who it is.

Mrs. Miller stated she thinks the young bride is just waiting for her husband to return so she can get revenge.

Our old house still stands in Brandenburg.

Dr. Lynwood Montell

The Fortune-Teller’s Warning and the tale above are good examples of how quickly ghost tales travel and then take on local flavor.

Another tale Montell collected is here.

The Ridgeway Ghost

In Wisconsin folklore * there is a famous tale called the Ridgeway Ghost. This ghost story was often told during this state's pioneer days.

The following is the story of how the belief in this “ghost” was used to dissuade bad behavior.

Sightings of this ghost occurred along an old military road, a 25-mile stretch--known as the Ridge Road-- that ox-driven wagons traveled in the Lead Region of this state.

The early mining communities of Blue Mounds and Dodgeville in Iowa County bookended this 25-mile stretch. The settlement of Ridgeway that this ghost was named for was halfway between these two mining camps.

The ghost used the settlement as its headquarters.

It was said …

This ghost was unusual in that it can change its’ shape.

This phantom was a man with a whip that chased the living.

Or sometimes this ghost was a headless horseman.

Or even creepier--this entity was a fierce beast-like creature or ball of fire.

People warned …

This haunting was the result of a bar fight. Two brothers-- the ages of 14 and 15--had the misfortune to be involved in a saloon brawl in the 1840s. 

A rowdy threw the 14-year old into a fireplace where he burned to death. The other brother managed to escape but froze to death on his way home.

A Respected witness …

Doctor Cutler of Dodgeville was the first person to see this ghost in the 1850s.

He stated the face of this ghost appeared on a pole on his wagon as he was driving home one night--just as he passed the home of the deceased brothers.

Most frightening of all …

This entity would attack travelers and then would immediately disappear.

Blue Mounds

Several witnesses, including a well-liked man named John Lewis, who saw this ghost was then plagued by ailments and died.

The locals started to refuse to go out at night alone.

The reason this story was circulated . . .

Along this 25-mile stretch, between Dodgeville and Pokerville, were at least a dozen saloons each with a worse reputation than the last.

Gamblers, miners, and “toughs.” frequented these establishments.

Tavern fights often broke out between drunks, and robberies and murders were a common occurrence.

Many of the miners and locals were Welsh and Cornish folk--both these cultures were steeped in old superstitions.

As the story goes the Ridgeway Ghost was manufactured to help rid the region of the disreputable element, which hung out in these saloons.

Practical jokers then helped to spread the growing belief in this ghost. It only took a few “pranks,” which then threw the entire region into a panic.

In 1910 when the town of Ridgeway burnt down, it is said that this entity moved to the woods near Mineral Point.

* Source Folklore Pamphlets, 1921-45, by Charles E. Brown, Published by Wisconsin Historical Society

Kentucky Ghostlore

William Lynwood Montell, a former professor at Western Kentucky University, spent fifteen years collecting oral ghostlore. 

He and his students either recorded these stories as they were told or transcribed them carefully so they could be reprinted word for word.

The folklore narratives they collected had all been passed down from generation to generation. Montell published his collection in a book entitled, Ghosts along the Cumberland.

All these stories were collected in the south-central Kentucky foothills known as the Eastern Pennyroyal or Pennyrile.

Among the locals, Tale swapping was a regular form of entertainment. In this part of the U.S., ghost stories were referred to as tramp tales or bear tales. This kind of story was often shared while getting a haircut or told by a grandparent in the home.

The following is one of my favorites from this book. Since most “oral” folk stories do not read smoothly, I have taken the liberty to tweak this one.

Dividing Up the Dead

Origin 1791

One dark night a slave named Sam approached his master and said, “The Lord and the Devil are up at the graveyard, dividing up the dead.”

What actually was going on--two men were gathering hickory nuts and had gone into the graveyard to divide their nuts.

As Sam had passed the graveyard, he heard two voices mumbling, “One for me and one for you. One for me and one for you.”

His master replied, “Now, Sam, you know that can’t be true.” He continued, “ If I could just walk, I would go up there and see for myself.” The old master had been injured in an accident years before and couldn’t walk.

Sam was able to convince his master to let him carry him on his back up to the graveyard. As they stopped by the gate to listen, they heard the mumbling, “One for me and one for you. One for me and one for you.”

Finally, the counting stopped. One voice said, “That is all.” Another said, “No, there are two more by the gate. *

It is said this master who had not walked in years outran the strong slave back to the house.

* What the nut hunters actually meant--each had dropped one nut by the gate as they went in.

13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey

A book entitled, 13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey is a beloved volume widely read by both the young and old in the South.

Kathryn Tucker Windham * who wrote this book along with Margaret Gillis Figh wrote for the Selma Times-Journal and was an acclaimed folklorist. She once said:

“I don’t care whether you believe in ghosts. The good ghost stories do not require you believe in ghosts.”

These co-authors share a variety of suspenseful ghost legends in their book. Amidst these eerie tales, they manage to also share quite a bit of Alabama’s history.

Windham includes the name “Jeffrey” at the end of the title because this is the name of a friendly ghost that lived in her home. She stated Jeffrey actually was her “unofficial collaborator” in writing this book.

This collection includes a story about the Unquiet Ghost at Gaineswood, a story about a ghost named Evelyn Carter, who fills a Demopolis antebellum mansion with midnight musical interludes because her body wasn’t returned to Virginia.

Another story, The Phantom Steamboat of the Tombigbee, which I wrote about here, is about the wreck of the steamboat Eliza Battle. People still state they see this boat rise on cold nights --its cargo of cotton on fire.

Kathryn Tucker Windham

* Windham passed away in recent years.

The following is one of my favorite tales from this book.

Mobile’s Pipe Smoking Sea Captain

To his neighbor’s chagrin, a grizzled old sea captain moved into a home on their street. It was rumored he had been forced to leave his beloved sea because of a disagreement he had with another officer.

The Captain received few visitors and he had made it clear to his new neighbors that he could not abide landlubbers.

The neighbors watched with disdain as he puttered in his garden or sat smoking his pipe staring into space.

His longing for the sea drove him to visit the docks almost every day. He would smoke his pipe and watch the freighters load and unload their cargoes. In the afternoon, he would salute the last ship leaving the harbor and then sadly head home.

Eventually this sadness overtook the captain and after returning from the docks late one day his neighbors heard a gunshot followed by someone falling down stairs.

The neighbors forced their way into the house and found the Captain dead, his pipe still warm from his last smoke.

After the Captain's death an Englishman, Charles Smallwood bought the home. When he died his son William Smallwood and his family moved in. This was when the Captain’s ghost began to appear.

One night Charles and his wife heard someone falling down the stairs, sure it was one of their sons they checked to find both boys asleep in their beds. They found nothing near the stairs.

After this, they heard similar sounds night after night. They like their neighbors came to believe the home was haunted.

One morning Mrs. Smallwood discovered who the ghost was. She saw the figure of a strange man holding a stub pipe and wearing a Captain’s cap standing in her flower garden.

As she stared at him, he vanished.

She began to smell tobacco smoke near the home’s back entrance and in the garden. At first, she felt it was her sons sneaking a smoke. But she never discovered their hiding place.

One day she challenged them to come out and admit their guilt. Instead, she saw a nautical cap disappear among the trees.

Another time when she smelled the smoke and called out she heard a deep chuckle followed by a “salty oath.”

As time passed the smell of tobacco smoke became stronger, and Mrs. Smallwood realized this aroma announced the presence of the Captain.

She put up with his presence until one day he appeared to her valued cook. This lady had a nervous disposition, and when she saw the Captain standing at the doorway to her kitchen, she quit.

This was the last straw for Mrs. Smallwood. Shortly afterward, the family moved out.

For years after this the home remained empty--except for the smell of the Captain’s pipe smoke.

Windham and Figh followed up their popular first collection with six additional volumes of ghost stories.