These 10 Urban Legends From Across The World Will Surely Keep You Awake Tonight

Fear of anything keeps us fast on the draw and vigilant. Remember when you were little, and how you mother used to scare you saying that if you don’t finish the milk, that big dog in the dungeon will come and get you? And then you bottomed up the whole thing at once. Similarly, these urban legends kept people observant for years. Kids didn’t roam in the dark. parents took special care of their children and pets, people checked door’s lock twice before sleeping and everyone was told not to let anyone in without cross checking.

We don’t know if any of these stories are true, but it kept people alert and hopefully will keep you too.

1. Slit Mouthed Woman – Kuchisake-Onna (Japan)

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It is said that this young lady named Kuchisake-Onna was a samurai’s wife and she cheated on her husband with a younger and a better-looking man. When her husband discovered her betrayal, he punished her by slitting her mouth from ear to ear.

The myth is that her spirit still wanders as a girl with surgical mask on. She goes and asks people, ‘Am I pretty?’ If they say no, she rips them apart and if they say yes, she removes her mask and asks, ‘How about now?’ If they say no, she cuts them in half and if they say yes, she slits their mouth to make it just like hers. There is no escaping her.

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 2. Sexually Frustrated Ghosts- Korivi Deyyamu (India)

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These are the ghosts of ladies who haven’t had their sexual desires fulfilled. So, they look for men everywhere to satisfy their need. Although, they cannot enter any village which has a temple, so they target the travellers.

This myth is highly popular in South India and the men there are advised not to travel at night. If they do, they should look down and walk silently without any noise in order to not attract the ghost’s attention. If they get a feeling that they are being followed, then they are not suppose to look back and stutter as the spirits can sense the fear. Then they might feel someone holding them and saying ‘Raa’ (come) to which they are suppose to confidently reply ‘repu vasta’ (come tomorrow) and only then can they get out of there safely. If they fail to do any of these things, they will become the ghost’s slaves until their desire is fulfilled.

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3. The Greek Soldier (Greece)

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It is said that a Greek solider who was returning from World War II to marry her fiancé was tortured and killed by a group of fellow Greeks who had strong and hostile political beliefs. After his murder, there were incidents reported where an extremely good looking Greek solider in uniform used to appear and seduce war widows and virgin girls with the sole reason of impregnating them.

After five weeks of baby being born, the soldier used to disappear leaving behind a letter which said that he had returned from the dead merely to spread his seed, so that his sons might avenge his murder.

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 4. The Face Scratcher – Muh Nochwa (India)

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This phenomena became highly popular in early 2000s especially in the states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The word Muh-Nochwa actually means face scratcher and there were numerous incidents reported where people had their faces scratched out or disfigured. There were even deaths associated to Muh-Nochwa. It was believed that the attacker hurt your face violently and intended to suck your blood dry.

Even after so many instances, no one could trace his physical appearance. Some said he resembled an insect but some associated it to possessed creatures extra terrestrial beings.

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 5. The Newborn – Tiyanak (Philippines)

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This one is a little different from others. The ghost is always in the form of a newborn baby lying alone in the forest crying frantically. If any passer by picked up the baby to look for the mother or guardian, he would be scratched to death and his face will be eaten as the baby grew dagger like claws and teeth. Some say that it is foetus of a boy from a mother who died before giving birth.

The part which amused me was ‘how to escape the baby ghost?’ If you wear your clothes inside-out, the creature will leave you alone and wander back in the forest. These ghosts and their weird tastes!

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6. The Toilet Paper Ghost – Aka Manto (Japan)

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Japanese school bathrooms are one of the most scary places to be. This ghost called Aka Manto asks you a question when you are in the toilet. ‘Red paper or blue paper?’ If you say red, then your body will be torn apart until your clothes are red. If you say blue, your neck will be strangled until your face turns blue. If you try to outsmart the ghost by saying some other colour, you will be dragged to an unknown place and killed.

The only way to escape is to say ‘no paper’ as it leave you alone then.

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 7. Come Tomorrow Ghost – Nale Ba (India)

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If you visit South India, especially Bangalore, you will see ‘nale ba’ written on many doors. There’s a reason behind that practice. Few places there are suppose to be haunted by a ghost which knocks on doors and kills every member of the family as soon as the door is opened. The only way to escape is write ‘nale ba’ on your door which means ‘Come Tomorrow’.

If due to any reason the message got erased, then you know what will happen.

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8. The White Death (Scotland)

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This little girl in Scotland hated life and everything about it. So, to put an end to this misery, she killed herself. Coincidently, few days after her death, her entire family died with their limbs torn apart.

After that she roams around knocking on doors and kills the person who opens it. Her main aim is to keep her identity safe, so she kills everyone who gets to know about her. Guess what? You know about her now. Don’t open the door tonight!

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 9. The Black Eyed Kids (USA)

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These two kids basically try to get inside your house by talking you into it. So they will either say that they are lost and they want to call their parents or they want to use the rest room (basically things you cannot say no to). The younger kid will always keep his head down since that kid had no eyeballs and his eye sockets are blank and black. Once they enter the house, they obviously kill the owner.

The trick is to keep them out and not let them enter. They do not force if the owner is unwilling. Several incidents in USA have been reported where two creepy kids pester the owner to get inside the house.

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 10. Okiku Doll (Japan)

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This mysterious doll placed at Mannenji Temple in Japan is possessed by a spirit of a child. According to the temple, the doll had short cropped hair initially but it grew about 25 cm long down to the doll’s knees. Even though the hair is trimmed occasionally, it keeps growing back.

It is said that the girl for whom the doll was purchased died to to sudden cold and her restless spirit took refuge in the doll.

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I have done my work. Have a good night sleep. Don’t forget to look under the bed!

Source: http://www.storypick.com/urban-legends/

Raw Head and Bloody Bones

Way back in the deep woods there lived a scrawny old woman who had a reputation for being the best conjuring woman in the Ozarks. With her bedraggled black-and-gray hair, funny eyes - one yellow and one green - and her crooked nose, Old Betty was not a pretty picture, but she was the best there was at fixing what ailed a man, and that was all that counted.

Old Betty's house was full of herbs and roots and bottles filled with conjuring medicine. The walls were lined with strange books brimming with magical spells. Old Betty was the only one living in the Hollow who knew how to read; her granny, who was also a conjurer, had taught her the skill as part of her magical training.

Just about the only friend Old Betty had was a tough, mean, ugly old razorback hog that ran wild around her place. It rooted so much in her kitchen garbage that all the leftover spells started affecting it. Some folks swore up and down that the old razorback hog sometimes walked upright like man. One fellow claimed he'd seen the pig sitting in the rocker on Old Betty's porch, chattering away to her while she stewed up some potions in the kitchen, but everyone discounted that story on account of the fellow who told it was a little too fond of moonshine.

"Raw Head" was the name Old Betty gave the razorback, referring maybe to the way the ugly creature looked a bit like some of the dead pigs come butchering time down in Hog-Scald Hollow. The razorback didn't mind the funny name. Raw Head kept following Old Betty around her little cabin and rooting up the kitchen leftovers. He'd even walk to town with her when she came to the local mercantile to sell her home remedies.

Well, folks in town got so used to seeing Raw Head and Old Betty around the town that it looked mighty strange one day around hog-driving time when Old Betty came to the mercantile without him.

"Where's Raw Head?" the owner asked as he accepted her basket full of home-remedy potions. The liquid in the bottles swished in an agitate manner as Old Betty said: "I ain't seen him around today, and I'm mighty worried. You seen him here in town?"

"Nobody's seen him around today. They would've told me if they did," the mercantile owner said. "We'll keep a lookout fer you."

"That's mighty kind of you. If you see him, tell him to come home straightaway," Old Betty said. The mercantile owner nodded agreement as he handed over her weekly pay.

Old Betty fussed to herself all the way home. It wasn't like Raw Head to disappear, especially not the day they went to town. The man at the mercantile always saved the best scraps for the mean old razorback, and Raw Head never missed a visit. When the old conjuring woman got home, she mixed up a potion and poured it onto a flat plate.

"Where's that old hog got to?" she asked the liquid. It clouded over and then a series of pictures formed. First, Old Betty saw the good-for-nothing hunter that lived on the next ridge sneaking around the forest, rounding up razorback hogs that didn't belong to him. One of the hogs was Raw Head. Then she saw him taking the hogs down to Hog-Scald Hollow, where folks from the next town were slaughtering their razorbacks. Then she saw her hog, Raw Head, slaughtered with the rest of the pigs and hung up for gutting. The final picture in the liquid was the pile of bloody bones that had once been her hog, and his scraped-clean head lying with the other hogsheads in a pile.

Old Betty was infuriated by the death of her only friend. It was murder to her, plain and simple. Everyone in three counties knew that Raw Head was her friend, and that lazy, hog-stealing, good-for-nothing hunter on the ridge was going to pay for slaughtering him.

Now Old Betty tried to practice white conjuring most of the time, but she knew the dark secrets too. She pulled out an old, secret book her granny had given her and turned to the very last page. She lit several candles and put them around the plate containing the liquid picture of Raw Head and his bloody bones. Then she began to chant: "Raw Head and Bloody Bones. Raw Head and Bloody Bones."

The light from the windows disappeared as if the sun had been snuffed out like a candle. Dark clouds billowed into the clearing where Old Betty's cabin stood, and the howl of dark spirits could be heard in the wind that pummeled the treetops.

"Raw Head and Bloody Bones. Raw Head and Bloody Bones."

Betty continued the chant until a bolt of silver lightning left the plate and streaked out threw the window, heading in the direction of Hog-Scald Hollow.

When the silver light struck Raw Head's severed head, which was piled on the hunter's wagon with the other hog heads, it tumbled to the ground and rolled until it was touching the bloody bones that had once inhabited its body. As the hunter's wagon rumbled away toward the ridge where he lived, the enchanted Raw Head called out: "Bloody bones, get up and dance!"

Immediately, the bloody bones reassembled themselves into the skeleton of a razorback hog walking upright, as Raw Head had often done when he was alone with Old Betty. The head hopped on top of his skeleton and Raw Head went searching through the woods for weapons to use against the hunter. He borrowed the sharp teeth of a dying panther, the claws of a long-dead bear, and the tail from a rotting raccoon and put them over his skinned head and bloody bones.

Then Raw Head headed up the track toward the ridge, looking for the hunter who had slaughtered him. Raw Head slipped passed the thief on the road and slid into the barn where the hunter kept his horse and wagon. Raw Head climbed up into the loft and waited for the hunter to come home.

It was dusk when the hunter drove into the barn and unhitched his horse. The horse snorted in fear, sensing the presence of Raw Head in the loft. Wondering what was disturbing his usually-calm horse, the hunter looked around and saw a large pair of eyes staring down at him from the darkness in the loft.

The hunter frowned, thinking it was one of the local kids fooling around in his barn.

"Land o' Goshen, what have you got those big eyes fer?" he snapped, thinking the kids were trying to scare him with some crazy mask.

"To see your grave," Raw Head rumbled very softly. The hunter snorted irritably and put his horse into the stall.

"Very funny. Ha,ha," The hunter said. When he came out of the stall, he saw Raw Head had crept forward a bit further. Now his luminous yellow eyes and his bears claws could clearly be seen.

"Land o' Goshen, what have you got those big claws fer?" he snapped. "You look ridiculous."

"To dig your grave…" Raw Head intoned softly, his voice a deep rumble that raised the hairs on the back of the hunter's neck. He stirred uneasily, not sure how the crazy kid in his loft could have made such a scary sound. If it really was a crazy kid.

Feeling a little spooked, he hurried to the door and let himself out of the barn. Raw Head slipped out of the loft and climbed down the side of the barn behind him. With nary a rustle to reveal his presence, Raw Head raced through the trees and up the path to a large, moonlight rock. He hid in the shadow of the huge stone so that the only things showing were his gleaming yellow eyes, his bear claws, and his raccoon tail.

When the hunter came level with the rock on the side of the path, he gave a startled yelp. Staring at Raw Head, he gasped: "You nearly knocked the heart right out of me, you crazy kid! Land o' Goshen, what have you got that crazy tail fer?"

"To sweep your grave…" Raw Head boomed, his enchanted voice echoing through the woods, getting louder and louder with each echo. The hunter took to his heels and ran for his cabin. He raced passed the old well-house, passed the wood pile, over the rotting fence and into his yard. But Raw Head was faster. When the hunter reached his porch, Raw Head leapt from the shadows and loomed above him. The hunter stared in terror up at Raw Head's gleaming yellow eyes in the ugly razorback hogshead, his bloody bone skeleton with its long bear claws, sweeping raccoon's tail and his gleaming sharp panther teeth.

"Land o' Goshen, what have you got those big teeth fer?" he gasped desperately, stumbling backwards from the terrible figure before him.

"To eat you up, like you wanted to eat me!" Raw Head roared, descending upon the good-for-nothing hunter. The murdering thief gave one long scream in the moonlight. Then there was silence, and the sound of crunching.

Nothing more was ever seen or heard of the lazy hunter who lived on the ridge. His horse also disappeared that night. But sometimes folks would see Raw Head roaming through the forest in the company of his friend Old Betty. And once a month, on the night of the full moon, Raw Head would ride the hunter's horse through town, wearing the old man's blue overalls over his bloody bones with a hole cut-out for his raccoon tail. In his bloody, bear-clawed hands, he carried his raw, razorback hogshead, lifting it high against the full moon for everyone to see.

Source: http://americanfolklore.net/folklore/2010/07/raw_head_and_bloody_bones.html

Axe Murder Hollow

Susan and Ned were driving through a wooded empty section of highway. Lightning flashed, thunder roared, the sky went dark in the torrential downpour.

     “We’d better stop,”  said Susan. 

      Ned nodded his head in agreement. He stepped on the brake, and suddenly the car started to slide on the slick pavement. They plunged off the road and slid to a halt at the bottom of an incline.

     Pale and shaking, Ned quickly turned to check if Susan was all right.  When she nodded, Ned relaxed and looked through the rain soaked windows. 

     “I’m going to see how bad it is,” he told Susan, and when out into the storm. She saw his blurry figure in the headlight, walking around the front of the car. A moment later, he jumped in beside her, soaking wet. 

      “The car’s not badly damaged, but we’re wheel-deep in mud,” he said. “I’m going to have to go for help.”

      Susan swallowed nervously. There would be no quick rescue here. He told her to turn off the headlights and lock the doors until he returned. 

     Axe Murder Hollow. Although Ned hadn’t said the name aloud, they both knew what he had been thinking when he told her to lock the car.  This was the place where a man had once taken an axe and hacked his wife to death in a jealous rage over an alleged affair. Supposedly, the axe-wielding spirit of the husband continued to haunt this section of the road.

      Outside the car, Susan heard a shriek, a loud thump, and a strange gurgling noise. But she couldn’t see anything in the darkness.

      Frightened, she shrank down into her seat. She sat in silence for a while, and then she noticed another sound.  Bump. Bump. Bump.  It was a soft sound, like something being blown by the wind. 

      Suddenly, the car was illuminated by a bright light.  An official sounding voice told her to get out of the car. Ned must have found a police officer. Susan unlocked the door and stepped out of the car.  As her eyes adjusted to the bright light, she saw it.

      Hanging by his feet from the tree next to the car was the dead body of Ned.  His bloody throat had been cut so deeply that he was nearly decapitated. The wind swung his corpse back and forth so that it thumped against the tree. Bump. Bump. Bump.

     Susan screamed and ran toward the voice and the light. As she drew close, she realized the light was not coming from a flashlight. Standing there was the glowing figure of a man with a smile on his face and a large, solid, and definitely real axe in his hands. She backed away from the glowing figure until she bumped into the car.  

      “Playing around when my back was turned,” the ghost whispered, stroking the sharp blade of the axe with his fingers. “You’ve been very naughty.”

      The last thing she saw was the glint of the axe blade in the eerie, incandescent light.

Source: http://americanfolklore.net/folklore/2009/03/axe_murder_hollow.html

The Glass Ball

The four girls who shared room 414 were sitting on the floor, chatting and laughing, when they were interrupted by a knock on the door.

They heard the voice of the Dormitory Administrator say, “Room 414! I have a parcel for you!”

None of them were expecting a package in the mail, so they all wondered who it was from. Shen Xin got up and opened the door. She took the package from the hands of the administrator, then shut the door and went looking for a pair of scissors to open it. She tore off the wrapping paper and opened the package.

When they saw what was inside, the girls were shocked. It was a glass ball that was crystal clear and seemed to be filled with some sort of liquid.

“Who could have sent this?” Zhou Xiao asked.

“Look at the name on the packaging,” said Yu Fei as she picked up the brown paper wrapper and looked at the label.

Su Yun looked over her shoulder and exclaimed, “Anonymous! That’s who!”

“Maybe it’s from a boy who has a crush on one of us and he was too embarrassed to write his name on it,” said Zhou Xiao.

Suddenly, the dorm went dark.

“Lights out,” Shen Xin said, placing the glass ball on the table.

The girls quickly washed and climbed to bed. Su Yun finished brushing her teeth and before lying down, she took another look at the shining glass ball on a table. In the darkness, it seemed to glow with a strange light shining from within.

Su Yun was tired and as soon as she lay down and closed her eyes, she fell asleep. Before long, she was awoken by a loud noise. She rolled out of bed and walked to the door. Then, she saw a familiar figure emerge from the darkness.

“Shen Xin? Is that you?” she whispered.

As the shadowy figure came towards her, she realized that it was indeed Shen Xin, but something was not right. In her hands, she seemed to be holding something.

Su Yun felt a chill run down her spine. She wanted to run away, but she couldn’t move. Shen Xin was staring at her coldly, as if she didn’t even know her. Even more frightening was that, in her hands, she was holding a knife. The sharp cold blade glinted in the moonlight.

“Shen, what are you…” Suyun didn’t even have time to finish her sentance because suddenly, she saw Shen Xin raise the dagger above her head.

“Ah!” Su Yun shrieked. Her first reaction was to run, but after a few steps, she bumped into someone else. It was Zhou Xiao, but there was something wrong. Her hands were stained with blood and she was holding a severed arm and chewing on it.

Su Yun gasped in horror, and stumbled backwards. Her hands and legs were trembling.

Shen Xin and Zhou Xiao have become ghosts, she thought, and now they’re going to kill me too!
In a panic, Su Yun pushed Zhou Xiao and ran past her, to the stairs. As she ran down the stairs, she bumped into someone else. It was Yu Fei! For a moment, she was relieved, but then she took a closer look. Yu Fei didn’t have any feet! Her eyes were staring straight ahead and her lips were moving. She kept repeating, over and over, “… glass balls… glass balls… glass balls…”

Suyun pushed past her and tumbled down the stairs. The three ghosts were close at her heels. She had only one thought in her head. She had to escape from them.

When she reached the first floor, Su Yun crashed through the double doors and raced down the hallway. She kept trying the doors, but found all of them locked. Eventually, she found a janitor’s closet that was open. She ducked inside and slammed the door behind her. Then, she piled up some old chairs against the door, barricading herself inside. Then, she breathed a sigh of relief.

All of a sudden, Su Yun heard the sound of heavy footsteps coming down the hallway. Clomp, Clomp, Clomp, Clomp, Clomp. She trembled with every step.

Just then, she heard a tapping sound behind her. She twirled around and her eyes grew wide with fright as she saw a deformed face pressed up against the window. It was the face of Yu Fei! Her face was scrunched up against the glass and she was slapping her hand against the rain-soaked window.
Her mouth was still moving and she seemed to be saying something Su Yun couldn’t make out.
Su Yun was almost crying now. She was in a pit of despair. Why are they chasing me? she thought. What is happening? This is all too terrible!

Suyun screamed and lifting up a chair, she smashed the window. The glass shattered and Yu Fei’s deformed face disappeared back into the rain.

Su Yun collapsed to the floor, shaking and trembling. What could have made the three lovely girls turn into such terrible ghosts? She thought about the glass ball. Where had it come from? Could it be responsible for all of this madness?

Perhaps if she was able to break that glass ball, all of this would end. Su Yun’s mind was filled with questions, but for now, this was the only answer.

When Su Yun woke up, it was morning. The wind was blowing through the broken window and she was shivering with the cold.

She listened at the door, but she couldn’t hear anything. She pulled away the chairs, opened the door and cautiously peeked out. The hallway was empty. Everything was silent. Shen, Xiao and Yufei were nowhere in sight.

Su Yun took a deep breath and made her way down the corridor to the stairs. She slowly walked up the steps and came to the door of her room.

When she peeked inside, what she saw made her immediately tense up. Zhou Xiao was crouching in the corner, her eyes still dull and her hands still covered in blood. She was still chewing on a severed arm.

When she looked up, Zhou Xiao stopped chewing and slowly got to her feet. She threw her head back, let out a strange laugh and said, “Su Yun…”

“Don’t come near me!” Su Yun shouted.

Zhou Xiao was gliding slowly across the room, closing in.

“What do you want from me?” Su Yun cried, panic and fear making her burst into tears.

“Your life… Your death…” Zhou Xiao laughed, advancing step by step.

“Why?” asked Su Yun.

“We’re like sisters, aren’t we?” said Zhou Xiao. “All four of us should be together. Now that three of us have become ghosts, don’t you want to join us?”

“No!” Su Yun shouted, violently shaking her head.

“We are all under the influence of the glass ball… It has turned us all into ghosts… Everyone in the university… You’re the only one still alive… You’re the odd one out… We want you to stay with us… We want you to join us…”

Su Yun rushed across the room and grabbed the glass ball. As she felt it in her hand, she looked at it, still exuding a strange shimmer.

Just destroy it, she thought. Then everything will be over!

Su Yun held the glass ball above her head and with all her strength, she dashed it against the ground. The glass ball smashed into a million tiny pieces and a pool of glowing liquid spread across the floor.
It’s over, she thought. It’s all over. We’re safe now.

Su Yun leaned against the wall and let out a long sigh of relief.

However, the next second, she stared in horror, because she saw the pool of liquid from the glass ball growing larger and larger. It spread out across the floor, blocking her escape. All of a sudden, the liquid formed into a bloody hand that stretched out to her.

The next day, the police came to the university and found it inexplicably empty. Every single student and teacher had disappeared. All that remained was one badly decomposed body. It was found in Room 414. The dead body was later identified as a teenage girl named Su Yun.

Source: http://www.scaryforkids.com/glass-ball/

The Front Porch

A friend of mine named Max, told me about a frightening experience his mother had years ago. It makes my blood run cold every time I think of it. They lived in a house on an isolated property in Australia. It had once been a farm and their nearest neighbors lived a few miles away.

One night, his mother couldn’t sleep, so she got out of bed and went down to the living room. She switched on the TV and curled up on the couch, hoping that would help her fall asleep. There were no other lights on in the house, just the glow from the TV.

All of a sudden, out of the corner of her eye, his mother saw something move quickly across their front porch. She got up, turned the light on and looked out the windows but she couldn’t see anything. She left the light on, sat back down on the couch and continued watching TV.

After a couple of minutes, she saw it again. This time, she didn’t get up. She just stayed in her seat and stared out the window. When she looked at the steps that led up to the front porch, she saw a blackened shape peering in at her. It looked like a man’s head and shoulders, but it was as if he had been charred and burned. The shape was just sitting on the bottom step staring in at her.

She couldn’t see the rest of it, just the upper torso. She realized that if it was a person, she should be able to see the rest of the body because the steps weren’t that big.

Then, just as suddenly as it had appeared, it was gone. Shaken by what she had seen and doubting her own eyes, she got up and went back to bed.

When she woke up the next morning, she her husband what she had witnessed. As he listened, he went very quiet and his face turned pale. When she asked him what was wrong, he told her that a couple of years before they moved into that house, it had been owned by a farmer. The man was driving his tractor out on the scrubland surrounding the house when it overturned. The tractor rolled over the man and he was crushed beneath it. The man’s body was cut in half and then the tractor burst into flames. By the time anyone realized what had happened, his body was burned to a crisp.

That was why she had only seen the upper torso of the burned, charred figure that night. The man that had been chopped in half and burned alive. Only half of him was sitting on the step and he was using his hands to run along their front porch that night. They moved not that long after she saw that…

Source: http://www.scaryforkids.com/front-porch/

The Last Letter

Source: http://scary-story.com/entry/death/2014/09/29/the-last-letter.html

I spent several days of that summer out of city. When I returned home I noticed mail box stuffed with letters to the top. There were about thirty of them. Letters without return address, some heavy and wet to the touch as if they were in the water or, rather, filled with water within.  

My name and address were on all envelopes. Strangely enough, they were scrawled across the envelope with red ink for the most part. Letter smelled decaying meat and garbage. Frankly speaking, I didn’t want to take them home, but curiosity turned out to be stronger than disgust. I hurry-scurry managed to take letters into the house and spilled them in a sink in the kitchen to save home from this stench. 

I chose from the heap least moist and more or less neat letter and opened it. There were photos – pictures of strangers with punctured eyes, knocked-out teeth, mouths long-drawn in a crazy smile and cut open throats. What I saw made me sick. I didn’t what to think what was in other letters. I feverishly opened letter by letter and little by little I gathered a heap of photos with mutilated people - bodies with cut off limbs, lying on operating tables dissected bodied with taken away organs, hung people with bowelled guts, bleeding… Traces of blood and dirt could be seen on some wet letters. 

I caught a sight of dimly familiar person in one picture. And the more letters I opened, the more familiar faces I saw. I had seen some people at work, with some people I had gone to school. I found photos with mutilated bodies of my close friends and family in last letters.  

When I kept the last letter I was stricken with sudden understanding, but I had no choice. I opened it and saw… myself. As opposed to the rest of envelopes I was alive in the picture, my eyes were all right, hands and feet were in place. But… 

Numbing, I understood that the pic was taken at the threshold of my house – right before I took my accursed mail.  

I heard steps behind the back. 

Down there

There was a man and a woman who lived on a run-down farm in the middle of nowhere. The husband was a mean and cantankerous old man who took pleasure in making his wife’s life miserable. He seldom spoke to her and when she said anything, he would tell her to shut up.

One day, the man was digging a well on his property and his wife was helping him. All of a sudden, the bottom dropped out of the deep hole. The man was puzzled and wanted to see what had happened, so he told his wife to go back to the house and fetch a flashlight.

When she came running back with it, he switched the flashlight on, tied it to a rope and lowered it down into the hole. It went down and down, but no matter how much rope he let out, it never seemed to reach the bottom.

The man started pulling the rope back up, but it got caught on something. He started pulling on it, but it felt like something was pulling back. Frustrated, the man gave it a big tug and suddenly, the rope was almost yanked out of his hands.

Eventually, he managed to pull the rope up, but when he got to the end of it, the flashlight was gone. 
Instead, there was a small, white pouch attached to it. With trembling hands, he opened it and to his surprise, a chunk of gold tumbled out along with a handwritten note.

He picked up the note and tried to read it, but it was written in a language he couldn’t decipher, so he tossed it away. He told his wife he was going into town to buy more flashlights and ordered her to keep an eye on the hole while he was away.

As soon as he was gone, she hurried back to the house and rummaged through the cupboards looking for a dictionary. Then, she took a big piece of ham out of the fridge. She also grabbed a pen and paper and wrote a note. When she returned to the hole, she put all these items in a bucket, tied it to a rope and lowered it down.

The woman waited for a while and then she pulled the rope back up. It seemed much heavier and twice she had to stop to take a rest. When she finally hauled the bucket back up, she was shocked to see that it was filled to the brim with sparkling jewels. There was also another note and this time, it was in English.

It read: “Send more food”.

She hurried back to the house and hid the jewels where she was sure her husband wouldn’t find them.

When the man returned, the back of his pick-up truck was filled with flashlights. He put a few of them in the bucket and lowered them down, but when he pulled the rope back up, he was outraged to find that the bucket wasn’t filled with gold or jewels, just a few broken flashlights.

He flew into a violent rage, stomping on the remains of the flashlights and cursing at the top of his lungs. Then, he ran back to the house and fetched his shotgun.

He told his wife he was going to go down into the hole and give them a piece of his mind. She begged him not to go, but he was so furious, he wouldn’t listen. He attached a big oil drum to the winch on the back of his pick-up truck. Then, he climbed into the drum.

He gave his wife orders to lower him down, and after ten minutes, bring him back up again. She threw the switch and the man was lowered down in the oil drum.

The woman stared at her watch as ten whole minutes passed, then she flicked the switch and the winch began to drag the oil drum back to the surface. She peered into the drum, but her husband wasn’t there. Instead, it was filled with gold bars, jewelry and coins. Sitting on top of them was another note.

It read: “Thanks for the meat”.

Source: http://www.scaryforkids.com/down-there/

8 Feet Tall

My grandparents lived in Japan. Every Summer, my parents would take me there on holiday to visit them. They lived in a small village and they had a big backyard. I loved to play there during the Summer. When we arrived, my grandparents always welcomed me with open arms. I was their only grandchild, so they spoiled me.

The last time I saw them was the Summer when I was 8 years old.

As usual, my parents booked a flight to Japan and we drove from the airport to my grandparents house. They were delighted to see me and had a lot of little presents to give me. My parents wanted to have some time by themselves, so after a few days, they took a trip to another part of Japan, leaving me in the care of my Grandma and Grandpa.

One day, I was playing out in the backyard. My grandparents were inside the house. It was a hot Summer’s day and I lay down on the grass to rest. I stared up at the clouds and enjoyed the feeling of the soft rays of the sun and the gentle breeze. Just as I was about to get up, I heard a strange sound.

“Po… Po… Po… Po… Po… Po… Po…”

I didn’t know what it was and it was hard to figure out where it was coming from. It sounded almost like somebody was making the noise themselves… as if they were just saying, “Po…Po… Po…” over and over again in a deep, masculine voice.

I was looking around, searching for the source of the noise when I suddenly noticed something on top of the tall hedges that enclosed the backyard. It was a straw hat. It wasn’t resting on the hedge, it was behind it. That’s where the sound was coming from.

“Po… Po… Po… Po… Po… Po… Po…”

Then, the hat began to move, as if someone was wearing it. The hat stopped at a small gap in the hedge and I could see a face peering through. It was a woman. But, the hedges were high… almost 8 feet tall…



I was surprised at how tall the woman was. I wondered if she was wearing stilts or some sort of huge high heeled shoes. Then, a split second later, she walked off and the strange noise disappeared with her, fading into the distance.

Bewildered, I got up and wandered back into the house. My grandparents were in the kitchen drinking tea. I sat down at the table and, after a while, I told my grandparents what I had seen. They weren’t really paying attention to me, until I mentioned that distinctive sound.

“Po… Po… Po… Po… Po… Po… Po…”

As soon as I said that, both of them suddenly froze. Grandma’s eyes grew wide and she covered her mouth with her hand. Grandpa’s face became very serious and he grabbed me by the arm.

“This is very important,” he said, in an intense voice. “You must tell us exactly… How tall was she?”

“As tall as the garden hedge,” I replied, beginning to get scared.

My grandfather bombarded me with questions… “Where was she standing? When did this happen? 

What did you do? Did she see you?”

I tried to answer all his questions as best I could. He suddenly rushed out to the hallway and made a phonecall. I couldn’t hear what he was saying. I looked over at my Grandma and she was trembling.
Grandpa came barging back into the room and spoke to my grandmother.

“I’ve got to go out for a while,” he said. “You stay here with the child. Don’t take your eyes off him for a second.”

“What’s going on, Grandpa?” I cried.

He looked at me with a sad expression in his eyes and said, “You’ve been liked by Hachishakusama.”
With that, he hurried out, got into his truck and drove off.

I turned to my grandmother and cautiously asked, “Who’s Hachishakusama?”

“Don’t worry,” she replied in a shaking voice. “Grandpa will do something. There’s no need for you to worry.”

As we sat nervously in the kitchen waiting for my grandfather to come back, she explained what was happening. She told me there was a dangerous thing that was haunting the area. They called it “Hachishakusama” because of its height. In Japanese, “Hachishakusama” means “Eight Feet Tall”.

It takes on the appearance of an extremely tall woman and it makes a sound like “Po… Po… Po…” in a deep, male voice. It appears slightly diffently, depending on who sees it. Some say it looks like a haggard old woman in a kimono and others say it is a girl in a white funeral shroud. One thing that never changes is its height and the sound it makes.

A long time ago, it was captured by monks and they managed to confine it in a ruined building on the outskirts of the village. They trapped it using 4 small religious statues called “jizos” that they placed at the North, South, East and West of the ruins and it wasn’t supposed to be able to move from there. Somehow it managed to escape.

The last time it appeared was 15 years ago. My grandmother said that anyone who saw Eight Feet Tall was destined to die within a few days.

It all sounded so crazy, I wasn’t sure what to believe.

When Grandpa came back, there was an old woman with him. She introduced herself as “K-san” and handed me a small crumpled piece of parchment, saying, “Here, take this and hold it.” Then, she and Grandpa went upstairs to do something. I was left alone in the kitchen with my grandmother again.

I needed to go to the toilet. Granny followed me to the bathroom and wouldn’t let me shut the door. I was beginning to get really frightened by all this.

After a while, Grandpa and K-san took me upstairs and brought me into my bedroom. The windows were covered in newspaper and lots of ancient runes had been written on them. There were small bowls of salt in all four corners of the room and a small Buddha figure placed at the center of the room on top of a wooden box. There was also a bright blue bucket.

“What’s the bucket for?” I asked.

“That’s for your pee and poo,” Grandpa replied.

K-san sat me down on the bed and said, “Soon, the sun will be setting, so listen carefully. You must stay in this room until tomorrow morning. You must not come out under any circumstances until 7 o’clock tomorrow morning. Your grandmother and your grandfather will not speak to you or call you until then. Remember, do not leave the room for any reason until then. I will let your parents know what is going on.”

She spoke in such a grave tone that all I could do was quietly nod my head.

“You have to follow K-san’s instructions to the letter,” Grandpa told me. “And never let go of the parchment she gave you. And if anything happens, pray to Buddha. And make sure you lock this door when we leave.”

They walked out into the hallway and after saying goodbye to them, I closed the bedroom door and locked it. I turned on the TV and tried to watch, but I was so nervous, I felt sick to my stomach. Grandma had left some snacks and rice balls for me, but I couldn’t eat them. I felt like I was in prison and I was very depressed and scared. I lay down on the bed and waited. Before I knew it, I was asleep.

When I woke up, it was just after 1 AM. All of a sudden, I realized that something was tapping on the window.

“Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap…”

I felt the blood draining from my face and my heart skipped a beat. I desperately tried to calm myself down, telling myself it was just the wind playing tricks or maybe the branches of a tree. I turned up the volume on the TV to drown out the tapping noise. Eventually, it stopped altogether.

That was when I heard Grandpa calling me.

“Are you OK in there?” he asked. “If you’re scared you don’t have to stay in there all alone. I can come in and keep you company.”

I smiled and rushed over to open door, but then, I stopped in my tracks. I had goosebumps all over my body. It sounded like Grandpa’s voice, but somehow, it was different. I couldn’t tell what was, but I just knew…

“What are you doing?” Grandpa asked. “You can open the door now.”

I glanced to my left and a chill went down my spine. The salt in the bowls was slowly turning black.

I backed away from the door. My whole body was trembling with fear. I fell to my knees in front of the Buddha statue and clutched the piece of parchment tightly in my hand. I started desperately praying for help.

“Please save me from Hachishakusama,” I wailed.

Then, I heard the voice outside the door saying:

“Po… Po… Po… Po… Po… Po… Po…”

The tapping on the window started up again. I was overcome by fear and I crouched there in front of the statue, half-crying and half-praying for the rest of the night. I felt like it would never end, but eventually it was morning. The salt in all 4 bowls was pitch black.

I checked my watch. It was 7:30 AM. I cautiously opened the door. Grandma and K-san were standing outside waiting for me. When she saw my face, Grandma burst into tears.

“I’m so glad you’re still alive,” she said.

I went downstairs and was surprised to see my father and mother sitting in the kitchen. Grandpa came in and said, “Hurry up! We’ve got to get going.”

We went to the front door and there was a large black van waiting in the driveway. Several men from 
the village were standing around it, pointing at me and whispering, “That’s the boy.”

The van was a 9-seater and they put me in the middle, surrounded by eight men. K-san was in the 
drivers seat.

The man on my left, looked down at me and said, “You’ve got yourself in quite a spot of trouble. I know you’re probably worried. Just keep your head down and your eyes shut. We can’t see it, but you can. Don’t open your eyes until we’ve got you safely out of here.”

Grandpa drove in front and my dad’s car was following behind. When everyone was ready, our little convoy started moving. We were going fairly slow… around 20km/h or maybe less. After a while, K-san said, “This is where it gets hard,” and started muttering a prayer under her breath.

That was when I heard the voice.

“Po… Po… Po… Po… Po… Po… Po…”

I clutched the parchment K-san had given me tightly in my hand. I kept my head down, but I peeked outside. I saw a white dress fluttering in the breeze. It was moving along with the van. It was Eight Feet Tall. She was outside the window, but she was keeping pace with us.

Then, suddenly she bent down and peered into the van.

“No!” I gasped.

The man beside me shouted, “CLOSE YOUR EYES!”

I immediately shut my eyes as hard as I could and tightened my grip on the piece of parchment. Then the tapping began.

“Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap…”

The voice became louder.

“Po… Po… Po… Po… Po… Po… Po…”

There was tapping on the windows all around us. All of the men in the van were startled and on edge, muttering nervously to themselves. They couldn’t see Eight Feet Tall and they couldn’t hear her voice, but they could hear her tapping on the windows. K-san started praying louder and louder until she was almost shouting. The tension inside the van was unbearable.

After a while the tapping stopped and the voice disappeared.

K-san looked back at us and said, “I think we’re safe now.”

All of the men around me breathed a sigh of relief. The van pulled over to the side of the road and the men got out. They transferred me into my dad’s car. My mother held me close and tears were running down her cheeks.

Grandpa and my father bowed to the men and they went on their way. K-san came to the window and asked me to show her the piece of parchment she had given me. When I opened my hand, I saw that it had gone completely black.

“I think you will be OK now,” she said. “But just to be sure, hold onto this for a while.” She handed me a new piece of parchment.

After that, we drove straight to the airport and Grandpa saw us safely on the plane. When we took off, my parents breathed a sigh of relief. My father told me he had heard about “Eight Feet Tall” before. Years ago, his friend had been liked by her. The boy disappeared and was never seen again.

My father said there were other people who had been liked by her and lived to tell about it. They all had to leave Japan and settle down in foreign countries. They were never able to go back to their homeland.

She always chooses children as her victims. They say it’s because children are dependant on their parents and family members. This makes them easier to deceive when she poses as their relatives.

He said the men in the van were all blood relatives of mine, and that’s why they had been sitting all around me and why my father and Grandpa had been driving in front and in back. It was all done to try and confuse Hachishakusama. It took a while to contact everyone and get them all together, so that was why I had to be confined in room all night.

He told me that one the little Jizo statues (the ones that were meant to keep her trapped) had been 
broken and that was how she escaped.

It gave me the chills. I was glad when we finally got back home.

All of this happened more than 10 years ago. I haven’t seen my grandparents since then. I haven’t been able to so much as set foot in the country. Afterwards, I would call them every few weeks and talk to them on the phone.

Over the years, I tried to convince myself that it was just an urban legend, that everything that happened was just some elaborate prank. But sometimes, I’m not so sure.

My grandfather died two years ago. When he was sick, he wouldn’t allow me to visit him and he left strict instructions in his will that I wasn’t to attend his funeral. It was all very sad.

My grandmother called a few days ago. She said that she had been diagnosed with cancer. She missed me terribly and wanted to see me one last time before she died.

“Are you sure, Grandma?” I asked. “Is it safe?”

“It’s been 10 years,” she said. “All that happened a long time ago. It’s all forgotten. You’re all grown 
up now. I’m sure there won’t be a problem.”

“But… but… what about Hachishakusama?” I said.

For a moment, there was silence on the other end of the phone. Then, I heard a deep masculine voice saying:

“Po… Po… Po… Po… Po… Po… Po…”

Source: http://www.scaryforkids.com/eight-feet-tall/