Jeannie Lin, author of Chinese historicals suggested a story her mother had told her about a creature made from a snake and a cat that could reanimate corpses.  A little research produced a bakeneko.   Though some of the details don’t match, the bakeneko is a cat ghost who was once a cat but became a monster through a number of possibilities including living to a certain age, growing to a certain size or being allowed to keep their tails.

It creates ghostly fireballs, torments sleepers in the house, walks around on its hind legs  and will kill the mistress of the house and devour her so that it can be in charge.  So basically, if you replace fireballs with hairballs you have a regular cat.

But this cat, if left in a room with a fresh corpse, can reanimate a corpse.  Which may or may not be a good thing, I guess.  It isn’t mentioned whether the person comes back normal or not.  It also isn’t mentioned what happens if the cat is left with a corpse that is past its expiration date. I read that it wasn’t uncommon for people to cut off their cat’s tail to prevent it from turning into a bakeneko.   Which seems pretty harsh, considering, but I guess you can’t take chances with demon cats.

However, it should be noted that not all bakeneko are bad.  Some rescue their owners, some teach them how to get rich.  Some even find a way to turn themselves into humans so they can marry their owners.   Yet another reminder that some people need to be taught the difference between loving their pets and loving their pets.

Something else I found in my search is the absolutely horrifying sounding ittan-momen,  a ghost who flies through the night and then suffocates people with layers of cloth.  Maybe this isn’t as scary sounding to other people but i have a seriously strong image of spectral cloth wrapping all around your face, flying at you from nowhere, attacking you until you can’t breathe.  shudder.

I did read this little story on wikipedia though.  One day, a handsome visiting priest named Anjin fell in love with a beautiful woman named Kiyohime, but after a time he overcame his passions and refrained from further meetings. Kiyo became furious at the sudden change of heart and pursued him in rage. The priest and Kiyohime met at the edge of the Hidaka river, where the priest asked a boatman to help him to cross the river, but told him not to let her cross with his boat. When Kiyo saw that Anjin was escaping her, she jumped into the river and started to swim after him. While swimming in the torrent of the Hidaka river, she transformed into a large serpent because of her rage.

The lesson here being, if you’re furious because your man dumps you I recommend not getting so mad that you turn into a giant murderous serpent.  You should also probably refrain from leaving antagonistic notes on his facebook wall.

There are so many really interesting Japanese myths that I’m saving some for later in the month. Because this stuff is super cool.  Seriously, I can’t believe how much of this I didn’t know.

But one last, really horrifying story for you, which is a combination of good old fashioned folk tales and today’s bedazzled version of a folk tale, the urban myth.  The very disturbing story of Kuchinsake-onna begins during the Heian period when a beautiful wife or concubine of a samurai induces him to jealously.   Either because she’s really having an affair or because he’s an over reactive douche.  Either way, he goes nuts.

The samurai, extremely jealous and feeling cuckolded, attacks her and slits her mouth from ear to ear, screaming “Who’ll think you’re beautiful now?!”

From there the story becomes an urban legend, especially popular in the 1970′s.  It was said that her ghost wanders around on foggy evenings covered with a surgical mask.  In America that would be weird enough to send possible hauntees packing, but in Japan wearing surgical masks isn’t odd at all.

The wikipedia entry shares the following, ‘When she encounters someone (primarily children, teenagers or college/high school students), she will shyly ask, “Am I pretty?” (“Watashi kirei?“). If the person answers yes, she will take off her mask and say, “How about now?” (“Kore demo?“). At this point, if the victim answers “No,” she will slay them or cut their mouths to resemble hers (in many versions, her weapon is a pair of scissors). Before she kills the victims that responded with no, she would take them to her old house where her husband cut her. If the victim tells her she is pretty a second time, she follows the victim home and slays them at the doorway to their residence, due to the fact that “kirei” (きれい), Japanese for ‘pretty,’ is a near homophone of “kire” (切れ), the imperative form of “to cut”. In other versions of the myth if you reply yes after she removes the mask she will give you a large blood soaked ruby and walk away. Another version says that if you reply yes, she will take her scissors and cut your mouth from ear to ear, making you resemble her, but may let you live. On most versions of the myth she is impossible to escape, as she can either appear in front of you no matter which way you turn or can move at superhuman speeds and catch you.’

So basically there’s no way to ditch this girl.  But wait, there is.  ‘If the victim answers “You’re average”, they are saved. When the urban legend was revived around 2000, the answer that would save you was changed to “so-so,” with the change that this answer causes the kuchisake-onna to think about what to do, and her victim can escape while she is in thought. One other way is to ask her if you are pretty, she will get confused and leave. In 2010, by telling her you have a previous engagement to attend to, she will pardon her manners and excuse herself from your presence.’

Let this creepy butt story be another lesson to you.  If weird ladies in face masks start asking you if they’re pretty just say you’ve got to be somewhere in a hurry.  Additionally, if a strange woman asks you if her butt looks big in those jeans I recommend a similar answer.  Cause that girl will cut you.

AMBER