Hanako – the Japanese Phantom of the Toilet
June 8th, 2009 by timbotron
“Hanako of the Toilet” has been a Japanese ghost story for at least 60 years – she is a phantom schoolgirl who inhabits the 3rd floor girls’ bathroom in public schools in urban Japan. She haunts the second toilet stall (from the left) and is often described as wearing a schoolgirl’s uniform or a red skirt and having bobbed hair.
Children dare one another to enter the second toilet stall (or a stall right next to it) and to knock or call out to Hanako three times. She will respond by whispering “yessss,” and some say that she will then appear in the toilet stall or even try to strangle the summoner.
The back story about the death of Hanako varies from region to region: hiding in the bathroom during an air raid (during WWII), being trapped or murdered in the bathroom when school was out of session, being killed by bullies at school, or being killed by an abusive parent.
Super Donkey Strong Bonus Round:
An excerpt from the Google translation of the Japanese Wikipedia page about Hanako:
“I do not even hate the color of the White in milk, like the color system of red and blue, belonging to the school in table tennis, hay fever have information such as.”
