Maidens of the Kaleidoscope
~Hakurei Shrine~ => Touhou Addict Recovery Center => Topic started by: Forte Blackadder on April 16, 2011, 12:46:47 AM
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Hello. As a touhou fan, I assume you're more or less interested in myths like youkai, ghost, demon and so on? This thread is to share what you know and what you've experienced. Maybe not the usual entertainment, but I guess it's fine ;)
First, as the new TH13, I'd like to share something I know about Jiang Shi...
Jiang Shi is originally from China, the taoists (shaman for clearer definition) couldn't pay the fee to transport all the soldiers' corpse back home so they decided to revive them and let them walk by themselves. They discovered this when a black cat (in some stories, a black lynx) jumped over a corpse and it jumped up. A huge success! Except... the Jiang shi weren't intelligent enough to behave, and went on a rampage. Their instinct drove them to seek Chi (life force) from living creatures and human was of course a meal. Sooooo, the escorting team fought back, but heck, as a corpse the Jiang Shi didn't feel pain, they also gained a great deal of defense due to their body decay. Because of this, the Jiang Shi's only way of travelling is hopping, with their arms outstretched (to grab the prey). They were enhanced with Taoist magic and became very very dangerous. The soldiers can't defeat them, in fact, there was no way to defeat a Jiang Shi at that time. So, people sit down and discussed. They then found out these techniques:
1. To avoid a Jiang Shi:
- They're dead, so they can't see nor smell. The only way for them to target is sound. That's right, do not run or scream when you see a Jiang shi. Stand still and hold your breath, they'll pass you.
- They're summoned by Taoist magic, so it's possible to counter it with taoist magic (they use I Ching, which heavily bases on Yin-Yang: everything has a counterpart). A charm, a mirror or a ba guai sign on your door, the Jiang Shi can't pass it (but they can jump in your windows so I don't see any point)
- A bunch of monk chanting an anti-evil chant, this works on every kind of Chinese demon, quite expensive tho, and also requires the monks to outlevel the evil, or else they can still go in and kill everyone.
- A rooster: its call bring the Sun, and the Sun pushes down all evil. We all knew that didn't we.
2. To defeat a Jiang Shi:
- Dislocate the joints, they can't attack.
- Cut off the head, pretty typical.
- Hold the legs tightly. This will eventually stop the Jiang Shi, their body is hardened and straight, so they can't reach you as you lay down on the ground.
- Stab it with a weapon made of peach wood (like silver in western myth)
- Fire.
- Black dog's blood: dog is the animal that can sense spirits and protect you from evil, the black dog is the superior at this (myth, don't ask me why). So they say its blood works wonder on evil.
- Sunlight.
In the chart of Asian demons, Jiang Shi is placed "dangerous", higher than normal zombie or ghost, less than normal fighting youkai. They are also listed as a "servant" like shikigami because the taoists can controlled them now.
So yeah, they're full of weakness right? But the Chinese didn't think it's enough. They then realized how effective it'd be if they used Jiang Shi on war. An army of dead who you don't need to care about casualty, deadly and don't know to betray! Sooo ideal. Therefore, the Taoists and monks once again made them massively, with more power. Actually they didn't give them more power, but at one session, there was a thunder. This made one Jiang Shi much more stronger with enhanced magic. It can then walk like normal people, go through wall, can't be controlled by normal skilled taoists and have a surreal speed. They are called Dai Jiang Shi, cut off their heads doesn't do anything, they can pick it up and place it back now.
Screwed? Not yet. These Dai Jiang Shi then went even further thanks to some monk who used everything he knew to revive his love. The girl turned into a Jiang Shi with full memory, not afraid of charms, ba gua mirror, can be active in board day light and can even swim. The girl found out her body is super and instead of living with the monk, she killed him and went on a rampage. There was no way to stop her, the whole city died and hundreds of monks are summoned to sealed her. They had to cut off her head, put it in a jar and locked it in the deepest, most secret cave. Her body was tied and kept in another place.
So, that's the story of Jiang Shi, and all of them as you can tell, are just made up horror stories. However, years ago when my grandpa died, we flew from HCM city to Hanoi (Vietnam) to look at him the last time. You know, we kept the coffin in the house for some days for the monks to chant, the relatives to cry and the music to play. I and my mom arrived at midnight, and she passed out crying. I didn't cry, but I loved m grandpa, so I drew close and look at his face through the glass. Suddenly a black cat rushed in and jumped over the coffin. I saw my grandpa opened his eyes and his body bounced. The coffin was hit hard and almost fell off... The cat then ran away as quietly as it appeared, and everything went back to normal.
Later I read an explanation... it was electricity. The meat part below the cat's feet have (+) current while the corpse has (-), when a cat jumps over it makes an electrical current enough to move the body. Although it wasn't very clear but I suppose it stopped the fear in me.
I'll tell another story later, as it's 2am here... why don't you share yours? Touhou related or any paranormal activity will do ;)
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That's pretty damned interesting, and that story about your grandfather is terrifying. There was one bit that really caught my interest:
- They're dead, so they can't see nor smell. The only way for them to target is sound. That's right, do not run or scream when you see a Jiang shi. Stand still and hold your breath, they'll pass you.
First, apparantly (and I'm not a hundred percent accurate if this is true) the second stage boss controls sounds and sound waves. So, there could be some interesting potential between those two... Second, in the game "Deadly Premonition", the zombie/ghost/spirits that are your enemies are blind, and you can sneak past by holding your breath. I wonder if they were inspired by the Jiang Shi...
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Great explanation of jiang-shi to others! The extra stories involving them helped my understanding of them as well (knew what they were since Chinese mythology is also common in Korea, but not the actual stories themselves....)
Maybe that cat was a nekomata or kasha :colonveeplusalpha:
As for the personal story, that was surprising. That may have been the impetus for the myth to start with.
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It really isn't much of a far cry to call a Jiangshi the Chinese version of a vampire, though they ARE zombies in a way I guess? I don't like calling them zombies like some people would, though, they're much tougher than that. >_>
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It really isn't much of a far cry to call a Jiangshi the Chinese version of a vampire, though they ARE zombies in a way I guess? I don't like calling them zombies like some people would, though, they're much tougher than that. >_>
Unfortunately it's quite far. Vampire lives on blood and will be weakened greatly without it. Jiang Shi on the other hand don't. They eat flesh and drink blood for Chi, but it's NOT essential. A vampire without blood will die in years (strong) but a Jiang Shi can hop around for eternity and still kick ass. Let's say blood to the Jiang Shi is like sex, they love it but they can live without it.
Vampire and Jiang Shi have a lot in common (weakness) but they're not the same, Jiang Shi is more of a zombie than a vampire. Also Jiang Shi can't use magic, walk through wall is an ability.
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Fair enough, I didn't study Chinese mythology very much despite being Chinese myself (hurr) so I guess I have some misconception... =w=
I'm more interested in other kinds, mostly European mythology.
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YES!
This thread is already amazing. I absolutely love myths and the like! :3
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Ok that's enough about Jiang Shi, now I'll share something else: Dolls.
If Mr.Forte Blackadder is afraid or hate of anything in this world, it would be dolls and clowns! So why are dolls scary? Let me tell you my story...
When I and my sister was young, we're gifted a child-size stuffed bear and a russian doll. Of course it's completely normal. However, we were very naughty and used the gifts to wrestle. Soon, they were broken and put in a case in my parents' bedroom. Years passed and we'd forgotten about them. Then, when I was 15, my mother said she heard some noise at night and felt like there was a stranger in the room. She even dreamt that when she woke up at midnight, the doll was standing by her side and grabbing her hand. She got scared then changed room, she slept with my sis and I slept with my dad in their bedroom. That night, I dreamt that something was puling my leg, opened my eyes and saw the case opened. The bear and the doll were standing in there. The day after, I asked my dad to lock the case and waited. When the night came, I tried to stay awake. There was some noise from the case, as if something was trapped here and trying to get out. I thought those toys got possessed or haunted... so I took them out and fix them, also put them in the house with other new toys. My sister didn't know about all this and started to play with them again, nothing strange happened anymore.
Until a year later. We got a cat and we basically threw everything outta windows, cats FTW! So yes, all the toys were put in the storage room because the cat was naughty and we didn't want it damage everything. We forgot about all the toys. Some time later, my mother said she heard some noise in the storage room. I also heard noises like someone chiming chopsticks. In my country, knocking chopstick to make noise is a no-no because the sound calls spirits. But I think it's nothing strange because I've heard that noise since I was young, maybe it was just some pink haired fertile looking hungry ghost trying to find food. The day after, our cat always growled and went full fighting mode whenever he passed the storage room, he also bit my leg when I try to go in there. When my aunt visited with her loved dog, the dog didn't quarrel with the cat, instead started barking non-stop at the storage room and sit there like a guard, I told my parents about the dolls and we decided to burn them. End.
So, nothing harmful happened in this story, either. However, I did some research and found out dolls are one of the most haunted things ever in the world. We have a lot of country with doll horror stories like China, Japan, US, UK,... So let's start on the general types.
Chinese Dolls/Voodoo: it's not the same as Japanese voodoo, made with straw. It's basically a doll with full face, clothes and everything, some of them are made from paper. Apart from being toys, these guys are used by the Taoists (them again, yeah) to curse people. Also to guard the house from burglars, robbers and evil spirits. The later is good, but the only problem is those dolls can't tell the difference between good and bad, they curse everything and everyone go in the house without the owner's permission, so if you're his best friend and visit when he's away, you're screwed. These dolls often got forgotten after generation (you're less likely to tell your kids that you have a cursed doll in your house right?) and when the kids sell the house, the new owner get screwed. How do these dolls work? They don't appear and kill you, they don't even have a spirit. Actually, the maker is the one that decided how they curse. The dolls represent the intruders, and whatever he do to the doll will be the curse. The most common is to tie a string on the neck, so the intruder will get hang. This myth is scary, because they never appear and unless you knew it before, you have no way to counter attack. When in the house, strange noises and feelings will appear as the dolls start "working", but you will never see them, until you die. To avoid this is simply run out of the house when you hear the noises or feel someone is coming. Higher-trained Taoist is the only one to spot them and stop the curse. Monks are often useless in this case, because their ways of "magic" are different.
Japanese Dolls: cute little girls on the shelves, yes that's them. These dolls are possessed by vengeful or wander spirits, the most common case is the spirit of the owner. These dolls have power to walk silently and use psychokinesis. They also have a communication between other dolls in the house and control the non-possessed ones. These girls can kill and enjoy it. They're placed "very dangerous" due to the fear they spread in the house, make the victims suffer great mental torture before killing them. These dolls can also make traps to prevent you from running away, so the only one to fight them in to burn everything down. However, not all of Japanese dolls are murderous. Some of them come to life because a specific someone treat them with so much care. They will be their guardian for life. One of the cases is love. In Japan, some inns have a cute doll at the front door, and when a nice guy come in, greet the doll with a smile every time he passes, it may fall for him. Someone may think it's good, cos he has a guardian but, well, the doll is yandere, and she will make sure he's hers. Most of the time the guy gets scared because he feels someone's watching in midnight, and screams when see the doll "mysteriously" sit on his desk or even lay on his bed. Also the guy may have a girlfriend, in which case, welcome to the haunted house. These dolls can eventually grow like a human being, despite their bodies are made in paper of whatever. So if you're really lonely, you may want one as a wife. I love yandere so I approve this ;)
Western Dolls: First difference is, the Asian dolls don't directly kill the victim, when the Western ones do. Why, because they're made from hard material like plastic or wood. Their size are often larger too. I assume you've already known about Robert, if you haven't, google him. Most of these dolls get possessed by the sadness of the owner not playing with them anymore, and thus destroy the house, even kill people who try to get rid of it or stand between it and the owner. One more thing is they can be active even in daylight, unlike the Asian ones. So you know how to deal with them: play with them, be Alice and be happy.
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Clowns rule. Never post in my forum again.
This is some interesting stuff. May I ask your sources?
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Wow, I never really come to this part of the forums, and seeing this thread is really interesting.
Yea, the one about your grandpa is really scary >.< I've watched a lot of horror movies about Jiang Shi and damn, if that ever happens to me I don't know what I'll do. I doubt I'll be able to stand still and hold my breath because I'll most probably be running around in circles, shouting and panicking like a mad man :ohdear:
Dolls are really creepy. Once when I was younger (about 5 or 6) I remember I used to have a lot of stuffed bears and dolls and all near my bed. They're all always nicely aligned before I go to sleep and I recall this one time when I woke up and saw one of them blink, and slightly moved I think... was it all just a dream? Was it all just in my mind? Or did it really happen? I don't know, I remember I gave it to my (elder) sister the day after. Right now, even though it's been over a decade, I'm still a little paranoid to go into my sister's room as it is sitting in one corner of her room... watching the door...
Western Dolls: First difference is, the Asian dolls don't directly kill the victim, when the Western ones do. Why, because they're made from hard material like plastic or wood. Their size are often larger too. I assume you've already known about Robert, if you haven't, google him. Most of these dolls get possessed by the sadness of the owner not playing with them anymore, and thus destroy the house, even kill people who try to get rid of it or stand between it and the owner. One more thing is they can be active even in daylight, unlike the Asian ones. So you know how to deal with them: play with them, be Alice and be happy.
I hate them, I hate Chucky (because of the above reason, I never dared to watch it when I was a kid), and I just googled Robert... I'm scared now :ohdear:
According to wiki, Robert is over a hundred years old, doesn't that technically make him a youkai (Tsukumogami)?
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Whoa. That doll stuff was pretty interesting! The way you described them at first kinda reminded me of Tsukumogami just without the whole "one-hundred years" catch.
Either way, that was awesome stuff. Hopefully the plethora of stuffed animals that are kept in our basement don't come alive looking for vengeance or something.
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This is some interesting stuff. May I ask your sources?
Movies, fictions and stories. I've been finding them since I was a kid with great curiosity so I'm afraid I can't list my sources.
The next one is not really scary, but still something people like to know...
Celestial race.
First things first. Long, long ago, there were three kingdoms: Heaven, Earth, Hell. Heaven where Gods lived, Earth for human and Hell for demons. Human, tried their best to improve themselves, study and train, until one day they climbed the highest mountain and set food on the clouds. Gods thought these guys are good and deserved to be treated better, so they let them stay in the Cloud, have access to Heaven. There are two ways people can choose to be here, one is to study and follow Taoism, the other is Buddhism. However, Buddhists when reach enlightenment they became Buddha and go to Nirvana, where they spend time observing life and calm their souls, so Heaven Clouds eventually became a place for Taoists. After that, Gods slowly withdrew from ruling Heaven and pass the throne to the Celestial. They became the ruler of Heaven, had direct power upon Earth and Hell, their King can control the Yamas and some strong, wise Celestial were worshiped on Earth. They have utmost respect and often seek advice from Buddhas and True Gods when there is a crisis they can't handle alone. But they're powerful enough to get some Gods bow down to them, like the Dragon God who controls the Eastern Ocean for instance.
The Celestial spend their time drinking wine, playing chess and making drug (Jindan 仙丹 - magical pill). They then found a peach tree that grow on the highest mountains, only blossom and have fruits once in 100 years. The peaches from these trees contains divine magic that can make the consumer young forever, enhance the body or even give immortality. The concept is because it grows in Heaven, the peaches are absolute pure and can purify all the "dirt" from Earth that makes people go bad (age, illness, weak...). And the purer the consumer become, the longer life he'll live (you think you heard of this crap somewhere? Probably the Moon ;))
The Celestial was originally human, but after reaching this stage, they became prideful and look down on Earth. They accept people that worked hard to be a Celestial but they loathe creatures that got "lucky" or went through a shortcut. One of those "bastards" is youkai. The youkai eat other living creature, train themselves recklessly and gain power equivalent to the Celestial. Of course, the Celestial know better than judge every youkai from the majority, they accepted some youkai that followed the right path: mediation. But almost all of those youkai were turtle, which already had their reputation for being wise and good. The others were so bad, they even waged war for rank and defy divinity. Things wouldn't go so bad as the Celestial would just stay on Heaven and youkai would just stay on Earth if thousands of years ago, there wasn't a random thunder hit a certain rock. That thunder was from Heaven, and that rock was from mother Earth, which then gave birth to a monkey who had enough power to rival Celestial right away.
The monkey was so naughty, it wasn't satisfied just by being the Strongest Youkai, the Monkey King, it wanted to be in Heaven like the Celestial. The Celestial made a mistake and let the monkey in, it then ate almost all the peaches, drank all the wine, swallowed all the pills and even got burnt in the hottest pill-making-pot in Heaven. The flame couldn't kill it, instead made him even stronger! At that time, the monkey was powerful enough to single-handedly defeat the whole Heaven, kick the King's ass and sit on the throne. The only person could deal with him was the Grand Buddha.
Yes, that youkai was later known as Sun Wukong. The only youkai that officially stronger than Celestial, Oni, Vampire and Buddha, titled himself "The Great God that equals to Heaven" (齊天大聖).
Of course there are many flaws in this "Journey to the West" story. If we dig deeper, there were at least 5 Celestial that can easily defeat Wukong at his peak.
So, the Celestial was the one created Sun Wukong, or to be more exact, they unintentionally trained him to be so strong. Because of this incident, Celestial King made a rule that never associate with youkai and eventually stopped their involvement with Earth. (because when people got trouble with youkai, they pray for "Gods") This rule made the Yamas upset because they now have to deal with youkai in the Celestial's place. A huge prison was created, named "18 levels of Hell" with worst tortures ever. Every creatures who died have to face a trial to either go to Heaven, reincarnation, Hell or this prison. Because of this, the crime rate on Earth decreased greatly and youkai stopped acting recklessly like before. Because apart from Wukong, they are still inferior to Celestial and Death to avoid being punished.
Years after, Heaven had completely gotten separated from Earth, they started to spend life like before: playing chess, drinking wine and getting bored. But they still follow the rule of not letting any youkai or not qualified creatures in Heaven. At that time, there was a certain daughter of a certain Celestial family....
Not to be continued... lol :D
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Okay, here's a brief explanation of joss paper:
Once upon a side of beef, there lived a Chinese paper-maker guy. He was dirt poor and stuff, so he couldn't buy decent materials to make paper. And not only was his paper too rough to write on, people at the time had little use for paper, so he died poor and alone.
The villagers discovered this and, as per tradition, burnt his stuff in the case that it would be sent to Heaven, including the paper. This happened as the paper-maker was kneeling in front of the Yama, viewing his life through the magic mirror. Somehow, the smoke from the paper turned into gold (symbolizing his hard work), and the Yama accepted this as payment if the paper-maker wanted to be given a second chance at life.
His body was about to be buried when he shot up from his coffin and told the story to everyone else... and that is why Chinese funerals involve burning joss paper. PYROMANIAAAAAAAAAA
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His body was about to be buried when he shot up from his coffin and told the story to everyone else... and that is why Chinese funerals involve burning joss paper. PYROMANIAAAAAAAAAA
I once spent one day of doing absolutely nothing but folding joss paper into "money for the dead," for a funeral.
It was... chock full of morbid humor, I would say, considering I wasn't alone while doing it. >_>
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Curiosity about Robert and google.
FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
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Curiosity about Robert and google.
FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
I feel like the only one who couldn't find it. :ohdear:
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I feel like the only one who couldn't find it. :ohdear:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_the_Doll
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_the_Doll
That is awesome. :3
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I'm pretty sure cats hiss, not growl, but other than that these descriptions are very informative and interesting. Especially the Jiang-Shi one was fascinating, what with the more powerful versions. I'm looking forward to seeing more. :)
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Ok now back to the scary myth... I'll talk about this wife of mine, Yakumo Yukari. I'm not sure if there is a specific youkai for gaps in Japanese myth and I couldn't find one, but I know there was one story told by my aunt (who loves ghost stories to the point you can call her "ghost maniac"), which happened in the UK:
Long time ago, there was a adventurous girl, who loved to climb mountains, explore caves and travel in forests. She had a lot of friends who came with her in her adventures. And one day, they arrived to an abandoned village. This village was in the foot of a dead volcano. That night, an earthquake happened. The girl got trapped in her camp, rocks fell on her, crushed her body. She yelled for help, but her friends abandoned her and ran away. The rocks from the mountain kept falling and eventually buried the girl, still screaming. Later, a rescue team arrived and tried to dig her corpse out, but they found nothing. The body disappeared. Blood traces showed her crawled out, but it was impossible because the rocks were very heavy, and the traces only appeared around a tiny gap. They assumed her body was crushed and the blood gushed out, but still couldn't explain why the body disappeared.
The friends, settled down in their town and tried to forget the disaster, but one after one started to get haunted, shouting at night and crying for help. When the police arrived, they all said the same thing: "She is in my house!" However, they said different places where the girl appeared, one said she showed up when she opened the drawer, one said she hid under the bed, one said the hand crawled in through the gap below the locked door. The police found some blood in those mentioned places, but couldn't find anything else. The friends later all went insane, some committed suicide. The case was closed as the police saw no point in arresting a ghost.
Of course, she's Vietnamese and only been to England once, I can't say if this story is accurate. However, according to her, the gap ghost was trying to get help. She was so scared she didn't realized she was dead, thus couldn't go to the afterlife. She wasn't dangerous nor trying to harm anyone, but her appearance: bloody, crushed body, weak echo voice makes her so creepy that nobody could stay calm to help her. Her behaviour is misleading too: trying to grab you and pull, because she wanted you to save her in panic. These actions made her look like she wanted revenge, so her friends freaked out. Noone knows what'll happen if you stay calm and pull her out of the gap, but surely if you run away, she will go after you forever. Unless you live in a box with no gap whatsoever, you can't escape her. She will appear under your table, from the gap between your bed and the wall, or from even inside your blankets.
Though the appearances and behaviours of this gap ghost is the same as the Onryo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onryo), but deep inside it was different. One is vengeful and kill people, one is scared and seek help. However due to the panic Gap Ghost has, the result is pretty much the same: the victim either gets insane from horror or die. There are many ways to differ these two:
1. Onryo doesn't talk much, stay cold in all circumstances while the Gap Ghost always in tears and panic.
2. Onryo appears suddenly and mostly when you open the door, can't go through wall and door but Ghost Gap can slide herself through the gap.
3. Onryo often appear when there is only one person. Gap Ghost appears more often where there is more people.
The counterpart of them is unknown, but Gap Ghost is really not harmful, even when she grabs you, she doesn't pull you like Onryo does, if you're scared, just bash her hand away and run. However, if you do this you may anger her and eventually turn her into an Onryo, so I advice to pull her out.
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The description sounds similar to something I read about once before in a manga about allegories., though I can't really remember what the Ghost's intent was.
Either way, I like the entries you post as they're about youkai you don't hear about very often.
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Of course those myths are spread by mouth, and it may be modified by the teller to fit their own fantasy so I can say you must heard of similar stories somewhere else :D
Most of the youkai in Gensokyo if dig to the myths are pretty scary and ugly, I'm grateful the doujinka did such wonderful works.
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Ah, but this gap ghost you remind me of Hanako of the toilet
did you know in every school there is a Hanako story, when in fact there is only one true Hanako source/truth story?
It was said the girl got trapped during the war eras, probably in the days when the US were bombing even civilians during WW2 in the toilets, and thats how she became Hanako.
not a vengeful ghost or anything, but Hanako is a story that is typical to human fantasy and twisting that she become a distorted image of what she once was, she was just begging to come out but no one ever helped her.
and with time, myths about how she would ask you if you would wear a red shirt... becomes true. but these are modern stories.
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The other scarier one I heard was when I was a kid and we were exploring the magic of quija boards.
if you follow the story of quija boards, you would know it is one of the oldest forms of fortune telling much like the i-ching and there is nothing inherently evil about it. but in the myths twisted by today's vivid imaginations, it was said that the quija board invites two types of spirits
one is the holy spirit which tells you good fortune and bad fortune alike, and tells you things you wanted to know. You invite them to go back to their 'realm' if you place fruits and burn incense.
one if the spirit of children... it is said human, and most of all curiosity brought forth similiar consciousness of children who are dead. and when playing the quija board, the reason why you block all four sides of the game board square is to block the entry of 'sneaking children' who are there to join the game and make friends... forever. They will haunt you, and no matter how you try to whisk them away, lonesome children unable to go to the afterlife will forever cling to the 'friend' they have made. One theory suggests that the children may be affected by how close they feel when they are often asked of intimate questions by their 'askers'
and those who asked are whisked into a foul cat and mouse game where they must hide from the children/.. but you can't.
One theory also suggests the best way to appease them is that you bring candy to the game, remember to offer to them as they otherwise will choose friendship.
but even then, such urban versions often vary with toys, or offerings being made in the form of say... glass balls, which were common game toys back in the world war.
Most of my stories also come during the world war.
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Ah, I knew about that board too.We have one in Vietnam and the schoolers are really into it when they have holidays.
There were a lot of story about people who played it get possessed, haunted and cursed. I played it twice with my cousins, and nothing really "mysterious" happened. So we decided to play it on the roof, in a full moon night. It was about 7-8 years ago...
I can't recall the night clearly, but something happened and we swore not to play it ever again. My sister also got sick for 3 days and one cousin then had a phobia of mirror.
I wish I can remember, my childhood was full of mystery and ghost experience, most of them were probably just a kid's viewpoint of stuffs like shadow or so but nevertheless, very thrilling.
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I never really come along to these parts of the boards, but this thread has really caught my attention.
*googled Robert* FFFFFFFFFFF-
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Yo, AF. Long time no see :V
Hey, that Hanako myth sounds familiar. I heard one from a friend of mine about this Japanese toilet ghost, asking "red or blue" (Red meaning you get cut from behind and wear the "red shirt" and blue meaning you get hanged to the ceiling), is it the same one? Because he never really mentioned the name.
Oh and I'm kinda wondering, is it quija, ouija or luija? I've heard stories bout that board but I never get the spelling right.
A friend of my sister's actually played with it once. It was a long time ago, back when he was still a little kid, and he didn't believe it when he played with his friends. He thought they were just screwing with him by moving the piece (coin, glass, whatever) themselves. He tried it by himself one night and after realizing it was real he got really scared and went to bed right away. In the middle of the night, he felt someone tugging on his leg and when he opened his eyes he saw the board on the floor, with someone (or someTHING) with long hair, sitting on it. My sister never told me what he did after that but she did say he put the board away and never played with it ever again... (Whether it was just a nightmare or if he were lying about the story, i don't know >.<)
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I just read all of these... and now I look at Touhou at a whole new point.
I love what you got there, Forte.
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Well done OP, probably the first wall of text I ever read on this site
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BTW, Hanako and Red Cape, Blue Cape are featured as Nue's spellcards in DS.
As for ouija boards... I've heard stories, and after numerous accounts, I don't really wanna try those.
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...This topic is gold. I love it. I love reading all of these stories. OP, you are amazing.
But do you allow requests? You said your aunt told many ghost stories. Are there stories that remind you of Mima?
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It's called "Ouija", there are various version from the West to the East, but it's pretty much the same rule: A board with characters, more than 1 people to play and several accidents.
The Ouija board was invented to perform fortune telling, like Mariya Shidou said. However, the problem is not because it's twisted with nowadays rumors, but because it was used with the help of spirits. People believed that deceased spirits have power to read into destiny, so they summoned them into the board and ask them for what happens in the future. The reason of the scary rumors was the players can't know what kind of spirit will they summon. If they summon a calm one, they'll just get the predict normally, but if they summon a raged, vengeful one.... you get the idea.
There are two kinds of Ouija play in the East: Ouija Jin (仙 - god, celestial) and Ouija Ma (魔 - ghost). Jin is the divine kind of Ouiji, has almost no chance of curse of haunt, but only high skilled Taoist of Shaman can do. Ma is the normal play which everyone can do.
The tools to play this is a board and a planchette. Mostly made from wood. The planchette is especially good if made from the wood of a coffin (from the grave of course, it's no use if you get if from a brand new coffin which never had a corpse rest inside). If can't get it, you can use a coin or a normal wood, the older the better.
The players are divided in 2 groups: Possessers (no idea how to translated into English so I chose the role to name them) and the Observers. The Possessers can be anyone, but best are kids about 12 years old or so. The Observers are the ones to take the characters into sentences and so on.
The possessers get possessed (of course) to move the planchette. There are differences in West and East Ouija, in the West, the game stops when the planchette goes to "Good bye", in the East, the game stops when you turn over the board and shout "Stop!". The problem is sometimes the spirit doesn't leave the board, thus causing horror like the board suddenly appears somewhere, makes noise and so on. There are several ways to exorcise the spirit, Christian cross or Buddhism symbol (卍) usually do the trick.
So, what do we have for Ouija stories? A LOT! Usually, the horror starts during the game, the players start feeling chilly, hearing noises and the possesser goes mad. Sometimes, the spirit takes over the possesser and drain the life force. If the possesser doesn't get exorcised right away, he will eventually lose his body to the spirit. In which case, a reincarnation. Other stories go as the players' relatives' death was predicted. I can't tell you any story about Ouija board I experienced because I forgot all of them, so why don't you just go for a ride yourself?
Ok, today I was looking at... Chen. A Black Cat of Bad Omen, now now, isn't she cute? Well, as far as I know, not at all. :V
Black cats have always been treated as bad luck and carry evil in the East. They're like shadows, appears in the dark and attack anything. A hundred years old black cat grows a long tail, almost as long as its body. It only appears in nights and whenever it goes to, the lights are out. They usually appears in the house where has a corpse, jumps over the coffin and creates a Jiang Shi (read #1 post). Black cats also have great potential to get possessed by evil spirits, which then feeds on human flesh to go to the next level. They bring very bad luck to the person that see them, but not the same as Black Dogs which brings death. The misfortune black cats brings won't kill the person, but makes him live a terrible terrible life, failures, rejections, hatred and vain.
Why is it? Here is one story... Once upon a time, there was a beautiful girl. She lived a happy life and married a wealthy man from another village. When she was pregnant, they found out that the man already had a wife, but she couldn't give birth so he had to marry another for the lineage. The wife hated the girl, and secretly mixed poison in her drink therefore killed the baby before it was born. Thrice. The girl was upset, and angry. On her death bed, she swore she will come back and kill the wife and all her kids if she ever has one. In the next life, the girl became a leopard, and the wife became a deer. The leopard keeps hunting and eating the fawns and eventually kills the mother deer too. In the next life, the wife became a snake, and the girl became a hen. The snake stealthily ate all the eggs, and then killed the hen. The cycle went over and over again until the girl became a black cat and the wife became her owner. They lived happily in poverty, until a shaman visited and told the wife the cat was the reason of her poverty and bad lucks. The wife didn't believe it, but one day, the cat jumps over her husband, and the next day he died in an accident at work. It was pure coincidence, but the wife recalled the shaman's words and decided to kill the cat. When the knife stabbed, the cat remembered its previous lives, the hatred returned as it refused to die. Due to the extreme vain and anger, the cat acquired the power of youkai and later came back, killed the wife. After that, by defying nature, the black cat turned into a complete youkai and hunt the reincarnations of the wife life after life. Eventually, it forgot the real reason and started to enjoy blood, it then kills everything it doesn't like, and joined in the royal battle of youkai in various wars.
As every other tailed youkai, the weakness of them is the tail, cut it and you can exorcise it. However, many wars proved that black cat youkai is one of the stronger youkai. The nature of the cats makes them a good hunter, a flexible fighter and a tactical survivor. It doesn't have a specific weakness, as it doesn't have immortality trait. So it can be killed by sheer force. Black cat youkai have bad relationship with mouse, horse, rooster. Surprisingly they don't have much quarrel with dog youkai, if unnecessary, the two will just ignore each others.
These guys are reckless, and don't like obeying orders. They don't make friends tho it will stay loyal to someone they've known a long time and have good relationship with, apart from that, they don't care. Even if you're their master's best friend, taunt them and they'll bite your head off when their master isn't looking.
I wonder how much of them is Chen?
But do you allow requests? You said your aunt told many ghost stories. Are there stories that remind you of Mima?
Well this topic is to share, so if I know of it I'll tell you :P But I have to say I have little knowledge about Western myths.
Mima looks like a normal vengeful ghost to me, but there are a loads of story on them so maybe I can find one "Mima" in there. I suggest you look on the stories of Onryo.
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Wow, Chen is badass. I'll have to remember that, if I ever should decide to write a Chen story. And if Ran managed to gain Chen's loyalty, that makes her incredibly badass too.
Wait, I thought that stories of onryou would be eastern myths and not western?
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Onryo is referring to vengeful ghosts. They are just a name and can be called different in different cultures, but in the end they're all the same thing.
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Dragons.
I suppose everyone already knew about dragons. They are the divine creature, as high as Gods, ultimately powerful and have their own legends all over the world. Some people said dragons win, hands down, no discussion. Do they? Perhaps they do. Or do they?
Dragon is a race, and of course like any race, they have individuals. The Golden Dragon who lives in the sky, is the symbol of royalty in China. It has absolute zero power except looking cool. Youkai dragons, who inhabited in various places in Asia, had their own stories, worshipers and enemies. The most renown youkai dragons were the four sea dragon lords who controlled the West, North, South, East seas of China. Their ability is manipulating winds, thunder and rains. They have their own palace in the sea, a huge family with generations to seize the throne. They're loyal to Heaven King and have duty of taking care of raining seasons. The ranking of dragons goes as their "home":
Well < Lake < Cave < River < Mountain < Sea < Sky
The youkai dragons are distinctly stronger than other youkai, however their growth rate is extremely slow and they have a strict connection with fate: once they're born, they won't be able to change their rank. A well dragon will always stay in a well, no matter how much it trains, it will never be as strong as the lake dragon. Because of this dragons didn't bother participating in any youkai war, as they don't see a point in training and ambition. There are various dragons inhabited on the ground like caves, forest and mountain, but they had to face too many enemy that eventually got killed. The known youkai that defeated such dragons were tiger, eagle, dog, nine-tails fox and spider. Some Oni in fact, won in a deal with mountain dragons. However, when it comes to "air" and "water", dragons are almost invincible.
Born with divine body, dragons were the target of many hunters, one of them was human ourselves. Dragon's skin is one of the best defensive material, dragon's claws and fangs can make super weapons, dragon's blood grants a superhuman body and dragon's heart is one shortcut to be celestial. Because of this, around the time of the Qin dynasty, the dragon race was told to be extinct. However, the result wasn't like the rumors. All those dragon's stuffs were just junk. The youkai and human realized the dragon race is just a race with hardened scale, strong muscle and ability to control elements. The number of real dragons who are "ultimate" can be counted with your fingers:
- The Giant Dragon that was so huge that when it flew, the Sun was nowhere to be seen, darkness covered Earth and the air pressure destroyed everything: Human, Gods and youkai first time joined force to take it down. The dragon's body later decayed and became a country. (some said it became Japan or Vietnam, due to the shape of these countries on the map)
- The Divine Green Dragon that won 5th place in the Zodiac Race: alongside with its friends (12 zodiac animals) in the war against 12 stars, it died in a 1-on-8 battle.
- The Ocean Blue Dragon: leader of the Four Divine Beasts, Lord of the East. This dragon is the strongest dragon in all Asia, also the representative of Asian dragons.
- The Golden Dragon: the symbol of true kings, said to be the closest being to Heaven King, doesn't have any offensive power but untouchable.
Dragon isn't ultimate. They are beings that follow the nature rules quite strictly: each dragon is born with an element which become its strength and weakness forever. The rate for elements of dragon are: Water > Wind > Thunder > Earth > Fire > Wood > Metal. By using the opposite element, even human can defeat a dragon. Dragon also don't have the ability of resurrection. It has massive defense, but when killed, it dies. Because of this one of dragon's most hated rivals is phoenix.
A dragon power may flow in a youkai or human depends on their date of birth (12 zodiacs) and the type of element depends of the time they were born (5 elements). Of course, this applies to all 12 animals but dragon type has a distinct aura of dominance. The youkai/human with dragon power usually have great ambition and work alone. They're also hard to beat but once beaten, they give up very easily. In Chinese/Japanese myths, the carps which was born with dragon power can swim upstream and evolve to a dragon. At that stage, its base power will decide if it's a well dragon or a sky dragon. Most of them became weak dragons though.
Some (mythical) information about dragons:
- They once had a large population, but decreased greatly.
- The aggressive dragons were the ones that got killed first.
- They go alone and die alone. No party, no buffer, no healer. They don't even buy HP pots. Like a boss.
- Their intelligence is above average youkai, but not really impressive. Only seek advice from an old dragon who had enough experience to tell you not to stand up with a wooden stick and walk really slowly towards the gunners.
- A river Dragon is as strong as a Land God, about a native god with faith from 300 people.
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I always look forward to your posts. They are so darn informative. :getdown:
I wonder if this rules Meiling out as a dragon, though. :derp:
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I always look forward to your posts. They are so darn informative. :getdown:
I wonder if this rules Meiling out as a dragon, though. :derp:
Well, he did say this:
A dragon power may flow in a youkai or human depends on their date of birth (12 zodiacs) and the type of element depends of the time they were born (5 elements).
I suppose that would be the most likely explanation for Meiling, anyway.
And the dragon that appeared at the creation of Gensokyo definitely seems to be based off of the Giant Dragon.
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I'm more inclined to believe it's the Golden Dragon, given how the Celestials generally report to the very same dragon that aided in Gensokyo's creation.
And since the Golden Dragon is an equal to the Heaven King, that would make sense.
The only other one would likely be the Ocean Blue Dragon, since it's said it resides in a palace deep under the sea. And Iku is an Oarfish Youkai, and messenger of the Dragon Palace.
Where are Oarfish found? Deep under the sea.
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I'm more inclined to believe it's the Golden Dragon, given how the Celestials generally report to the very same dragon that aided in Gensokyo's creation.
And since the Golden Dragon is an equal to the Heaven King, that would make sense.
Perhaps, but the Golden Dragon only appear when true king was born or give him advices, apart from that it does absolutely nothing. We don't even know where it lives, in various myths involving coming to Heaven, it didn't appear at all. The Golden Dragon is just a symbol.
However, Ly Cong Uan, the King of ancient Vietnam, built the capital on the land when he saw a golden dragon flew from there to the sky. So it fits quite perfectly with Gensokyo's myth (the dragon god was seen only once when Gensokyo is created). Then it's quite sad because the dragon should never involve in Gensokyo's activity anymore. Unless a "true king" is born, which is impossible because there are only girls ;)
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They go alone and die alone. No party, no buffer, no healer. They don't even buy HP pots. Like a boss.
This made me giggle.
Awesome and informative stuff.
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Human Eater youkai.
Well I know this is a stupid name, because most youkai eat human or anything have meat. But this one is quite unique. The legend spreads throughout Asia, from Japan to Malaysia with many names I don't know which should I use. So I'll use the Vietnamese one: ? ma lai. (pronounce: O-mah-lie). Usually a woman or a little girl, who has perfect normal appearance and live together with us all day. However when night falls, her neck tears off and the intestines fly out with the head. This youkai only active at night and have a power of light-twisting or illusion, which makes the victim feel the surrounding becomes darker. ? ma lai doesn't eat human normally like others, they use their entrails to bind the prey and give it a french kiss. I mean, her tongue digs in your throat until it reaches your intestines, roll them up and eat them all. This creature is one of the cruelest youkai in the history, just imagine the feeling of your heart, lungs, kidneys and so on getting pulled up to your throat and a beautiful head eating them right from your mouth. After that, they leave the body and go back.
There are several stories on this youkai, but all of them had the same background: a girl made a pact to evil for beauty. The rest is pretty much varied.
This youkai is originally from the forest, or mountain, so they have eaten all the herbs thus make it immune to ordinary exorcising methods (holy water, poison) and because it has connection with the tribes which worship nature, religious methods don't work either. They are also very hard to avoid because when it's not active, it's the perfectly normal person. It even gets married, lives a good life, goes to school and drinks your beer. There was a story, a shaman whose son was in love with the most beautiful girl in the village, realised her was an ? ma lai. He tried to tell his son, but the guy refused to believe. The only way to suspect was her neck had a distinct fold. But that alone wasn't enough. One night, the son asked the girl to a walk, which ends on her bed. The morning after, the shaman cried with his son's empty corpse in his arm. The girl disappeared, of course.
There is almost no way to avoid getting killed by this youkai, even if you locked the door and never meet her, she can indirectly eat your entrails if she eats your excrement. However, a flying head with entrails attaching along, this youkai isn't that hard to beat. Sometimes, the entrails got stuck and tore when it flies pass trees. Cutting off the entrails and burn them is the best method to kill it. However this youkai is very aggressive, i can stay active for a day even after the entrails cut off. Other method is to find the body and turn it upside down. With this method, when the head returns it won't be able to use the body, thus eventually die.
? ma lai have similarities with vampires, but they don't have much power, actually they're freaking weak. Their strength is the horror when they appear, covers you in a semi-darkness and tie you up with its entrails (she smells really really bad too). I don't know about you guys but I, as a man who did many research on demons and such, will wet myself if I see it approaches me. They are more or less related to the "bloody girl who's looking at you outside the window", because their most favourite place to hide to wait until you sleep is on your roof. This youkai has nothing to do with the moon, and if your room starts to get darker even with the light on, you better be prepared for some tentacles action.
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? ma lai doesn't eat human normally like others, they use their entrails to bind the prey and give it a french kiss. I mean, her tongue digs in your throat until it reaches your intestines, roll them up and eat them all.
Ok, that sent shivers down my spine. *shudder*
I really shouldn't imagine what such gory stuff would be like to presence.
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Oh, I remember hearing about these. I learned about them under the Malaysian name, Penanggalan.
I wonder what a Touhou version of one of those would be like. :3
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However when night falls, her neck tears off and the intestines fly out with the head.
Sounds kind of like the Manananggal of Filipino mythology (her torso detaches, she grows wings, etc.)
Thread still overflowing with awsm, BTW.
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I often wondered if Kokkuri-San's Contract (Ran's survival card, apparently named after the Ouija spirit) was intended to spell out anything or communicate a message to the player that those in the know would get.
Western myths and legends vary wildly from country to country and are more commonly forgotten since storytelling traditions are dying out a bit. But, for a Scot like me, you know to watch out for Selkies and Kelpies, even if they are just kappas on holiday. ^^
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Gold Mine Thread!
Many thanks for sharing your knowledge with us!
Human Eater youkai.
Well I know this is a stupid name, because most youkai eat human or anything have meat. But this one is quite unique. The legend spreads throughout Asia, from Japan to Malaysia with many names I don't know which should I use. So I'll use the Vietnamese one: ? ma lai. (pronounce: O-mah-lie). Usually a woman or a little girl,
I read that this Youkai resulted because she broke an oath not to eat meat (was it for ever or a certain time frame? I don't remember...) right?
Poor woman, only vegetarians do that now a days...
When I heard about her neck I thought it related with the Japanese Rokurokkubi, and/or Maikubi, but the way she eats stuff was closer to the Japanese Youkai Nikusui (肉吸い = Flesh sucker)
Here's a description of the Flesh sucker story...
The Nikusui is said to appear as a beutiful woman of around 18 or 19 years of age.
When travelers come across her during the night she says to them "Can I borrow your lantern?"
If you don't act fast, the Nikusui takes away the traveller's lantern, which surrounds both the traveler and the Youkai in the darkness.
In the darkness without the lantern, the Nikusui is said to suck the flesh out of the traveller.
There's a few versions of the myth, and although I don't know if there's a version where she kisses you, but she's said to either suck flesh from where she bites you, or she can suck flesh from anywhere you make contact with her body.
According to myths, the Nikusui is weak against fire and you can defend yourself by smashing the lantern in to her before it gets taken, or by having some other sort of fire ready to sick at her.
In a certain myth, she gets defeated by a gun with a special bullet inscribed with the word "Namu ami dabutsu", and her true form was a pile of bones.
Apparently, the bones seeked for flesh to fill its self with and thus turned in to the Youkai Nikusui.
If any Youkai, the fact that this one prays only in the dark sort of reminds me of Rumia... although I'm guessing Rumia would be interested in every ounce of meat in your body, rather than just the organs or the flesh.
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Rumia is likely to be based off that type of youkai......
Also, this is a very good thread, I always am interested in Asian myths but I can't really find much sites on the internet about it....
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I often wondered if Kokkuri-San's Contract (Ran's survival card, apparently named after the Ouija spirit) was intended to spell out anything or communicate a message to the player that those in the know would get.
Someone should do an overlay of that card's motion pattern on a Quija Board.
Either the Western or Eastern model should work, but I'm more inclined to believe it would be the Eastern one.
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I read that this Youkai resulted because she broke an oath not to eat meat (was it for ever or a certain time frame? I don't remember...) right?
Yes, there is Malay version of her like this, it's 40 days.
Today I'll dig deeper in the Four Beasts. Many know that they're the four divine lords that territorise four directions East, South, North, West. But little know about how they come to and why. In ancient time, the Chinese divided the sky into 4 according to four directions. Each direction has 7 stars and they look like a beast: dragon, bird, tiger, turtle. There are total of 28 stars and on the Royal Road. (二十八宿) These stars from then are used vastly and commonly in every kind of fortune-telling, astronomy, advise,... These 28 stars were written so they make a circle (360 degrees) and every 30 degrees then represents a zodiac, each zodiac represents 2 hours in a day, 1 month in a year and 1 year in every 12 years, thus created the closed cycle of life. Each 90 degrees then make a divine beasts according to the direction, represent an element . However, there is five elements, but the theory isn't flawed, in the middle of the circle stands the "center" thus has the beast of guardian and expansion: unicorn (kirin). This beast isn't included in the four beast as there is no such direction as "Center", it represents the human who use the theory at the moment, the center from then became the symbol of perfection and nothingness.
Chinese myth explained the universe like this: (the names were changed to fit the definitions in English, the original words are far more badass)
The Void created the Big Bang
The Big Band created Yin Yang
Yin Yang created the Four Beasts
Four Beasts created Ba Gua
Ba Gua created Unlimited
The Four Beasts also are the view of ancient Chinese to the universe: Sun, Moon, Stable Stars and Moving Stars
The Blue Dragon: Lord of the East, Wood Element. It is made by these 7 stars: Crocodile (Spica), Dragon (Virgo), Bat (Libra), Rabbit (Libra), Fox (Antares), Tiger (Scorpius), Leopard (Sagittarius). Infidel, weird and unpredictable, The Blue Dragon is known for its vast knowledge and superior powers. It is the strongest of all dragons, born in the sky. His famous power is manipulating water and wind, with the type of Wood, these powers act as its supporters and healers. When it rains, the Blue Dragon is invincible. It represents the King.
Traits:
- Dawn
- Begin of Yang
- Spring
The Red Phoenix: Lord of the South, Fire Element. It is made by: Stray Dog (Gemini), Goat (Cancer), Java mouse-deer (Hydra), Horse (Alphard), Deer (Crater), Snake (Corvus), Worm (Corvus). Prideful, calm and patient. The Red Phoenix is immortal, revive from its own ashes and represents the Queen. It has connection with the Dragon, sometimes good, sometimes bad, sometimes go for each other's life for its own benefit. Red Phoenix lives in the highest mountain in the farthest sea, unreachable for commoners. It uses its own power: Fire, without any other type. Has absolute confidence and burn everything on its way to cosmic dust.
Traits:
- Midday
- Full of Yang
- Summer
The White Tiger: Lord of the West, Metal Element. It is made by: Wolf (Pegasus), House Dog (Aries), Pheasant (Aries), Rooster (Pleiades), Crow (Taurus), Monkey (Orion), Gibbon (Orion). Protective, Carefree and Open Minded. The White Tiger is the god of its world, it do anything it can on a whim. Although random, but White Tiger is predictable. It stays in the deepest forest where its treasures are kept. White Tiger understand the new, but cannot change easily. As the King of animal, it looks down on other species and see nothing worthy but food. However, it can't fly and have to look up to the Red Phoenix and Blue Dragon. White Tiger represent human.
Traits:
- Sunset
- Begin of Yin
- Autumn
The Black Turtle: Lord of the North, Water Element. It is made by: Crab (Sagittarius), Bull (Capricornus), Porcupine (Aquarius), Mouse (Aquarius), Swift (Pegasus), Pig (Pegasus), Sheep (Algenib). Isolate, wild and wise. The Black Turtle is famous for knowing anything and everything. Also, it never stays in one place, but moving around all the time, thus gives the trait of freedom and a symbol of Hermit. Using its type as Water, Black Turtle sometimes seen using Wood power. A nature power with unlimited enhanced resource. Black Turtle loves quizzes and puzzles, to test if a creature worthy enough to talk to it.
Traits:
- Midnight
- Full of Yin
- Winter
The Golden Unicorn (Kirin): Lord of the Center, Earth Element. It does not have any star. It represents the Void, true third party point of view who never lean on any side. The Kirin stays at the middle of four beasts, keep the balance between them and the start point of anything and everything. It never moves, ever. The Kirin is the Observer, keep an eye on everything but never act, it understands everything has its place in time. One must die for another to grow. The cycle circles, the water flows, the wind blows and money are meant to be spent. It doesn't have emotion and despited by the world (Oh god why don't you help me blah blah). It has ultimate defense, indestructible however because of its role, nobody ever care to fight it because even if they do, it won't fight back at all. It'll just stand there looking at you with Nagato Yuki's eyes. (though it's the true leader of the Beasts)
Traits:
- Afternoon
- Balance of Yin and Yang
- Changing Season
In theory, the four beasts are equally strong, however in various fictional works the phoenix and dragon are placed higher than tiger and turtle. Among them, the phoenix is the most wanted beast with its blood that can grant immortality. In the Qin Dynasty, Qin Shi Huang wanted to rule China forever after unification and made his finest men to seek for the phoenix. The men found the nest, but was no match for the Divine Bird. One man luckily survived and drank a leak blood from the beast's leg. He became immortal and decided not to go back, but stayed in the wild to master himself. A thousand years passed and he became the strongest human on earth after endless fights with martial artists, youkai and even celestial. However, because he only drank a bit of Phoenix's blood, which granted immortality but didn't help him avoid aging. One day he looked at the mirror and scared, because of it, he created the most powerful clan in order to hunt the Ocean Dragon, whose heart he believe that can grant him true immortality. However, the dragon was much better at fighting than the phoenix, the whole clan was wiped out and the man got swallowed. Inside the beast's stomach, his half-assed immortality couldn't help him from melting. From then, nobody had seen the Beasts anywhere anymore.
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Whoa. =o Wait, the center beast is a Kirin? I thought it was, uh... This:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huang_Long_%28Four_Symbols%29
That said, this is amazing. Keep up the amazingly amazing work.
Oh, and one more request? I'd like to know if any myths come to mind when you think of Yuuka.
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The beast's name in the center is very hard to translate properly into English. As Kirin means Unicorn, but it isn't a horned horse. Also there are another 4 divine beasts Dragon, Kirin, Phoenix, Turtle which are just divine beasts. They have connections with the beauties of the world: Wind, Flower, Snow, Moon and appeared more in art than myths. However, the Kirin is often described similar to a lion and chose to be the fifth beasts to avoid repeat. (already have dragon for East)
This Center Beast isn't fixed, even in the wiki you can see:
In East Asian culture, there is sometimes a fifth Guardian Beast of the Si Xiang.
So it's up to you to believe which is sitting in the center.
Oh, and one more request? I'd like to know if any myths come to mind when you think of Yuuka.
There is, but no specific name, only a mixed legend and it's freaking long:
From the very dawn of time, youkai was born alongside human. And just like human, there was war to have the true leader of all youkai. Because the youkai are so varied, they often built up small clan or family which have their own relative as members. At the first war, the Oni clan stood out as the most powerful force, they created their own league with the Elite Four (四大王) who acted as the leaders of all Oni and the most fearsome warriors there was. Because they were too strong, the Oni defeated almost everyone and made some youkai clan its vassal (Tengu, Kappa). However, the Tengu was not "enslaved", they chose to support the Oni. After the first war, the Oni King was the leader of all demon on Earth.
The brute of the Oni eventually angered everyone else, human found out their weaknesses and started to chase them away (In Japanese myth, it was beans, in Vietnamese myth, human outwitted the Oni and left them no land to live, thus the Oni had to move to underground). The Earth was once again no-ruler. The Second war started for the soul of a deceased god, which believed to grant absolute powers. This war was the worst war in the Youkai history, ended up with a weakling, Nurarihyon, stole the soul with its stealth ability. The Nurarihyon then gained a huge power to become the leader of the Youkai. This was also a peaceful period on Earth.
Hundred years after, a fox youkai trained itself to become a golden kyuubi. This youkai challenged Nurarihyon and won, thus started the third war which involved mostly beasts. The only youkai that said to be strong enough to kill Kyuubi was Yamato no Orochi, which sadly got killed by the hands of Susanoo already. The realm of Kyuubi lasted for 300 years, and ended as Kyuubi suddenly disappeared. (Some said it was sealed, some said Buddha tamed it)
The next generation had a stoned monkey, who learnt 72 magics from a Buddha. The monkey then destroyed the Sea Palace, took the Golden Ruler for its weapon and invaded Hell. It even defeated the Yama and Shinigami, rewrote the Book of Fate and erased its own name from there, so it can't be killed. Later on, it gathered all youkai to invade Heaven. As the result, it was defeated by Grand Buddha and later became buddha with the name Sun Wukong.
After Wukong legend, the youkai realised the soul of any creature is good, and rushed to kill. Human's soul wasn't enough, so they started killing stronger youkai and eat them. The most outstanding youkai a this time was a spider. After hundred of years, it'd eaten so many youkai and human that nobody dared to oppose it. Thus made it the 5th Youkai Leader. This spider died from too much power its body couldn't contain hundreds years later.
After 5 generations, the Earth consumed five elements of life: Oni King, the Ground type demon that built the basics of Youkai Empire. Nurarihyon, the Water type youkai that knew what to do to achieve success. Kyuubi, the Fire type beasts that had absolute confidence in itself. Sun Wukong, the Metal type youkai that never change its belief, and Supreme Spider, the Wood type youkai that'll do everything to be the best. All these elements combined to a jewel, stayed in the ground for exactly one year, got the power of every weather, every season, every sin and deed, bloomed into a flower, the most beautiful thing on Earth. This flower has the power of every youkai and stronger. Though its appearance is a flower, this youkai's real identity is nature itself. There is no way to defeat it unless you destroy the world, it stood out from the food chain, nobody even God can defeat it without harming all Hell, Earth and Heaven. Fortunately, this flower don't give a damn about power and reputation, it spends all year in the most beautiful place in the world, dancing with the Wind, singing with the Snow and watching the Moon.
Source: various youkai war stories, Journey to the West - After -, various youkai clans stories.
Of course, this flower isn't a leader of youkai, as the whole youkai empire collapsed after the Supreme Spider era. Human got a better of them and youkai was forced to hide away. But I'm quite sure hundred years later, my waifu, Yukari, appeared and became the 6th leader that foolishly invade the Moon.
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All I saw in this particular explanation was Inuyasha. :derp:
Especially the Supreme Spider (Naraku) and the jewel formed from the four elements (the Shikon Jewel).
But if that flower is Yuuka, then she's even more of a badass than I thought she was.
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Inuyasha isn't original ;) As you can find Nurarihyon from Nurarihyon no Mago or Gantz, and the Kyuubi from Naruto and Orochi from King of Fighters.
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Yeah, I know. A lot of manga takes from old japanese legends. It's just that the one that this reminded me the most was Inuyasha. XP
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Actually Inuyasha is a good manga to research youkai in the Sengoku era. When they actually had interact and influence with human.
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....I swear, the stories in this topic are some of the best I have ever heard. I love this topic so much. I tell my touhoufag friends on another forum about your stories, and they love reading them too.
...Hm, but according to that story, the birth of youkai was much longer ago than I first thought. According to Kaguya, the moon was the reason that youkai first began to exist on earth, they did this "to regulate the earth's filthiness." I thought to myself that I would probably put the timeline for that at about 1300 years ago. Perhaps, I thought, Eirin did it before she left the moon and her position as leader of the lunar emissaries. But this is not the case, in fact according to what you say I would put it at around the very start of the lunar civilization. Maybe Tsukuyomi did this when he left the earth behind.
Can't wait to hear more stories! See, I never knew much of anything about any eastern mythology before getting into Touhou, and now I cannot get enough of it. I don't have any stories to share in this topic, unfortunately, but... This Sun Wukong guy, eh kicks the asses of everyone in both hell and heaven except for the Grand Buddha himself, and does not afraid of anything. And he's just 1/5 of this flower.
Hot damn, Yuuka. That's about all I got to say. She must be even greater than Amenominakanushi, the first Shinto kami who came into being before anything else and can surely create worlds with the smallest effort of will.
But hey, do any stories come to mind when you think of Gengetsu and Mugetsu? Sorry for so many requests.
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Youkai was born ever since human was born. They represent what human's afraid of: greed, gluttony, gore, lies,... The Moon was believed to be created at the same time with the Sun (the Sun god and the Moon goddess are siblings and husband-wife) I say the youkai history was much longer than 1300 years.
However, in some culture, youkai was once a race of magical animals that lived happily with human. But one day, found themselves superior, they started asking the human to serve them. One tale said one day, a human lied and tricked a youkai to do his work without repaying, thus started the hatred. This legend started before human had any king or royalty.
Kaguya legend started in the 10th century (1000 years ago) when the first youkai - Oni, appeared in Vietnam and China roughly 4000 years ago. Sun Wukong was born about 600 years before Journey to the West (100 years of training and 500 years under the Five Elemental Mountain), and the journey took place at the 6th century. So I don't think Kaguya has anything to do with youkai, also before she was born, the Moon was there for a long time (Eirin is believed to be born on the Moon and has the age of 6 digits)
But hey, do any stories come to mind when you think of Gengetsu and Mugetsu? Sorry for so many requests.
Sadly no, mostly because their info isn't much, like unknown unknown, they're demon twins live somewhere unknown...
Hot damn, Yuuka. That's about all I got to say. She must be even greater than Amenominakanushi
Actually, I don't think so. Amenominakanushi is one of the Zōka Sanshin (Three Gods of Creation). If you let me, I'd like to say the Chinese had the very same God: Yuanshi Tianzun (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuanshi_Tianzun), one of the Sānqīng (Three Pure Gods) . Anyone in this group is as powerful as Grand Buddha, Sun Wukong had no way to touch their hair. The flower I mentioned only had the power of Wukong when he was still Monkey King, not the time he became Buddha. The flower itself is very strong, maybe the strongest, but can't compare to the True Gods, who can destroy its base (the nature). Let's say the flower is an Ultimate One, like Type Mercury other in TypeMoon. (http://typemoon.wikia.com/wiki/Aristoteles)
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I've been wondering about Mt. Ooe. Both Suika and Yuugi have spellcards that refer to this place. What exactly happened there?
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Mt.Ooe is famous for being the "territory" of Oni. The leader was Shutendoji, who took maiden to the mountain to have fun and kill them, mix their blood in his sake for better taste.
Maybe Suika and Yuugi were stationed there?
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Ah, so the first youkai came into being 4000 years ago. That's really something. But you said youkai have existed as long as humans have. Then would it be the case that humans have only existed in eastern mythology for 4000 years?
Wait, I don't think Eirin was born on the moon. It says in Cage in Lunatic Runagate (chapter 3, I think) that Eirin was one of the few people that Tsukuyomi took with him when he went to go found the Lunar Capital. That was a time when the only life (apart from gods) was in the oceans and fought for survival (which was the source of the impurity). Meaning that it's almost certain that Eirin is a goddess, and a very old one. She was the most trusted friend of Tsukuyomi, he would always come to her for advice because she has always been absolutely brilliant. Combine that with the references to Omoikane, and you see... Isn't it pretty likely that she is Omoikane herself?
I see, well I don't know very much about Chinese gods, nor about TypeMoon stuff, but am I correct in saying that the only ones the flower youkai would be unable to beat are any member of the Zōka Sanshin as well as the Grand Buddha?
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The first record of youkai and oni was before any country was built, where "everyone lived happily together". I don't know the exact time, so 4k years is just a guess.
About Eirin, let's stick on CiLR, since it's official.
am I correct in saying that the only ones the flower youkai would be unable to beat are any member of the Zōka Sanshin as well as the Grand Buddha?
Any being that capable to destroy the whole world in an instant is stronger than that flower. Also there was the Infidel Buddha (無天佛祖) who defeated Grand Buddha, captured all the Buddhas, Gods, Celestial, Yama and ruled all three worlds.
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Heaven Warriors:
The Four Great Heaven Kings (四大天王)
Note: though their title have the word "king", but they're not kings. The term "Heaven King" (天王) is used strictly for a general, or a warlord that's extremely strong and have close connection to the King. They mostly are a group of four (hence the name 四大天王) that is the last resort of every war (defeat them and the king will be vulnerable) also share the name of The Four Great Guardians (四大護教) or the Four Great Devas (四大天). They're the generals of the Deva King (Angel in Buddhism, not to be confused with Celestial in Taoism, though the're both originally human). As time passed, they joined the league of Heaven and became guardians of the Heavenly King, however their positions are somewhat different than the Celestial Sages.
These generals control 4 skies: West, North, East, South and live in the first stage of the Six Desire Skies. In Journey to the West, these four had a battle with Sun Wukong and lost.
East General (Jikokuten): Using a string instrument to calm souls, wearing a white armor. He uses kindness and harmony to dispel evil and lead everything to Buddhism. (kinda Byakuren-ish there). Wood type.
South General (Zochoten): Using a sword or a pair of rings, wearing blue armor. He uses wit to defeat evil. Fire type.
West General (Komokuten): Using a dragon as a whip/rope, wearing red armor. This general has the eyes that can see anything and everything, the observer of the world. He is also the supervisor of the Dragon race. Metal type.
North General (Bishamonten): Using a spear or a similar long weapon (an umbrella), holding a silver mouse and wearing green armor. Water type.
Anyway, the four generals are supposed to be among the best warriors in Heaven, regardless the monkey incident.
3rd Eye God (二郎神) Yang Jian
One of the most popular warriors in Heaven. This god have a 3rd eye on his forehead, which can see everything not only in the world, but also right and wrong, see through disguise and can also see the incarnations of a creature. Yang Jian is famous as a great archer and a spearman. In Journey to the West, he was the only Heaven General that could fight evenly with Wukong. In Hoshin Engi, he has 72 transformation magic (same as Wukong) and is the best warrior. He has a black dog to hunt the youkai, though didn't use it apart from Hoshin Engi. He is the nephew of Heaven King.
Heaven King Li (托塔 李 天王) Li Jing
The Marshal of Heaven, he was the one directed 100k heaven warriors to capture Wukong. He is using various weapons, but the signature is a small tower which can be big or small on his whim. He was capable to capture Wukong easily with this tower, but for the drama he fought with a massive army and never faced Wukong himself.
The Third Prince (三太子) Nataku
The third son of Li Jing and the strongest. Nataku sometimes described as a kid with 3 heads, 6 arms, ride a pair of flaming wheel and fight with spears. He is also a rare warrior that could fight with Wukong more than 300 rounds. His soul was put in a lotus before became Nataku, so he often seen wearing outfits with lotus patterns.
Houyi
Didn't appear in any stories involving Heaven, but he was an archer that capable to kill the sons of Heaven King. He was once a god, but one day, the princes got bored and turned themselves into Suns. The Suns were too much for Earth so Houyi shot 9 of them down. He is also the husband of Hang'e who lived (sometimes the empress or goddess) in the Moon. He then moved to the Sun and became the Sun God. In some tales he got accepted back to Heaven and live with Hang'e in the Moon.
Victorious War Buddha (鬪戰勝佛) Sun Wukong
Once the leader of youkai who was ambitious enough to challenge Heaven. Wukong only lost to Grand Buddha and had to escort Sanxiang to the West. He and the team went through 81 tribulations to became Buddhas. He became the Buddha of fighting and victories, and eventually sacrificed himself to defeat the Infidel Buddha to save Three Worlds. It was revealed that Wukong was one of the golden pearls (舍利) of Grand Buddha, and was necessary to reincarnate Grand Buddha. If this is true, then Wukong is 1/13 the power of Grand Buddha.
There was a myth that on their journey, a spider youkai fall in love with Wukong and tried to take him with her. In this arc, Wukong was fighting with a centipede youkai who was very very strong and almost on the way to be even with Wukong himself. (In myths, there were only 3 youkai that were in Wukong level: a Six-earred monkey, the Ox Demon King, and the Golden Eagle. The last one shouldn't really be mentioned, as he is the uncle of Grand Buddha) The centipede tricked the spider and killed her for stronger power, Wukong couldn't save the girl nor he could say "I love you" to her. Poor girl, died in vain.
More about this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJMBp3Esw74
Vietnamese dubs, sorry. This is the part after Wukong messed up the party by drinking all the wine, eating all the peaches and the King sent 100k warriors army to fight him. The Four Heaven Kings failed to captured him, so Yang Lian was put in charge.
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Poor spider lady. That's so sad...
Also, what about the Yamas? I'm curious about them and about the Ten Kings.
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I'm still waiting for ZUN to make a character based on Sun Wukong.
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A question. You know how you said there was a war among the youkai for the soul of a dead god? And Nurarihyon ended up taking it? Well, who was the dead god?
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That's what I've been wondering myself, and my research hasn't turned up any clues either.
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Awesome thread! I've always liked these kind of stories.
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How exactly did Sun Wukong sacrifice himself? Wasn't he immortal? (what with all those Heavenly Peaches, immortality elixirs, writing his name out of the book of death, having a rock hard body due to the Heavenly furnace etc.)
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Sorry I've completely forgotten about this thread due to the depth of the sea of lust where I went to for my honeymoon with Yukari.
A question. You know how you said there was a war among the youkai for the soul of a dead god? And Nurarihyon ended up taking it? Well, who was the dead god?
I heard it was a Land God who got a massive amount of faith in a vast land. These gods are really deity and their names mostly go after the land like "The land god of Akiba" for example.
How exactly did Sun Wukong sacrifice himself? Wasn't he immortal? (what with all those Heavenly Peaches, immortality elixirs, writing his name out of the book of death, having a rock hard body due to the Heavenly furnace etc.)
He used explosion. Well it was a terrible joke, but basically he went "AAAAAAARGH" and his body glowed, then he transformed into a golden pearl. Don't ask me further details how he did it, it's just a myth. Sometimes people can't explain everything so they made a grand ending once and for all. They made a series about it though.
I also just found this:
http://www.ihdvd.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=80_111&products_id=187
There is some parts on Youtube too. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmAlfgLVLto
However, I'd like to hear some western myths, like ghost stories, paranormal activities, UFO or even the Bermuda triangle. Egyptian Pyramids is also a gold mine.
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So, you would like to hear some other myths? Very well then. I shall tell you about my favorite mythological creature: the centaur.
Centaurs are half human, half horse. Originally they were the children of Centaurus, the son of Ixion (son of Ares) and Nephele (a cloud created in Hera's image by Zeus to trick Ixion), who mated with Magnesian mares. They were said to inhabit the region of Magnesia and Mount Pelion in Thessaly, Mount Pholoe in Arcadia and the Malean peninsula in southern Laconia.
Centaurs are very clever creatures. They also have a kind demeanor to them, and they won't get involved in wars unless their race is threatened. They show the same emotions as ordinary humans, as they are half human. However, they have a different thinking process than humans; they tend to base their actions and thoughts on instinct. This is due to the fact that they have lived their entire lives out in the wilderness as nomads.
You may have the misconception that female centaurs don't exist or are very rare. This is not true. Without females of their race, centaurs would not be able to reproduce and continue to exist. Unlike some people think, centaurs do not have an infinite life; their life span is almost the same as humans. The difference in their lifespan is only by a few years, and that centaurs tend to die younger than humans.
What about their eating habits, then? Like humans, they are omnivores, meaning that they can eat both meat and plants. This is due to their complicated digestive system which allows them to eat this way. Not only do they have a human stomach, but they also have a horse stomach. I, and every other mythological researcher out there, do not know exactly how their digestive systems work yet. I plan on finding out this information in the future as I continue my research.
Unfortunately, even for a myth researcher such as myself, I have not personally seen or spoken to a centaur. I hope that I will sometime in the near future, and when I do, I will make sure to tell you the entire story of what happened.
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True Gods, Gods, Native Gods and Lolwut Gods.
Well, I had some discussion with my friends earlier about this, so we think it'd be cool to clear things up a bit. As we all know, in religions, God is the Maker, the Creator, the... God. However, not as clear as the Bible or Greek Myth, Asia have a lot of god....
True God:
In Shintoism and Taoism, there was a "theory" existed before anything, time, space, even the Void. That "theory" contained everything and became the root, the Big Bang and Yin-Yang. Then that theory became the first creature, the first God. This God then made the universe, the world and other creatures. He made the laws of nature and the morality of life. This God is absolute and ultimate. We can say that True Gods are gods that born by the universe or the void, who have power over everything. Grand Buddha is the True God in Buddism. They know too much to care about fighting, argument and feelings. They spend their eternity in their palaces, teaching their disciples the knowledge about the universe. If someone challenge them, they just smile away, because there is no way for them to be defeated unless they allow it to happen. They're the rule.
God:
Born after True God from nature (restricted to planets, stars and so on, not the whole universe) or from other Gods. They have the power over the nature they're in. These gods are different from the True Gods because they have feelings. Heaven Kings, Olympian Gods and Divine Beasts are in this tier. Because of these feelings: love, hatred, jealous, sadness, lonesome,.... they interact with people and clash with each others. These gods are of course very smart, but they made mistakes because they can't get over their own feelings. They often wage wars, which were never ended happy. They made the rule.
Native God:
A "creature", born normally but blessed with an abnormal power (or intelligence). They had an outstanding lives in both positive and negative way. When they died, they were remembered and worshiped by other creatures. Their spirits then not going to the Void, but became something else. Some were accepted by the True Gods or Gods (Hercules, Xuanzang,...) some trained themselves to be the ruler of the land (some youkai like Yamato Orochi or Sun Wukong can be considered Native Gods since people around too scare of them to not worship). These gods can be as strong as Gods, but overall much weaker. However, because they lack of divinity, the only way for them to keep their power is through reputation. The more people know about them, the better. These gods waged wars the most, but we can say that if Gods were the Emperor, then native gods were Kings, or Lords. They fight to gain more land, reputation and worshipers. Because they were "spirits", reputation was the only way for people, their worshipers, to acknowledge them. Without it they're invisible, non-existent to the world. Of course, it doesn't mean they die, or they lose their powers. But for someone that was "Lord", it's unbearable to become "commoner nobody cares about". It's pride.
Lolwut Gods:
Creatures that delude themselves they're gods just because they have some abnormal ability. Of course, these guys shouldn't be underestimated since they really are powerful. They can persuade people to worship them however, their ability is nothing compared to above gods. They're just "geniuses".
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Anything about the Yatagarasu or myths about the sun?
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Right, did I talk about mirrors? No, good.
Mirror is a piece of glass or metal or something that reflects lights. True, true, but in ancient time, they have another concept: another world. Some people believe that inside the mirror is a world that paralleled ours, or the world that is ours, but in another layer. A layer our mortal eyes couldn't see through.
From many years, we recorded a lot of legends that related to mirrors. Bloody Mary for instance, that particularly gives me a chill when seeing myself in the mirror every night after taking a piss. Why do I mention this now, after half a month nearly page 2 topic? Because I just saw it. Yes, I just saw myself in the mirror, looking in another direction while I'm staring at "me". It was really quick, but his eyes rolled to the left, that can't be my eyes, because if I did I wouldn't be able to see that. He wasn't looking at me for half a second.
Why?
In Asia, we believe ourselves in the mirror have soul, intelligent and attitude too. Just like ourselves? Hardly. Because would you like it, forced to do exactly what that stupid idiot doing whenever he goes in front of the mirror? We don't think so. And we know if we're as smart, we'd do something about. So. The guy in the mirror hates me, and that hatred eventually drives him evil. He is my shadow, my evidence of existence. He shouldn't be acting different from me. But what if he does? What if he's able to move his arms around when I'm washing mine?
He can smash the mirror, can't he?
What'll happen if he could? What'll happen if the only locked gate between his world and mine is broken?
There was some stories that a man encountered such thing, and from that day on people see him acts reservedly (he was right-handed but now left-handed, can't figure out the direction, write completely reversed words, etc) and speaks incomprehensibly. What more, when his colleague meets him in a public toilet, he sees his reflection in the mirror crying and panicking for help.
So, does that mean they swap role? Or there is another one: you know that Buddha is the righteous being, even his hands are both right. So, what'll happen if you place a mirror in front of a Buddha? You'll get a two left-hands Buddha. Now, in Vietnamese and (I think) Chinese, left-right also spoken as wrong-right. Therefore in the mirror, there is a Buddha that's full of Wrong, or Evil. How terrifying could it be? The mirrors "reflect" the opposite of us, so some people believe the reflections are not just the image, but the attitude, the heart and the way of thinking as well. So if you're good, then you in the mirror is bad and vice-versa.
Taoism used this theory to make Ba Gua mirror, which basically keeps the evil out of the house, because the mirror will create the good version of the youkai/demon and fight them in the spirit world. The Ba Gua sign is there to ensure only "good" will be made, so it won't kill off you or nice people coming to your house.
Like other haunts, mirror haunt can happen when you use the mirror in midnight and stare at it more than necessary. Other situations are taking a bath too late at night, your shadow can become active and choke you from behind. There is no particular way to avoid it, since the reflection is you yourself. So if you get scared, try to face the shadow/reflection so you can see what it's doing. Running to a completely dark room helps, since your shadow won't have a proper form to harm you. Stay outside if it's midnoon, because the shadow will be completely under your feet (like, just 2 dots). Otherwise there is no way to prevent it. The haunted shadow/reflection can kill other people by harming their shadow/reflection too. It is quite common.
I think you've heard of stories about people that doesn't have a shadow or a reflection, in which case, they're dead. There is no way one can't have shadow or reflection, if the shadow/reflection of theirs get so strong to leave the host, the world is done for. If that shadow/reflection is evil (which is 99% of the time) then he can literally harm everyone by doing things to your shadow/reflection. If one night you suddenly see someone in the mirror where you're alone in the room, run from anything can reflects your image. Mirrors, a plastic bag, water surface, computer minitor.... anything can allow him to touch you. Because you and your shadow/reflection are connected, who knows what will happen....
By the way, the story about my reflection wasn't looking at me is true, just happened like 10 minutes ago and not the first time. Bye, gotta sleep.
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Well, I've finally decided to post my own thing about a certain, fairly old, urban legend.
So. Who here has heard of Spring-Heeled Jack (http://www.springheeled-jack.com/springheeledjack-images/spring5.jpg)?
The earliest recorded cases of Spring-Heeled Jack took place in the late 1830's in Sheffield, England (England would be where most of Jack's antics would be reported). Though there were a couple of subtle differences between each case as to the appearance of this... lets call him a cryptid for convenience. So anyway, though there were various subtle differences, the main similarity among the eyewitness accounts was that Jack had glowing eyes, wore some kind of oilskin garment, looked like a "gentleman," and had very sharp claws. Of course, the reason this cryptid became known as Spring-Heeled Jack was because of his ability to jump over walls and fences that were at least ten feet tall, however people had also reported seeing him jump from the street to the rooftops, or just jump across the rooftops.
Anyway, early in this legend's life, Jack usually kept to jumping out from behind walls to scare passers-by or he would attack the occasional lady and rip her clothing (which usually also resulted in feeling the terrified victim up). Once help was called for or help arrived, he would then bound away and escape using his powerful jumping ability.
Later on, the accounts of Jack's antics became more violent as he would jump out in front of a carriage, causing the driver to swerve, or he would attack women more violently. He also became involved in the murder of a thirteen year old prostitute. As the years went on and the cases piled up, he also reportedly had very cold, clammy hands and he gained the ability to breathe or expel blue flames from his body to disorient the victims of his pranks. This ability related to flames would eventually be heard about in numerous other cases and be considered one of Jack's many odd traits.
Eventually Jack's antics spread to such places as Liverpool and London. His attacks seemed to slow down before starting back up in the late 1870's, and he started to become even more bold, attacking soldiers on sentry duty and much more. People could never catch him as he jumped away when they thought they had finally cornered him and apparently he was also immune to bullets, as they would apparently bounce off of him with a metallic clang.
The final recorded case apparently took place in 1920, but there are still sporadic sightings of Jack and he also seemed to frequent the United States quite a bit from the 1930's to the early 1950's, however Jack is still sighted in the United States from time to time as well. So the question remains. Is, or was, Spring-Heeled Jack actually a man who spawned a whole bunch of copycat pranksters? Or is he actually some kind of cryptid that looks like a man? Either way, he must be badass if he's eluded the authorities for close to 170 years. :3
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By the way, the story about my reflection wasn't looking at me is true, just happened like 10 minutes ago and not the first time. Bye, gotta sleep.
Holy crap, the creepiest stuff happens to you man. :ohdear:
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Holy crap, the creepiest stuff happens to you man. :ohdear:
Agreed. Maybe his family has some kind of spiritual history or something.
Actually... That'd be kinda awesome.
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Yea, you're just awesome, Forte...
Now I'm never ever gonna look into a mirror again...
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My family just gets the occasional ghosts and apparitions over at granny's house. I've experienced a close encounter with one once, too. :ohdear:
But you? Man, you even had freaking CHUCKY once and you're still (hopefully :V) sane. I bow to you, sir, for being awesome.
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Well, my family doesn't have much experience with ghosts, except my mother and me. We are not religious but we do believe in God, Buddha, Hell and such. My mother and I had a lot of dreams... of course, let me tell you about dreams....
Dream is the pictures, motions, sounds, feelings the brain produces when we're asleep. I have a whole book talking about dreams by various scientist, but I'm not gonna bother you with it. You can see that many thing happens when we dream. Mendeleyev ultimately finished the Periodic Table from his dream, Tartini re-played his dream and composed "Devil's Thrill"... People too, also have nightmares and stuff, but how many actually had their dream affect their normal life? I'll tell you some stories, and I swear my arse that they are all true:
- My mother moved to HCM city after married my father's family, her parents stayed in Hanoi. We go to Hanoi every summer to visit our relatives and everything is nice. One night in 2002, my mother was washing clothes on the 2nd floor. She then heard my grandma's voice "T., T. (annon name for obvious reasons), dad's gonna visit you tomorrow before he goes." My mom was surprised and looked out the balcony, but no one was there. Of course, my gramps were in Hanoi, thousand kilometers away. She thought she was just tired and went to sleep. Tomorrow nothing happened, and her story didn't really get our attention. But that night, I had a dream. It was very strange when you started to dream and knew exactly that "damn, I'm dreaming." I had a lot of those before and I could change the dream on my whim, you know, make a girl appears, change her look and then shag her like rabbits... but that dream I couldn't change anything at all. I was laying on my bed, unable to move, then I saw a cat, big, black cat jumped at my mother. The cat had my grandpa's face. I woke up violently, ran to my parents' room and saw her was awakened too. Her face was all pale and she said "I just saw a black cat with your grandpa's face jumped at me." About ten minutes later, the phone rang. It was from Hanoi... my gramp passed away...
- About 4 years later, 2006, we started to raise cat. We love cats and I bet you do too. However, my dad is a very very very bad pet keeper. He thought animals aren't human, so they only need one meal a day and get treated like just an animal they are. Needless to say, the cat became very weak and sad, the rest of the family (me, mom, my little sister) got really pissed off and tried to treat the cat better, we often had extreme arguments with my dad about it. One day, the cat stopped eating. He said "see, because you fed him too much now he has stomachache." It died a few days later. From then, I started having dreams about the cat jumping on my chest to sleep, just like how it was before. It told me it loved the family, but my dad will pay someday. But my dad didn't share the same dreams, he actually never dreamt about those stuffs. He told me that he saw the cat walking on 2 legs like a human when he rearranging the storehouse at night. It was creepy but as a true man he didn't get scared and simply kicked it away. The next day, my dad fell off the stairs and injured his back very bad. He told us that when he was laying down the stairs, he saw the cat, standing on 2 legs, grinned at him.
- Long time ago, like more than 10 years, my dad's dad was keeping a parrot. It never talked and seemed completely useless. Me and my cousin loved to play with it, while I gave the seeds and sometimes hit it with a stick, my cousin pluck its feathers and flicked its head. One day, we had a cold. It was expected because we were playing under the rain. That night, I was sleeping and relised I couldn't move. I was like "fuck, dreaming again." The parrot was looking down at us. And my cousin looked terrified. It started jumping and struggling in the cage, screaming in a very strange voice: "Vomit! Vomit your fucking gaaaaall!", "I'll kill youuuuu!" then broke the cage to fly at us. I was so scared I woke up, and saw my cousin next to me shaking, I woke him up too. He said to me "It was scratching me!". The family downstairs was noisy, so we tried to walked down. We saw everyone standing by the parrot's cage, where the bird laid down. My mother said it suddenly laughing like a maniac and dropped dead. When we told everyone about our dream, they said it was fortunate we awoke on time, or the parrot might really kill us.
- 7/7/2007. I remember it because there is no way I could forget it. That night I was playing Red Alert 2 until midnight, and started hearing the sound of chopsticks hitting. I've been hearing that noise every night since I was a kid, so even when my mom said it's a bad omen, I didn't care. Things went normally, except the noise was louder and louder. I felt a presence in the room, but didn't dare to look back. Suddenly, my game crashed. I was like that's it I'm going to bed. The moment I shut down the computer and stand up, something grabbed my legs. I jumped back and stared under the table, nothing. Somehow chilled, I hurried to the bed. In Vietname, there are a lot of mosquitoes at nights so we had to use sleeping net, unless we have an air conditioner. Anyway, I went to sleep. Then I opened my eyes, looking at the ceiling and unable to move. I knew exaactly what's gonna happen... the night was quiet, but a wind from nowhere blew the net, it got really bent inside, I'm not sure if I described it right, you know how clothes and nets are like when a wind blows right? Yeah, like that. The net was blown very far inside my bed, and suddenly it got pierced by a hand. Half an arm from the side violently piercing the net, leaving holes. Very quickly it reached my hand, grabbed it. The feeling was realistic, too realistic it hurt. It was like someone trying to crush my hand into pieces. I was scared but fuck that shit, I have a black belt in Taekwondo, I crushed it back. We were grabbing each other really tighly for a minute, then an invisible head popped in, I know because the net made the shape. I used my other arm to punch it. Again and again. I couldn't move my lips, I can't shout or scream of even breath, let me tell you, that's an uncomfortable feeling. Finally the head broke and the "crawl" disappeared. I woke up, looked at the clock. 2am. So I was only asleep for like 15 seconds. My mom rushed to my room and asked why I was laughing so loud at that time. I told her about the dream but she said she only heard me laughing like in some sitcom comedy.
- I had an older sister, who was born in 1989 in Hanoi. But we had a very bad cold in Hanoi that year, and my sister died. My parents were young, so they got over it after a year. Then they moved to HCM city. The year of 1993, my mother was bearing my little sister. One night she had a dream, my older sister visited us and said: "I've gotten a job now, I'll be protecting someone in the Comb Street (a street in Hanoi) so I can't look after you anymore. Please be careful, because I've been protecting you for 4 years, the bad omens stacked up and can be very bad once I'm gone." When my mom spoke to my dad, he laughed and said it was just nonsense. In that year's summer, my dad had a car accident and broken his leg. Because he was a sailor, this injury cost him his job and our main income. We were one of the richest but just after one day, the customers never visited us again. My mom didn't mention the dream again because she knew my dad would be furious.
So, those are what I could recall as "spiritual dreams" that I knew and all true. I know some people that had dreams and encountered ghosts when they did something when they awake, and some results are very nasty. But there is not like all dreams were bad. Some people who was helping someone or being very close to someone, dreamt that the person visited and advised, or even helped them from bad things. My friend in the secondary school once told me his dad dreamt of his closest friend who died 2 years ago, told him that there is a ghost in the house. He listened and hired a shaman, the guy dug randomly in the garden and found an abandoned grave. His family then brought the bones to the temple and since then their business went very smoothly.
You can find thousands of these stories in Vietnam, mostly from the countryside or areas near the river.
So about your comments on me. I have to say that yes, I've encountered a shitload of stuffs in my humble 21 years of life. Actually 17 years, these last 4 were peaceful as hell in Plymouth (except last night and some nights before that) :3 Some fortune-teller said I had a strange sign. I was born in a specific hour in a specific place at a specific day, which granted me an ability to encounter the spirit world, but they couldn't harm me. Because of this combination the encounters shall be very brief, but as long as I'm not dwelling too far, they will leave me alone.
Now I know Touhou.
Anyway, when it comes to this we Asians often use the Zodiac to guess the ability we possess. My dad for instance, is a Dog, so he "guards" the house and cannot be harmed directly from spirits. However many spirits hate him and his "spiritual" life is in constant danger. This is somehow true since he never had nightmares, and whenever he's at home, we can sleep in peace. My mother is a Tiger, she is strong but the spirits like to gather around her (as tiger is the King of Forest), some may even want to possess her for the power the zodiac has. She by far had the most experience with ghost in the family. I'm a Horse, so I can sense the spirits, and have the ability to run away from them. My sister is a Rooster, she's a stupid cowardly scaredy-cat, but she never encounters any spirit in her life. (rooster is the messenger of the Sun) Completely safe, that kid.
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Anything about the Ram?
Or Dragon and Snake for that matter.
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Lol, I'm a rooster too. No wonder that one spirit I encountered at granny's disappeared as soon as I saw it. :3
My mom, aunts and my oldest sister and brother tend to have dreams about relatives who have passed away, but they're always good dreams where said relatives advise them, or just come and say hi. Personally, I've never had such dreams, but I guess that's my rooster ability at work. :3
But then that means you can get gapped by Yukari to Gensokyo and not me. :colonveeplusalpha:
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Rooster here as well. That probably explains why the closest thing to paranormal experiences I've had are seeing shadows out of the corner of my eyes.
My Grandpa on the other hand... He's had a couple of really odd experiences from what I've heard. The one that comes to mind right now being that years ago when his friend died, he was driving home and he saw the Devil sitting in the back seat through his rear-view mirror.
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Mirrors, a plastic bag, water surface, computer minitor....
FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
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Man Forte, I'm kinda jealous of your experiences also. I mean damn, the only strange things I've encountered are the occasional strange voices or sounds I hear just before I wake up in the middle of the night.
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Man Forte, I'm kinda jealous of your experiences also. I mean damn, the only strange things I've encountered are the occasional strange voices or sounds I hear just before I wake up in the middle of the night.
Oooh! I get that too!
And sometimes I feel like something's looming right behind me when in the dark. It's a feeling I've had ever since I was a little girl.
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You too?
I've always gotten that feeling myself, ever since I was just a sprout myself.
In fact, it takes all my willpower to not flip the fuck out and run screaming, it's that unnerving.
But for some reason, as soon as I close a door on whatever it is, the feeling dissipates.
I also get it when I walk into a dark room, like there's something in there, and it's not a pleasant thing, whatever it may be.
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It's not that nice, although I do proud of them sometimes, cos I can use them to attract some attention in the pub. But when you're alone in midnight... believe me the memories alone can give you the chills. I'm happy I'm still sane despite all of those. Call me cool or awesome or anything, I'd gladly give you all to get a normal life. About noise, I hear it every night when the light's out. It's... hard to describe. Just like "uuuuu" constantly in my ears. Every single night for at least 19 years of my life, now I just don't give a damn. It's a part of my life already.
Anyway, it's Remiliamesseswithmeagain fate for you, can't live with it, can't live without it. I'll share some info I know about "omen" or "sign" so you can guess what's coming to you: (they're just tales, so not even 90% correct)
- Dog: they're believed to have the 6th sense and guarding your house. They said when the dog barks continuously, it's a living creature (like Bow, wow, wow,...) but if they bark separately (like bow,grr... bow,...) then it's a spirit.
- Cat: black, long cat is always a messenger of devil. When you see one wander outside your windows, lock it.
- Wind: the wind often blows harder when a spirit is coming, they're likely strong enough to blow a candle, but who uses candles in this age?
- Stranger in a mirror: someone is watching you.
- Strange noise in the night: something is lurking around, commonly related to gap youkai, possessed objects in the room or boogeyman, etc.
- Dreams: depends on what you dream of. Only true if you know it's a lucid dream yet you cannot change that dream world with your will.
- Shadows near the stairs/toilet: something is hiding in the places with least "living Chi", approach with caution.
- Baby's cry: babies are the same as dog, have 6th sense before became a grown-up. So if your infant cries for nothing, be very careful.
- Woman's intuition: Men have lots of Yang (Sun) while women have lots of Yin (Moon), so they tend to encounter spirit much often than men. When your girlfriend says she feels something strange in your house, do try to believe her.
- Wake up seeing yourself doing something in a third-person view: you may have been possessed. If you see yourself sleeping, then your soul just got separate with your body. You can wander around but try to get back as soon as possible.
- Someone you know acts differently, like half-asleep with weird faces: he may be possessed, oh simply sleepwalking.
- Voices calling your name: there are various reasons in this case. But if you don't know whose voice that is or that person shouldn't be around at that time and place, then do NOT answer.
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Oooh! I get that too!
And sometimes I feel like something's looming right behind me when in the dark. It's a feeling I've had ever since I was a little girl.
I get this as well. And not just in the dark.
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- Dog: they're believed to have the 6th sense and guarding your house. They said when the dog barks continuously, it's a living creature (like Bow, wow, wow,...) but if they bark separately (like bow,grr... bow,...) then it's a spirit.
My sister's dog used to do that when they were alone at home. Then she sprinkled holy water around her house and she never barked like that again.
It's probably because she lives in Florida. LOTS of indian burial grounds there. Maybe her neighborhood was built on one. :derp:
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Wait I think I know who Hanzo K. is
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Who? :derp:
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Wait I think I know who Hanzo K. is
In real life? Or something else?
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My sister's dog used to do that when they were alone at home. Then she sprinkled holy water around her house and she never barked like that again.
In our culture "holy water" is a young boy's piss. :3
Who?
She's a Vietnamese too, I suppose.
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You are incorrect, I'm a dude.
And also not Vietnamese either, though i do know a little bit about monsters and ghosts from that part of the world.
Then again, a lot of folks have mistaken me for a chick in the past.
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In our culture "holy water" is a young boy's piss. :3
Ew. XD
Btw, I became curious and looked up my parent's signs. Dad is a Horse like you, Forte. :3 That explains several encounters he's had when he was younger.
Mom, however, is a Goat. What do you have to say about her sign?
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You are incorrect, I'm a dude.
And also not Vietnamese either, though i do know a little bit about monsters and ghosts from that part of the world.
Then again, a lot of folks have mistaken me for a chick in the past.
Sorry, I read another post but saw your name on someone else :3
Mom, however, is a Goat. What do you have to say about her sign?
She may be a pervert.
No really, in Vietnam "goat" is even an adjective for perversion. My cousin is a goat, and he has new girl friend every year. Actually he has 4 girlfriends every year but I took the other 3 when they came over.
About "spiritual" stuffs, I'm not sure. A goat doesn't have much difference from a horse, except that it can resist very well to evil. Goat's blood is used to write charms and such.
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She may be a pervert.
No really, in Vietnam "goat" is even an adjective for perversion. My cousin is a goat, and he has new girl friend every year. Actually he has 4 girlfriends every year but I took the other 3 when they came over.
About "spiritual" stuffs, I'm not sure. A goat doesn't have much difference from a horse, except that it can resist very well to evil. Goat's blood is used to write charms and such.
My mother? A perv?
I'm laughing so hard right now. :]
But it does makes sense that the goat is similar to the horse in spiritual stuff. As I've said, my family has a history of having spiritual encounters.
I'd ask about my sisters and brother, but I don't wanna be a hassle. :)
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Well, Zodiac sign is just a theory, you can find general information on them but if you want more you've to combine the age, date of birth, place of birth, hour of birth and it'll relate to a shitload of stuffs like 5 elements, ba gua signs. Even relatives like parents, gramps have important parts too (inheritance that sort of thing). I'm not good enough to help you about that, especially it's just myths. But if you haven't encountered much then you probably won't ever. Unless something really big happen and change your whole "life".
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Zodiac sign... Like, for example, Virgo? That would be my sign, but I never looked into it all that much. Do you know anything about that sign?
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Kinda true. My mom's a Tiger and she has had some experiences before, and same goes to my sister (also a Tiger), but they just don't talk about it much. Nowadays, not so much though, touch wood. But I don't get one thing:
...My dad for instance, is a Dog, so he "guards" the house and cannot be harmed directly from spirits. However many spirits hate him and his "spiritual" life is in constant danger...
What does that mean? I'm a Dog and I'm kinda worried after reading that :ohdear:
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I think it means the spirits hate you because you keep them away. :derp:
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How about rats/mouse/etc?
Oh yeah, I just encountered a black cat yesterday. So, a messenger of devil, huh?
This looks like a bad omen for me :(
I've heard strange noises often at night, but it's nothing compared to yours, Forte.
Just pray often, I stopped hearing them after I started praying 4 or 5 times before sleeping.
It should keep you safe :V
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Reading this stuff again remind me of my childhood. Then again, my childhood is a mixture of different beliefs put into a blender. God, I'm not sure of my ethnicity anymore.
Always carry a protective cross, a Buddha necklace or something and some Quranic Scriptures. Just to be safe.
Then again, who need those when you have SCIENCE!
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What does that mean? I'm a Dog and I'm kinda worried after reading that
Well, let's put it this way: the evil spirit is burglars wanna harm your family, but as a dog you keep them away, so they hate you. See how many dog got killed by burglars/thieves? Just like that. But if you don't drop your guard down you'll be fine :D
I've heard strange noises often at night, but it's nothing compared to yours, Forte.
Just pray often, I stopped hearing them after I started praying 4 or 5 times before sleeping.
Chant this phrase (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nianfo) 7 times (male) or 9 times (female) before you go to sleep. It will keep the evil away from you. Only works with weak evil or evil below your level of course :D There is many many tricks to avoid evil, like keeping a knife under your pillow, garlic and so on. But after years I found out that Christian "tricks" are much less effective than Taoism or Buddhism. Of course, maybe because I was in Asia and out of Christian God's territory. There are some nasty legends about haunted church in Vietnam and how the ghosts chased people from the street to the inside and killed them under the very cross. :ohdear:
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There is many many tricks to avoid evil, like keeping a knife under your pillow
I think it will do you more harm than good. Seriously, you can wake wake up with your hand/face covered in wounds, or even death if an accident happens.
I'll stick to my method, since I'm not Buddha :V
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Ah... shoot! Tiger... maybe that is why I always feel a presence behind me...
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The only "supernatural" things I've encountered are all related to dreams. I'll keep these brief, but if anyone wants more detail, just ask.
- I had a dream about a certain person, where we talked a bit and hugged. I wrote this down for later reference. When I saw him but before I could tell him, he told me that he had a dream about me and said the same things.
- I've met an "angel" in my dreams before, who has shown up pretty often and says that she lives in dreams. I know a few other people that she has visited as well.
- On the other side of that, I've seen a demon too. It looked like a normal person in the dream, but I had a gut feeling to just stay away from it. After a while, I needed to pass by it for some reason, and when I did, it grabbed me and it felt like my soul was being taken away. I woke up before anything bad happened, though.
- There's a girl who has shown up in my dreams about 5 times now, who I've never met in real life. Whenever I have a dream with her in it, the landscape is much different than usual, and much more vivid than what my mind can produce, so I think I'm inside her dream instead. She always wears a long dress and is really pretty, and she even kissed me once. I haven't seen her recently, so I hope she's all right...
- A few times, I've woken up and been paralyzed, and I can see a ghost. This goes last, because I'm not sure if it's actually supernatural, since it's a common occurrence (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_paralysis). It was really scary at first, but now it's actually kind of fun.
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An angel and demon that reside in dreams....Why does that sound fam-
Oh right, Mugetsu and Gengetsu.
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- I've met an "angel" in my dreams before, who has shown up pretty often and says that she lives in dreams. I know a few other people that she has visited as well.
- On the other side of that, I've seen a demon too. It looked like a normal person in the dream, but I had a gut feeling to just stay away from it. After a while, I needed to pass by it for some reason, and when I did, it grabbed me and it felt like my soul was being taken away. I woke up before anything bad happened, though.
An angel and demon that reside in dreams....Why does that sound fam-
Oh right, Mugetsu and Gengetsu.
Omigod, they exist. :getdown:
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Supernatural? I actually had some experiences.
-Whenever I come over to my cousin's house or a friend's of my parents, I would see a black shadow probably from the corner of my eye. And that usually happens when they didn't get their house "blessed" by the monks yet OR they just recently moved in.
-When I moved into my current home. I never get out of my room after 11:30. Why, because there would actually be movement RIGHT outside of my door. And the time I need to go out, it felt like someone was watching me. It can either be me being paranoid as fuck but really, when you have your mom tell you that she saw a black figured looking man just standing there in front of your door, you're going to be in trouble. We had the house blessed QUICK.
-After that though... just slight movement here and there, my stuff however is moved around a lot so my room is still pretty active.
Yeah, black shadows, residual movements, and poltergeist.
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In a similar vein as Minchy's story, sometimes I'll see a black figure near the backdoor, in the kitchen.
See, my place's layout is a pretty simple one. one floor, two bedrooms, one bathroom, decent-sized livingroom and kitchen, okay-sized closets in both bedrooms, your standard single-story house kinda place.
Well, when I first started staying here, I'd often meander into the kitchen late at night, usually either on a quest for munchables, or on a train of thought, as I am oft to find myself.
Anyhow, sometimes I'd see this indeterminate figure in the back corner of the room, near the backdoor and fridge.
It didn't really feel that menacing though, it's like it was justthere. It seemed kinda...I dunno, bored I guess?
Being the oddball that I am, I just took it in stride and flicked the lights on and went about my business. And as per usual, it would vanish each time I'd have the light on.
But it would occasionally re-appear once I turned the light back off.
Oddly enough, it was usually when I was heading back to my general area that I would get the feeling of being watched.
I think that whatever that figure is, it's not meant to cause harm to people, it's just a watcher.
But for what? And why? That's what I'd like to know.
Also, a common thing in my family is that if you set something down in an obvious place, like a tv remote, or a cell phone, and it goes missing, then a ghost made off with it.
Talk about your spiriting away, eh?
Oh, on a different note, there's a lot of ghosts and such in the area where I live.
Apparently it was quite popular among the native americans of the area, as there've been several ruined villages excavated.
And on a related note to the above, my aunt once had an experience where she saw the phantom of one such village, complete with people and buildings.
The freaky thing? They saw her too.
It was just one of those "Oh, hey." "Yo." kinda things where they just calmly regarded each other for a little bit, then just went along their way.
She's never seen it since though, but she's convinced that there's the ruins of that village where she saw it.
And on another related note, the property where my grandma's house stands is protected by a native american spirit.
It'll often will often take the form of a white wolf.
Hence his moniker of "White Wolf". Usually you'll be more likely to see White Wolf than the other form, The Shaman.
But if the Shaman ever shows his face, you know shit's gonna get serious, because he's like an alarm pretty much.
Only time he ever shows up is when the shit's about to hit the fan. Kinda like a "Hey, you there. Things are about to get really bumpy for you, better hold on tight."
And you better hold on to your pants if you see both forms at the same time, because there's no telling what'll happen.
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Well... a watcher is a guardian. Probably there is something hidden in your house and you're not supposed to know/touch it. The watcher is usually someone from the former family in the house, of someone that got killed to be the guardian. In Asia, there are some people that go to the mountain village to buy such thing: a maiden's corpse in a coffin. The coffin is put in the a corner (name Corner Ghost) and protect everything in the house. Maybe your house got one from the former family? It probably won't harm you since the rights to own the house was transfered from the former owner to you, but your friends may get hurt.
I got hurt. It was when I was in Vietnam and befriended with a rich kid. Because he had a PS2 I loved to come over his house every weekend. But when I got back, my mom said I always sleepwalking, screaming and crying at night. And I had no dream about that whatsoever. She then stopped me from visiting him.
So yeah, tell your friend to be careful, don't sleep over, don't nick anything without permission and do not go in the house from anywhere but a front door (they have to knock and get you to open the door). The watcher can just scare them or make them confuse, dizzy and sleeptalking like me, but if they act like a thief it will even kill them.
On the side note, sleep paralysis is both science and myth, I got it very often. It feels uncomfortable, but one of the best way to wake up is focus on something, like moving your shoulder. Once you can move, you'll wake up fine. Just don't get scared. People said you can see ghosts the clearest in this state though. But once I saw Yukari by my bed I knew it's bollocks.
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- I've met an "angel" in my dreams before, who has shown up pretty often and says that she lives in dreams. I know a few other people that she has visited as well.
You know, I've heard of demons that can disguise themselves as angels and there's supposed to be questions you're supposed to ask them to make sure they are actual angels. That's for Christianity.
Anyone know anything about comets though? I really like the things but I hear they're supposed to be a omen of calamity.
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Comets are the omen of death, war and plague. It was believed to be the worst omen one could see.
Well, in ancient time we believe everyone has a Life Star, basically the star represents our life. If it's bright, we're doing good and so on. So a comet means someone dies (one life star down) and a big comet means someone important dies (hero, king, emperor,...). That's about it really.
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Yay, new story. You know that this time of the year we have long day, right? I always lost track of time despite being in the UK for 4 years. That's why last night I was wandering around until it got dark. Looked at my watch, it was nearly 22pm. On my way back home there is a park, very, er, small park with just some benches and lots of trees. I have a habit of listening to music while walking, so my MP3 was on. I was walking near the park, and suddenly the MP3 started buzzing. Nothing's wrong with it technically, but I didn't feel right. I took of the headphones, the road was dead quiet. This road was hardly crowded even in daytime so nothing's strange. But then my ears started hearing the buzzing echo again, like the one I posted before when I went to bed. It got louder and louder like someone placed a computer right next to my ears. Then I looked at the sky.
I tried to find the Moon but something else caught my attention. Something as white, a face. There was a head on the tree, right above the bus stop. I startled, but man it didn't even have intestine, so it wasn't a youkai. I stared at it for a minute, there is no blood, blonde, short hair. A perfectly normal face of an English guy (around 28-30) except he had no body. Assuming it's a lost soul, I quickly ran back to my house.
This morning I went out there again but there is nothing on the tree. I asked around but nothing strange happened lately or in the past 4 years. I knew that too because it's about 7 minutes walk from my house and I've walking through that road everyday this year.
Should I go investigate tonight? Well, even if I have experiences with spirits, that super pale head isn't something I wanna see twice. And don't tell me to take picture of tape, you know it's the best way to get haunted. I'm late to say this but: If you see a ghost, tell the story but never take photo or film it.
Well, maybe ranting about this can help me keep my cool tonight. Right, let's talk about ghost in pictures.
You see, camera is a tool to capture the reflections of light, then process them to make photos and videos. So, spirits aren't a reflection of light, then how did many people claim to have pictures of ghost? Simple, the ghost was captured in there.
Thanks to the advance of the internet, the ghost in the pictures and videos now have access to everyone in the world that watch them. There are rumors of people getting possessed after surfing the internet, or having nightmares, crazy... All sort of stuff. In Vietnam, there was a legend that a French reporter took a photo of an enemy soldier getting shot. Thinking it would be a hit, he happily moved to Sai Gon and get the photo. In the photo, the soldier was laying dead, but he remembered taking it at the very moment he was hit, charging. Later that day, when he finished his dinner, the reporter organised his stuffs again, and found the soldier was standing, with holes on his torso. He was very surprised, but decided to send it back to the publisher anyway. The next morning, he was scared that the photo mysteriously laid on his pillow, with the dead soldier coming really close. He put the photo in a box, locked it, threw it in a case.
Later that night, after booking the ticket to France, he screamed as the photo was laying on the case, with the soldier so up-close, he could see his face full with hatred and vain. There is no ending for this tale, as nobody knew what happened next.
So again, no matter what happens, do not take pictures of ghost.
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I've heard about that thing that cameras can capture spirits. I had no idea it was true.
Guess I'd better stop watching my favorite ghost hunter shows, huh? :ohdear:
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I think it's if you snap the photo the moment the person dies.
If you get it before, or after, then I think it should be okay.
I mean, I've repeatedly thought of setting up my laptop's webcam, setting it to not power down after a period of inactivity, and setting it out in the hallway when I go to sleep.
Making sure to set the screen's brightness way down.
I wonder what I'll record? Beyond the occasional bathroom trip from the family.
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I've tried that once in my cousin's house back in Vietnam. We got nothing lol. But the time you watch the whole record it can give you some feelings like "hey, will that chair move?" "I think something just appears!", quite thrilling though :D
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I actually tried to do that once in my room, since I've told you that sometimes I feel a presence next to me in the dark. I set it up in night vision then layed down.
I couldn't sleep. no matter how much I tried, I couldn't get the camera off my mind. In all honesty, I was kind of scared of what it COULD film. In the end, I took it down and turned it off. Only then I could sleep in peace. Lol, rooster nature. :V
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It's true that if you set it up yourself, curiosity will drive you mad. There are many experiment on this subject, but then the researchers had to film the client without telling them when and where. I believe one in USA did it and found the furnitures of the room moved by themselves at nights. Or one of my friends took a photo in a hotel and found a girl was standing outside the balcony, looking in. He burnt the picture right away so I can't say it's true or not...
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You know, I've heard of demons that can disguise themselves as angels and there's supposed to be questions you're supposed to ask them to make sure they are actual angels. That's for Christianity.
Well, I've known her for about a year now and nothing bad has happened. She doesn't look anything like the normal Christian angel anyway - she's small and looks more like a Pokemon than a human. Besides, she's too snuggly to be a demon.
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What are we talking about again? :wat:
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I can't really share personal experiences as I really haven't had any except for the shadows mentioned earlier, but I do know a couple of places in my city that are apparently haunted, one of which being my high school.
Also I just realized that most of the stories I've heard are related to buildings downtown, but I guess it makes sense considering it's the oldest part of the city.
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Schools tend to be 'haunted' all the time, huh? It's like almost every school has its own ghost story. Whether they're true or if someone was just screwing around and passing a rumor in the first place, we won't know >.<
Hey Forte, I heard some people saying you have to be in an even-numbered group if you wanna tell ghost stories in real life. Is it true?
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Schools tend to be 'haunted' all the time, huh? It's like almost every school has its own ghost story. Whether they're true or if someone was just screwing around and passing a rumor in the first place, we won't know >.<
Yeah, I was wondering about that. It seems that all schools hhave "7 mysteries", and most of the time these mysteries are relatively the same, the one most memorable to me is that girl in the bathroom.
I guess it's because of Moaning Myrtle, because I'm a Harry Potter dork. :V
And because Ragna makes a good ghost girl.
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Speaking of toilet ghosts...
A friend of mine told me this. When he was much younger, back when his sister was in high school (she's in college now), he went to the school with his family once. Don't remember if it was a party or something, but then he said he couldn't take it anymore and had to pee real bad. But for some particular reason the toilet nearby was locked up so he had to run up to the second floor just to do so. And then when he came back downstairs, he asked the sister why it was locked in the first place... someone actually heard a voice in one of the stalls and when (s)he looked into the mirror there was blood all over (in the mirror, at least) and a girl was standing right behind him/her, or rather, hung onto the ceiling with the body dangling behind him/her. Ever since then, they locked it up. Don't know if it's useable again now...
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My friend, that was an occurrence of "Toilet Hanako".
She's a famous type of bathroom spirit that haunts school restrooms.
It doesn't matter if it's an elementary school or not, there's gonna be at least one.
Let's see...how did the story go.....Ah yes, now I remember.
Toilet Hanako is generally the spirit of a young woman who was ridiculed endlessly in life.
Oftentimes the poor girl will take her own life in a bathroom, and she'll haunt that bathroom for an unspecified period of time.
Similar spirits are the ever-infamous Bloody Mary, Red Mantle, and more.
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Ahhh, yes. That's the one. Moaning Myrtle more than likely was based off of the Toilet Hanako stories. Or it was a coinkydink. Who knows? :V
And Ragna still makes a good ghost girl.
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I know, I've heard of the Toilet Hanako stories, but doesn't she only haunt Japanese toilets according to myths and all? Why come all the way here all of a sudden? :ohdear:
Mima is a better ghost girl
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Well,you know how Japanese culture and stuff has been spreading across the planet right?
What's there to stop their ghosts, myths, legends, and such from making the trip too?
Plus, I think there's a western counterpart to the Toilet Hanako story.
Similar events, cause, and result, just in a different place.
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Culture doesn't limit anything. Toilets are always the place for ghosts. Living creatures "mark" their territory simply by smell, this is the same. Us human breaths out an air called "Yang Chi", which is basically telling the ghosts that "This place is mine" and keep them away. This is why ghosts don't haunt crowded places. There are some exception of course, but mostly crowded places aren't where ghosts want to be. Toilets, storerooms, abandoned houses on the other hand, the best places for them. So even if your school's toilet didn't have any bad history, it can still be haunted by ghosts.
This is a fact: Earth has a history of 4.5 billion years, and human has been on earth for at least 10000 years that had a decent "culture". How many people died? Countless, everywhere. There are no place on earth that doesn't have at least 2 corpses laying underground. So, ghosts are everywhere. But like I said, we don't see them because there are "rules". We have something keep us from them, and they're less likely to stay in my room where I sit on my chair 20/24. Where else should they stay? Toilet, we only come there now and then, some extreme household doesn't use the toilet for weeks. Perfect place, no?
Hanako-san is just a rumor about a ghost in the toilet, it doesn't mean only Japan has it. Heck, my elementary school had one too, the door was locked from inside and we heard sobbing, but when we took a peep through the gap below the door, there was nobody. The the toilet flushed and we screamed, running away.
I had been through 5 schools in my life and remembered quite a lot of "things", but nowhere had a "7 mysteries", because we're not in Japan lol.
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Culture doesn't limit anything. Toilets are always the place for ghosts. Living creatures "mark" their territory simply by smell, this is the same. Us human breaths out an air called "Yang Chi", which is basically telling the ghosts that "This place is mine" and keep them away. This is why ghosts don't haunt crowded places. There are some exception of course, but mostly crowded places aren't where ghosts want to be. Toilets, storerooms, abandoned houses on the other hand, the best places for them. So even if your school's toilet didn't have any bad history, it can still be haunted by ghosts.
This is a fact: Earth has a history of 4.5 billion years, and human has been on earth for at least 10000 years that had a decent "culture". How many people died? Countless, everywhere. There are no place on earth that doesn't have at least 2 corpses laying underground. So, ghosts are everywhere. But like I said, we don't see them because there are "rules". We have something keep us from them, and they're less likely to stay in my room where I sit on my chair 20/24. Where else should they stay? Toilet, we only come there now and then, some extreme household doesn't use the toilet for weeks. Perfect place, no?
Hanako-san is just a rumor about a ghost in the toilet, it doesn't mean only Japan has it. Heck, my elementary school had one too, the door was locked from inside and we heard sobbing, but when we took a peep through the gap below the door, there was nobody. The the toilet flushed and we screamed, running away.
I had been through 5 schools in my life and remembered quite a lot of "things", but nowhere had a "7 mysteries", because we're not in Japan lol.
Heh, my school had a haunting place, now that I remember. it was this storage room with a small square metal door in the gym. In this place they kept the chairs for events and stuff. There's a rumor that goes around in elementary school that a man commited suicide in there and that he now haunts the room.
Once, in like 4th grade, the door was left open and a couple of the boys and I decided to go check it out. We stopped right at the door. There was this heavy feeling to that place, like something was telling us we were not allowed inside. A...kind of a sense of foreboding. We ran away instead of venturing to see what the hell was in there.
Mima is a better ghost girl
I'll fight you.
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Once, in like 4th grade, the door was left open and a couple of the boys and I decided to go check it out. We stopped right at the door. There was this heavy feeling to that place, like something was telling us we were not allowed inside. A...kind of a sense of foreboding. We ran away instead of venturing to see what the hell was in there.
You missed the fun. No really. My high school as this storeroom that was full of chairs (we need them to do long ceremonies outside). In my 11th grade I and some friends were told to bring out the chair. We went in and saw a boy (about our age) was sitting there in a corner. He didn't move and nothing seemed wrong about him. He was just standing there. After we brought out the chairs we told him to go out because we needed to close the door. He didn't answer but moved. He went out the room and walked upstairs, to the roof. We found it strange and took a look. The door to the roof was locked and chained and the boy disappeared. Of course we then made sure the rumour spread as fast as possible...
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I think ghosts only form if they have a reason to. If someone was perfectly happy with their life and doesn't mind dying, then they will pass on quietly. But if someone has a strong attachment to this world, or they have unfinished business, they'll become a ghost.
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Schools tend to be 'haunted' all the time, huh? It's like almost every school has its own ghost story. Whether they're true or if someone was just screwing around and passing a rumor in the first place, we won't know >.<
Well as far as I'm aware, there're a couple of stories related to certain places in my school that are backed by accounts from both students and teachers, so it seems less likely to be a rumour.
Of the stories and whatnot that I can remember, there is supposedly a ghost in the auditorium that has done things such as "sitting" in the audience when the whole place is dark and there's only a couple people doing whatever on stage, to the curtains slowly and inexplicably closing by themselves. The backstage costume room is apparently haunted as well.
People have also heard footsteps in the hallways after hours and investigated to find no one else in the building.
Amusingly enough, there haven't been any stories related to the bathrooms at my school however the second supposedly haunted location more than makes up for that. This location is in the tunnels under our school. The tunnels were likely built during World War Two in case of bombing raids, but considering I live in Canada, they never really saw any use. I've heard that the tunnels apparently extend all the way down to the riverfront and there's very little in the way of electrical wiring down there for lights. People have claimed to see things such as orbs and the sound of scratching coming from the other side of a big locked metal door, but you never know. It is a bit unnerving though in that when some locals filmed a ghost program documenting three of the haunted places downtown (a very old house, the theater, and my school), they found writing utensils and homework from the Sixties all laid out and organized in front of a lone stool.
So... yeah. I honestly don't know if there are ghosts at my school, but these are the things I've heard about the potential hauntings.
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Well, in my school, this happens, but not to me. Apparently when the school janitor was cleaning the toilet in one of the rooms in there, the door suddenly closes. The door wasn't locked but the janitor couldn't open it no matter what. He managed to get out safely by climbing the door.
My school have lots of ghosts stories. That's because the school building was previously a hospital. I think if you want to know if a school is haunted, check it's history, on before it was built.
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My cousin's school was built beside a graveyard. What's worse, they extended it and built a new block a few years back right into the graveyard. Then last year, when my cousin was totally stressed out, studying for a big exam, (maybe you're more vulnerable when you're under pressure or something?) she started seeing things walking outside the class. White blur-ish light and started hearing soft whispers when nobody is around, like warning her, threatening her and such. And once, she felt a heavy feeling when on the bus and when she was back home studying, she saw a floating face at her door (or window, I forgot). Luckily my uncle came in and saw her terrified, and somehow it just disappeared. They went to a medium after that to get help and soon she got better.
It was also that very school where this girl many years ago had to use the equipment in the school workshop for her project. It was the last day of school before the holidays and she didn't wanna ruin her holidays doing the project. As she was all alone, the door suddenly closed and was locked up. She got stuck in there for a long time... But now I heard that whole workshop is closed and they built an extra flight of stairs over it. I don't know if there have been any new rumours about the stairs, though.
My school had the same case too. Someone got locked up in a room and died in there, now it's the computer room for the teachers. Never heard any stories about it but all the computers are infected with so many types of viruses that no one dares to even insert a pendrive. Does that count? :V
Oh ya, still wondering bout my last question, is it true that when telling ghost stories, you must always be in a group of even-numbered people?
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Yeah. maybe lots of get-locked accidents (even though is not an accident) happens in school. There's a friend of mine who has a "sixth sense", so he can see spirits. And then one of them tried to lock him up in a storage room, he was so scared and panicked, then he breaks the window in the door and escapes. It's a good thing that my school has door with glass.
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We don't have anything at our school since it's a rich kid school but my friend and I tried to find a way to make our own schools, 7 mysteries. They all failed.
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You can't "make" 7 mysteries for your school, unless... yes, unless you die yourself or doing something awesome enough to lure the ghosts in. (or kill someone)
There are many ways to do this, of course one of the easiest is an Ouija Board.
Doing disrespect things to a grave is fine too, like pissing on it, destroy it, dig it up,... There are a lot of story about a ghost that had its grave destroyed came back to haunt people. However, the "haunt" for this will be severe, actually, people that did such things on a grave will receive the most brutal end. Not sure about other country, but in Vietnam, I've heard at least 3 stories about this. One, a farmer accidentally had his ox destroyed a unknown grave. Two, a kid took a bet and pissed on a grave. Three, a thief dug a grave up, cut off one arm of the corpse (they believe it will have them sneaking in the house without being noticed). The results were:
1. The whole family got killed brutally, their bodies looked like got stomped hard by some animal.
2. The kid disappeared, and found buried alive in that very grave.
3. The whole family died, one hand cut off.
All stories had the offenders mentally challenged with noises, regular haunting at nights, strange things with the electronic devices: the mobile recorded itself, 2-3 minutes and only 50-60 KB (the age of the ghost when it died) then got killed.
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And that's why when I go to the graveyard I do the best I can to not step on a grave. I do believe in those things, aside from the fact that I have a lot of respect for the dead. And if I have to sit on a grave, I always apologize afterwards. For example, when I visit my aunts' graves, there's a grave with a nice cement slate covering it, with the name of who was there and stuff, so i tend to sit there. I always feel unease when I do and I always apologize to the person who's in there.