Ask John: What’s the Story Behind Japanese School Ghosts?

Question:
What is with the multiple “horrors” that haunted places in anime seem to have? Any building that is either cursed or supposedly inhabited by ghosts and other spirits in Japan always seems to have a checklist of different horrors or supernatural occurances that go on in it. For example: #3-The haunted girls restroom, #6-The school pool filling with blood once a night, etc.

Answer:
Japan has a long and deep tradition of supernatural beliefs and superstitions, which should come as little surprise considering the age of Japanese culture and the pantheistic nature of the Shinto religion. Since virtually everything, both living and inanimate, has a spirit, according to Shinto belief, it’s quite natural for many things and places to be haunted in Japan, and in Japanese superstition. Children are especially impressionable and susceptible to frightful tales. That, in combination with the amount of time Japanese children spend in their schools, naturally gives rise to legends and urban myths about haunted schools and school ghosts.

According to common urban legend, schools often have seven mysteries, which vary from school to school. Some of the most common and well known mysteries include Hanako of the toilet, the 13th step, the living anatomical model, the haunted music room, and the haunted pool.

According to one telling of the story, a girl named Hanako died as a result of bullying from classmates. In another telling, she’s killed by her evil step-mother. In either case, the female spirit Hanako haunts the third toilet stall in school restrooms and occasionally spirits away students.

According to another myth, a boy drowned in the third row of the swimming pool, so at night the pool’s water turns into blood.

At night a stairway that should have only 12 steps mysteriously has 13.

The school’s creepy anatomical model comes alive.

Music comes from an empty music instruction room at night.

To be honest, I don’t know all of the various Japanese school ghost stories. The idea of haunted schools, though, has permeated Japanese cinematic culture. Live action movies like Toilet no Hanako-san series, the Yakusai Kocho series, the 1997 Toilet no Hanako-san video series, and the Gakkou no Kaiden series all concentrate on depicting haunted schools. The haunted school theme also appears in anime including Haunted Junction (which had 7 school ghosts), Kindaichi Shonen no Jikenbo (which had a different 7 school mysteries), the 1991 High School Mysteries: Gakuen Nanafushigi television series, and the Gakkou no Kaiden anime series. References to haunted schools also arise in countless anime including Magikano (which featured a haunted swimming pool), Tokyo Majin Gakuen, Ghost Hunt, Yakusai Kocho, and Antique Heart.