Creepiest Urban Legends

Okiku, The Cursed Doll

The Okiku Doll is a mysterious doll that is said to be possessed by the spirit of a child. It is named "Okiku" after the girl who used to play with the doll a long time ago. 

It is said that the doll was originally purchased in 1918 by a 17-year-old boy named Eikichi Suzuki, who was visiting Sapporo for a marine exhibition at the time. He bought the doll from Tanuki-koji, Sapporo's famous shopping street, as a souvenir for his 2-year-old sister, Okiku. The young girl loved the doll and played with it every day. 

Unfortunately, the following year, she died suddenly of a cold. The family placed the doll in the household altar and prayed to it every day in memory of Okiku. Sometime later, they noticed the hair on the doll's head had started to grow. 

This was seen as a sign that the girl's restless spirit had taken refuge in the doll. In 1938, the Suzuki family moved to Sakhalin, and they placed the doll in the care of Mannenji temple, where it has remained ever since.

The Okiku doll has resided at the Mannenji temple in the town of lwamizawa ever since 1938, According to the temple, the traditional doll had short cropped hair, but over time the hair has grown to about 10 inches long, down to the doll's knees. Although the hair is periodically trimmed, it reportedly keeps growing back. 

Nobody has ever been able to fully explain why the doll's hair continues to grow. However, one scientific examination of the doll concluded that the hair is indeed that of a young child.