Urban Legends

Hachishakusama

"Hachishakusama" is a Japanese urban legend about an 8 foot tall woman who abducts children.
She wears a long white dress and a straw hat.

According to Legend, there was a boy who would visit his grandparents every summer. They lived in a small village in Japan. The last time he saw his grandparents was when he was 8 years old...

He was playing in the backyard when he heard a weird sound.

"Po... Po... Po... Po...Po.."

He couldn't figure out exactly where the sound was coming from. It sounded like someone was saying it in a deep, masculine voice.

The boy realized the sound was coming from the straw hat behind the tall hedges.

"Po... Po...Po....Po....Po.."

Then he saw an 8 foot tall woman. He got up and ran inside the house. He told his grandparents about what he saw outside but they weren't really paying attention until he mentioned the strange sound he heard. They suddenly froze and his grandma looked really scared. His grandpa started asking a lot of questions. Then his grandpa ran out of the hallway and made a phone call but the boy couldn't hear what he was saying.
He started crying and asked his grandparents what was going on.

"You have been liked by Hachishakusama." His grandpa told him then got into his car and left.

The boy was confused and asked, "who's Hachishakusama?"

His grandmother told him not to worry.

A long time ago, Hachishakusama was captured by monks and
They managed to confine it in a ruined building in Japan. They used 4 religious statues to trap it but somehow it escaped.
His grandmother told him that anyone who saw Hachishakusama
Was destined to die within a few days.
After a while, his grandpa came back with a woman and they took the boy upstairs to his room. The woman told him not to leave his room until tomorrow morning at 7.
He feel asleep but around 1 AM he woke up to hear tapping on his window.
The tapping eventually stopped but the boy was scared when he heard his grandpa talking to him from outside his room.
His grandpa offered to come in and keep him company so he ran to the door getting ready to open it when he froze. He looked at the bowl of salt and it turned black.
Then he heard the strange sound again.

"Po...Po...Po..Po.."

It was coming from outside his room.

Then the tapping sounds on the window started again.

At 7:30 he ran out of his room.

"Hurry up. We have to go." His grandpa said to the boy.

He got in a van and Men from the village told the boy not to open his eyes until they got to where they were going.

"Po..Po...Po...Po...Po"

The boy heard from outside the window.
He opened his eyes and saw Hachiskakusama outside the window. She was keeping pace with the van.
Suddenly she bent down and looked through the window and the boy screamed.

"CLOSE YOUR EYES!" the man sitting behind the boy yelled.

The voice from outside the window got louder.

"Po...Po...Po....Po....Po...!!"

After a while the sound stopped.

After that they drove straight to the airport and the boy got on a plane with his parents.

His father told him that Hachishakusama escaped because the religious statues that were supposed to trap her had been broken.

This happened 10 years ago and the boy hasn't seen his grandparents since then...

He wasn't allowed to go back go Japan.

His grandpa died a few years ago and his grandma called him one day saying she was very sick and would like to see him again.

"Are you sure Grandma? is it safe?" He asked.

"It's been 10 years. All of that happened a long time ago."

"But what about Hachishakusama?" He asked.

For a long time, there was silence on the other end of the phone.
Then he heard a deep, masculine voice saying...

"Po...Po...Po....Po...Po"