A Globetrotter's Guide to 6 Haunting Entities
Never feed a wendigo or scam a murderous ghost, and only fish above a kraken if you know its name.
By Davina J
WARNING: The following article contains flashing animations that may be uncomfortable for some photosensitive viewers. VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED
HIDDEN PEOPLE
The Huldufolk, or “Hidden people”, are supernatural beings that reside in, beneath, or behind rocks and mounds. They’re typically found in Iceland and the Faroe Islands, and are invisible to humans unless they choose to reveal themselves. While similar to and loosely connected to pixies, fairies, and leprechauns, Huldufolk are seen as distinctly less malevolent.
Huldufolk has a complicated relationship with humanity. Missing livestock or people are often attributed to the Huldufolk. However, many see this as a provoked reaction to humans encroaching on their territory. If humans respect their natural surroundings (the Huldufolk’s home), the hidden people won’t make mischief and may even assist those in trouble. Some have described instances where a hidden person guides lost people home from a distance.
This mutual respect has continued until modern times — notably, an attempt to build a road through an elf dwelling in 2013 was halted by the community until a local seer brokered an agreement with the Huldufolk, who graciously allowed their 12ft rock church to be relocated.
Although beliefs have declined over the decades, many are still committed to maintaining the relationship between huldufolks and humans.
SISTER LIN TOU
Sister Lin Tou (or 林投姐) is a female ghost that often appears near the forest when it rains. She was originally a woman named 李昭娘, whose husband drowned while crossing the Taiwan Strait. She relied on his inheritance to raise her three children and the help of her deceased husband’s friend. While she was at first hesitant to marry him, he swore that he would rather be struck by thunder from the sky rather than give up on her. Tragically, after the two married and the inheritance was transferred to the friend, he left to do business in Hong Kong and never returned. Instead, he married someone from his home town and abandoned the woman. The woman waited by the ocean every day. With no money, two of her sons died of cold and hunger one after the other. Eventually, on a rainy night, the woman strangled her youngest son and hung herself on a tree in the forest.
The ghost of the woman is said to linger. For decades, she terrorised the townsfolk until one rainy night, a fortune teller took shelter from the rain in a temple, and Sister Lin Tou appeared to pray for him. In return, the fortune teller promised to carve a statue for her and place it under his umbrella, so that her soul could follow him across the Taiwan Strait to take revenge against her ex-husband.
Sister Lin Tou’s ghost possessed her ex-husband, who began muttering to himself until he picked up a kitchen knife and killed his new wife and two children. Horrified by what he’s done, the ex-husband then took his own life.
Some say her spirit is now at peace. But townsfolk still tendto avoid the forest when it rains. Just in case.
HANAKO - CHAN
Hanako-san (or, トイレの花子 (はなこ)さん, as in Hanako of the toilet) is a yurei (ghostly spirit) of a young girl who haunts school toilets in Japan. The details of her origin range from her being a WWII ghost who was killed while playing hide and seek, to a girl who was murdered by a parent/stranger, to one who committed suicide in her school due to bullying.
The details on what occurs next varies: some describe Hanako-san replying with “Yes, I am”, others describe the individual witnessing the appearance of a ghostly/bloody hand which may either pull the individual into the toilet (which some claim lead to hell), or the individual may be eaten by a three headed lizard who claims the individual is invading Hanako’s privacy. Of course, as witnesses are either unable or unwilling to discuss their experience, it is nigh impossible to determine the truth.
To summon her, the individual must enter a girl’s toilet (typically, the one on the third floor, though if no third floor exists any dimly lit toilet may suffice), knock three times on the third stall, and ask if Hanako-san is present.
WENDIGOS
Wendigos are malevolent creatures or spirits based in and around the Canada and US. While physical descriptions differ, they are known to invoke feelings of insatiable hunger and greed. They are the embodiment of gluttony, never being satisfied after a singular victim. Some describe them as creatures with human-like characteristics with a heart of ice, their presence preceded by a foul stench or unseasonable chill.
Basil H Johnston notably describes them as gaunt to the point of emaciation, with skin pulled tightly over bone, like a skeleton recently disinterred from the grave, giving off an eerie odour of decay, decomposition, death, and corruption.
Others depict them as giants who grow in proportion to the meal they had just eaten so that it can never be full. Thus, simultaneously gluttonous and yet thin to the point of emaciation.
TIBETAN HUNGRY GHOST
Tibetan hungry ghosts (also known as yidag or yi-dvags) are ghosts who were greedy and miserly in life and thus punished with starvation and poverty after death. They are typically depicted with physical characteristics that mean they can never be satisfied, such as tiny throats and huge stomachs, or a teardrop/paisley shape body with bloated stomachs and necks too thin to pass food, or with mouths the size of a needle’s eye and a stomach the size of a mountain. Eating is extremely painful for them, and if they come across a drop of water or scrap of food that is small enough for their throats it tends to disappear like a mirage or transform into something repulsive.
Hungry ghosts can be killed in the same way as other ghosts: either with a ritual dagger, caught in a spirit trap and burnt (which releases them to be reborn), or exorcised.
KRAKENS
The Kraken is a legendary sea monster of enormous size that appears between Norway and Iceland. Descriptions of it vary, though the most popular depiction of the beast describes it as similar to a giant polypus (octopus), which can be mistaken for a group of small islands with fish swimming between its limbs. Norwegian fishers occasionally risk fishing over kraken for the plentiful catch, despite the possibility of being engulfed by the whirlpool when the kraken submerges. This whirlpool has been compared to Norway’s famed Moskstraumen (or Maelstrom). Additionally, if a fisherman ever had the misfortune of capturing the Kraken or getting it entangled in their hooks, the only way to avoid destruction is to pronounce its name to make it return to its depths.
The destructive power of the Kraken cannot be understated. It is said that if the creature's arms were to lay hold of the largest man-of-war, it would pull it down to the bottom of the sea as a meal. Krakens tend to only feed for several months, preying on ships and livestock, before retreating to the depths.
