Translated as the “human-eating ghost”, jikininki are ghosts that feast on dead bodies. They often appear to have sharp, pointed teeth, but look like any other human being otherwise. Those special teeth are used to peel the flesh off of their recently deceased prey. Jikininki can be found around abandoned temples or ancient ruins in villages. They stay in these locations so that they can avoid contact with humans, but they must also be near people so that they can get food. These ghosts do not enjoy feeding on the dead, but they are forced into that situation in order to relieve some pain of their eternal hunger. They exhibit ghost-like traits that include appearing invisible during the day. Typically, Jikininki wait in temples at night to eat the dead flesh of those that are there for funerary prayer.

Jikininki are directly related to the hungry ghosts of Buddhism, who are constantly starving but cannot eat. When a living individual corrupts their soul by performing evil acts, they may be cursed to the existence of a jikininki if they cannot pass properly after death. Others may have been cannibals during their lives that transformed into jikininki as they ate more flesh.

More specifically, the legend of a monk named Musō Soseki exists. His legend tells of his travels on a pilgrimage that lead him to a small village deep in the mountains. At this village, the chief had just passed away and there was a rule in place that when a villager dies, those living must spend the night outside of the village or they could be cursed. Therefore, Soseki stayed the night in the village alone. He prayed over the chief’s body until a strange presence interrupted him. A dark shape creeped into the house and devoured the rest of the village chief’s remains. Soseki told his story to the chief’s son, who responded saying that this is just as the legend says. Soseki was concerned and asked why a monk does not pray for their dead, but the son told him that no monks have been in that region for generations. Soseki passed another monk on his way to the village and went back to ask him about this situation. The monk confessed to Soseki that the dark figure was him. He stated, “Long, long ago I was a priest. Because of my lack of conviction, when I died I was reborn as a jikininki.” The old monk disappeared immediately after this encounter.

Chinese tradition says that mogwai, or mogui, are a type of demon that inflict harm on humans. The term “mo” comes from the Sanskrit “Mara”, meaning ‘evil beings’. The term “gui” does not particularly relate to demonic spirits. It simply means ‘deceased spirits’ or ‘souls of the dead’, but it has evolved to refer to vengeful spirits that may attack non-family members that caused them pain while they were living.

In the legend, it is said that the mogwai sexually reproduce during mating seasons that are triggered by the coming of rain because the rain signifies rich times ahead. The way to get rid of a mogwai also involves money. The trick said that those cursed with the mogwai must burn paper banknotes so that the mogwai has money to use in the afterlife.

This legend has truly evolved since its creation because of the pop-culture phenomenon know as “Gremlins”. This movie was created by Joe Dante in 1984 and it has a sequel created in 1990. The mogwai in the movie are shown to be rare, furry, and cute creatures. There were three rules that came with owning a mogwai:

1. Do not expose them to water because it will immediately reproduce
2. Do not feed it food after midnight because it will transform into a ferocious monster
3. Do not expose them to sunlight because they will die, and any other bright light will be painful to a mogwai

Of course, the main character of the movie makes all of these mistakes creating an army of used-to-be-mogwai, or gremlins. The mogwai in the movie are also shown to cause chaos in a pack formation. Their leader, Spike, leads them into many situations that cause problems throughout the city, so the only way to stop it is to kill them.

The reason that this movie may have been created was through a combination of the concepts of mogwai and gremlins. The Chinese legend of mogwai was explained earlier, but a gremlin is a character in folklore. This character causes mischief, especially with malfunctions in machinery.  Gremlins are often depicted as having spikey backs, large strange eyes, small claws, and sharp teeth. This idea comes from World War II. “Gremlin” was a slang term that Britain’s Royal Air Force used to refer to those that sabotaged planes.

While the movie was entertaining, the concept mogwai was changed in a drastic way. Now, no one knows the true basic legend of a mogwai that originally came from China. This happens with many more legends than just this one because creativity stems from the past and makes its way into present-day pop-culture. There is more information on the movie than there is about the original legend.

Krasue is a ghost of Thailand, but can appear in other Southeast Asian folklore. She is a very famous ghost who stars in some of her own movies and books. In order to get as famous as she is, she had to scare a lot of people and create some chaos.

Krasue is a nocturnal female spirit who manifests as a young, beautiful woman. The only problem is that this “beautiful woman” has her internal organs hanging down from her neck. In order to move from place to place, she hovers above the ground with her organs below. The organs typically include a heart, stomach, and intestinal tract, but she can be represented with more internal organs as well (such as lungs). The intestines are usually spotted with fresh blood and glowing. Her teeth are often represented as vampire-like.

The origin of Krasue takes place in Thailand. Her legend comes from the Angkorian Khmer culture. The story tells of a Khmer princess who was meant to marry a Siamese nobleman after her people were defeated in war, but she was in love with a young man of low status. She was eventually caught with her lover and was sentenced to death by burning by the Siamese nobleman. Before the execution, the princess had a spell cast over her so that her body would be unharmed by the fire. the effect of the spell was delayed, so the princess burned until only her internal organs and head were left. She continued to live as Krasue. The curse that Krasue experiences is that she is always hungry and is forced to go out at night and feast on blood of cattle, chicken, or water buffalo. If blood is not available, she is forced to feed on excrement of the animals. During the day, Krasue lives as a normal person on a body that she stole. She only moves alone at night as a head with intestines trailing below. She must rejoin the body before daybreak. There are three ways to kill a Krasue: you must destroy the body when Krasue is hunting at night and replace it with the wrong body so that Krasue suffers until finally dying, or make it so that she cannot find the body when morning comes, or cut off  Krasue’s intestines.

There are variations to this story as it has been passed down through centuries between different cultures. Another factor in the changing of her story is the fact that she is portrayed differently in a number of movies including:

The Dwarves must be Crazy

Krasue Sao (Ghosts of Guts Eater)

Itthirit Nam Man Phrai

Krasue Kat Pop

Krasue Krahailueat (Bloodthirsty Krasue)

And countless others. I do not think that a celebrity such as Krasue will soon die out in Thai folklore.

Source: https://horrorpedia.com/2015/05/24/krasue-folklore/

According to historical records, Da Ji was the daughter of a noble family during 1047 B.C. The leader of Shang during this time, Zhou, conquered the state that Da Ji lived in and took her as his trophy. Zhou became a great leader, bringing the state of Sheng to its fullest potential. He was considered strong, heroic, and even well versed in music. His one weakness was Da Ji. He did everything she asked of him and tried to make her as happy as possible simply out of his love for her. King Zhou would go over-the-top on anything related to Da Ji. One day, Zhou invited guests to his house to play a cat and mouse game in the nude so that Da Ji would laugh. The daughter of Lord Jiu became offended and protested against this act. As consequence, the daughter was slain along with her father.

Da Ji took after Zhou and became a tyrant. She loved to her people cry and watch them suffer. She would murder people out of simple curiosity. She even invented her own torture device so that she could listen to people’s screams. During this time, the song of Ji Chang, the leader of the Zhou tribe, visited Shang and had a love affair with Da Ji. As a reaction, Zhou had him killed and locked up his father, who was released two years later. Ji Chang’s youngest son, Ji Fa, came back for revenge twelve years later. The attack was relatively easy because the entire tribe began to hate Zhou and his tyranny. With Zhou seeing his fate, he committed suicide and left Da Ji to fend for herself. She was put to death soon after by Ji Fa.

No one knows if any of this actually occurred, making it a legend. In addition to this story, Da Ji is viewed in a unique light as the story is retold again and again. She is viewed as a fox spirit, specifically a nine-tailed fox. These spirits are typically depicted as mischievous with the ability to disguise themselves as a beautiful woman. There are many stories of various fox spirits in all Asian cultures, but they originated in China. The Tang Dynasty (618 A.C to 907 A.C) really carried the creation of these spirits by worshiping them and sacrificing to them in order to avoid coming into contact with the spirits. When thinking of Da Ji, stories are told where her nine-tails could periodically be seen. She was also a common center focus as a fox spirit for the Tang Dynasty cults’ worships.

Fox spirits may not be as haunting as they used to be, but they are still a spirit viewed in traditions and religions throughout Asia. They are represented in television series and books. The folklore of Da Ji continues to be passed down to present-day generations.