Hachishakusama

There's a Japanese urban legend that involves a strangely tall woman named Hachishakusama, which means “8 feet tall”. Those who have seen her suggested that she wears a long white dress, a straw hat with long black hair. She’s a mysterious spirit who abducts children who hear her strange sound: “Po…Po…Po…Po…Po…”
Hachishakusama, in order to catch her victims, she would stalk the children for some days, she will then make her sound to catch their attention, she will take them away from the family then murders them.
The Hachishakusama urban legend first came out when a strange story was posted to a Japanese website. It was originally written in japanese, however, here is a rough english translation:
My grandparents live in Japan. Every summer, my parents would take me there for holiday to visit them. They lived in a small village and they had a big backyard which I always enjoyed playing in. The last time I saw them was the summer of when I was 8 years old. One day, I was playing outside while my grandparents were inside. I was playing by myself and was laying down on the grass. Just as I was able to get up, I heard a strange sound.
“Po…Po…Po…”
I didn't know what it was and it was hard to determine where it was coming from. I was looking around, hoping to find the source of this noise. That's when I noticed something on top of the hedges that enclosed the backyard. It was a straw hat, but it didn’t look to be resting on it, it was behind it. That's where the sound was coming from. The hat began to move, and it had stopped at a gap in the hedge and I could see a face peering through. It was a woman. But she but the hedges were high, almost 8 feet tall. I was surprised at how tall the woman was. I was wondering if she was wearing stilts or tall shoes. Then, a second later, she walked off, with the strange noise disappearing with her. Bewildered, I got up and went back into the house. My grandparents were in the kitchen drinking tea, I sat down and after a while I told them what I had seen. They weren't paying attention to me at first, until I mentioned that distinctive sound. They froze. Grandma's eyes grew wide and covered her mouth with her hand. Grandpa’s face became very serious and grabbed me by the arm.
“This is very important.” he said intensely, “how tall was she?”
“As tall as the garden hegde.'' I replied, starting to get scared.
My grandfather started to bombard me with questions. “Where were you standing? What did she do? Did she see you?”
I tried naswerignhis questions as best as I could. But then he rushed to the hallway and made a phone call. I couldn’t hear what he was saying but then hung up and walked out the house.
“Grandma, what's going on?”
“There's something dangerous abducting children in this area. We call it, Hachishakusama. She takes the appearance of a very tall woman and says: ‘Po…Po…Po…’ in a deep voice.”
A long time ago, it was captured by monks and they managed to confine it in a ruined building on the outskirts of the village. They trapped it by using four jizo, small religious statues that were placed at the north, south, east and west of the ruins, so that it could not escape. But somehow, it did.
The last time it appeared was 15 years ago. My grandmother said that anyone who saw it was destined to die within a few days. It all sounded strange and crazy, I wasn't sure what to believe. Just then, my grandpa came back, but with an old woman who called herself Kasan. They took me upstairs to my bedroom and started covering my windows with newspapers with ruins written all over them. Kasan placed small bowls of salt in the 4 corners of the room and a small Buddha figure in the center.
“Soon the sun will be setting, so listen carefully. You must stay in this room until 7:30 tomorrow morning. Do not open this door for any reason.” She placed a bucket in my hands. “Not even to use the restroom.”
They then left the room and I locked the door after them. I couldn't believe this was happening, was I really going to die in a few days? Sooner or later I fell asleep, yet I was awakened around 1 a.m. by a tapping sound. It's probably just a tree or something. Then came a knock on the door, and I heard my grandpa's voice. Without thinking, I rushed towards the door, and placed my hand on the handle. But something didn’t feel right. I looked at the bowls of salt in the room, all 4 of them had turned balck. I heard the strange sound again and the tapping continued. I knelt in front of the Buddha and prayed. Eventually the noises stopped, I checked my watch, it was 7:30 a.m. I carefully opened the door and ran to my grandparents. We all got in a van and headed to the airport. Apparently there were those who managed to escape Hachishakusama, as long as they never stepped foot into Japan again.
So 2 years ago when my grandpa got sick, he refused to let me visit him. He even left strict instructions in his will to not let me attend his funeral. I can't believe this monster prevented me from saying goodbye to him. So when my grandmother called a few days ago to tell me that she was diagnosed with cancer, I wasn't going to let her stop me from visiting.
“It's been 10 years grandma, and nothing has happened to me. We don't even know this thing is real. I'm not going to let it stop me from visiting you.”
“If you say so dear.”
“I love you grandma. I'll see you soon.”




“Po… Po…Po..”