KUCHISAKE-ONNA, A GHOST OF JAPAN

KUCHISAKE-ONNA, A GHOST OF JAPAN

• Kuchisake-onna (The Slit-Mouthed Woman)
• This Japanese ghost is a beautiful woman in a surgical mask.
• She approaches victims at remote train or bus stations at night and asks, “Am I beautiful?”
• If the victim says ‘yes,’ she removes the mask, revealing a gaping, Joker-like bloody smile.
• If the victim than says ‘no,’ she pulls out a butcher’s knife and slices the victim’s face like her own.
• Though the legend is ancient, Kuchisake-onna had a revival in the 1970s, when scores of schoolchildren in Nagasaki Prefecture began reporting sightings, causing police to believe there was a female psychopath on the loose.