Tradition / Region: Nigerian Mythology, Ghana Mythology
Alternative names: Lady Koi Koi, Madam Moke
Category: Ghost
The Myth
Madam Koi Koi is one of the most famous ghosts in West African folklore and is especially feared in boarding schools. She is said to haunt dormitories, hallways, toilets, and empty school buildings after dark. In day schools, she is believed to appear to students who arrive too early or remain too late.
She is usually described as a beautiful and fashionable woman wearing bright red high heels. Sometimes she wears only a single heel. Her approach is announced by the distinctive sound of her shoes striking the floor—koi, koi, koi—from which she receives her name.
According to the most common stories, she was once a secondary school teacher renowned for her beauty but feared for her cruelty. She harshly punished students and often beat them without reason. In one version, she was dismissed after injuring a student and died in a traffic accident while returning home. Before dying, she swore revenge against the school and its students.
Another tradition says that she was so sadistic that her students eventually murdered her, hiding her body outside the school grounds. One by one, those involved mysteriously disappeared, while the last surviving participant became haunted by the sound of high heels every night. Eventually, he too was found dead after investigating the source of the footsteps.
Since then, students have reported hearing the sound of heels clicking through the dormitory corridors after lights out. Some say she appears as a woman dressed in white with red shoes. Others claim she is invisible except for her heels. Looking directly at her is said to cause people to vanish.
Madam Koi Koi is blamed for strange noises, opening doors, singing, whistling, slaps delivered by unseen hands, and attacks in school restrooms. In some stories, she wanders through the halls searching for her missing shoe and demands that students return it.
Even when she cannot be seen, her presence is known by the sound that echoes through silent corridors in the middle of the night:
Koi… Koi… Koi…
And students know that Madam Koi Koi is walking once again.
Sources
Wikipedia contributors. (n.d.). Madam Koi Koi. In Wikipedia. Retrieved June 20, 2026, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madam_Koi_Koi