Ghost

The Birch Maiden of the Birk

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Tradition / Region: Luxembourg Mythology
Alternate Names: Birch Maiden, Birkenjungfer, Birch Damselfly, White Horse of the Birk
Category: Swamp dweller, Ghost, Forest dweller

The Myth

In the birch forests and moors near Mutfort, Ötringen, and the Birk, there was said to wander a mysterious female spirit known as the Birch Maiden.

She often appeared as a young woman dressed in dazzling white. At times she spread a white carpet before travelers, upon which a small goat would suddenly appear. Others saw her walking silently along lonely paths, wearing a white skirt, sometimes with a red apron, or carrying a white switch. She would not answer greetings and vanished as suddenly as she appeared.

At the Birkengraben, many claimed to see her at dusk: a white figure who would utter a shrill cry, rise into the air, and disappear toward the birch moor while a terrible roaring swept through the forest. Some saw her carrying two burning candles, accompanying travelers through the night with a rushing noise in the air until she vanished near the village.

The tale says she had once been the daughter of a wealthy count whose castle stood near Ötringen. She wished to remain unmarried, but her father forced her toward a marriage she refused. On the morning of her wedding she fled into the nearby forest. Pursued by her father’s servants, she ran across the birch moor and vanished into its depths with a cry. Since then she has wandered the place as a restless spirit.

On certain nights before midnight, she is seen lamenting at the edge of the moor, clothed in white and carrying lights. If anyone dares to approach, she disappears with a scream. Should a person follow her to the edge of the bog, she may seize him and drag him down into the depths.

The Birch Maiden is also said to roam the area in another form. In the meadow called Lohkaul, a riderless white horse appears at night, bearing a shining saddle. It bursts from the forest, gallops to the banks of the Syr, and grazes there quietly. When a weary traveler passes, the horse comes tamely and seems to invite him to mount. But anyone who accepts is carried with great speed to the birch moor or to the Pleitringer pond and thrown into the water.

Thus the spirit of the Birch Maiden wanders the forest, the moor, and the meadows, appearing sometimes as a grieving woman in white and sometimes as the ghostly white horse that lures the unwary to destruction.

Gallery

Sources

sagen.at contributors. (n.d.). Die Birkenjungfer oder Birkefrächen. In sagen.at, from https://www.sagen.at/texte/sagen/luxemburg/Birkenjungfer.html

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Böschgretchen of Heßlingen

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Tradition / Region: Luxembourg Mythology
Alternate Names: Böschgretchen, Wild Woman of Wölfragrond
Category: Ghost, Swamp Dweller

The Myth

In earlier times, when ghosts were still believed to roam the land, there lived near Heßlingen, by the Wolf’s Mill in the forest called Wölfragrond, a strange being known as Böschgretchen.

She was said to have once been a woman of exceptional height and beauty who had been cursed and bound to the swamp there. People disliked passing that place, though no one was known to have been harmed by her.

One day, an old man known as Burgklees came along the path from Remich. Brave as he was, he went straight past the swamp. But as soon as he neared it, he felt uneasy. Pressing on, he heard someone calling behind him, “Klees, Klees, wait!” He turned and saw Böschgretchen standing before him. Terrified, he tried to flee, but the ground beneath him began to give way. He leapt aside and escaped, reaching home pale and exhausted, collapsing at his door.

The spirit remained in the area for many years and was seen by many. Once, a shepherd grazing his flock near Heßlingen noticed his dog behaving wildly, running and howling so loudly that people came to help. Following the dog, they found Böschgretchen lying dead in a wolf’s den, sunk knee-deep in mud. They pulled the body out, carried it to Ellingen, and buried it in the churchyard, where later the wall was built so that her grave now lies within its foundations.

It was said that once every seven years the dead woman returns by night to the place where she died, and that on stormy nights old people have heard her moaning there.

Gallery

Sources

sagen.at contributors. (n.d.). Das Böschgretchen bei Ellingen. In sagen.at, from https://www.sagen.at/texte/sagen/luxemburg/Boeschgretchen.html

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Chuchedi

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Tradition / Region: Japanese Mythology
Alternate Names: Teuchedy, Tencheday, Tenchadema
Category: Mermaid, Ghost

The Myth

In old accounts told by travelers to Japan, there was said to be a strange idol worshipped in the eastern lands, known as Chuchedi.

People from every rank of life came to its temple day and night, making offerings and prayers. The idol was feared as a powerful and dangerous spirit, one that demanded a terrible rite. Each month, it was said, the most beautiful maiden in the land would be chosen and brought to the temple.

She would be placed alone inside a private chamber and left there in silence. The doors were shut, and the girl waited through the darkness.

At some point in the night, Chuchedi itself was believed to appear. None saw how it came or what form it took in full, but the spirit would visit the girl and lie with her. When morning came, the spirit had vanished again, leaving behind strange fish-like scales as proof of its presence.

Another maiden would be chosen the following month, yet no one spoke openly about what became of the girls afterward. That remained a mystery whispered among the people.

It was also said that before the ritual, priests could ask Chuchedi questions, and the spirit would give answers to them, as though it possessed knowledge beyond human reach.

Thus Chuchedi was remembered as a hidden temple power—
a being that came in the night,
left scales behind,
and was served by fearful devotion from those who believed in it.

Gallery

Sources

tyz-yokai.blog.jp contributors. (n.d.). Chuchedi. In tyz-yokai.blog.jp, from https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1084115860.html

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Night Folk of the Mountain

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Tradition / Region: Swiss Mythology
Alternate Names: —
Category: Mountain dweller, Ghost

The Myth

High above the village of Flumserberg, in the dark forests and shadowed slopes of the mountain, there dwelt the Night Folk.

They were seen only at certain times.

When someone in the village lay upon their deathbed, watchers would sometimes glimpse a strange procession descending from the mountain heights. A multitude of black figures moved silently in a long line. Among them strode a towering white man, conspicuous and pale, wearing a wide, floppy hat. He walked at their center, taller than all the rest.

The procession did not enter the village openly. Instead, it halted at an old, crumbling house near the former town hall. There the figures would gather, as if conferring among themselves. From that place came a low, far-reaching murmur—an eerie sound that drifted through the air but could not be understood.

They lingered for a time.

Then, just as silently, the Night Folk turned and made their way back up the mountainside. One by one they disappeared into the darkness of the forest, until no trace of them remained.

Soon after, word would spread that the dying villager had passed.

Because of this, when a body from Flumserberg was carried to burial, the funeral procession would always stop at the old town hall. There the priest would come out to meet it, as though acknowledging the unseen procession that had already come down from the mountain and returned to its hidden realm.

Sources

sagen.at contributors. (n.d.). Nachtvolk vom Berg. In sagen.at, from https://www.sagen.at/texte/sagen/schweiz/st_gallen/nachtvolk_berg.html

The Snow Woman of the Kintama Curve

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Tradition / Region: Japanese mythology
Alternate Names: Snow Woman of Hikoya, Yuki-onna of Kintama Curve
Category: Ghost, Mountain dweller

The Myth

Long ago, on a winter day when the snow fell thick and heavy, the headman of the mountain village of Hikoya was returning home from the town of Hashimoto. The mountain road was narrow and winding, and the snowfall was so fierce that each step felt uncertain. As he climbed a steep S-shaped curve along the path, a flicker of white caught his eye.

Thinking he had found another traveler, he called out. From the snow emerged a young woman dressed in a long white kimono that trailed across the ground. Her face was pale as snow, her obvious lips blood-red, her hair deep black, and her eyes shone with an eerie golden light. She looked at the headman with an expression that was both sorrowful and afraid and softly called to him, “Mayor… come with me.”

Entranced by her voice, the headman followed her barefoot into the snow, unaware of the cold biting into his skin. Step by step, she led him deeper along the curve. Suddenly, snow fell from the branches overhead, striking him and breaking the spell. Terror seized him. Realizing something was wrong, he turned and fled back toward the village as fast as he could.

The next day, the headman returned to the bend in the road. There, he found his discarded sandals and the tree from which the snow had fallen. Hanging from one of its branches was the body of a young woman. She was Kayo, a girl from Akatsuka Village, who had been betrayed by her lover from Osaka and driven to despair. Whether she died before or after the headman’s encounter was never known.

The headman would later recount the story again and again, always ending it by saying that the fear had made his body shrivel with terror. From then on, villagers began calling that sharp bend in the mountain road the “Kintama Curve.” To this day, the Snow Woman of that curve is remembered not only as a frightening apparition, but as a sorrowful figure, caught between the world of the living and the dead, wandering the snow in silence.

Gallery

Sources

TYZ-Yokai Blog contributors. (n.d.). 雪女 (Yuki-onna / Snow Woman). In TYZ-Yokai Blog, from https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1084249383.html

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Yashawaka

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Tradition / Region: Japanese Mythology
Alternate Names: —
Category: Ghost, Mountain dweller

The Myth

At a mountain temple, there once lived a young page named Yashawaka. He was an ordinary boy until, around the age of fourteen or fifteen, something about him began to change. He stopped eating and drinking altogether, yet he did not grow weak. Instead, he became increasingly withdrawn. Each night, once darkness fell, he would quietly leave the temple grounds and vanish into the surrounding hills.

As weeks passed, his appearance became unsettling. His face turned deathly pale, his cheekbones jutted sharply from his skin, and his features grew strange and hollow. The monks whispered among themselves, uneasy at his nightly wanderings and unnatural endurance. Suspecting something dreadful, one of them decided to follow him in secret.

Late one night, the monk watched as Yashawaka crept into the temple cemetery. There, beneath the moonlight, he dug into fresh graves with frantic strength. When the earth was pulled away, he uncovered the newly dead—and began to eat the corpses. The watcher fled in horror and reported what he had seen.

The head priest ordered the entire temple to seize Yashawaka. Monks rushed into the night to capture him, but he moved with terrifying speed. He ran as though he could fly, leaping across the ground, then climbing into the treetops where no one could follow. From branch to branch he vanished into the mountains, swallowed by the forest.

Yashawaka was never seen again. Some say he became a creature of the wild, neither living nor dead, while others believe he still wanders the mountains, driven by hunger and darkness, a warning of what happens when the boundary between the human and the monstrous is crossed.

Gallery

Sources

TYZ-Yokai Blog contributors. (n.d.). ヤシャワカ (Yashawaka). In TYZ-Yokai Blog, from https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1057282474.html

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Ying Miao

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Tradition / Region: Japanese Mythology
Alternate Names: Inmao, Inmaho
Category: Ghost, Mountain dweller, Yokai

The Myth

In the villages of the Amami Islands, where moonlight turns the paths silver and the forests seem to breathe, people once spoke of a quiet apparition known as Ying Miao. It was not counted among the dangerous spirits, nor was it invoked to frighten children. Instead, it was remembered as something strange and fleeting, a presence that appeared and vanished without leaving harm behind.

One night, under a bright moon, a traveler was returning to Hanatomi from Iyomo along a lonely road. As he walked, he heard a peculiar sound ahead of him—soft yet heavy, like large ears clapping together. From the opposite direction came a creature unlike any animal he knew. It looked neither like a goat nor like a dog, yet carried something of both in its form.

Ying Miao stopped directly in front of the man. Its ears continued to clap slowly as it raised its head and stared at his face in silence. The two stood there for a moment that felt longer than it was, the road empty and the night utterly still. Then, without a sound or gesture, the creature turned and walked on past him, disappearing down the path.

The man continued home, uneasy but unharmed. When he looked back after a few steps, Ying Miao was gone, as if it had never been there at all. No illness followed, no misfortune, no lingering curse. Nothing happened—except the memory.

Unlike many spirits of the Amami Islands, which were feared for stealing souls or killing those they touched or licked, Ying Miao was said to do nothing at all. It appeared, looked, and vanished. Because of this, people came to believe it was not a bringer of death, but a wandering ghost—one that crossed paths with the living without malice, leaving behind only a quiet question in the moonlit road.

Gallery

Sources

TYZ-Yokai Blog contributors. (n.d.). Ying Miao. In TYZ-Yokai Blog, from https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1018147293.html

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Kingyo-Yūrei

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Tradition / Region: Japanese Mythology
Alternate Names: Goldfish Ghost
Category: Yōkai, Ghost, Fish, Goldfish

The Myth

In an age when grudges were believed to stain the world itself, there lived a woman named Monohana whose life ended in cruelty and betrayal. Bound with rope and murdered unjustly, her resentment did not fade with death. Instead, it clung to what lay closest to her final suffering.

In the water where goldfish swam, her hatred took hold.

The fish, once harmless and beautiful, became vessels for her spirit. Their eyes gleamed with an unnatural light, and their movements grew violent and erratic. From within their small bodies, Monohana’s fury watched and waited.

When the man who had wronged her and the woman who shared his crime drew near, the goldfish surged from their container, water spilling as if driven by invisible hands. The possessed fish attacked without mercy, striking at the guilty as though guided by human will. In their thrashing bodies lived the scream Monohana was denied in death.

Thus the goldfish ghost was born—a yōkai formed not from flesh, but from resentment itself. It is said that wherever goldfish are kept, the memory of betrayed women lingers in the water, and that even the most delicate creatures may carry the weight of unresolved hatred.

Gallery

Sources

TYZ-Yokai Blog contributors. (n.d.). 金魚幽霊 (Kingyo-Yūrei). In TYZ-Yokai Blog, from https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1037178954.html

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Coconut Ghost of Wutumara

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Tradition / Region: Papua New Guinea Mythology
Alternate Names: Wutumara
Category: Ghost, Coconut, Plant

The Myth

Wutumara was a woman of great force and determination, a culture heroine whose life became entwined with the world of spirits. She was married to a man who also took a second wife—a ghost from the underworld. This ghost-wife often visited, and each time she came, she drew the husband away from the human world for long stretches of time. Wutumara grew resentful and jealous, angered that her rival’s presence disrupted her household and marriage.

Seeking to resolve this, Wutumara persuaded her husband to bring the ghost-wife permanently into the world of the living, believing that if they all lived together, harmony might be restored. Secretly, however, Wutumara intended to murder the ghost, unaware that spirits cannot be killed in the way humans can.

She attacked her rival and left her body in the jungle. But the ghost was not destroyed. Instead, she returned in vengeance, using powerful magic. She exchanged the genitals of Wutumara and her husband, a transformation meant to humiliate and confuse, and then killed Wutumara. After this, the ghost transformed herself into a pubic hair growing on the husband’s groin, hiding in plain sight.

Eventually, the husband tricked the ghost into revealing herself and managed to destroy her. Yet even this was not the end. Shortly afterward, the ghost reappeared once more, transformed into a coconut palm. To this day, it is said that the face of the angry ghost can still be seen in the coconut, watching from within its shell.

Thus the coconut palm became a lasting reminder of jealousy, rivalry, and the persistence of spirits beyond death—a living monument to Wutumara’s tragic conflict with the unseen world.

Gallery

Sources

Landtman, G. (1970). The Kiwai Papuans of British New Guinea: A nature-born instance of Rousseau’s ideal community.

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Antsje mei it Tsjil

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Tradition / Region: Dutch Mythology
Alternate Names: Antje met het Wiel
Category: Ghost

The Myth

Antsje mei it Tsjil is a spirit of the rye fields, feared as a child-snatching presence that lurks among tall grain. She is said to dwell within the fields themselves, unseen but never silent, bound to the growing rye and the dangers it hides.

Children were warned never to wander through ripe rye fields, for Antsje waits there. Those who stray too far are seized, crushed, and devoured, ground down as though by a mill. No trace is left behind, only flattened stalks and silence.

Antsje moves upon a wheel, rolling endlessly through the fields. Though she cannot be seen, her approach is always announced. Before she arrives, a soft rustling passes through the rye—not the sound of wind, but something heavier, deliberate, circling closer and closer.

Those who hear the sound know to flee at once. To remain is to risk being caught in her turning path, drawn into the grain and destroyed. Adults say the fields themselves seem to close behind her, hiding her passage and concealing her victims.

Antsje mei it Tsjil stands as a warning spirit, embodying the dangers of the harvest fields and the boundary between safety and wilderness. She reminds all who hear the rye whisper that not every rustle belongs to the wind, and that some fields are alive with hunger.

Sources

Abe de Verteller. (2014). Van aardmannetje tot zwarte juffer: Een lijst van Nederlandse en Vlaamse elfen en geesten. In AbeDeVerteller.nl, from https://abedeverteller.nl/van-aardmannetje-tot-zwarte-juffer-een-lijst-van-nederlandse-en-vlaamse-elfen-en-geesten/