Hanako-san, are you here?

Hanako-san.

When we hear about this name, what is playing in our head?

    Must be a Japanese name, am I right? Yup, you read that right. Hanako is a Japanese name, but...

Huh, why but? Well, what if I say, this name strikes fear in students especially primary school students. A simple name, Hanako-san. Well, let's delve into the urban legend of, Hanako-san, the Japanese Bloody Mary.

Hanako-san is believed by the society of Japanese culture as a spirit or yokai/yurei that haunts school toilets. The reason I said Hanako-san urban legend has some similarity with Bloody Mary, well, it's because it sparks a challenge between classmates, to summon this poor yokai. As you can see from the picture, Hanako-san is described as having a bob cut, and her infamous red skirt. This kind of description fits well with the attire of school students, minus the striking red color. 

Origins.

Well, speaking about origins. You guys know that many urban legends just based on talks between mouths, right? So there is no exact origin tale of this poor yokai. Some might say, she died in a bombing of World War II, while playing hide and seek with her friends, mind you. Some say it is a result of the suicide of a young girl, or even a story about her being killed by her own parents or sexually abused by a stranger. Take note, every origin tale ended sorrowful and horrifying, and all ended up in one place, the toilet on the third floor. Now, why the third floor? Well, here comes the...

Challenge

Well, the challenge starts like this, you have to walk into the girl's toilet on the third floor of a building, and walk to the third stall. Starts knocking on the door, three times while calling; "Hanako-san, are you here?".  And then, you proceed to open the door. There she is, sitting on, a little girl with a striking red skirt. Answers? Oh, you bet she'll answer your question. "Yes, I am", she'll say.  And she'll immediately grab your hands and presumably drag you inside, never seen again. Or, she used her bloody hands to kill you. Or, she'll turn into a vicious three-headed lizard and snap you and eat you alive. There there, no harm was done, am I right? Either way, you die, so proper ending I guess.

Media 

Well, speaking about media, of course, they gonna jump on it, right? For the sake of money. Tons of movies about this yokai, starting from the 90s till today, she managed to show up in various movies. Anime? Don't even mention it, she showed up in Kyokai no Rinne, or the infamous meme-worthy anime, Ghost Stories. And many would say it have some similarities with Bloody Mary, Madam Koi Koi,  Akaname, Aka Manto, and one might say: Moaning Myrtle from the Harry Potter franchise.

Personal View

When talking about an urban legend, one might say, "I don't believe it", one might say " I want to believe it", and last but not least, "I believed it". For me, personally, it doesn't matter if you have a fair belief in it, but you have to agree that this yokai/yurei is another poor soul that involves various bad situations, urban legend speaking wise. 

Well, you can read it, you can process it, but do you believe it? 

A question for another time.