Haunted dolls have been such a big phenomenon for many scary and spooky stories all over the world. We are so familiar with the stories of Robert, Annabelle, Chucky, and many others that come from the United States of America and some of them are just made up stories to scare people.
Believe it or not, Japan has one of the scariest haunted doll stories that really happened in the real world. The particular spooky and cringe-worthy horror story mentioned is actually about a doll named ‘Okiku’ that allegedly grows human hair after her owner who loves her very much died.
According to the real story, this particular doll was bought in Sapporo by a 17-year-old Eikichi Suzuki in the year 1918 for his 2-year-old sister named Okiku. He was visiting the area for a marine exhibit, but upon seeing the doll in a shop window, he knew at once that the doll needed to be bought and given to his sister. Based on the appearance, the doll stood about 40cm tall and was dressed in a traditional kimono.
The hair was black and cut to about shoulder length, in a traditional style. The eyes were piercing, like black beads pressed into the life-like flesh of the face. When Eikichi returned home he presented the doll to his little sister then she fell in love with it immediately. The doll became Okiku’s favorite toy and it would seem to be her best friend. Okiku played with her doll every day and soon gave it the same name as herself, ‘Okiku’. The doll would never be out of Okiku’s sight.
Unfortunately in the year 1919, Okiku passed away after a severe fever. She was only three years old. The doll was to be buried along with Okiku, but due to some unforeseen circumstance, the doll was never placed with Okiku in her final resting place. The doll was instead placed on the family’s altar, in commemoration of their daughter.
Sometime later, the Suzuki family noticed that the doll’s hair was getting longer. It once had a traditional shoulder-length cut with neat ends, but now the doll had hair reaching down towards the waist and the ends were more random in length. Because of that, the family believed that the spirit of their own dead daughter inhabited the doll.
The family had the hair tested in the lab. The lab people said that it was indeed human hair. In the year of 1983, the Suzuki’s moved to a different town and they have placed the haunted doll at the Mannenji Temple, where it has remained ever since. As time passed by, the hair continues to grow longer. Every year, the people of Japan hold a ceremony there, in memory of Okiku where they trim the doll’s hair. Nobody had ever been able to explain how the hair grew. But at the lab, they were able to find out that the hair belongs to a young child and that might be Okiku.
Sources: Old City Ghosts, Grape.