A-Yokai-A-Day: How a Madwoman Was Mistaken for a Ghost

Horror stories often use moments of comic relief to break up the tension so things don’t get too oppressive. Shokoku hyakumonogatari is no different. There are a few humorous stories scattered throughout the collection, and these do a great job to shake up the emotions of the reader and keep you wondering what will come next.

I imagine these kind of silly episodes helped to keep listeners’ moods up during long hyakumonogatari ghost story telling parties on Edo’s hot summer nights. Tonight’s story is a great example of part-horror, part-humor, with a fantastic punch line at the end.

How a Madwoman Was Mistaken for a Ghost

A certain man was on his way to the capital from the eastern provinces when the sun went down. It started raining and he had no place to stay, so he walked here and there until he found a shelter made of brushwood.

He entered the shelter and said, “Please let me stay the night.”

The owner came out and said, “It’s no trouble at all.”

The owner welcomed the traveler inside and asked him to light a fire as a favor; night was encroaching, and it was already 10 pm. The owner’s wife appeared ill; and later that night she died.

The owner said, “I will go to the temple and ask for a priest. Please watch over her while I am away.” Then he left.

The traveler felt uneasy. He had no choice except to stay there and watch over the house, but something about it made his hairs stand on end with fear. Occasionally, a woman around 20 years old, with a pale complexion and blackened teeth, came out of the closet and grinned at him. The traveler fainted.

As the traveler shrank back and cowered, the owner returned. The traveler was glad to see him and said, “Just now something incredible happened! It seems your wife is not yet dead. Just a moment ago, she stood in the closet door and smiled at me.”

The owner was astonished and opened the closet door to see, but his wife was as dead as she had been. He thought something was strange, so he searched around and discovered that a madwoman who lived next door and often loitered nearby was standing by the back door. He beckoned the traveler over and asked, “Was this who you saw?”

When he saw the woman, the traveler fainted again.

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