Folklore travels. Context should travel with it.

What this site does

Each dossier begins with the story people recognize, then follows its earliest available record, the media that carried it, and the details added by later retellings.

The goal is not to prove or disprove ghosts. It is to document how a story changes when it moves between schoolyards, message boards, films, tourism, and translation.

What this site does not do

Yokai Signal does not translate and republish Japanese articles, copy forum posts in full, or present anonymous claims as confirmed events. Summaries are newly written and sources are linked so readers can follow the record themselves.

Who runs it

Yokai Signal is an independent, one-person publication based in Osaka, Japan. Research starts from Japanese-language material — archived threads, books, local and official sources — read in the original, and is then written up in English for readers who cannot easily reach those sources themselves.

Questions, corrections, and leads on earlier versions of a legend are welcome through the contact page.

Update log

October 22, 2026 — Every dossier was revised and expanded with variations, timelines, Japanese terminology, and reader questions. Ten new dossiers were added, along with an archive by category, a timeline, and a glossary.

September 22, 2026 — First edition published with ten dossiers.

How to read a dossier

“Documented” means that a post, publication, public response, or adaptation can be located. It does not mean the supernatural event occurred. Reader’s notes and confidence labels make that distinction explicit.

For the full standard, read the editorial policy.