286-Japanese folklore: Cat Dad

🍼 If your parent goes through the trouble of getting you superpowers...Kind of the least you can do is get them a new house. And fight all the dragons infesting that house. And get their increasingly specific and dangerous medical treatments for their very real and not made-up i ...  Show more

🪱Mr. Worm is getting married! That (not creepy) stranger is looking in your windows! Shin is driving tired!Five interconnected stories from Korean folklore about letting people know the real you. And 😈 The Creature: DuergarIf you're at risk of being beaten up by the Duergar, no ...  Show more

For the spooky month of October, I'm reading my short horror story, "Go-Away Monkey" from my collection The Carp-Faced Boy and Other Tales. It's set in an older Japan in a small village that has been ravaged by smallpox. If you remember Episode 4 (Monkeys and Monkey Lore), you'll ...  Show more

Today I'll tell you part 2 of the Sakuragaike Legend (and nanafushigi!) What was waiting at the bottom of the lake? Why was the snake-dragon suffering and how did his old follower help him? Where is Kouen Ajari The Snake-Dragon now? Visit the Uncanny Japan website to read the sh ...  Show more

This is a tale of a greedy cat who decides to gobble up everything he sees! Little did I know when I chanced upon this little tale that it follows in a long tradition of swallowing tales! Did YOU know there was such a thing? Well, stories like this( of poor creatures being swallo ...  Show more

The Hell Courtesan (Jigoku Tayuu) is a mysterious figure that appears in art and story in Japan since the 1600s. But who is this beautiful high-ranked oiran who wears a kimono covered in images of hell? In this episode I talk about her legend and relationship with the eccentric m ...  Show more