100 Ghost Stories in the Dark: Why Summer Is Ghost Season in Japan (Ep. 197)

100 Ghost Stories in the Dark: Why Summer Is ...

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How to Welcome the Dead Home: Obon in Japan (Ep. 196)

Every Obon, Japan’s ancestral spirits return home—guided by tiny fires and carried on cucumber horses. This year, for the first time, I’m responsible for preparing my father-in-law’s family altar. Join me for cauldron lids, lost ghosts, strange noises in an old house, eggplant co ...  Show more

Creepy Story Time: "By the Japanese Sea" -- Lafcadio Hearn

On the final days of Obon, fishermen along Japan’s western coast once believed the sea belonged to the dead. In this episode, I read Lafcadio Hearn’s eerie and beautiful essay “By the Japanese Sea.” Along the journey, we encounter drowned spirits rising from the waves, cats carri ...  Show more

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