One of the most popular urban legend is about a ghost that haunts the Japanese railway line. This yokai continually toils along the tracks, dragging herself around looking for her next victim. Her crawling and scratching sound amplifies in the quiet night. That yokai is a teketeke, a vengeful spirit who looks for that someone suffer as much as she has.
Teketeke is a type of yurei known as an onryo (怨霊), a vengeful spirit. Usually in the form of a woman, the ghost haunts railway crossings and in some occasions dark isolated roads. Many believe that she is the malevolent spirit of a victim rail or road accident.
The onryo is described as a ghostly apparition with only the upper torso and holding the kama (鎌), a Japanese sickle or scythe. Teketeke, usually, moves around by dragging her limp body across the ground thus making the scratching “teke teke”sound. But there are also reports of her ability to float around upright. In such cases, the scratching sound is made by her dragging her kama along.
Railway Crossings
A young man managed to take the last train and was walking home. As he was crossing a railway crossing, he heard the “teke teke” scratching sound coming towards him along the train tracks. The onryo emerged out of the darkness, dragging herself faster and faster towards the man. As he turned around to run in the opposite direction, teketeke appeared floating before him and cut the young man in half.
Night School
A teenage boy returned late from school one night and was about to leave the compound when he noticed a girl at his classroom windowsill. As the girl smiled, he returned the smile and wondered why there was a girl in an all-boys school.
Suddenly, the girl jumped out from the 2nd floor, landed on the ground and started to crawl her way towards the school boy. When he saw that it was only her upper torso, the teenager froze in fear. Moments later, teketeke lunged forward and cut the boy in half.
Yokai Details
- name: teketeke (teh-keh-teh-keh)
- kanji: テケテケ
- onomatopoeia: sound of body dragging
- abilities:
- levitation — possess the ability to hover
- teleport — able to move or be at another place in an instant
