Urban legends and ghost stories have captured human imagination throughout the ages. It seems like, no matter the era, there's always a spooky unsolved mystery that gets people talking and speculating. In many cases, folks seem content to place the blame on supernatural entities, especially when there's no discernible human culprit to suspect.
Most urban legends tend to form around unsolved murders and act as boogieman tales to scare people into being careful while they're out alone. In anime, a lot of these urban legends really do involve supernatural spirits in one form or another.
10 The Hell Correspondence Promises To Banish Your Enemies To Hell (Hell Girl)
Called "Jigoku Tsushin" in the original Japanese and "Hell Correspondence" in the dub, this urban legend is at the center of the plot in Hell Girl. Rumor states that if one enters the name of someone they bear a grudge against on the Hell Correspondence website, then the titular Hell Girl, Ai Enma, will determine whether she will take the request to banish them. If Ai does accept the request, she will appear before them and hand over a straw doll with a red string tied on it. Untying the string will immediately send one's enemy to hell, but at the cost of their own mortal soul after death.
9 Steel Lady Nanase Is Truly Spooky (In/Spectre)
In/Spectre focuses purely on the occult and spirits, so it needed sufficiently creepy tales and urban legends like Steel Lady Nanase to get it going. As the story goes, pop music idol Karin Nanase met an untimely demise after being crushed to death by steel construction beams. Now she's rumored to stalk the night holding the steel beam that killed her, looking for victims to pulverize. The creepiest part of Steel Lady Nanase might be her face... or lack thereof. Distorting or erasing facial features is a common theme in horror that makes for truly terrifying specters.
8 Lord Oyashiro's Curse Haunts Hinamizawa Every Year (Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni)
Known as Higurashi: When They Cry in English, this cult classic anime recently scored itself a reboot/sequel and revived Lord Oyashiro's curse in the anime vernacular. Four years before the events of Higurashi, there is a mysterious murder surrounding a controversial dam project that would have effectively submerged Hinamizawa underwater.
Since the dam project was canceled afterward, villagers stated it was thanks to Lord Oyashiro's protection, Lord Oyashiro being the guardian deity of Hinamizawa. But every year since, on the night of the Cotton Drifting Festival, one person is murdered, and another goes missing.
7 The Sachiko Ever After Charm Has Devastating Consequences (Corpse Party: Tortured Souls)
Based on an urban legend surrounding Sachiko Shinozaki's mysterious disappearance 30 years prior to the events of Corpse Party, the Sachiko Ever After charm is meant to appease her spirit and bring good fortune to those performing the charm. But if the charm is performed incorrectly, Sachiko will respond with violence and wrath. Despite the ominous warning, a group of students from Kisaragi Academy performs the charm with intentions to make their friendship everlasting. Instead, they awaken Sachiko's long-dead spirit, which transports them to Heavenly Host Academy and its horrors.
6 The Ikebukuro Slasher Turned Out To Be Real (Durarara!!)
Like several events in Durarara!!, rumors surrounding the Ikebukuro Slasher originated in an online chatroom with discussions about a demon blade. Not too long after, actual slashing incidents begin occurring in the city, and news outlets bring attention to the incidents. Meanwhile, the online chatroom is periodically visited by a user known as Saika, who goes on to proclaim love for humanity in general before cryptically logging off. It turns out that Saika is a cursed blade that possesses anyone it cuts.
5 Lil' Slugger Ravages Tokyo With Mysterious Attacks (Paranoia Agent)
Paranoia Agent is a psychological thriller anime series that focuses on mental stressors that can make daily life a grueling task for even the most mentally sound people. Lil' Slugger's attacks seem random at first, but a pattern slowly emerges throughout the series. Detectives eventually notice that only people going through mental crises seem to be attacked by Lil' Slugger, and, even more mysteriously, their mental stress dissipates after the attack. Lil' Slugger's childish appearance and blunt weapon increase fear in the population as his status as an urban legend spreads.
4 Misaki Haunts Class 3-3 At Yomiyama North Middle School (Another)
In 1972, Misaki Yomiyama's house caught fire, killing him and his entire family. Unable to cope with his sudden death, one of Misaki's classmates claimed that Misaki wasn't really dead, and he was sitting in class with everyone like normal. Thus began the central urban legend in Another, which turned out to be more like a curse.
Every year since naively denying Misaki's death, someone related to Yomiyama's class 3-3 suffers a grisly death due to the imbalance caused by inadvertently inviting the dead into the classroom.
3 The Rokkenjima Mass Murders Blame Witchcraft (Umineko No Naku Koro Ni)
The legend of Beatrice the Golden Witch that haunts Rokkenjima was a scary story for just the Ushiromiya family at first, but after the mysterious Rokkenjima mass murders in October 1986, the legend spread outward and onto the mainland. Umineko: When They Cry is a non-linear successor series to the Higurashi: When They Cry series, and both anime are focused on occult-based reasonings for the murder mysteries occurring in each series. Both entries in the When They Cry franchise are certifiably spooky and gore-filled nightmares that'll make it hard to sleep at night.
2 The Midnight Channel Displays Ominous Warnings (Persona 4: The Animation)
The central conflict in Persona 4: The Animation revolves around the mysterious murders in Inaba, Japan, and their connection to visuals seen on a mysterious late-night television program. Dubbed the "Midnight Channel," the rumor goes that if someone were to watch it alone at midnight on a rainy night, their soulmate will appear on the screen. But the truth is that the Midnight Channel shows victims in the TV world before they meet their demise. After seeing someone on the Midnight Channel, their corpse appears grotesquely displayed somewhere in Inaba.
1 Boogiepop Is Supposedly The Personification Of Death (Boogiepop Phantom)
Based on the Boogiepop light novel series, Boogiepop Phantom is a 12-episode series that takes place one month after the Boogiepop and Others light novel. Five years prior to the events of Boogiepop Phantom, there was a mysterious string of serial murders that were blamed on Boogiepop, an ethereal being likened to a shinigami, or God of death. Over time, Boogiepop turns into an urban legend, one where Boogiepop supposedly takes the lives of beautiful young girls before they turn old and ugly. Another rumor states that Boogiepop releases people from their pain. In either case, the eponymous Boogiepop is taking lives.