Hanako-san, or Toire no Hanako-san is a Japanese urban legend about the spirit of a young girl named Hanako-san who haunts school bathrooms. Like many urban legends, the details of the origins of the legend vary depending on the account.

Different versions of the story include that Hanako-san is the ghost of a girl who was killed while playing hide-and-seek during an air raid in World War II or was murdered by a parent or stranger, or that she committed suicide in a school bathroom.

The legends about Hanako-san have achieved some popularity in Japanese primary schools, where children may challenge classmates to try to summon Hanako-san.

But she is not the only spirit who haunts Japan’s school bathrooms. Kashima Reiko, another young girl, was said to have been cut in half by a train. Now her disfigured spirit inhabits bathrooms, asking children who enter the stalls where her legs are.

The legend goes that if Kashima Reiko is not satisfied with their answer, she will rip their legs off.

The summoning  Hanako-san

It is often said that individuals must enter a girls’ bathroom (usually on the third floor of a school), knock three times on the third stall, and ask if Hanako-san is present.

If Hanako-san is there, she will reply with some variation of “Yes, I am.”

Depending on the story, the individual may then witness the appearance of a bloody or ghostly hand; the hand, or Hanako-san herself, may pull the individual into the toilet. This will may lead to hell, or the individual may be eaten by a three-headed lizard.

The Hanako-san character has appeared in films, manga, anime, and video games. She made her first cinematic appearance in the 1995 film “Toire no Hanako-san,” directed by Joji Matsuoka.