Uba Yo Sare

A man woke up in the middle of night to go to bathroom. He got up and groped his way to the door in the dark. He was about to open it when someone knocked it three times from the other side. This was strange, since he lived alone in the house. He thought he must have a friend staying over without remembering it, as such things often happened after a night of drunken revelry. He therefore opened it without much concern.

But instead of a familiar face of his friend, he saw a strange old woman dressed in kimono, with a bent back and downcast eyes, standing still in the doorway. Her face was unusually pale.

And the old woman, without words, took him away to some faraway place, and the man was never seen again.

If you have read this story, you may have a visit from the same old woman within three days. If you hear the knocks three times in the middle of night before you open a door, do not open it immediately, but chant the word "Uba-Yo-Sare" three times. This will make the malicious old woman go away. If you don't follow the instruction, well….. you know what happens.