Okiku “The Spirit of the Well”
The real story of “The Ring”
This tragic legend dates back to the 16th century, at Himeji Castle in Japan, where a samurai named Tessan Aoyama fell in love in an obsessive way with his servant “Okiku”. Aoyama was willing to leave his wife and marry Okiku, but she told him that she was not willing to be his mistress or his future wife.
Okiku’s refusal led the samurai to lose his sanity, so he decided to set a trap for Okiku; since one of the noble servant’s tasks was to take care of ten gold plates from the Royal family, he decided to hide one of them, and then threaten Okiku with accusing her of being a thief if she did not reciprocate his love. Okiku’s two options were either to be Aoyama’s bride or to be executed, either of which was doomed to be unhappy, so Okiku preferred to end her life, throwing herself into the castle’s well.
MORE HORROR STORIES BASED ON REAL EVENTS
After Okiku’s death, her spirit returned to seek revenge, so during the early morning hours the samurai suffered the paranormal manifestations of the woman he once loved. She came out of the well and crawled to Aoyama, her eyes were full of rage and one could constantly hear Okiku from the inside of the well, counting the golden plates over and over again, making a tremendous fuss by throwing them at the wall.
Okiku’s spirit is described as a sad woman with long dark hair, who wears a white funeral dress. This is how the ” yūrei” spirits usually look, spirits of Japanese women who cannot rest in peace because they suffered a lot when they were alive, they did not receive a proper funeral ceremony or because they committed suicide. These spirits appear from two in the morning until dawn and seek to torment those who hurt them in life but without harming them physically.
The well is known as the Okiku’s well, it can still be found outside the castle covered by iron bars to keep Okiku’s spirit locked up.
