Profs and Pints Online presents: “Japanese Ghost Stories,” with Sara Cleto and Brittany Warman, former instructors at Ohio State University and co-founders of The Carterhaugh School of Folklore and the Fantastic.

[This talk will remain available in recorded form at the link for tickets and access given here.]

With the season of all things spooky upon us, come join Sara Cleto and Brittany Warman, two favorites of Profs and Pints audiences, for a look at the eerie ghost stories of Japan and the life of the man who helped popularize them around the world.

You’ll get acquainted with several spirits and creatures that populate traditional Japanese folklore, among them:  The Yuki-Onna, the sinister snow woman who dances on a knife-edge between murder and mercy. A fabulously beautiful samurai daughter who demands bravery and intellect from her future husband—but actually just might be a goblin. The spirit that haunts the cherry blossom tree, whose irresistible melancholy is “the phantom light of long-expired suns.” (Washington D.C. Profs and Pints fans beware—your springtime trips to see the blooming cherries on the national mall might never be the same.)

You’ll also learn about the incredible life of Koizumi Yakumo, the storyteller who first made these traditional tales available to western audiences. Born in 1850 under the name of Lafcadio Hearn to an Irish officer-surgeon and a Greek woman, he led a wildly unconventional life. He travelled from Greece to the slums of Dublin to the newspaper offices of Cincinnati to the kitchens of New Orleans before settling in Japan, where he adopted Japanese citizenship and changed his name. His life as a permanent outsider—and the hatred of prejudice instilled in him by it—shaped him as a storyteller. He became both a conduit of Japanese culture and a champion of the chilling and uncanny.

This deep dive in his life and the ghost stories he gathered and retold will be by turns frightening, hilarious, baffling, and poignant, and will make you understand why his tales remain beloved in Japan and the world over. It’s a great opportunity to become familiar with the ghosts of a nation and the man who told them to the world.

Profs & Pints Online: Japanese Ghost Stories