Our School's Bathroom is Haunted

In Japan, there is an urban legend about a young school girl named Hanako San who haunts the elementary school's girl's bathroom.

As one might imagine, the legend of a girl haunting the school bathroom has become inevitably popular among school age children. Just like the times when we might have been dared to summon "Bloody Mary" during a sleep over, children who have been told the legend of Hanako San have been dared and have even attempted to summon her as well.

The legend of Hanako San has existed since the 1950's but it has seen an increase in popularity during the 80's and 90's.

Anyone who is brave enough to try and summon Hanako San, there are a few things to keep in mind about this spirit and the legend.

There is one bathroom that Hanako San is said to haunt specifically. The third stall on the third floor bathroom.

The legend goes that if you knock on the stall three times and ask Hanako either "Are you there?" or "Would you like to play?" (some versions vary slightly), Hanako San will answer with a disembodied voice, "yes!"

Sounds like a harmless mischievous spirit of a young girl that only teases the living students brave enough to summon her. However, the story takes a much sinister turn if a student is brave (or foolish!) enough to open the stall door.

If one opens the third stall door on the third floor bathroom after Hanako replies, they won't come face to face with a playful and mischievous spirit only looking to play an innocent game of hide and seek. Instead, they will come face to face with a vengeful and sinister spirit that will pull them into the toilet and drown them.

I dare you to try and summon Hanako San.

Yeah ... no thanks!

There are a few ways to escape a sinister fate brought forth by Hanako San. Once the stall door opens, one might soon find out that summoning this sinister spirit was a huge mistake. However, just like there are precise ways to summon her, there are also precise ways to dispel of and escape from her.

The legend states that if you show Hanako San a test paper with a perfect score or a school milk carton, she will vanish instantly because those are the few things she hates most.

The perfect test score most likely signifies perfection, and maybe while living, Hanako San was either obsessed with perfection or was one who desperately tried but could never reach it.

The school milk carton might possibly remind Hanako San of the school bullies she might have encountered who might have taken her lunch money or her lunch. Or maybe she just hated milk.

Who exactly was Hanako San?

Based on what you might be told, there are a few variations with each one telling of a terrible demise that Hanako San met.

Some say she was a victim that was killed when her school was hit by a bomb when there was an air raid during the Pacific War. One version claims that Hanako San was playing a game of hide and seek with her friends when she settled on hiding in the third stall of the third floor bathroom of her school. While her classmates were being evacuated to an air raid shelter, Hanako San continued to hide in the stall. She never heard the air raid sirens go off so she never had a chance.

Others say that she was a victim of severe bullying and abuse either brought forth by the school bullies she'd endured or worse, her parents. Unable to take the abuse any longer, the third stall of the third floor bathroom is claimed to be where Hanako San committed suicide.

Another version says that she was chased by a mad man. Thinking it would be the safest place, Hanako San ran into her school and hid inside the third stall of the third floor bathroom. Eventually the mad man found her and she was murdered.

Each version is just as unnerving and as awful as the next and it is no wonder how Hanako San became a vengeful spirit that haunts the school bathroom.

Knock three times on the third stall of the third floor girl's bathroom. I dare you!

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