Cracked Ghost Stories: The Anus Ghost

Recently, cracked.com posted a list of the seven most ridiculous ghost stories.   It was a wonderful list that I enjoyed on every level.  I didn't agree with the writer on every count.   He did seem to think all Japanese ghost stories are insane.  I love Japanese ghosts and folklore and I know some of their ghost stories are silly, but I can't agree that all of them are ridiculous.  I also have to wonder if some of the list just seems ridiculous to Westerners because there is cultural context we are missing.   Most of cracked.com's list seems to come from other cultures and different cultures vary greatly in their folklore and religion and this makes one culture's terrifying tale another cultures exercise in absurdity.   Anyhow,  here is my favorite ghost story from the list and I can't think of a cultural context that wouldn't make me giggle a little over this.

The Shirime

According to cracked.com, The Shirime is a terrifying naked man ghost.  It accosts people on long lonely roads and sexually harasses them.   In one story, a samurai is attacked and when the samurai turns around to face his attacker, his attacker disrobes.  When the samurai decides to flee, the naked man ghost bends over and exposes his anus.   This is horrifying on so many levels.   The most horrifying aspect of this is that the ghost has an eyeball in its butt hole. I did some research and I couldn't find any more to this story than this.  Apparently the Shirime can be attributed to one Haiku poet from the 17th century.  I haven't read of anyone who has actually encountered this spirit, so thankfully it seems to be just folklore.  I guess we are all grateful for this.
 
I plan on continuing to write about Alabama State Hospitals tomorrow.   As the doors close on Alabama's hospitals, I hope these posts will serve as a memorial, but for today I needed a laugh and there isn't a ghostly story out there that made me laugh as hard as the butt hole ghost.
 
To read more of cracked.com's ridiculous ghost stories you can follow this link: 

http://www.cracked.com/article_18814_the-7-most-ridiculous-ghost-stories-from-around-world.html?wa_user1=3&wa_user2=Weird+World&wa_user3=article&wa_user4=recommended