Japanese Ghost Stories: Penguin Classics Audiobook (Free)

Brought to you by Penguin.

This Penguin Classic is conducted by Eleanor Matsuura, known for AMC’s The Walking Dead and Spooks. This definitive recording includes an Launch by Paul Murray.

In this assortment of classic ghost tales from Japan, beautiful princesses grow to be frogs, paintings come alive, deadly spectral brides haunt the living and a samurai delivers the infant of the Shinto goddess with mystical help. Listed below are all of the phantoms and ghouls of Japanese folklore: ‘rokuro-kubi’, whose heads separate off their bodies during the night; ‘jikininki’, or flesh-eating goblins; and terrifying faceless ‘mujina’ who haunt unhappy neighbourhoods. Lafcadio Hearn, a master storyteller, drew on traditional Japanese folklore, infused with memories of his very own haunted child years in Ireland, to create these chilling tales. They are today regarded in Japan as classics within their own right.