© 2025 Connecticut Public

FCC Public Inspection Files:
WEDH · WEDN · WEDW · WEDY
WEDW-FM · WNPR · WPKT · WRLI-FM
Public Files Contact · ATSC 3.0 FAQ
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Ghost Stories From Around The World

The popobawa is a shape-shifting demon that stalks the Tanzanian island of Pemba. (Phoebe Boswell/NPR)
The popobawa is a shape-shifting demon that stalks the Tanzanian island of Pemba. (Phoebe Boswell/NPR)

Are you afraid of ghosts, vampires and witches? What about Hanako-san, a little girl who waits to drag her victims to hell in the third stall of the third-floor bathroom of schools in Japan? There’s also La Llorona, a woman who drowned her children then herself and roams around, wailing in anguish.

Gene Demby, lead blogger at NPR’s Code Switch, put out a call to readers, asking what ghost stories and folktales they grew up with in their own traditions. He talks to Here & Nows Jeremy Hobson about the responses he received, detailing scary creatures from around the world.

Guest

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Federal funding is gone.

Congress has eliminated all funding for public media.

That means $2.1 million per year that Connecticut Public relied on to deliver you news, information, and entertainment programs you enjoyed is gone.

The future of public media is in your hands.

All donations are appreciated, but we ask in this moment you consider starting a monthly gift as a Sustainer to help replace what’s been lost.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT is an initiative from Connecticut Public, the state’s local NPR and PBS station, to elevate Latino stories and expand programming that uplifts and informs our Latino communities. Visit CTPublic.org/latino for more stories and resources. For updates, sign up for the SOMOS CONNECTICUT newsletter at ctpublic.org/newsletters.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

Federal funding is gone.

Congress has eliminated all funding for public media.

That means $2.1 million per year that Connecticut Public relied on to deliver you news, information, and entertainment programs you enjoyed is gone.

The future of public media is in your hands.

All donations are appreciated, but we ask in this moment you consider starting a monthly gift as a Sustainer to help replace what’s been lost.