Paranormal Urban Legends

Onryō

Onryō (怨霊 onryō, literally "vengeful spirit", sometimes rendered "wrathful spirit") is a mythological spirit of vengeance from Japanese folklore. 

In traditional beliefs of Japan and in literature, onryō is a ghost (yurei) who is able to return to the physical world in order to seek vengeance. Onryo are believed capable of causing harm in the world of the living, ailing or killing enemies, or even causing natural disasters to exact vengeance to redress the wrongs it received while alive. The term overlaps somewhat with goryō (御霊), except that in the cult of the goryō, the acting agent need not necessarily be a wrathful spirit.

Onryō are a very popular element in asian horror films, being depicted similarly yet distinctly in several movies. This popularity started with the release of Ring, based on a trilogy of novels written by Koji Suzuki, and was increased by Takashi Shimizu's . and are two examples of fictional vengeance spirits.

In Ju-on and The Grudge

In the both film series, onryou are depicted as pale ghostly figures capable of phisically harming and killing their victims. Sometimes they can manifest in the opposite form, as . Under their grudge curse, they are able to haunt or consume an individual using the following abilities:

Possession: When the ghost takes over a cursed individual, usually to recreate the murders that gathered its curse.Disturbance: When a cursed person is psychologicaly haunted by the ghosts, mostly by the of previous victims.Dealth Rattle: Some ghosts such as and emit the eerie sound on their victims.Cervical fracture: In films and , Kayako's ghost often kills its victims by snapping their neck, recriating her own murder.Suffocation: Some victims can be supernaturally asphixiated to death.Ripping of jaw: Cursed individuals can also have their jaw forcibly ripped.Rebirth: Kayako was able to live once again through the pregnancy of . The ghost of also found his second chance through Kayako, following her strong desire of becoming a mother.Reality Warping: Some ghosts like Kayako can resort to bend reality around them to perform unexpected ways of killing, ranging from materializing from unexpected objects/area around the victim (such as under blankets) to replace a person's reflection on mirror with their ghostly images.Electromagnetic Interference: Some ghosts can interfering electronics around victims for better advantages to claim them.Haunting: Onryous like Kayako and Toshio can caused an area to be haunted by their spirits and those of their victims, triggering apparitions there in process.