Okiku | The doll with growing hair

[0:00]In 1918, a boy from Japan bought a doll for his little sister, Okiku. She named the doll after herself and took it everywhere to bed, to meals, even to the market. But one winter, Okiku got sick and never recovered. She died at just three years old. Heartbroken, the family placed her beloved doll on a home shelf to remember her. But soon, something strange happened. The doll's hair, originally cut short, began to grow. At first it reached the shoulders, then the waist. They trimmed it, but it kept growing. One night the mother claimed she heard soft footsteps near that shelf. Another time, the lights flickered when someone tried to move the doll. The family became convinced their daughter's spirit was inside it. Eventually, they entrusted it to Menangi Temple, where monks agreed to take care for it. Visitors began reporting odd chills or hearing someone whisper their name when alone. And the hair still grows, even now over 100 years later. The monks say they still trim it, and last year one of them swore it smiled, with its eyes still wide open.