Japan

Peony Lantern

(or Botan Dōrō )

This project started with a curiosity for how ghost stories compare across cultures. After scouring the internet for folklore from around the world I delved into four legends that really stuck with me. I’ll briefly

 introduce you to them.

The Peony Lantern is a famous Japanese 

ghost story, about romance and death.
On the first night of Obon, a beautiful woman and a young girl holding a peony lantern stroll by the house of a widowed samurai. Tempted by beauty, he ventures out to greet her. She invites him to her house, a grave in a temple. By morning, his dead body is found entwined with the woman's skeleton.

Native america

Deer Woman

Woman with Two Skins is a Nigerian tale of transformation, hidden beauty, the clutches of jealousy, and royal family bonds. Centered around a family secret, a Nigerian king, and one of his queens. For this reason I chose to illustrate a traditional Nigerian crown or an "Oba's crown."

Nigeria

Woman with Two Skins

The Busano Vase was a gifted to a bride on the eve of her wedding. However she didn't make it to the altar as she was murdered that night holding the vase in her hands. From there, it was passed down along her family line, where anyone who took possession of it was said to have perished soon after it coming into their grasp.

Italy

Busano Vase

The Deer Woman, and her variations across tribes, appear as either a beautiful young woman, a deer, or something in between. She is a shape-shifter who lures men with her cries of fear; when the men (who are often causing harm to the forest) come to her, she relinquishes her beautiful façade and leads them to their end to protect the forest.