http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StringyHairedGhostGirl

The split ends are the scariest part.

Pat: Why is every Asian ghost exactly the same ghost... person?

Matt: Well, the girl in The Ring is different.

Pat: No, I mean, they're literally all ladies in white clothes with super-long black hair that's all tangled and stuff.

Matt: What's scarier than a lady coming at you? Two Best Friends Play Why is every Asian ghost exactly the same ghost... person?Well, the girl in The Ring is different.No, I mean, they're literally all ladies in white clothes with super-long black hair that's all tangled and stuff.What's scarier than a lady coming at you?

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An entity often seen in Japanese horror movies is a ghost, usually that of a young woman, with long, stringy black hair that covers her face, clad in a white burial kimono or shroud. Her face itself is often quite ghastly to look upon. She is commonly barefoot, if she has feet at all. In some cases, this type of ghost will appear with a pair of ghostly blue flames hovering around her.

This is actually a type of ghost known as an onryō, the ghost of a young woman who was greatly wronged by a man in life and now seeks vengeance on the living. Usually, the man who actually did the wronging is left untouched by the onryō (unless he's a main character) and her anger tends to be directed more at anyone unlucky enough to run into her. While the onryō goes as far back as 729AD, the Trope Codifier was undoubtedly Sadako Yamamura from The Ring given how iconic she is to Japanese horror and the horror genre in general.

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While there are a few male onryō in kabuki, the vast majority are female. And while there are similarly a small number of exceptions with lighter and/or more colorful hair, and even a few with skin that isn't ghost-white, the overwhelming majority are Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunettes.

In most media, the onryo has no one in particular to seek vengeance on, rather inflicting it on everyone in the area.

This trope, while a staple in Asian media for a long time, also became insanely popular in Western media during The Noughties and early in The New '10s. Compare with Bedsheet Ghost, Undeathly Pallor, and Yuki-onna. Contrast with Cute Ghost Girl note Though there can certainly be overlap. Usually comes with a side serving of Screamer Trailer. See also Undead Child and Vengeful Ghost.

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Examples:

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Anime & Manga

Arts

Older Than Radio: The painting "The Ghost of Oyuki " is believed to be one of the earliest examples of this trope, dating back to 1750.

Comic Books

The slasher from Cutter initially appears to be one of these, even wielding scissors and shears like the Kuchisake-onna, but then it's revealed that she isn't actually a ghost, she simply enjoys making the people who she is stalking and killing think that she's one .

. The Horror Host in Anthony Bourdain's Hungry Ghosts is an unnamed female youkai with scraggly black hair and an orange floral kimono, later revealed to have been one of the chefs as a human disguise .

Films — Live-Action

Folklore

Traditionally in Korea, ghosts tend to follow the same archetype as the fiend in "The Ring". Female ghosts look bedraggled with hair in their face, and they are always clad in white (the color worn in funerals). This type of ghost, called a maiden ghost, is the most universally feared type of ghost in Korea.

Of all the ghosts in Thailand, the most famous is "Nang Naak". The story varies, but it's usually like this: An ordinary farm girl named Naak from a village falls in love with a handsome young man named Nai Maak. Despite their economical backgrounds, they eventually manage to be together. Shortly after marriage, Nai Maak is conscripted for military service and leaves Naak behind, who dies during labor along with her unborn child. Although they are buried according to local tradition, the spirit of Naak refuses to perish. When Nai Maak returns from the war, the ghost disguises herself and her child as humans to him. The revelation itself provides one of the most memorable scenes in the story when Maak sees his wife grotesquely stretching her arm through the floorboard of their elevated house to pick up a fallen lime, or a knife in another version, on the ground. The terrified husband runs away and the ghost follows him. There are many gory accounts of how Nang Naak chases, harasses, or even kills whoever comes between Maak and her. You're going to have to go on this link to learn what happens afterward - http://asiarecipe.com/thainangnak.html Cursed Hair. Another horror movie specifically about evil hair. Here's the trailer . Nang Naak : It wouldn't be long until they turned the story into a movie. Muoi (Legend of a Portrait)

In China, the classical image of a ghost is a young woman whose face is covered by long black hair, who dies due to misfortune, then comes back for revenge. http://gc.nuaa.edu.cn:8080/nanhangwy/zuopin/PPT/ppt/Culture.ppt#257,2,Slide 2 Sigaw ("The Echo") The Ghost Inside

2 Indonesian and Malay mythology has a lot: The most famous example is pontianak (also known as kuntilanak, especially in Java), the ghost of a woman who died while pregnant. She is vampiric and fond of sucking the blood of young men. She is associated with banana trees, where she resides during the day, and plumeria flowers, the scent of which when they are not physically around indicates the ghost's presence. Other sign includes her voice: her Evil Laugh means she is far away, but if you hear a slow giggle, she is nearby. In almost all myths, the only way to defeat her is by nailing her in the head. The ghost is the namesake of a city in Indonesian Borneo. A related entity is the langsuyar . While pontianak is the ghost of a pregnant woman, langsuyar is the ghost of a woman who died giving birth. She also prefers flying over walking, befitting her name (lang means "eagle" in Malay). Otherwise, she is identical to pontianak. The Sundel bolong from Javanese folklore. She is the ghost of a prostitute (sundel means "prostitute") who died giving birth to her illegitimate child. Other than long black hair, a large patch of her back is not covered by skin. Some state that the part is hollow to the front, others say that only the skin is missing, exposing her rotten meat (complete with maggots).

La Llorona , the "weeping woman" of Latin American myth, has elements of this. The long-haired onryo isn't just seen in Japanese culture. Similar variations occur in other Asian countries as well, like China, Thailand, Vietnam, and Korea.

Literature

The "creeping woman" from Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper", who is actually a hallucination appearing to the narrator, who has been forced to stay in a room with no intellectual stimulation, or any exciting activity at all, to 'calm her nerves.' Liberal doses of nerve tonic were also prescribed, probably containing significant quantities of opium and alcohol. (Note, this was the prescribed remedy to women suffering "hysteria" in the 19th century.) The narrator eventually thinks there's a woman creeping behind the odd, vine-like pattern of the wallpaper, and eventually, sees her crawling about. Then she thinks she sees a lot of them. Then she thinks she's the creeping woman.

Stephen King's Duma Key has twin undead 6-year-olds Tessie and Laura appear with dripping wet hair hanging into their undead faces, and white dresses, in one of the scariest scenes in the book.

appear with dripping wet hair hanging into their undead faces, and white dresses, in one of the scariest scenes in the book. Kuyou Suou in Haruhi Suzumiya. An interface, similar to Nagato , but worse. Apart from being a Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl, she actually seems to be invisible to unimportant persons.

in Haruhi Suzumiya. The Loop Trilogy by Koji Suzuki features Sadako Yamamura as one. While serving as the inspiration for the Japanese Ringu film, the first book has a few major differences, while Spiral and Loop continue to expand the story.

In Jin Yong's The Book and the Sword, Yuanzhi disguises herself as one. Her disguise consists mostly of putting her hair over her face. It's effective enough to clear out a room full of mercenaries.

Juliet, David's dead sister, from Haunted 1998.

In The Girl from the Well, the ghost Okiku is stated to be the in-universe origin of this trope and one of the most famous aside from Oiwa, being the subject of the folktale "Banchō Sarayashiki" and the inspiration for Ringu.

The protagonist of ghostgirl is presented as a girl with long, messy black hair, blank white eyes, and tattered clothes in artwork. Charlotte dies in the second chapter and spends the rest of the book in the afterlife. In contrast to other examples, she's the compete opposite of "scary". Charlotte is an awkward, unpopular teenage girl who died choking on a gummy bear.

Live-Action TV

Music Videos

The German techno-goth group E Nomine's music video for "Mitternacht" features one of these.

Disturbed's video for "The Animal" also feature one (technically a pontianak but still similar) with red cross-shaped make up. Who later paints a cross on top of a lamb and enjoys a bloody feast before sending her wolves in an attempt to kill the band.

but still similar) with red cross-shaped make up. Who later paints a cross on top of a lamb and enjoys a bloody feast before sending her wolves in an attempt to kill the band. In the video for Jason Derulo's song "Cheyenne," the titular woman is based on this, with a few notable differences in appearance: instead of a white dress and stringy hair, she wears a red dress and has long, thick braids. However, her mannerisms and motivations clearly invoke the image.

Professional Wrestling

Su Yung's gimmick of the Undead Bride, with the full assortment of Uncanny Valley Makeup, a tattered wedding dress, red mist, and stringy hair partially covering her face.

Tabletop Games

The Tenth Edition version of Bog Wraith in Magic: The Gathering. Appropriately enough, the flavor text refers to a location in Kamigawa, the Japan-inspired part of Magic's multiverse.

in Magic: The Gathering. Appropriately enough, the flavor text refers to a location in Kamigawa, the Japan-inspired part of Magic's multiverse. One of the sample geists in Geist: The Sin-Eaters (in the Forgotten splat write-up) manifests like this.

Theater

First and foremost is the original onryo herself, Oiwa from the kabuki play Yotsuya Kaidan . And yes, it is just as bad as you can imagine it.

Video Games

Visual Novels

Web Comics

Web Original

Western Animation