Halloween is behind us, but the spooky stories heard at parties are always with us. We decided to diversify our material and tell some interesting legends from Japan, the Arab Emirates, and Lake Baikal. Save them, you'll have something to surprise your friends with next year!

Arabian Tales

Usually, legends stretch into the modern world from antiquity, but even in the relatively new Arab Emirates, mystical stories have already emerged. You can try to become a hero of one of them already on the way from the airport to Dubai. 

They say that on this road there is a place where inexplicable things happen. According to local drivers, at some point, a woman in a white dress can be seen sitting in the back in the rearview mirror. Turning back, the drivers, of course, see no one. But if you don't turn around, the woman will continue to look at the driver through the mirror. They say it's the spirit of a bride who was in a car accident and never made it to her wedding. 

And here's another story about toxic trees. In Dubai, there are Prosopis trees, six of them gathered in one place, but access to them is closed. The trees themselves are located in a good spot, so attempts have been made more than once to cut them down to build another building there. However, none of these attempts were successful, as accidents constantly happened to the crew.

There is also a theory that these trees emit too much carbon dioxide at night, and people passing by may experience hallucinations. So be careful when walking around Dubai!

The Rock You Can't Approach

On Lake Baikal, there's a place with a bad reputation – Cape Burkhan (also known as Shaman Rock). Legends say that an evil shamaness rests beneath the rock, who terrorized local residents and cursed those who came too close to the rock. All because she was guarding gold there, so her aggression is understandable. 

More than once, the best and strongest men from the surrounding settlements gathered at the rock to kill her, but even arrows had no effect on her. But then one day, a hunter shot an arrow straight into her heart, which killed her. So be careful near this cape, you never know what might happen. 

Passage to the World of the Dead

Also on Baikal, there is a place that locals prefer to avoid. Eyewitnesses claim that a small whirlpool forms on the smooth surface of the lake, sucking in all living things within a few meters. Local tribes believed that this was a passage to the world of the dead. 

We don't know how true this is, but if you see something similar, swim far away from that place. Just in case.

But the wildest stories, of course, are in Japan. We found a couple, and it started to get creepy just reading them!

Cracks to Hell

Among the Japanese, there's a scary story that if you look into a crack between a wardrobe and a wall, or between a bed and the floor, a ghost girl will look back at you from there. She will stare into your very soul and ask to play hide-and-seek with her. The problem is that she doesn't care about your answer, and from that moment on, she will watch you closely. And the next time you intentionally or accidentally look into a crack again (even if it's just looking for a sock), she will drag you to hell. 

You really don't want to check how true this is, do you? So it's better to just not look into cracks or throw socks under the bed, so there's no temptation to peek in there. 

The Toilet Kidnapper

And here's another wild story; we're sure many girls dress up in this outfit for Japanese Halloween. We're talking about Hanako-san. Once upon a time, a mother killed her daughter in a toilet stall and then, in grief, hanged herself (ugh, yes). Since then, the girl has turned into a malevolent ghost, dressed in a red skirt and a white blouse. After summoning the ghost (how exactly, we won't tell you), it pulls itself into the toilet, taking the person who disturbed it along. 

But all this shouldn't stop you from traveling. These are just legends to scare, interest, or entertain tourists. We already had a similar issue. Have good and interesting travels!