Beware of the woman in the mask who asks one simple question. The terrifying legend of the Slit-Mouthed Woman is real.
- Sep 2
- 3 min read
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Imagine you're a little kid, curled up with a book of old folk tales and legends, and you come across the story of the Slit-Mouthed Woman, a vicious spirit who hides her face behind a mask. You want to know more, but just as you ask, your father storms in the door, drunk and angry, throwing the book across the room. He scoffs at your mother for filling your head with "foolish stories," but you know better. You know the spirits she warns you about are real and you fear he will soon learn just how real they are.
Later that night, you’re watching from your bedroom window as your father stumbles home from the tavern. The path is shadowy and winding, and you see the faint outline of a woman standing in his way. Through his sake-blurred eyes, he assumes it’s your mother, but as he gets closer, he realizes this is no one he knows. Her face is covered with a mask and she is holding an unusually long pair of scissors. He’s intrigued, and then she asks a single, soft question: "Am I beautiful?" He smirks and answers yes, and then she slowly removes the mask to reveal a horribly mutilated face, her mouth split from ear to ear in a twisted grin. He screams, turns to run, but she is unnaturally fast. You watch in horror as she drags him away. You try to tell your mother what you saw, but no one believes you. Everyone assumes he simply ran away, but you know the truth and you are determined to find out why.
You spend years of your life consumed by this mystery, researching the legend in books and online forums. You learn there isn’t just one origin for the Slit-Mouthed Woman, but many. Some say she was a woman mutilated by a jealous samurai or a botched dental procedure, seeking revenge. Others say she’s a supernatural creature with a mouth full of sharp teeth. The conflicting stories make it impossible to know for sure, and even harder to figure out how to survive an encounter. You finally track down an old man who says he survived. You eagerly ask him what to say and he tells you that the key is to lie, to tell her she is beautiful, but he has a secret of his own. He slowly turns around to reveal two long-healed scars, splitting his cheeks from ear to ear, a permanent memento of their conversation. You are left with a new, horrifying question: what is the right answer?
