The Okiku Doll
In a temple in Hokkaido, a traditional doll is said to have hair that keeps growing.
What was reported
The story says that in 1918 a young man bought a doll for his sister, Kikuko, who loved it and died young the following year. The family kept the doll on their altar, and noticed its short, bobbed hair growing longer. When they moved, they left it with the Mannenji temple.
The doll is kept there today, with hair reaching below its shoulders, and the temple is said to trim it from time to time.
Explanations offered
Some say the doll's hair is human hair, which can't grow once cut. Sceptics suggest the hair was long to begin with and folded inside the head, and has slowly slipped out through the scalp. The temple has not allowed close study.
- When
- Told since the 1930s
- Where
- Mannenji Temple, Iwamizawa, Hokkaido, Japan
- Witnesses
- Temple priests and visitors
- Status
- Unconfirmed
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.