Red Cloak

Red Cloak (Aka Manto), also known as Red Mantle, Red Vest or Red Cape, is a Japanese ghost who haunts the girls’ bathroom. He appears, wearing a red cloak and a white mask and is said to be so charming that girls are unable to resist him.

Red Cloak hides in the last stall of the girls’ toilet and when you enter, he steps out and asks “Which do you prefer, Red Cloak or Blue Cloak?”

If you say Red, he slits your throat or chops off your head and the blood flows down your back, making it look like you’re wearing a red cloak. If you say Blue, he grabs you by the neck and chokes you until your face turns blue and you die of suffocation.

Don’t even think about asking for a third color. If you do, the floor will open up beneath you and pale white hands will reach up and drag you down to hell.

One school ghost story tells of a young girl who heard a voice coming from the toilet next to her saying “Shall we put on the red vest?” She got scared and ran away with her jeans around her ankles. She told her teacher what she had heard and the police were called.

A police woman went into the bathroom while her male partner waited outside. She heard the same voice asking “Shall we put on the red vest?” The police man, listening at the door, heard her answer “OK. Put it on!” Suddenly a loud scream was heard, followed by a thump. When the partner opened the bathroom door, he found the police woman lying dead on the floor. Her head had been cut off and the blood on her clothes made it look like she was wearing a red vest.

In Japanese, this murderous ghost is known variously as “Aka manto”, “Ao manto” or “Aka hanten, Ao hanten”. Some people say that, years ago, Red Cloak was a young man who was so handsome that every girl immediately fell in love with him. He was so awesomely beautiful that girls would faint whenever he looked at them. His beauty was so overwhelming that he had to hide his face behind a white mask. At some point, he kidnapped a beautiful young girl and she was never seen again.

In another version of the story, he is called “Red Mantle” or “Red Cape”. He lurks in the toilets and asks you if you want a red cape. If you say yes, he rips off your top and tears the skin off your back.

In yet another version of the legend, he is called “Red Paper, Blue Paper” (Akai Kami, Aoi kami). Girls who go into the bathroom, hear a voice coming from the last stall. It asks “Do you want red paper or blue paper?” To answer red means a bloody death by being skinned alive. To answer blue means to have all the blood drained out of the body.

Still more versions involve a bloody hand emerging from the toilet and trying to pull you in, blood raining down from the ceiling, being drowned in blood and having disembodied white hands grabbing you and choking you to death. In the funniest version, if you answer “Yellow” he will force your head down the toilet and make you smell pee. Yuck!