Video captures chilling mystery’s heartwarming solution.

Over the last two weeks, summer-hot weather has come blazing back to Japan. And since summer is the time for ghost stories here, it’s only fitting that we’ve got a chilling tale from Japanese Twitter user @handai05_nkym.

@handai05_nkym’s parents live in a house that’s roughly 50 years old, and they used to share it with their grandmother. Grannie passed away some time ago, though, so now her bedroom sits empty. Well, mostly empty. It’s still got some knickknacks on display, including a porcelain doll that’s also sort of terrifying to look at, since it feels like it’s looking right back at, or even into, you.

Even though no one uses the room anymore, @handai05_nkym’s parents told her that recently they’ve heard sounds coming from it at night. Specifically a shuffling noise as though someone, or something, is running around the house while everyone else is lying in bed, but whenever they’d go to check, there was nothing to be seen…with the notable exception of the doll.

But rather than a possessed doll, the couple’s working theory was that since Grandma had passed away, a zashiki warashi had moved in. Zashiki warashi, literally “parlor children,” are a type of yokai (spirits or monsters) told about in Japan’s northeastern Tohoku region, particularly Iwate prefecture. Luckily, zashiki warashi are considered more mischievous than malevolent, and some folktales even say that having one in your house will lead to prosperity for the family.

However, eventually the noises got to be so persistent that @handai05_nkym’s parents decided to cut open the wall they determined the sounds were coming from, and found that there were indeed tiny creatures secretly living in their house. It turned out to not be luck-granting yokai, but it was just about the next best thing…

…a trio of adorable kittens!

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen cats come out of the walls in Japan, but it’s the first for them to make their appearance after being mistaken for yokai. There’s no word on whether the kitties are going to become permanent members of the household, but given the playful nature of @handai05_nkym, who’s an accomplished Lego enthusiast who created this poo-encased toilet out of the blocks…

…we figure her parents are the sort of kindhearted folks who’ll make sure the feline siblings end up in a good home one way or another.

Source: Twitter/@handai05_nkym via Jin
Top image: Pakutaso (edited by SoraNews24)
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