Halloween and Yōkai:

What Do We Imagine When We Don’t Know What Comes Next?

Halloween often brings to mind costumes, pumpkins, and ghosts. Here in San Diego, it’s also an opportunity to encounter Japanese yōkai—the mysterious beings of Japanese folklore. This year, the Japanese Friendship Garden & Museum is hosting a Yokai Masquerade, and its Yokai Community Art Exhibit continues through November 8. For those who grew up in Japan, these events might bring back memories of spooky stories heard in childhood. 

Have you ever walked down a dark street and mistaken a shadow for something—or someone? Or noticed how a small, ordinary sound suddenly seems unsettling when you can’t tell where it’s coming from?

When we don’t know what something is, our imagination fills in the gaps.

Something similar can happen in everyday life.

Starting a new job. Bringing up a sensitive subject with someone we care about. Wondering where a relationship is going.

What if it doesn’t work out?
What will they think if I say this?

Before anything has happened, we’ve already imagined how the conversation will unfold. Sometimes this helps us prepare. Other times, the more we think, the more worried we become.

Interestingly, researchers have explored this gap between anticipation and experience at a haunted attraction. A study published in 2025 found that people who were less comfortable with uncertainty tended to predict stronger negative feelings than they actually experienced. 

Of course, a haunted attraction is very different from a difficult life situation. Still, the finding offers a useful question for those moments when worry takes over:

Is this something I know—or something I’m imagining?

Pausing to ask may help us identify something to clarify, a question to bring into a conversation, or one small step we can take.

We don’t have to know how everything will turn out to decide what to do next.

Wishing you a happy Halloween.

Dr. Saori