Turbo-Granny - "ターボばあちゃん" - [Urban legend | Yokai]

Turbo-Baba. (+ Variants.) - "ターボばあちゃん" - [Urban legend | Yokai] - aka: 100キロばばあ - Turbo Granny, 100km Hag, Dash granny, etc.

• About this Yokai: A harbinger hag of highway accidents! Haunting the winding express ways & mountain tunnels dotted around Japan's countryside, Turbo Baba appears suddenly as a ghostly elderly woman in a dull grey kimono, chasing after speeding vehicles often on all fours. She taps on the driver’s side window when they aren't expecting it, startling them and causing the driver to swerve and lose control, often resulting in a fatal accident. It’s sometimes said that once you lock eyes with her, she’ll pursue you until the day you have an accident. She’s less likely to target you if you don’t speed up or make eye contact. If she overtakes you, you’ll be cursed.

• History: “Turbo Baba" or "Turbo Granny" is a modern yokai which originates from various urban legends that have been circulating Japan since at least the mid 70's trough the mid 90’s. Some say that the legend likely originated in Mt Rokko, Hyogo Prefecture area on the border of Kobe and Osaka, an area well known for its haunted mountain-side tunnels, winding highways, a number of "ghost spots" & fatal car crashes. Overtime, the story spread and was further embellished to better suit the storyteller’s location & other preferences.

[An unhappy 'Tobidashi-kun' (Warning: kids at play sign) on Mt.Rokko - Source is a cyclists blog which is a great example of how the region is a brutal path for bikers.]

The 'baba' (ばばあ) suffix is quite old and most likely derives from Edo period stories of "Yama-Uba" (山姥 "Mountain Witch/Crone/Hag” ) - There are quite a few old stories about Yama-uba & Onibaba relentlessly chasing people down as well. One such example is found in the story of “The Goblin of Adachigahara” in which a Onibaba chases a priest after he finds the room where she keeps the bloody bones of her victims. A few variants of ‘The Stone Pillow’ legend also have the hag chasing her victim down the mountain side… Today ‘baba’ is most often used as a title for ‘yokai that appear as an elderly woman.’ Although 'baba' is most directly & often translated into English as “granny”, “hag” may be a better fit, depending on the yokai in questions temperament. - [Note: It seems to be a neat cross-cultural coincidence that “baba” is also used for "baba yaga" a well known witch from Slavic folklore, who's name derives from "babushka" which also means “old lady”.]

[Yama-uba as she appears in Gazu Hyakki Yagyo by toryiama sekien 1700s]

• Variants & similar yokai:

Turbo Baba is one of many modern yokai that chase down cars or cause the victim to have an accident by surprising them, These are especially prevalent and said to occur on accident-prone highways and tunnels which feature prominently in location based folklore. A couple of similar “high-speed yokai” include "Jinmenken" (man faced dogs) & "Kubinashi Riders.” (Headless bikers.) Turbo Baba stories are so wide spread today that she has literally dozens of variants & goes by many unique (and often goofy) titles, which of course are further elaborated & embellished depending where ever or who ever you hear it from first. Many of these grannies run, but several also use their own specialized tools and or unique actions to induce accidents (Of course, there are also plenty of Grandpa/Geezer (Jiji じじい) variants to most of these as well!) – A short list of granny variants goes as follows:

• Jumping Baba - “ジャンピングばばあ” - a mysterious old woman who drops down in front of a car suddenly at night. She's able to leap over 4 meters in a single bound & overtake cars. She’ll hop over your car repeatedly until an accident occurs. Often jokingly depicted on a pogo stick, but also often said to jump around wearing wooden geta. (Japanese clogs) There are a quite a few regional variants/names to this one including skipping granny/hopping granny, perhaps most famously is the legend from Tame Tunnel which connects Shizuoka Prefecture & Aichi Prefecture.

• Coffin Baba - “棺桶ババア” - A crone carrying a large wooden coffin on her back. After she overtakes your car, she throws you into the coffin and takes you directly to the crematorium.

• Bonnet Baba - ”ボンネットばばあ” - A old lady that rides on the top of the car, tapping the bonnet (or “hood” if you’re American) instead. Its said that she’ll leave you alone if you can ignore her for 7 or more km.

• Mach/Hyper Baba - “ハイパーばばあ” - Hags that are apparently a 'step up' from Turbo, they run so fast that they cause a ‘sonic boom’ startling drivers en masse.

• Light-Speed Baba - “光速ばばあ” - A hag who runs even faster than Mach & Hyper baba! She can move so quickly that she warps space-time, moving faster than the speed of light … But supposedly nobody’s ever seen her.

• Jet-Baba - “ジェットばばあ” - a futuristic crone that wears a futuristic jetpack. Moving as fast as her namesake, she soars after your car out of nowhere.

• Baby Hag - “赤ちゃんババア”- A granny that appears at first to be a little kid playing on the highway, until she turns to look at the driver revealing her old woman face, thus shocking the driver and causing them to crash. - [Much like Jinmenken.]

• Basketball Baba - “バスケばあちゃん” - A granny that dribbles a basketball & specifically targets speeding motorcyclists. She throws the ball at the driver with a chest pass, meaning they have to either take the hit or let go of the handles and catch the ball usually resulting in a crash either way. - (Similarly, The Kubinashi Rider does something similar but with his head or helmet.)

• Kotsukotsu Baba - “こつこつババア” - A Hag from Ome city, Tokyo area; Said to appear to those who have just used public phones at night, without limbs, she chases after them on her stubby elbows & knees which make an awful “bone-clicking” sound, as she pursues her victim at lightning-fast-speeds! - There are further variants where she's been chopped clean in two! - [Much like Teketeke.]

Ultimately, Turbo Baba are an excellent example of a modern yokai and unique urban legend which is literally still ‘running wild’ in the public's imagination even today. I suppose the idea of an "old woman running fast” surprises people who hear the story and makes them want to spread it in a unique way. End of the day, the high-speed hag is a parable to obey traffic laws & a reminder to keep your eyes on the road, watch where you're going, or else!

Tangentially, the various hitchhiking ghosts of North American urban legends are also often blamed for car accidents! - [below, 1935 hitch hiking ghosts]

• A few pop culture appearances: Turbo granny lends herself well to animated appearances. - Most recently/popularly, Turbo Granny appears as a villain-turned-ally (turned maneki neko) who, for whatever reason, is obsessed with dongs in the series Dadadan. A "Dash-Granny" also appears in Mob Psycho. She’s also a regular ghost in the Shin Megami tensei/Persona series. The “Jumping Granny" also recently made an illustrated appearance on the Japanese Tbs series “口を揃えた怖い話" (Scary Stories Told By Mouth.) 

See also: Ashiurababa, Akuserasera, Jinmenken, Headless riders, Hachishakusama ,Teketeke.

[Art sticker by @samkalensky, part of my urban legends and yokai collections! Check my shop & support my art for many more! Please also check out my editor, @Cattypes works!]