Everything you need to know about The Terror: Infamy on AMC

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The terrors of Japanese kaidan folklore.

In Japan, kaidan folklore encompasses most any story about a haunting, but authors like to use the word to give their stories an “old-fashioned” connotation. In an interview with Vanity Fair, The Terror: Infamy showrunner Alexander Woo explains that he hopes the familiarity of the traditional Japanese kaidan ghost story helps viewers connect with the plight of the characters.

What does the old term kaidan harken back to? It is generally based on Buddhist didactic stories involving karma and a ghost out for revenge. These Japanese vengeful ghosts are called Onryō. Death has given them immense power, far more power than they possessed while alive; they are usually the spirits of people who were powerless and vulnerable while alive, such as women, servants and slaves.

An example of the blind wrath of an Onryō spirit can be found in the Ring movies, where a mysterious videotape kills all who watch it — the first of those came out in Japan in 1998 and was remade for American audiences in 2002. Or there’s Ju-on: The Grudge, where a house is able to  kill anyone who tries to inhabit it. The Onryō ghosts can also use natural forces to wreak havoc on people, and sometimes are able to rip the spirits away from the bodies of their dying victims.

Kaidan ghosts are traditionally connected to water, because water is a pathway to and from the underworld in Japanese religion. You’ll see open water in some shots in the Infamy trailers, with the supposed specter walking along a dock. Female Onryō are often seen wearing a white burial kimono.