Haunted Bathhouse?
I'm posting this to see if anyone has any idea what we may have encountered in an old bathhouse in Japan.
A couple of weeks ago, I traveled with a friend to a historic ryokan (hot springs inn) that is over 1,200 years old, located in a nearly deserted town. Our room had a private outdoor bath on the balcony, and directly below it was the public bathhouse.
The suites at this ryokan are very spread out, so we didn't have any neighboring rooms, and we barely saw any other guests that night.
While my friend stayed in our private bath, I went down to the public bathhouse alone. After spending some time inside, I walked out to the outdoor baths and sat in one of the pools in the dark. Almost immediately, I felt like something was watching me from the bushes in one corner of the bathing area. I was surprised by this, especially considering the baths are supposed to be relaxing. Additionally, I could see into the bushes, so I knew that nothing was there. I tried to ignore it, but the feeling became so intense that my fight-or-flight response kicked in, and I went back inside. Even from the inside bath, I felt like I was being watched through the window.
About 30 minutes later, I decided to give the outdoor baths another chance and chose a different pool in the same part of the bathhouse. Despite being in a different area, I had the exact same feeling that something was watching me from the bushes. Eventually, I gave up and went back to our room.
The moment I walked in, my friend looked unsettled and immediately asked if I was humming.
I told them no, and they explained that while they had been soaking in our private bath, they heard a woman softly humming nearby. They said it sounded like it was coming from a balcony right next to ours. The humming stopped the moment I opened the door, so they thought it could have been me.
The strange part is that there wasn't another balcony nearby. Our room was the only one on that floor with a balcony, and there was nobody in the public bathhouse below. My friend said they had also felt like they were being watched and eventually got out of the bath and shut/locked all of the windows and doors because the feeling became so uncomfortable.
We both experienced the sensation of being watched independently, and whatever it was stopped humming when I came back upstairs.
Does anyone have any ideas about what this could have been? If you believe know Japanese folklore or spirits, is there any type of entity that would fit this experience?