This is rather a very short not too scary and kind of funny event that I have experienced.
I was spring hiking with my friend, his family were said to be related to Ainu and they knew the culture quite well.
We went to the Shikotsu Lake it was still kind of breezy but there were already lots of tourists around... (Oh do I hate people? It was tiring seeing that many people around.)
The Shikotsu Lake is full of stories and legends and it is related to the Ainu, one very rare legend around is that we will meet some kind of ghosts (Japanese people call those Yokai) which will appear as a half beast half man being, called Mintuchi.
My friend was introducing some stories related to Ainu while we were walking up the hill side of the lake. I was listening to him to kill time walking up the cold hill with nothing but melting snow.
Suddenly I thought I saw a fox? Or somewhat like a hairless dog? It was grey-ish or black. My friend tapped me on my shoulder and said that he saw a child ran past us and went in the bush. I looked around but I did not see any one, then I told my friend that I saw a fox or a dog like something ran across us.
"Mintuchi?" said my friend.
I looked at him with a "what did you say?" look.
"See, are you sure that it was a fox or a dog or some kind of animal?" he asked.
"Why? If there were any kids around surely we'd see some parents running after them," I said. "There's no fox or wild dogs around here or in this cold weather? No way" I continued.
Pentachikoll... Nittalasampe kaisei... Okkell ipe
We both heard this phrase from a distance.
"OK, it's the tourist" I said.
"No no! It's in Ainu language... It said; lighting the torch... The rotten duckweed-ball with feather's dead body... Something which farts?" said my friend trying to hold his laugh.
"What the...what?" I replied him puzzled.
"Ainu have a tradition to name their children with strange and dirty meaning words, like the traditional Halloween, they think that dirty stuff and ugly things scare away bad spirits" he answered. "Maybe its introducing his name to you?" continued my friend.
That was really it and nothing strange or horrible had happened after.
We walked along and talked about some more Ainu Ghosts that people still will talk about today.
Why I thought this should not be someone alive? It is because it spoke Ainu, I mean... Like you will not hear a random endangered language somewhere from a tree or bush, that was what kind of happened.
No, though Ainu is known to be natives of Hokkaido, but they are not "bush people" who would hide in a bush and hunt there, they are much more "civilized" like any traditional oriental people but just dressed differently and have very very ancient cultural activities.
Do you think we really saw a ghostly being during our hiking?
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Yup, I got you. 😉
So like... Spirits are spirits, like the Thai believes everything spiritual including gods are called Phi. Over there Thai believe that there's no good or bad, gods or not gods, the other-side evil or not, gods or angels or ghosts or spirits, they are all phi/s.
That is why they will except any religion and make them Thai style. They are now mostly considered Buddhist, but originally they worship phi (all the rituals and prayers, mantras came later).