This famous, faceless apparition seems to take particular delight in terrifying human beings. While its
appearance is deeply disturbing, it is only really a danger to those with weak hearts.

There are many stories about noppera-bō encounters, and most of them follow the same twofold pattern:
The protagonist encounters what appears to be ordinary human being with the back turned or the face obscured
in some fashion. Trying to strike up a conversation, the victim is met with a face as smooth as an egg, without
eyes, nose, or mouth. Scared out of his wits, he runs away and seeks out the comfort of another mortal's
presence, sometimes someone he knows. After the victim has recounted the whole unnerving story, his companion
agrees that this is a very weird tale, and then proceeds to ask, "This face, was it this sort of face?" or
something along those lines. At this point what the poor fellow thought was another human loses his facial
features as well, and the victim often winds up fainting in helpless terror.

Noppera-bō were one of the first yōkai introduced to the English-speaking world, where they
are often known as "mujina", that being the title of Lafcadio Hearn's story about them. While a mujina
is actually a small furry animal capable of shapeshifting, they and tanuki were often blamed for
taking human form and perpetrating the featureless phantom attacks. "Mujina" of the faceless variety
are apparently still encountered in both modern Japan and Hawaii.