Bakekujira are the vengeful ghosts of whales found in Japanese folklore. While unique to these tales the idea of animals seeking revenge after their deaths as spirits is a common one in many cultures and was part of why many cultures practiced strict rituals in regards to both hunting and the use of animals. The Bakekujira was also a bringer of plague and calamity, another common trait in spirits across world-folklore.
History
A Bakekujira is a terrifying skeletal whale from Japanese folklore, the vengeful spirit of a whale that haunts the living and brings with it a number of terrible curses and supernatural ailments such as a swarm of ghostly fish and birds, disease, famine, fire and many other tragedies - the creature will often head to a fishing village and cast its curse before retreating back into the depths, presumably existing solely to exact its revenge upon those responsible for its death.
