The episode dives into some of the most iconic and culturally rooted Japanese creepypastas, showcasing a stark contrast to typical American horror. It begins with "Tamino's Hell," a 1919 poem from Japanese poet Sejo Yasuo that’s said to carry a curse if read aloud—its haunting imagery and Buddhist references to hell layers suggest themes of guilt and eternal punishment. The story is further deepened by its symbolic structure, including a 7-7-7-5 syllabic pattern and possible interpretations of familial sin, like killing one’s parent. Next, "Hanako's Son" is presented as a classic ghostly toilet legend, where a girl with bobbed hair and a red skirt haunts school bathrooms, especially the third stall or floor. The story reflects broader cultural anxieties about privacy, bullying, and school life, with historical ties to Edo-period toilet deities like Kawayagami. The narrative also highlights how such folklore evolves across generations, blending urban legends with real-world superstitions. The episode emphasizes how Japanese horror is direct, emotionally resonant, and deeply rooted in cultural traditions, unlike more playful American versions. These stories aren’t just spooky—they’re layered with meaning, history, and societal reflection. The creators note the eerie effectiveness of brief, impactful horror, where minimal detail carries immense emotional weight. Despite the supernatural elements, the tone remains grounded in cultural realism, showing how Japanese folklore thrives on tradition, belief, and shared community memory. The episode concludes by celebrating the enduring power of Japanese storytelling, where ancient myths and modern creepypastas coexist, creating a uniquely immersive and unsettling experience.
(upbeat music) - Welcome back to Creepcast. Today we're gonna be doing something pretty special. This is the, some of the best Japanese cultural creepypostas out there. We're doing a big grab bag. All Japanese creepypostas, very, very excited. And I know that there's-- - To Japan today. - We are going to Japan. - To Nikuwa. - And I know that the, there's some that are on here that I know that are pretty, I would say pretty popular, or at least like some of the more well-known ones. I know the first one we're gonna read is Tamino's Hell. I feel like that's like a pretty well-renowned one. I feel like I've seen that one a lot on like the Creepcasta websites and stuff. Well, it's been reoccurred. - Yeah, so I don't know which the story of it's so muddled now. I don't know if the legend around the Creepcasta is true, but supposedly it's not a creepypost, so it's a poem from like the 1910s. - Ooh. - So, and it's just like made its way into Creepcasta culture. But that can also be the Creepcasta just saying that. I don't know. But yeah, there's a bunch of weird Japanese ones that it's interesting because a lot of the more popular American ones are long kind of goofy about a killer. A lot of the Japanese ones are like, yeah, this is a spirit that kills you. Sucks for you. Good luck. - I really don't know if there's anybody better at a, which maybe a controversial take, I don't know. I don't know if there's anybody better at like folklore or folklore urban legends than Japanese storytelling. - I feel like it's always the best. At least it's always my favorite, if I'm being honest. - Anything time I read about like a Japanese cryptid or like a Japanese story of a town or something. It's like, yeah, well, the devil lives here and it's gonna kill everyone you've ever met. Get ready. - I love how they don't pull any punches. - I love how superstitious the culture is in general. Like it really adds like that kind of belief system. I think really translates really well into all of the writing and art that they do. So I'm very excited. I mean, even this first one here that we're reading called Tomino's Hell, it's literally about a Japanese poem that like you are not supposed to read out loud. It's like that within itself, I'm sure, I fucked up so many people 'cause they're like, what? You know, like that. - Oh yeah, very superstitious of like, I'm not gonna do that. - As with most of these stories, me, when I was 12, yes. - Yeah, it's like, well, how fun is that? And I love that. I feel like a lot of these are pretty old too, right? A lot of these are, we're doing a big grab back today. I mean, a lot of these like the read time is very short, but you know, I think with the kind of obvious detours we normally take, it will be fine. But yeah, a lot of these, it's just like that classic, old creepypasta, very short, very punchy format, which I do think lends to these very quick folk tale, urban legend vibes that the Japanese stories tend to take, so I'm pretty excited. - Yeah, I'm excited as well. And you have some, you know, background with Japanese folk, 'cause you murdered a Japanese woman. - That is what I am. - That is what I see. I see that a lot in comments now. - Right, right. - My church in Japan. - Well, you posed a very weird hypothetical, well, you posed a very weird hypothetical to me that sounded kind of suspicious. After murdering a Japanese woman, have you encountered any spirits? - That has yet to happen. I wouldn't I wasn't Japan though, for people who are a fan of my channel, popping me on YouTube, please check it out. I did, we just, we did, we did yourself. - No, no, no, no, definitely not, but on YouTube, YouTube's like that comes out of poverty. What did happen though is for people that don't know, I did go to Japan about almost two years ago now, good Lord, time flies, the, and when I was there, I had, I would say kind of a ghostly experience. - Well. - Yeah, and we were in Osaka and we were at this intersection of this like basically shopping market area outside, you know, and we came across this man who kind of came with to us with this Ikea bag. - I forgot what he said, he said, he said, oh yeah, that's what he said. He said, I sorry, that's what he said. He came with to us, big crowded area. We were all just standing in like a circle, just chatting. This man walks up to us and he looks us dead in the eyes, or he looks at Harry, dead in the eyes. He should say, and he says, I sorry. - Like that. And like as if like, excuse me, you know, in a weird way, and we were like, oh, you have no problem. And it was just very haunting. And then he like kind of like barely walked past us. Sh, sh, sh, sh. Is like sandals scraping on the ground. Sh, sh, sh. We kind of looked at each other and we were just like, what the fuck is this? And I'm not even joking, Isaiah, when I tell you that we turned and he was gone. And it wasn't like a busy like big, big crowd. I mean, like gone, gone, gone. Not there anymore. Blown the way in the wind. I have no idea where the fuck he went. But that was that really stuck with us. - One time in New York, I saw a Chinese man through a cigarette at a seagull and it died. - Which one? - So that's kind of, it's kind of like a spirit. - The seagull died? - Yeah, yeah. - That must have been a powerful flick. - Well, then I just kind of bounced off and then just kind of fell over. That's what I mean. It was kind of spiritual, you know? So is it possible that the Japanese man recognized Harry as Korean? And was like, oh, I'm sorry for what we did to you. Yeah, like there's an apology on behalf of the country. Or alternative, he mistook Harry as a Japanese man and possibly thought he was related to him and said, he's sorry, or third option. That was actually Harry's grandfather. And he just doesn't know. - As fun as all of these hypotheticals are, I think that you're going to be disappointed to find that. I think it was a man where we were just in his way. Even though it looked like he walked out of his way to be inconvenienced by us and then said, I sorry, we were baffled for maybe a second, maybe two. I'd give it two seconds. And then looking back over it to be completely gone. Was still, even if it is those things of him coming up, even if it was into these hypotheticals, you said, where did this man go? How could he have moved so fast? Without his knowing, I don't know. I don't know. - You know, if I was somewhere in a group of Americans came up and I was a Japanese man and I was like, oh, excuse me. And they just stared at me, dumb-fuddled. I'd probably be like, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to disappear so they think I'm a ghost. - There is a, well, first off, that would not happen in Japan. Every time I'm in Japan, no one really talks to each other. It's not a very social society. If you go into a business, it's different, possibly. Well, then anything, then that's the case then too. I'd be weird that they would do that. But I would say that, like, also, we, I don't think that we were being disrespectful in any way. And also, I think that the only thing that we were looking at that was a bit odd was that he got so close to Harry's face, which is also very odd, that kind of close to him. - I'm telling you, man. - He, Harry knows that guy. And he's lying to you. - And I don't think he should interrogate him about this. - If he is, and that is downright cruel, because he sold it very well. I mean, it was so, I mean, an inch or two from his face, and then to say, I sorry, and then scuttle off. It was, you know, I don't know if it trains like 12, but I will say it was a very, I mean, it shook us. It shook us. I was shook. - That's a pretty, that's a pretty supernatural experience. So you don't have any, like, ghost stories or anything from, like, the suicide forest, just, - No. - And so I didn't, I thought, I didn't go to the suicide forest, but I did get a blu-ray of a movie called "Longly Graves." - What's the, what's the Logan Paul? Oh yeah, I've made a severe and continuous lapse in judgment. It's a blu-ray called "Fouji, Joukai." - Pretty sure, I'd say you said it. - "Fouji, Joukai." - So you're a hentai? - No, I'd type that in as it's gonna be a bunch of, like, nature. - "Fouji, underscore, Nix Office." - "Fouji_Joukai.movie." It is about a girl who tells other girls in our school that she wants to kill herself and these other girls in our school are like, we wanna watch. School concept, the movie itself is all recorded on an iPhone, I believe. And it's like, at the very beginning of the movie, they find the iPhone in the, at the base of the-- - Suicide Forest? - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - Oh, wow. It's not an interesting idea. It's definitely not like a super great movie, but, you know, if you like found footage horror movie, you might dig it. - I know. - But I wouldn't say it's anything spectacular, but it's a really cool concept. There's a lot of fun things that they just, I don't know, it doesn't make it all the way. But "Fouji, Joukai." I thought it'd be a fun shout out for this episode. So here it is. - Very cool, that's a lot better than, you know, those very respectful and like kind of Japanese culture. It's a lot different than we started this podcast. I was like, "Hey, we should do the Japanese episode." And you're like, "Oh, you mean the anime people?" That's what you said. - You've got to-- - You've got to reel in the rings, isn't good. - I haven't said anything. I'm referring to what you said. I don't think I ever said the anime people. - That's what you said. That's what you told me. - All right. Well, Tomino's hell, Hanako's on the toilet ghost. There's a lot of, I've noticed it with a lot of Japanese horror storytelling. There's a lot of, they are not happy with being disturbed in the toilet. That's like a real. I didn't say anything there. That was you that made that point. I didn't want. I had nothing to do with that. The point you just made, you just said that all their stories are about toilets. I didn't say all of their stories. It said that they that's what you said. That is what you said. The, and I had nothing to do with it. I'm defending them. You're the one coming in here with your problem. Like, old me a bumps in you and says, I'm sorry. And you're like, was that a ghost? All right. The, the, the toilet goes an old urban legend about the ghost of a little girl that haunts the toilets of schools. Chaco, Sama, which is an urban legend of a tall woman in a hat that brings about generational doom. Count, damn. Yeah. We're going to start with Samino's hell. Uh, thank you so much to all of our patrons and all of our supporters. Uh, it really does mean the world. You can listen to these on Spotify and Apple podcasts anywhere you listen to podcasts. And we really appreciate your all support. Thanks a bunch. Love you guys. Um, if you want to check us out on audio platforms, be sure to check us out on Spotify and Apple podcasts. I just said you only said you only said Patreon. That's all right. I said Patreon. Then I said and you can listen to us on audio platforms like Spotify and Apple podcasts. Oh, okay. Dokey. I think you're trying. I think there's a mutiny going on here. I think you're trying to make a case that I am mentally unfit to continue to host the show. Well, I don't, I, I would hate to comment on that. I know I, I'm not going to comment on that. I bet you would at this time, but there'll be a lot of comments made about later. And you're trying to replace me with Nick. This is all coming. This is all coming back to your collective IP where there's just a bunch of shows and stuff that you and Nick, and Nick's going to come to my house and he's going to dress up as me and he's going to set a my room. It's going to raise your daughter. It's just. Yeah. Yeah. That's my wife. The ultimate, the ultimate goal is to find this Asian man who this Japanese man who right who said, I sorry, he's he's he's he's going to be the new host. He's the new host. He's replacing me. I come home one day, like I go out to get milk and I walk in and like the seven-year-old Japanese man's wearing my clothes. I'm like, what? And Kayla is like, who are you? She's like freaking out of me. And she looks at the Japanese man. She's like, Isaiah, stop him. And she said, she says I just, he says I just, I just smile. She says, Isaiah, were you in a house fire? And you're like, no, no, no, I just wrecked the dirt bike again. That's why these layers of skin are off my face and hands are arms. She's like, is that seal kiss from a rose? You're like, no, no, no. It's me your husband. We were having fun. Okay. We were having fun. Okay. It's a me knows hell. So real quick, though, this is a, I'm just going to read this little part. It says, this is us. I'm on David Bowles website, David Bowles. US. So just saying, this is the thing that he put here. I just wanted to read. Apparently the story of a young boy's damn nation for unnamed acts, the me knows hell was published. I discovered in a 1919 collection of poetry by Sijo Yasuo, as I say that. I think so. It's titled Saken or translated to gold dust. The poet was a university professor and lived in France for a time studying at this sore bone. His work is heavily influenced by French poets, especially symbolists like Arthur, Rimbou, Stephanie, with whom he became friends with. Those sides was later work was ostensibly for children. It was filled with strange symbols and wordplayed that could be quite unsettling. So just thought that was kind of interesting. So now you're saying, though, from what we were saying earlier, you think that that might not be true or you do think it is. I don't know. I think, I think it might be real. I mean, obviously the way to check it out would be to look up Saken, gold dust, but I don't know if I want to do that. I will say, David does something kind of interesting here. And the next party says, here's my rendering of this dark and disturbing poem with footnotes of important matters. I've not actually read the thing aloud. So I can't speak to whether the curse is real. I'll leave that to your own discretion. I think that's interesting. Well, we'll see if I get cursed. Yeah, we'll see if I get cursed and we'll see what happens. Yeah, I'm praying for no speaking parts. Yeah. Well, it's a poem. So I think you're good. So I'll also read the forward on the creepypasta wiki, because in every version that was circulated around online, it had this intro. Right. Tamino's Hell was written by Sejo Yasuo for his 27th collection of poems Saken, or Gold Dust in English in 1919. There's a Japanese legend surrounding it, which states, it should only be read with the mind and never out loud. It's uncertain how this rumor started, but it goes on to say that tragic things will happen if you do. The story used to be very popular on two channel. Many users said that nothing happened after reading it and uploaded pictures and videos as proof, but there were also posts where the user did not come back to post any results. Huh. And then it says, if you were to read this out loud, it'd be better to do so in Japanese, which I'm not going to attempt. You're welcome. An alternative. We're accurate translation by David Bowles can be found here, which is the 100 as pulled up. There's also this image that's always passed around with the pain of this girl that looks like it's drawn with these very harsh strikes, like these dark reds and bright whites and stuff. It looks like a girl without a nose who's been scarred or burned. And at the bottom of the page on the Creep of Pasta Weeki, it says the image associated with this story is a cropped version of a painting by Yuko Tatsu Shima entitled, "I Can No Longer Be a Bride." It was supposedly made after the artist became a victim of sexual assault. The title refers to how, according to Japanese tradition, women who are often having suing difficulties with marriage and reputation due to the perception of them having lost their innocence. That is depressing. Okay. So with that happy note out of the way, are you ready for me to read the poem that curses me? Yeah. Very, very, very. Also, there is a translation at the end that is in the original Japanese that I could attempt to read if you only do. You want to sit here and do the whole thing in Japanese? I could. If you want. Hold on. Let me do it first. Okay. You want me to read the, quote unquote, "more accurate David Bowles" version? Well, in the David Bowles, there is a, okay, yeah, just go ahead. Because when I was a kid, I read like the Creepy Pasta version that's passed around. But maybe I didn't get cursed because that was less accurate. So this is different, so wait a minute. This is different than what you read. Yeah. Well, it's the same poem. It's just the one that circulated around, like on Creepy Pasta websites, was apparently not as accurate of a translation. I see. Okay. So this is, so this is David one is like the real one. So we'll see if I really get cursed this time. Right, right. Here we go. Elder sister of omens blood, younger sister breathing fire, while sweet little tomino just spits up the jewels. All alone does tomino go falling into that hell. A hell of utter darkness without even flowers. Is tomino's big sister, the one who whips him? The purpose of the scourging hangs dark in his mind, lashing and thrashing him. Ah, but never quite shattering. Once you're path to a Vici, the eternal hell, into the blackest of hells, guide him now I pray to the golden sheep to the night and gale. How much did he put in that leather pouch to prepare for his trek to the eternal hell, bring his coming to the valley, to the wood, to the spiraling chasms of the blackest hell, the night and gale in her cage, the sheep aboard the wagon, the tears well up in the eyes of sweet little tomino, seeing o' night and gale. In the vast, misty forest, he screams he only misses his little sister, his wailing desperation echoes throughout hell. A fox peony opens its golden petals, down past the seven mountains and seven rivers of hell, the solitary journey of sweet little tomino. If in this hell they be found, may they then come to me, please. Though sharp spikes of punishment from needle mountain, not just on some empty whim, is flesh pierced with blood-red pins. They serve as hellish signpost for sweet little tomino. Wow, beautiful. It's actually like a very beautiful poem, my god. It's like a child is, it sounds like he's in like a miserable place where it starts with elder sister vomit younger sister Reese fire, but he just pits up the jewels. Now it's like he dies and falls into hell. So he's going through hell, but there's almost a hopefulness for it. It's like, you know, he goes through the red, the red rivers of hell, and there's like the needles, but they're signposts for him. It's like wishing him well as he walks through the underworld. Yeah, almost feels like a almost kind of like a Dante's inferno kind of parallel of. Yeah, well, that connects, you know, that connects to a Buddhist hell, I believe, that is layered. I think it's 10 layers. I'm pretty sure. So David had a very interesting footnote thing that I thought was interesting that we should probably go through. His first point here is the term here translated translated hell is Jigoku, the Buddhist hell complex, the Buddhist hell complex into which very simple people can be reincarnated. Note also the poem follows a 7775 syllabic pattern, a vocative of most traditional Japanese verses. Interesting. Yeah. So I looked it up, Buddhism has eight hot hells and eight cold hells. So when it talks about him walking past the seven mountains, it almost sounds like he's going to the very bottom of hell. It's kind of interesting to at the beginning, but get all those descriptions of, to me, no sisters basically suffering while he is not the second point that he made. The third point is apparently the lashes to me knows receiving on his way to hell are deserved. Although another possible reading of the Japanese might be the purpose of the
scourging worries him, suggesting possibly that he doesn't know why he's being punished to me. It seems he knows. It's kind of interesting. Like the translation of him knowing is also just like a person living with that like guilt or sin or something is very pretty fucking horrifying. I like this. This part where it says, "The poem reveals that Tomino is headed to Mujin Jikoku, the Japanese translation of the Sanskrit avici. Avici is the lowest of hell's and buddhism, one whose torment lasts so long, eons and eons, that souls seem to be trapped there for eternity." There are five horrible sins you can commit to end up in this place, creating a schism within the community of Buddhist monks and nuns, shedding the blood of a buddha, killing an enlightened person, or intentionally murdering one's father or one's mother. So when it's talking about Tomino going down there and the relation to his sisters, perhaps that is implying that's what he did and that's why he goes all the way to eight. Yeah, the fifth, this is all once again in relation to David Bowles. Yeah. Is it bowls or bows? Bowles I think. Yeah. One of his fifth points is it strikes me that the sheep and knight and gala are symbolic of Tamiya no sisters. We see them like dancing around a lot and yeah, you know, singing and, you know, all that stuff. So the seventh post, this is interesting. Another, we're by seven, we're looking at the points that David has outlined underneath the poem. He says, "Another possible translation would be not just on some empty whim while I peers with blood red pins, the marks upon the body of sweet little Tamiya no. Either way, the conclusion is chilling." Now, given that the poet has a predilection for symbolist poetry, it's very likely that all this talk of Tamiya no's descended into hell is mere metanami. Yeah, metanami. Metanami. I think it's metanami. Whatever that word is. And that some other sort of earthly hell of interpersonal relationships is being described. The Japanese Wikipedia article of Sejo suggests that he wrote this poem upon the death of either his sister or father, given the aims of symbolist poetry to avoid to describe things themselves and instead describe in their effects, it strikes me that the poem is meant to show Sejo's emotional distress upon someone's death, comparing his survivor's guilt to a journey into hell. And that would relate back to the point where he's going to the eighth layer, reserved for those who killed their parents. It feels like, perhaps maybe he wasn't there, you know, whatever happened in the poet's life. He's attributing Tamiya no suffering as if he killed his own parent. My God, look at the comment Isaiah. Look at the fourth comment down. I've pooped my jammies. Yeah, very, very interesting. You know what? This is going to sound so fucking stupid. So please hold it against me. This is like what I want two sentence horrors to feel like two sentence horror stories to feel like, you know what I mean, which is obviously impossible because there are only two sentences long, but this it's so, so short and it's like, it's just so simple of talking about one thing. Yet I feel like it really, and you just get so much out of it. It's very, I don't know, very enlightened. How would you want two sentence horror to feel like that? I guess in the way that which once again, I know it sounds so fucking stupid. I don't know why I set it out loud. God, I'm so fucking dumb. But I guess it's just the idea that it's like, you want the two sentence horrors to just be like, it's something that that's that short and has that much of an impact. But once again, it doesn't make any sense. I'm a fucking idiot. It's because it's obviously more than two sentences. Never mind. I even said it. Just forget I even said it. I'm a fucking idiot. I think what you mean is like a whole the two sentence horror stories are so stupid. Hold in on yourself is so funny. Well, it's because it's such a fucking stupid thing. It's the most like, I don't, it's just the most like, it's just so fucking dumb. What a dumb thing to say. It's unbelievable that I have a microphone. Fuck my life. If I had to justify it all, it's probably supposed to be something along the lines of like, you know, every two sentence horror that we, or even not even outside of two sentence horror, I think a lot of things that are this short. It just ends up being like, oh, it's a monster. Oh, this is a, the entire payoff is like, it's a spooky monster versus these things of like something that's this short yet packs in all of this emotional weight while also giving us like, there's almost no exposition. It's like, you're handed everything on this like, beautiful platter and you're able to like, run with it in all these different directions. I just think it's really, really fun. Also, probably, I mean, so, I don't know, must be so difficult, you know, have something which is just no fat like this is a, it's very admirable. And also, too, it's just a beautiful, beautiful translation too. But you know, at the same time, man with, here's my two sentence horror story, man with podcast opens mouth. That's my fucking two sentence horror. It's a pretty good one. I got it. That's pretty creepy. I looked up Japanese two sentence horror stories and they're all like, they're also not able to send it. Of course it is. It's the day might be the dumbest thing I've ever said. And I apologize for it. I know that I'm going to get absolutely railed. I heard a woman laughing softly behind me. But when I turned, there was only my reflection smiling back, man with thought, the toy fish in the pond stared up at me. The mouth's moving as if chanting. It's just a koi fish. Here's my, here's mine hunter had a thought. He thought it was good. That's my duty. No, I know you mean the idea of like having a very short concise thing that means something more than just what the sentence is saying. You're kind. You're sweet. One of the dumbest things that has ever been said on this podcast, usually. Should we move on to Hanako's on? It's time to talk about something scary. Your health. I know I don't go in the doctor as much as I should. If I'm feeling sick, I'll just lie in bed and sleep it away. But that's only because I don't want to have to deal with the appointments, insurance and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. That's why I have Zakhdok. Zakhdok is a free app and website where you can search and compare high quality in network doctors. Choose the right one for your needs and click to instantly book an appointment. We're talking about in network appointments with more than 100,000 healthcare providers across every specialty from mental health to dental health. I care to skin care and much more. And the nice thing about Zakhdok is that you can filter for doctors that take your insurance or nearby and are highly rated. It's super easy to use and you can find an appointment time that works for you with the right doctor for your needs. Plus, Zakhdok appointments happen fast, typically within just 24 to 72 hours of booking. You can even score same day appointments. You don't want to admit it, but you should probably see a doctor. So stop putting off those doctors appointments and go to zakhdok.com/creepcast to find an instantly book a top rated doctor today. That's z-o-c-d-o-c dot com slash creep cast. Zakhdok dot com slash creep cast. Thank you Zakhdok for sponsoring the episode. Back to our spooky story. 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Offer only valid for new customers with code and qualifying auto renewing subscription purchase. Make healthier eating easy with Factor. Thank you to Factor for sponsoring the video now back to the episode. Let's move on to Hulignako's son. All right, so I'm on a website by the way that says Japan makes me scared dot com. Yeah, yeah, that's for this is where it goes. The suit is a clock. So this is that's the opposite. Nick would say the Japan makes me happy dot com is what would be he just looks at the page upside down. Mm hmm. So I'm reading off of again our source here that these are the sources. Harry provided to us. So I'm just I'm just the messenger. Um Harry's what you may have got him from the old man in Japan who knows also it says Hanako's son is one of the most well-known Japanese urban legends and the name of the girl that appears in the story because she usually inhabits a school toilet. She is often called Torre no Hakaos Torre no Hanako son, which means Hanako of the toilet as well. The original story said to be an urban legend called the third Hanako son that appeared in the 50s that it spread to children in the rest of Japan in the 80s. In the 1990s, it came with the occult boom and appeared in pop culture including films, manga and anime making it even more well known. Since then her popularity has continued to be passed on to future generations. That's all according to this website. Don't know how true that is.
But now, would you like to read the story? Yes. One day, A-chan, a primary school girl, attended a school committee and stayed in school until late afternoon. When she returned to her classroom, the sun had almost set. She was the only one in the classroom. A-chan wanted to hurry home, but suddenly wanted to go to the toilet. Toilet? Oh, no. [LAUGHING] Oh, that's such a good-- Toilet. Oh, no. There was a reason why she hesitated to go to the toilet. It was because there was a room going around at school that a ghost called Hanako Saan with bobbed hair and a red skirt appeared in the toilet. She thought she wouldn't make it until she got home. To know their option, A-chan decided to go to the toilet. It was a nearest toilet to the classroom on the third floor. There were three private stalls. A-chan hurriedly entered one of them and breathed a sigh of relief. When she finished her business and washed her hands, she looked in the mirror and felt uncomfortable. Did someone come in? When she entered the toilet earlier, the doors of all the private stalls should have been open. Now, the door of the third toilet at the far end was closed. There was no sign that anyone had entered. Could it be Chan from the next class? She thought about it. B-chan also attended a committee with A-chan. She wanted to make sure, so she knocked on the door. Knock, knock. A reply came back. Apparently, someone was there. Relieved A-chan called out to her inside. Ah, B-chan, isn't it? Let's go home together. No reply. Wasn't it B-chan? Feeling awkward, A-chan put her hand on the outside door to leave the toilet. It won't open. Should open easily by pulling, but the door wouldn't open, even if she pushed her pulled. The sudden change reminded her of the roomware about Hanako-san and the toilet. Don't tell me it's Hanako-san and that stall. With a bit of hope like that, she asked fearfully. Is that Hanako-san in there? Then the door was banged on from the inside with a tremendous force. A-chan terrified and panicking, tried to get out of the toilet while screaming, but the door didn't budge. B-chan, please let me out! A-chan broke down crime in front of the door. Then the banging on the door suddenly stopped at the door of the private stall, which had been locked, opened, and inside. A girl with Bob Tehran, a red skirt, was floating. I love that. Yeah, that seems like a classic middle school horror story. Like, oh, there's a ghost girl floating to the bathroom. This is literally the cartoon I made, which is just like being afraid to take a shit in public is like the most universally. I mean, like, it's every culture. No one wants to take a shit in public. It's like the haunting idea that someone is listening to you do this like thing that you're like fucking embarrassed by. No one wants to hear your fucking pooping, your farting sounds or anything like that. This idea of this bathroom etiquette or this like bathroom invasion is. It's, I love this idea too, that it's front. They said that as early as the '50s, is when this was. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Or that's when the legends started to make the race. Yeah. How about you, even the fucking Romans that had the aqueducts were just like, "Hey, hold on. Don't come in." That kind of thing. I mean, it's. Yeah. It's forever, you know what I mean? It's so universal. But no, I mean, that kind of just fun urban legend, though, is really, really fun. There's this great anime, I saw, at Almo Draft House, that it flowed like this. It wasn't like a toilet spirit, but it's just this idea of like, did you hear that there's a ghost here? And then somebody is like, "Oh, that sucks." And they immediately go there and are immediately haunted by said ghost. It's like there's really no build-up or payoff. It's just kind of like, here I am. Like in this story, it's, here I am and washing my hands or I'm taking a shit, whatever, and all of a sudden, it's like, "Oh, God, I hope that's not that ghost." Are you that ghost? And it's like, "Yep." That's what they all. But in this like, in this like style, it just works. I don't know, like the one that I was referring to, I can't remember the actual title of the story, but I do know, it was a, "Akazuo Umaz," I believe it's Heipronat's name. He's like a Japanese horror mangaka legend. He's the guy that Junji Toe was inspired by. But it's just that. - Oh, is he the guy that did that, the classroom one? That Edo talks about all the time. - Yep, yeah, the dissolving, the melting classroom or whatever, yeah. - Or I think Edo did that one, or at least he did a rendition of it. The drifting classroom, I think is what he's, is what you're referring to. - Oh, oh, yeah. - But that's, yeah. Anyways, those, those, animals are those like kind of like horror Japanese storytelling. It's just, I don't know why there's something really satisfying about just like, I'm gonna tell you exactly what's gonna happen and it's going to happen. Like I, like, that's the, that's to be fair, that's true with almost any ghost story, but I just love how to the point it is here. It's just kind of fun. - And to just see who. - I'm reading. Oh, no, go ahead. Okay, you're good. - Reading down the description at some of the like stories around it, it says that she is, Hanako's son is normally associated with the number three. So most stories, she'll either be the third stall or it will happen on the third floor or she'll respond to the third knock. - I love this. I do tell you about her fun. - This, I, well, you want, I, I deal, I love is she is the third thing that happens in the bathroom. You take a number one, a number two, or she is the number three. - She's the number three. - That's what the number three is. - Yeah, and it has to be, that has to be in reference somehow. I love that. You're the taking a piss, a shit, or you're getting killed by a ghost. That's the number three. (laughing) If there was a part of the tradition of this, I would hope it would just be called like number three, or it would just be called three. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - It says in most renditions of the story, when she replies, she opens the stall door and drags in the person who knocked and says there's different, depending on who you ask, there's different origins to her story. One is that she was a girl, who was in the bathroom at school. When class started, she did not return. They go to look for her and she was found dead in the toilet. She had been murdered. Another one is that she was a victim of a family suicide. Suicides are recurring topic with a lot of like Japanese stories. - Yeah. - Well, depending on what time period is to, it's all reflective of just what's happening in the country. I mean, there's that great cultural, there's that great Japanese movie called Club, which is about like a J-pop song that makes you, when that movie was made in response to the economic crash and people, elves, over that kind of economic crash. Do you think that also, 'cause we see a lot of ghosts in bathrooms, in a lot of like, just cinema or storytelling in general, do you think that that is just because of like, in a school setting, especially, is, do you think that has anything to do with bullying? I feel like so much of like old movies and storytelling, you hear so much about people getting like, you know, what's it called? - Swirlies. - Yeah, swirly, like he gets swirly. That kind of stuff, but people like talking, it's like a private place for kids to talk, and like openly bully people without adults being there to supervise or something. I'm wondering if that has anything to do with these kinds of things popping up too. - I think, potentially, it's also because when you're in school, the bathroom's the only place that you're by yourself, typically. - It's the only form of privacy, you have. - It's also the only place you have privacy, right? So if anything were to go wrong to you alone, it would have to be while you're in the bathroom. Also like, some of the details with this, when you scroll down, it says, if an ocasson appears, there's some, in some stories, there's ways to water off. You can show her a test paper with a perfect 100, when asked to play with her, you say no, say sorry over and over again, or show her milk and yellow food, which is said to be something she doesn't like. I like little details like that, little things that flesh out the story. There's also this fun note that is really weird, but cool. It says, "Strange as it may sound, "the belief in a toilet deity was popular in Japan "from the Edo period to the early show-up period." This deity was called Kawayagami, and it was worshiped by offering a red and white female doll and beautiful floral decorations in the toilet. The worship of Kawayagami gradually declined after World War II, but remained afterwards. The theory is also supported by several similarities, such as the fact that Hanako's on his dress in red or white, and her name is Hanako, which consists of two Japanese letters, meaning flower and child. That's fun. That's pretty cool. The idea that's like an iteration of a god that has no longer been worshiped, that people have forgotten about. So it appears on its own now. That's cool. I hate to always be this kind of person too, but there's just so many things. It just made me think of all these different kinds. But it's just, I love the, I guess I love how every, which once again, this is probably true with every culture or whatever, but the way that they pass down this storytelling is just really fun. Like it just even made me think of the, there's this game I have on my PC called World of Horror. It's like a point and click, black and white horror game. Very, very good. Very like Reminus, people kept calling it, looked a lot like Junji Toe or like horror mangaka type style. But I always wanted to get it on my wife's, my wife's switch, which does make me sound like a cuck, but it would be a sweet release to get on that. And her boyfriend really likes it too, so to be nice. But the, but it does make me think, I just love it the way that like these things, it's so funny from the Edo, from the Edo period, all the way up now, it just still like finds new ways to invent itself or it just is like a fun thing that's always passed down and it like always remains relevant.
just really fun. - Yeah. - I agree. It's fun to how like so much of, and I think part of it is like obviously as Americans, we have like culture and stories taken from Europe and you know, like we're a melting pot. - Makes a lot of it's just a melting pot of cultures that are, you know. - Yeah, yeah. There's so many different stories that have been brought in from different regions of the world and like obviously there's a lot of Christian influence. There's a lot of stories related to like demons and stuff like that. But Japan has existed for so long like continuously that their stories like build and build off each other and change and adapt. So everything feels so rooted. - I know, I'm always so jealous. - Well, there's stories have so much context to it. - I'm always so jealous. - There's so much that I can do with it. - There's so much that have such a long lineage of history and stuff. It just must be, it's just such a different world. You know what I mean? It's just fucking, it's insane. It's like, I think that's what makes everything so fantastical. It's just that we, I feel like we just get the scraps of those kinds of bits and cultures of things pass down. Nothing ever really rooted. But should we move on to the next one? - Yeah, we'll move on to the next one. So it's called Hashakusama and I look it up and she's also known as the eight-feet tall lady. And I gotta say, look at some of these pictures of her. You know, she kinda, I like this reoccurring thing in Japanese storytelling as well or at least Japanese horror storytelling where it's like a simple figure and all they do is like walk or they exist in like the, like in this, in a lot of cases, it's like, you see them to the fog, usually they walk through a park, maybe like a road or some kind and it's just like slightly unnatural enough to where it becomes like a creepy urban legend or something, like the woman who walks alone or something, you know, it's just like a, and I love when people put characters in these scenarios where they emerge from fog or something. And as if it's like using your own weather or climate against you to kind of like trick your brain to be like, fuck, did I just see that? What did I just see? I don't know what I just saw. That's really fun. - See that real quick, yeah, it's too, you know. - I think that is a fun, that is a, that is a pretty fun, definitely spooky. (laughs) - I'm real frightened right now. (laughs) All right, my father's parents' house was a little less than two hours away by car. It was a farming house, but I like that sort of thing. So when I started high school and got a bike, I often went on trips there by myself during the summer and winter holidays. Both my grandfather and my grandmother happily welcomed me. - We're so happy that you're here. - However, the last time I went there, it was just before I started the third grade of high school. So I haven't been there in over 10 years now. It's not that I won't go, but rather I can't go. It was a start of spring vacation and the weather was perfect. So I got on my bike and went to my grandfather's house. It was still a little cold, but the veranda was pleasantly warm, so I relax there for a while. Then, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. I heard this strange sound. It didn't sound like a machine. It sounded like it was coming from a person. In addition to that, it was kind of like it was both a voiced consonant and half voiced at the same time. What was that, I wondered? And then I saw a hat over the top of the garden hedge. There's no reason it would have been put up there. Then it started to move sideways. And once it reached a gap in the hedge, I saw a woman. Ah, that woman was wearing the hat. She was also wearing a white one-piece dress. However, the hedge was about two meters high. If her head could pop out over the top of that, just how tall was she? I was shocked, but she started moving again and disappeared from view. The hat also disappeared. Then at some point, the popo-po sound also stopped. At the time, I didn't think much more of it than perhaps an already tall woman wearing some high-heeled boots. Or perhaps a tall man dressed up as a woman in high heels. Afterwards, I was in the living room drinking tea when I told my grandfather and grandmother about what just happened. I saw this really big woman. I wonder if it was a man cross-dressing. I said, they just replied, "Oh, yeah." She was bigger than the hedge. She was wearing a hat and was making the strange sound like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. The moment I said it, the two of them froze. Like they stopped moving at the exact same time. After that, my grandfather's face contorted and he threw a barrage of angry questions at me. When did you see her? Where did you see her? How much taller than the hedge was she? I answered his barrage of questions and then he suddenly fell silent and went to the phone in the hallway and called somewhere. Sliding door was closed, so I couldn't hear what he was saying very well. My grandmother was physically shaken. Don't fuck me up. I mean, finish his phone call, my grandfather said. You'll stay here tonight. No, there's no way we can let you return tonight. Have I perhaps done something awful? I'm worried, but I couldn't think of anything. It's not like I went to see that woman by myself. She was the one who appeared to me. Then my grandfather said, "Grandpa, I'm leaving him to you now. I'm gonna pick up case on." Took off in his truck. Timothy, I asked my grandmother about it. She said in a trembling voice, "It seems you have been possessed by how's Haku-sama? The grandfather's gonna do something about it. There's no need to worry." After that, she told me bit by bit until my grandfather returned. Man, to not hear there's a monster outside, but you've already been possessed. I know, my gosh. I would look at it and be like, "word?" Hey, Grandma, roll that back again. What the fuck do you mean I'm possessed? I do like this idea that it's like. Grandma, what the frick? I do like this idea of knowing that you see this person. People are like, "Oh yeah, really? How big was she?" You think it's all cute until it's just a specific detail. And then it's like, "Oh, fuck, he's possessed." Oh, shit. He's possessed. There it is. Also, it's shot that that resident evil village, or yeah, resident evil village woman. Oh, lady to mattress. There's no way in hell that was not referenced. They had to have been referencing this. Oh, I'm sure it came from it. Oh yeah. I can't tell you, by the way, because I love the resident evil games a lot. And then to be like so ready for AIDS reveal, and then to see like the nine-foot tall woman, I was like, "Ah, Capcom." Goddamn it. You beautiful, hitable. My boy's been brick these past couple of weeks to tell you what. I just, you know, I just appreciate the arts. That's all it is. That's all this. I want to take a moment to think today's sponsor, Harry's Razors. A lot of life is routine and repetition. And there's few things that we have to repeat more often than shaving. And it's really lame to do something like shaving so often when you're constantly scratching your neck or irritating your skin. Not to mention all the money and plastic, you throw away every time. 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So if you want to get in on this new way to shave, then now's the perfect time because for limited time, our listeners can get Harry's plus trial set for as little as $10 at harries.com/creepcast. That's right. With your set, you'll get the all new Harry's plus razor, one refined five blade cartridge, a two ounce foaming shave jail, and a travel cover to protect your blades on the go. Again, that's harries.com/creepcast. Claim this offer and receive our exclusive discount. Now, after you purchase, if you could let them know that we sent you, we greatly appreciate it. Thank you to Harry's for sponsoring the show. Their link will be in the description and we are now back to the episode. In this area, there was something called Shaku Sama. Shaku Sama took on the appearance of a tall woman. Just like your name suggested, she was about eight feet or Shaku tall and had a strange, manly laugh that went. Depending on the person, she might appear as a young woman in a morning dress, an old lady in a formal kimono, or even a middle-aged woman in farm clothes. While her appearance was always different, the things she always had in common were her incredible height, the fact she always wore something on her head, her strange laugh. In the past, there were rumors of her being a possessed traveler, nobody knew for sure. She was sealed in this area. Now, it's a part of O's city, but in the past, it was part of a larger section of X Village by Jizou Statues, so she's unable to leave. When you are possessed by her Shaku Sama, you were killed within a few days. Last time her Shaku Sama hurt someone, was 15 years ago. It reminds me of, what's that? What's that Japanese movie about? Incantation? No, that's the found footage one. What's the one with the dad who's a cop? Whaling. Yes, the whaling. Yeah. Where it's like his kid's possessed, and he doesn't know what to do about it, so he's going out to try to find help. Right. And a part of the horror of it is like how helpless they are against all of this that's happening.
Yeah, I love those kind of movies. I mean, that act of faith kind of movie. Love that shit. Yeah, except at the end of that one. I mean spoilers, but the end of that one's kind of like, well, you tried. Yeah, but no, he broke the rule. He didn't, he didn't have faith that the woman was telling the truth. So he like ruined the, he left. He ruined the seal and broke it. Yeah. Oh, I heard this after the fact, but the reason she was sealed in by the Jesus statue, so it's because of Shaku Sama could only leave the village by certain paths. Nobody knows why. And so they enshrined the Jesus statues on those particular paths. They were to prevent her leaving, but apparently they were placed in four locations on the boundaries of the east and west and the north and south. As to why they would even try to keep her Shaku Sama trapped here, apparently there was an arrangement with the nearby villages where they got, for example, priority to water rights and such. Shaku Sama only appeared to bother people once every 10 or so years, so the people who lived there in the past found it to be an advantageous deal. Even nearing all that, there was no way it could be real, I thought. Of course not. Forelong my grandfather returned with an old woman in tow. But haven't you gotten yourself into a fine mess? Here, take this. The old lady said, and handed me a talisman. Then she went upstairs with my grandfather to do something. My grandmother stayed behind with me. Even when I went to the toilet, she went with me, and wouldn't let me close the door the whole way. For the first time since being there, I started to think, "Maybe this really is dangerous." Short while later, they called me up to the second floor and put me in a room. The windows were entirely covered over with newspaper and talismans, and there were piles of salts in all four corners. There was a small wooden box on something you'd really call an altar or anything, and on top of it was a small statue of Buddha. Then, I don't know where they came from, but there were two bedpans prepared as well. I was supposed to go in those. The sun's about to set. Listen, you can't leave this room until tomorrow morning. Neither myself, nor your grandmother will call you or try to speak to you, okay? You must, under no circumstance, leave this room until 7 a.m. tomorrow. At 7 a.m., you can come out by yourself. I'll call and let your parents know. My grandfather said with a serious look on his face. I could do nothing, but non-silently in agreement. Make sure you do exactly as was just said. Gave a talisman close as well. If anything happens, go and pray before the Buddha. Case on said. They said it was okay to watch TV, so I turned it on, but even as I watched it, my mind wandered and I couldn't focus. Being locked in the room, I didn't feel like eating the onigiri or snacks my grandmother made for me, so I just got in the futon and lay there, trembling. At some point, I fell asleep when I woke up. I don't remember what it was, but some late night TV program was on. When I looked at my watch, it was past 1 a.m. At this time, I didn't have a cell phone. Ah, what an awful time to wake up, I thought. When I heard something tapping at the window glass, it wasn't like a small rock hit in it. It was more like a finger, wrapping across the surface. I couldn't decide whether the wind could make a sound like that, or if it really was a person tapping at the window, so I tried to believe with all my mind that it really was just the wind. Then I heard my grandfather's voice, "Hey, are you okay? Don't push yourself too hard if you scared, okay?" Without thinking, I walked towards the door, but then I remembered what my grandfather said to me, "What's wrong? You can come out if you want." The voice sounded exactly like my grandfather, but it wasn't him. I don't know why, but I just knew. As I realized that, I got goosebumps. I looked over at the pile of salt in the corner and the top had turned black. I ran at full speed to the Buddha and sat down in front of it, grasped me in the talisman, I started to pray as hard as I could. Please help me, please help me, then. I heard the voice. The window started wrapping. I knew she wasn't that tall, but I couldn't stop picturing her in my mind, reaching up from below and tapping on the window. There was nothing I could do, but keep praying in front of the Buddha. I felt unbelievably long, but eventually morning came, and at some point, the TV that had left on started playing the morning news. The time in the corner of the screams had 713 am. I hadn't even noticed, but both the tapping on the glass and the voice had stopped. It seemed I'd either fallen asleep or lost consciousness. The pile of salt turned even more black. Just in case I looked at my own watch, and it said roughly the same time, so I nervously opened the door, and my grandmother and case-on were standing there looking worried. My grandmother was crying. "I'm so glad! I'm so glad!" When I went downstairs, my father was also there. My grandfather appeared from outside and told me to hurry up and get in the car. I don't know where it came from, but when I went out into the garden, there was a mini van there. There were also several men standing on the garden. The van fit nine people. Let's put in the middle seat. Aeson said in the passenger seat, and the rest of the men in the garden got in and surrounded me. There were nine of us at total. I was surrounded in all directions. "It's terrible, isn't it? You'll probably be curious, but I want you to close your eyes and keep your head down. We won't be able to see anything, but perhaps you will. Until we say it's okay, you keep your eyes shut." An old man in his 50s sitting to my right said to me, "Then my grandfather got into his mini truck to take the lead, followed by the van I was in, and my father followed in his cars we set off. A line of cars drove rather slowly. It probably weren't going over 20 kilometers an hour. Before long, Ksen muttered, and the men started chanting some sort of Buddhist prayer. "I heard that voice again. I gripped the towels when Ksenon caved me, closed my eyes, and put my head down like I was told, but for some reason I opened my eyes just a little and looked outside. I saw a white dress. It was moving alongside the car. She was following with such long strides. Hey, her head was outside the window, so I couldn't see it. But she started bobbing her head down, like she was trying to see inside the car." Imagine that you see the dress, and then you start to see a huge chin, like peer down the top of the window. Yeah, like above it trying to look. It reminds me, what's that Eda one, the model, the supermodel or whatever? The really terrifying girl who comes for the pictures and she's like a monster or whatever she has a monstrous proportion. There's also a sexy one where like a guy in the fog is like walking the alleyways to right through that one too, but I eat out. Oh, I don't think I know that one. Unconsciously, I let out a sound. Don't look! Man, next to me raised his voice. In a panic, I squeezed my shut and gripped the talisman even tighter. Coats, coats, a tapping sound on the window began. The people in the car around me also gasped in fear, even though they couldn't see her or hear her voice, they could hear the sound on the window. Case on started praying even harder. Finally, when I thought the voice and sounds stopped, Case on said, "We got away." We've been around me. We've been quiet until that point where relieved and said, "Thank goodness." Soon after the van stopped in a wide part of the road and I got into my father's car, as my father and grandfather bowed to the other man, Case on came over and said, "Show me the talisman." I was still unconsciously gripping it. When I looked at it, it had turned entirely black. Case on said, "I think it's all okay now, but just in case you should keep this for a little while longer." It gave me a new talisman. After that, I returned home with my father. A few days later, my grandfather, one of his neighbors, brought my bike back. Apparently, my father also knew about Hushakusama, and he told me about one of his childhood friends who was possessed by her and then killed. Even knew of people that had to move away and live in other places because of her. The men who rode in the car were all related to my grandfather in some way, which meant they were all very loosely in my blood relatives as well. Of course, my grandfather riding in the front and my father riding in the back were connected by blood as well, so they were all meant to confuse Hushakusama somewhat from me. My father's brothers, my uncles, were unable to come over in a single night so they gathered whatever blood relatives they could, no matter how loosely related we were. But of course, it was still impossible to get so many men together so quickly, and thanking it much safer to leave during the day than at night, I was imprisoned in that room for the night. The worst-case scenario, apparently, with my grandfather and father were prepared to sacrifice themselves for me as we escaped as well. As I explained above, I make sure not to go back there anymore. After I returned,
town. I spoke to my grandfather on the phone and asked him if he spoke to me on that night, but he said that he didn't. So it really was. I got chills down my spine thinking about it again. Ashaku-sama targeted youths yet to come of age, and children often saw her as well. When youths and children are feeling extremely anxious and they hear the voice of someone from their family, I think they quickly let their guard down. Ten years passed, and just as I was about to forget those events, something terrible happened. And Jesus statues keeping Ashaku-sama in the village broke. It's the one on the road leading to her generals. My brother and mother told me over the phone. My grandfather died two years earlier, and of course I wasn't able to go to his funeral. Even when my grandfather was no longer able to get out of bed, he said for me not to come. Even now as I'm telling myself that it's just a superstition, I find myself getting more and more worried when I think about hearing that. Voice again. What a wonderful story. That has a great little horror story. I love that. That was my trying to confuse it as you drive out of the border that it can't pass. That was awesome. That was by Tara A. Devlin, and she actually has a book called "Kawabana, true Japanese scary stories from around the internet volume one." Just want to say we'll link that in the description as well. I'm picking up mine right now because that was fucking sweet. She has several looks like. She has a collection of three. Very cool. Oh, no. Books one through 10. Oh my gosh. She's got a bunch of these things, man. Yeah, we'll link that in the description. That was cool. I enjoyed that. I liked that one a lot. That was good. That was well-paced. It got me a little bit when he's in the room and you hear the tapping and stuff and he was praying. That was pretty good. This idea of a possession story of someone also just being like, I always love deception and stuff in these horror stories. And the idea of somebody being like, you cannot open this door until 7 a.m. And then it's like also this idea to this is before I had a smartphone, holy fuck. What did my watch was off? I'd be fine. I would be fine. I would be fine. Going insane. You step out at 658. Oh my gosh. Shit. Yeah. Should we move on to the next one? Yeah, we can move on to the next one. So the next one is, how would you pronounce that, Kisaragi? Yeah, Kisaragi Station. Kisaragi Station. For the description of this one on Creepypasta Weeki, it says, "The following is a translated transcript of an actual thread posted on the Japanese Message Board 2 Channel in 2004." Oh man, 2004. This is ancient internet horror. The stated topic was, "Post about strange occurrences around you." The poster was anonymous at first before using the name "Hasumi" not long into the discussion. And "Hasumi" indicate post made by the thread creator. The hashtag #2channel indicates a post made by another 2-changed user. They're not the say, they're not all the same person. Okay. So when we see the question mark, it's like a comment on 4chan. Yeah. Right. They're not 4chan. Anonymous. 2chan. Anonymous. Yeah. So the anonymous post and then people reply and ask in question. So do you want. You can be "Hasumi" the person talking and I can be. Yeah, the poster. I'll be in the poster. I'll be in the poster mark. In the "Hasumi" you'll be 2CH. So for everyone, when I'm voicing, it's not just the same person. It's just all the commenters replying to "Hasumi." Yeah. This may be my imagination. Can I post it anyway? Go ahead. What's going on? I've been writing a certain train for a while, but something seems off. I always take this train to work, but it hasn't stopped at any station for the past 20 minutes or so. It usually takes five minutes, seven or eight at worst. Oh, and there's five other passengers, but they're all sleeping. Did you take the express train by mistake? Is it a high-speed train? Oh, it's possible. I may have missed my stop. I'll wait a little longer. If anything else strange occurs, I might bring it up here. Try going to the car on the end to see the conductor maybe? If he really bad if the driver had an epileptic fit or something, you should check on the conductor. Still no sign of stopping. So, all right, I'll take a look. We're blinds or something covering the window, so I couldn't see the conductor or the driver. The route is a private railway in Shizuka. Knock on the window? I tried that. But nobody answered. Can you see out the window? Names of stations you're passing, etc. We came out of a tunnel, so we're dropping speed slightly. The usually aren't any tunnels, though. It's a train for Shin Homo Matsu. Looks like we're finally stopping at a station. You aren't going to get off there. Are you? We're stuck at Kisagari Station. I wonder if I should get off. I've never heard of this place before. Definitely check it out. No, stay on until the last stop. Oh, but it's probably already departing now. When did you get on the train? I've gotten off the train. The station's unmanned. I believe they got off the train at 11.40. I'm not finding any information on Kisaragi Station. And, assuming your train was going for over an hour, well, that's really strange. Yeah, I'm not getting any results for Kisaragi Station. I'm looking for a schedule so I can get back, but I can't find one. The train has still stopped, so it'd probably be safest to get back on. Well, it left while I was riding that. Is there anyone nearby or any buildings? It's cold out, so be careful. Oh, look for a taxi from the station. Thank you very much. Sounds good. Take care. Way past the last train at an unmanned station. Really questionable if you'll have any luck finding a taxi there. And so, Hussumi became an inhabitant of the two-dimensional world. That doesn't matter what time period of the internet it is, there's going to be someone out there saying you're about to die. They don't seem to be any taxes anywhere. Call 110, which is a Japanese number for police. Call the taxi company. If there's a telephone booth nearby, look up the taxi company in the phone book. Call. I called home and asked to be picked up, but neither of my parents seem to know where Kisaragi Station is. They'll look for in the maps that they can come get me. But I'm getting a little scared now. What about the others? Are you the only one who got off the train? I checked online too, and the name Kisaragi Station isn't coming up. Am I wrong and assuming it's around Shin Hamamatsu? I'll check Yahoo. I looked for a public phone, but there's nothing. I had no one else got off. So I'm alone now. It's definitely called Kisaragi. This is good, man. I love this. Someone posted just an abandoned train station or an unmanned train station. It's like the last stop before eternity. Sometimes they have phones outside the station. Looking into it, apparently it's written with the kanji for devil, but it reads Kisaragi. Devil station. Yikes. You should have fucking that. So well, by forever assuming. Are you a gaming nerd? Because a game comes up if you google it. Tell us the names of the stations before and after Kisaragi. What do you mean, a game? It doesn't say what the next and previous stations are. Walk back along the track. That's an awesome suggestion. Just so walking under the woods. If you start running now, you might catch up to the train. There must be houses around the station, right? Yes, there are. I didn't quite notice since I was panicking. I waited for my parents to call while walking along the track. I tried checking town information on i-mode, but it gave me a point error or something. I want to go home. There's really just nothing around here. All I can see are fields and mountains. I think I'll be able to make it back if I go down the track. So I'll keep pushing on. Thank you very much. Treeton says a joke, if you will, but can I come to you if I can count on any more trouble? Of course. Just be careful out there. Sure, just make sure you don't run out of battery. Your phone's your life line right now. Don't get lost and be careful in the tunnel. Uh-huh, you can get a signal out of the middle of nowhere? I kind of think you shouldn't stray far from the station. All alone on a cold night at a station with no attendance, soon the lights could go out and it'll be pitch black. It really might be the safest to wait for daybreak at the station though. Oh jeez, this sounds bad. Got a call from my father and he had many questions, but simply couldn't find my location. I've been told to call the one, one one zero, which I'm a little posed to doing. I'll try to ask no one to help me now. So Hunter, if you were on a train and the train drops you off somewhere and you're just alone, no one else. Not a soul at the station. What would you do? God, well, I mean, first off, I would never get off. There's no way I would live on that train. I feel like, uh, honestly though realistically, if I, I would probably just stay at the station, at least wait till, I mean, yeah, at least wait till morning. I mean, I would just turn off like, you're just going to walk through the darkness of the woods. Absolutely. No, no, no, I'm not going to walk on the tracks or do whatever and like, you know, I'm just going to wait because then also too, I'm going to like, I'm at a train station. We just got off. Even if it takes while, maybe there's another one. I'll just wait. Get on that one. I don't know. Yeah. There's got to be some of the better. Yeah. I really think you should wait until it's lighter out before you do anything, waiting all alone in the dead of night and in some ominous place. Yikes. Going through a tunnel alone in the dead of night and on some ominous train line. Yikes. I called one on zero and tried my absolute best to explain the situation, but they thought it was all a joke and got angry at me. So I got scared and apologized. Now that would be me. That'd be me. Like, I'm sorry, actually. No, I don't need anything. It's okay. I definitely would just be calling back. This is real. So it said this was 2004, but he has a mobile phone. Yeah, I wasn't. I think blackberries were around by then. And oh four, really? I think so. Let me see. There's you. Yeah. 99 is one.
Blackberries came out. - Whoa, that's crazy. And you could like browse the internet with them. - The blackberry smartphones. - The blackberry smartphone, the 5810 arrived in 2002. So yeah, like right at the beginning. - Whoa. - That's crazy. - I know that they were pretty early on. - I didn't think they showed up to like, oh six, oh seven. - No, that's on the iPhone drop. - Yeah, I guess it is from the first next thing that killed the blackberry. - We gotta realize that was born in '99. So all this is like ancient Lord to me. - Right. - We're being like six or seven and playing on my parents blackberry. So I guess in my mind, the iPhone wasn't out for a long time after that, but it was, yeah, that's true. - Apologize for what? She'll probably give up for today. Wait for the first train. What's it like around the station? What's there? - I hear what sounds like a beating drum mix with some kind of bell way off in the distance. Honestly, I have no idea what to do at this point. - 'Cause you're in hell, buddy. - You're gonna, brother, they're gonna box you up and send you off. - Okay, that is. - Holy hell. - And dude, this is the big rule. - The number one bell. - Sony Mousha game, good fucking luck, bud. You are fucked. - They done piece that man up. He is gone forever. He's going straight to the mansion from the last episode. - Get back to the station for now, Hesumi. It's best to return to where you started when you're lost. - Here's where, I love these comments that are hanging on. Here's where it gets going. Are they having a festival or what? - You might think I'm kidding, but I'm too scared to look behind me. I don't wanna go back to the station, but I don't dare turn around. - Run and don't look back. You can't go back to the station now. Run through the tunnel. I'm sure you'll find you're not far. - Someone behind me just yelled, "Hey, don't walk on the track that's dangerous." - I looked around expecting to see an attendant and saw a one-legged old man who'd be vanished. I say, "Come too scared to move." - Bro. - One-legged old man, middle of the woods. - Yes, hold on, hold on. - At least I would be fine. - Be kind of stoked when I'd be like, "Well, you say I can beat this old man's ass "if he comes near me and fuck you up, dude." - Yeah, man. - Calm, tick-tack. Boom. (laughing) - I call him tick-tack. There's something so menacing about a lot of these Japanese stories, like their folklore, which, like you said, someone's standing there. But there's such, I don't know, there's such maliciousness associated with it so often. That's like, yeah, just one-legged old man, but with the drums and everything. It's like, that might be the devil, dude. I told you not to look back, run. Come down and listen to Big Bro, okay? Check out where the drums coming from. There's, this dude's big dog in him. Calm down and listen to Big Bro, okay? There's bound to be somebody playing it. That's how drums work. Where the hell are you planning to take assuming? Why'd you know it was an old man if it just had a single leg? I think assuming that an old man who lost one of his legs? Yeah, it wasn't just a leg, looking in the distance. Must've been an old man who died and lost a leg after walking along the track. - I can't walk around any further. The drumming sounds like it's getting a little closer. - Wait for Don, it won't be scary in the daylight. - I'm glad I stayed on the train. - I'm still alive. But I fell and started bleeding and I broke a heel. So I'm sitting still in the ground. I don't wanna die now. - It should be safe if you leave the tunnel. Once you get out of there, call for help immediately. - I called home. Dad's calling the police, but the sound keeps getting closer. - I hope to God that's not the sound of the train, but it might be too late. - I finally managed to make it to the front of the tunnel. The name says, Mr. Nookie. The sound's still getting closer. So I'm gonna have to leave the tunnel. If I'm safe once I get out of the tunnel, I'll post again. - Good luck. This is the end. Get about trains and stations. Forget about going back. Forget about someone chasing you. Sound your hearing, it's just something you imagined. Right out of the tunnel. If you stop, you'll only succumb to something which does not belong in this world. - I left the tunnel. There's someone up ahead. It looks like all your advice was right after all. - Thank you so much. My face is such a mess from tears. It might just mistake me for a monster. - Wait, excuse me, don't die on us. Stop, that can't be good. Someone there, this late at night? That's suspicious. - He seems gentle and was worried for me. He called for a train to take me to the nearest station. Apparently there's some kind of business hotel there. Truly, truly thankful to all of you. - Excuse me, please answer me this one thing. Can you ask that man what that place is? Is he really gentle? He sounds kind of scary from what you said. That guy's no good. Why is he by the track at this hour? He must have been a corpse or something. Assume he run. - I asked him where it was and he said it was Hina. It seems extremely unlikely though. - Assume, get off the train. Excuse me, Assume, where's Hina? - We've been headed toward the mountains for some time. It really doesn't strike me as a place where trains would go and he stopped talking to me entirely. - Probably because you're constantly messing with your phone. - Assume me, oh no, oh no. Did you contact your parents after you got out of the tunnel and received aid from this guy? Assume me, please call 110. This might be your last chance. - My battery's almost run out. Things are getting strange. So I think I'm gonna make a run for it. He's been talking to himself about bizarre things for a while now. To prepare for just the right time, I'm going to make this post my last post for now. - Afterward, Assume has never heard from again. - God, love that shit, dude. - That's fun. - That's really fun. - I love that shit. - He got on a train that crossed over to the after world and he's just walking through the final stops. It almost feels like an evil version of a spirited away. - Yeah, yeah. I love this idea of, yeah, you get transported into a spirit world unknowingly. You're kinda just like, wait, what the fuck? - Yeah, no, I also, I love that Ted the Kaver shit of like, hey, maybe you'll hear from me again and that's where the post ends. That being on a, that being on hate random message board rules. - Yep. - That's just like the whole thing put together. And it's old too. - I wonder back then if people really knew about like, not necessarily trolls, but I wonder if it's so much more where people are like, I believe this. Like I have no reason to believe that this guy's lying to me, like it is now. Now if anybody says anything online and you're just like, what the fuck ever did shut up? So I feel like, at least I want to believe at this time that people were just so invested freaking out. And that's the funniest thing is too, is you don't even know who the commenters are. Those people could be, that's, I like to think too, like when I went to Japan, I mean you travel everywhere on trains, that's just, that's what you do. There's like no way to get around without it. So I like to think how many of these people are on trains commenting and being like, oh my fucking god, you know. - So I go, what if I'm, yeah, 'cause a lot of the best urban legends tie into like real fears or worries people have. It's like, what if, 'cause when you get on a train, you're completely at the will of the conductor, right? - Yeah. - What if one day you got onto a train and you didn't stop? What if you went somewhere else? How could you get off? What would you do? - Yeah. - Yeah. - It looks like it was actually adapted into a little, it kind of looks slow about you, but a horror movie. - Oh, it's fun, it's a Gary station. That's pretty cool. - We're going back to Tara again, thank God. - She's doing, she's doing a, it's a story called Kune Kune, there's another one by her, Benesis called the note my brother left behind, which looks pretty, anyway, yeah, Kune Kune. - It seems like she's put together a bunch of bangers from the looks of her. - Yeah, I mean, I, I legit, while we were sitting there, I ordered her book on Amazon. - It's literally good. - Like, yeah, looks sick. - All right, well, are you ready? Wait, hold on, where was the, where did I read that last one? Where did we read that last story at? - Was that not on Creep Pasta, Wiki? - That was Creep Pasta. You're right, I was making sure that wasn't her, that recorded it, yeah, yeah, that's Creep Pasta, Wiki. All right, so another Tara one, Kune Kune. Is that how you'd pronounce that, Kune? - I think so. - Oh man, that's what I pictured as. - A couple of dumb genius. - Yeah. - I also said, I'm a midwestern. - I also have the dumbest time I've ever said in my life, was said like 30 minutes ago or however long, you know, it feels like a lifetime ago. - It was, it was an hour and 10 minutes ago, but yeah. - That was not the dumbest thing you've ever said in your life, don't worry. - Oh, thank you, thank you. - You said, far dubber, welcome, this kind. - This happened when I went to visit my grandmother's house as a child. We only went to visit my grandmother's house once a year during no bon. So as soon as we got there, I took off at full speed with my older brother to play outside. It's entirely different to the city. The air is so fresh and clean. I took in the refreshing breeze as my brother and I ran around the rice fields. Then, as the sun rose high in the sky and stood right above us, the wind suddenly stopped. Well, that's what I thought. But then a disgustingly warm breeze blew instead. I've already had it the best of times. I had such a warm breeze blowing now. - I complained, angry that the cooled breeze had been snatched away from me. I noticed my brother was looking in another direction towards a scarecrow in the distance. - What's up with that? - I asked him. - No, not that. - Passed that. - He replied, strained his eyes even harder to see. I wanted to see as well and looked intently over the rice fields. Then I saw it. What was that? It was far in the distance.
distance. So I couldn't tell what it was. It was about the size of a human, but it was white and swaying to and fro. I don't like that, dude. No. I don't like that. Now, you know, the moment I read that, it's storming right now. See, I'm talking about my window right here. My window right here to the left where this tree limb is, it keeps like bowing in and out. And I thought of that as soon as I read that it was swaying about the size of you. I hate the sentence. It was about the size of a human. There's so many assumptions. They're like, why are you calling it in? What do you mean about which way is it about? Why is? So it's not a human in the way. I just, even just the thing of swaying to and fro, like almost like a dance or something is just, I don't know. Yeah. I also hate that because it's like, it reminds me, it makes me think that it's going to take off towards you at any moment. You know, there was nothing around here, but rice fields. No reason for any people to be nearby. For a moment, I felt strange, but then I tried to explain it. Isn't it just a new type of scarecrow? It has to be. Until now, scarecrow's have never moved, so a farmer or someone must have thought it up. It probably just started moving with that wind just before. My brother's expression said that he agreed with my precise explanation but in an instant, it disappeared. The wind had stopped and yet the white thing in the distance was still swaying. "Hey, that thing's still moving. What the hell is it?" he said, surprising his voice. He wanted to know what it was, so he returned to the house and came back with a pair of binoculars. He seemed excited. "I'm going to take a look at first, so just wait a minute," he said, and eagerly peered through the binoculars. Then, suddenly, his face changed. Before my eyes, he started to turn blue and broke out into a cold sweat. Finally, he dropped the binoculars he was holding. Terrified in my brother's transformation, I asked him. "What was it?" he answered me very slowly. It wasn't my brother's voice, just like that. He turned and steadily returned to the house. I went to pick up the binoculars, but look at what turned my brother's face instantly blue, but perhaps because of what he said I couldn't find the courage to do it. But something was bothering me. From far away, it just looked like something white, swaying strangely. It was a little weird, but other than that, it wasn't especially scary, but my brother had to look. I had to see what my brother saw. You're that scary, huh? Well, I'll decide that with my own two eyes. I picked up the binoculars and went to look. My father suddenly came running towards me. Before I could even ask, "What's wrong?" My father rushed towards me. "Don't look at that white thing! Did you see it? Did you look at it through the binoculars?" "No, not yet." I replied, confused. "No, thank God." My father said falling to the ground and relief. We went back to the house. I had no idea what was going on. When we got back, everyone was crying. Was this because of me? No, not me. When I looked closer, I could see my brother laughing like a madman. He was moving about like that white thing, swaying, swaying. Seeing my brother like that, he was scarier than whatever that white thing was. Then, when it was time for us to return home, my grandmother said, "It would be better for everyone if you left him here. It'll be easier for him to live here. A place of small and if you think about your neighbors, they won't wait even a few days before leave him here. The best thing to do is to release him into the rice fields after a few years." My fucking lord. "Oh, my God, dude." "Damn, my great monster, hey, dude." Hearing those words, I broke out into tears. I never see my brother like he was again. Even if we came back again the following year, that wouldn't be my brother. Why did this happen? We were just playing around. Having fun. Why? I furiously wiped my tears, got into the car and we left the house behind. As our grandparents waved goodbye, just for a moment, I thought I saw my brother wave too. As we got further away, I wanted to see my brother's face one more time, so I looked through the binoculars and he was most definitely crying. His expression was that of laughter, but it was the first and last time he would smile so sadly again. Then as we turned the corner and I can no longer see him, broke out into tears once more, not taking my eyes away from the binoculars. "What did you come back right?" I thought. I looked out over the green fields while remembering and missing my brother. Then while I was thinking about my brother, I looked through the binoculars. That was when it happened. I saw the thing up close that I knew I should never see. What a great one, man. That got me. What a great one. Just like the thing in the field. There's a recurring thing in a lot of these stories about like adults knowing something that the kids exposed to. I just like never. Panicking or having to do something to help. Never fully given the reader the full gist of the story and just kind of coming in on a random moment. It's just so fun. Honestly, I think that's a great one to end on. I think that's a really, really fun one. I really like a lot, again, how a lot of the Japanese legends have so much weight behind them. There's so much you could do with them. A lot of them are just so brutal. The train station to hell or the takes you to the afterlife and to me knows hell, of course, that one's a classic. But then you also have stuff like the one we just read where it's something unspeakable in the fields or the kind of the same vibe that the Shoku Shoku Sama does. Where is this tall woman? And there's some other popular Japanese legends too. Like there's a slit mouth woman who approaches you and she has a mask on. She says, I want to see my smile. And she pulls it down and her face is cut open and she kills you. There's the other one, the teke teke, which is the woman who, and if I believe in most regards was run over by a train or someone threw her on the train tracks that she was run over. So she's just an upper torso with arms that like chases you down the road at night, but she can move really fast. There's so many really brutal ones. It's interesting how you can take these horror concepts and do so much with them that makes them so much more than Jesse initial scare or premise, like the white thing in the field, like the white swan thing in the fields enough, but then seeing what it does to the brother and things like that, terrifying. Like dude, it's like you said earlier, if there's one group who knows how to keep you up at nights, Japanese. The, just so much good shit today. Beautiful poetry. Also, I will say I am very, very curious to keep reading Tara's work. Tara A. Devlin, once again, will link her, uh, Amazon shop or just some books or whatever in the description. Uh, both stories you read by her were phenomenal. I'm just, I mean, also too, I really love just even the screenplay format of the, uh, or not screenplay, but just like, it's nothing but comments. I feel like we haven't done that since, uh, is that kind of how faced my, my girlfriend messaged me on Facebook? Is that kind of the similar of like the kind of section? Or not really. I can't remember. I think that one was just longer posts, but I see. Yeah. I've always done some before that are common sections like that. Yeah. I always like that back and forth. It's really, really fun. And I think that the, once again, just these things of, it's just a fun way of doing like, we're not seeing the horror. We're kind of like experiencing it with the commenters. I think that's a lot of fun. I like all of them though. I mean, I really, I don't know if I have a favorite one of all of them. I mean, I think the, uh, Hashakusama, I really like that one. I think of like just the tall woman, just the bobbin of the head. I think the setup is good. I like the kind of like ritualistic, also two different stories from, um, Tara here where it's like, uh, generational horror of like a dad at the end of, uh, Kune Kune running up and being like, don't fucking look at that while the grandfather in a, Hashakusama, uh, was pretty much like, well, fuck, I guess I got to go kill a demon. I got to go deep, you know, exercise you or something. Well, it's kind of like that thing with, uh, there's so much history behind all the horror. It stands for reason that generations would be affected by, you know? Yeah. No, it's, it also seems like things that are just like undeniable or like they're totally, um, you have no control over it is one, but then also it's like things that don't just affect every generation. Like that's one thing I really liked with Hashakusama is it's a spirit that does possess people, but you're just hoping it's like a cancer or something. You're just praying to God that it's like does not affect you, you know? Uh, which I thought was really just a lot of fun. I don't know. Also, too, just this, this theme grab bag was just really fucking fun. I feel like we need to do more themed grab bags. Yeah. Well, normally we try to put something to them, but yeah, you're right. Japanese ones have been pretty cool. I guess just even culturally, I think that maybe just the cultural grab bag, like maybe next time we can do something just from, you know, I mean, stories that are fixated in other people's culture that are, uh, all specifically the same versus just like, you know, subject matter, like, you know, we're going to be, uh, yeah, we're going
you know, oh, they're all ghost stories or something. I think that doing more cultural grab bags would be a lot of fun. Mm-hmm, yeah. Well, thank you all so much for listening to Creepcast today. We hope you enjoyed this one. Thank you to all of our audio listeners on Spotify and Apple Podcast. And also thank you to our patrons who have been getting some exclusive streams been watching, been watching episodes before they come out, getting exclusive episodes that you won't see up on the YouTube. So we appreciate you as well for checking that out and supporting us until next time, guys. Stay Creeped. Bye-bye. Stay creeped out. And you know what? Maybe because of his appreciation for it, the Japanese can forgive Hunter. We'll see. We'll find out. We'll see if he murders any more women. Time will tell. Bye. [APPLAUSE] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] Imagine setting your makeup. Then forgetting it's even theirs. Meet new grippy setting mist from Mavily New York. Gel to mist technology locks in your look for up to 24 hours with flexible all-day comfy grip. No tightness, no stickiness, no residue. Just plump, dewy, hydrated skin that still feels like your skin. Try new grippy setting mist from Mavily New York. Maybe it's Maybelline.
Podcast Summary
Key Points:
The episode explores a curated collection of Japanese creepypastas, highlighting their distinct cultural flavor and supernatural themes.
"Tamino's Hell" is a 1919 poem attributed to Sejo Yasuo, traditionally believed to be cursed if read aloud, with deep Buddhist and symbolic undertones rooted in guilt and spiritual punishment.
"Hanako's Son" is a well-known Japanese urban legend involving a ghost girl in school toilets, tied to superstitions around privacy, school bullying, and bathroom rituals, with historical roots in Edo-period toilet worship.
Summary:
The episode dives into some of the most iconic and culturally rooted Japanese creepypastas, showcasing a stark contrast to typical American horror. It begins with "Tamino's Hell," a 1919 poem from Japanese poet Sejo Yasuo that’s said to carry a curse if read aloud—its haunting imagery and Buddhist references to hell layers suggest themes of guilt and eternal punishment. The story is further deepened by its symbolic structure, including a 7-7-7-5 syllabic pattern and possible interpretations of familial sin, like killing one’s parent.
Next, "Hanako's Son" is presented as a classic ghostly toilet legend, where a girl with bobbed hair and a red skirt haunts school bathrooms, especially the third stall or floor. The story reflects broader cultural anxieties about privacy, bullying, and school life, with historical ties to Edo-period toilet deities like Kawayagami. The narrative also highlights how such folklore evolves across generations, blending urban legends with real-world superstitions.
The episode emphasizes how Japanese horror is direct, emotionally resonant, and deeply rooted in cultural traditions, unlike more playful American versions. These stories aren’t just spooky—they’re layered with meaning, history, and societal reflection. The creators note the eerie effectiveness of brief, impactful horror, where minimal detail carries immense emotional weight.
Despite the supernatural elements, the tone remains grounded in cultural realism, showing how Japanese folklore thrives on tradition, belief, and shared community memory. The episode concludes by celebrating the enduring power of Japanese storytelling, where ancient myths and modern creepypastas coexist, creating a uniquely immersive and unsettling experience.
FAQs
Tomino's Hell is a poem from 1919 by Sejo Yasuo, part of a collection called 'Saken' or 'Gold Dust'. It's considered significant because it's traditionally said to be cursed—reading it aloud is believed to bring tragic consequences. The story has strong cultural roots in Japanese Buddhist hell concepts and symbolist poetry, and it's often cited as a classic example of Japanese folklore horror.
Hanako's Son is a popular urban legend about a ghost girl who haunts school toilets, especially in the third stall or on the third floor. It reflects deep cultural fears about privacy and embarrassment, particularly among children. The story gained popularity in the 1950s and spread through the 1980s and 1990s, appearing in films, manga, and anime, and has roots in historical beliefs about toilet deities like Kawayagami.
The belief stems from the poem's traditional Japanese context, where it’s said to be meant for children and should only be read in the mind, never aloud. The idea may have grown from cultural superstitions around reading taboo or emotional poetry, and there are no verified cases confirming harm, though many users report no negative outcomes after reading it.
Japanese horror stories often involve spirits or supernatural forces that are direct and unambiguous—like a spirit that kills you. In contrast, many American creepypastas involve a more playful or gothic killer, with more narrative buildup. Japanese stories are rooted in deep cultural beliefs, such as Buddhist afterlife concepts, and emphasize realism and superstition.
Shaku Sama is an 8-foot-tall woman who appears in a village, often wearing a hat and making a strange laugh. She’s believed to be sealed by ancient statues to prevent her from leaving. The story is scary because it involves possession, sudden appearances, and a sense of helplessness, with the fear that being possessed leads to death within days.
Yes, there is. Historical beliefs in Japan include the worship of a toilet deity called Kawayagami, who was honored with red and white dolls and flowers. The practice declined after WWII, but the legend of Hanako's Son may be a modern evolution of this ancient belief, blending cultural anxiety with everyday school life.
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