*You can also listen to this scary story in audio format.
Every now and then, you see people on the train or out in public talking to empty air, right?
They're usually the kind of people everyone tries to avoid.
Most people assume they're suffering from a mental illness,
plagued by hallucinations and things like that...
But what if those hallucinations weren't actually hallucinations?...
This happened about ten years ago.
Back then, I had just started college and was out drinking almost every night at freshman welcome parties and group dates.
That was when I met A, who was in the same student club as me.
A was pretty good-looking and a great conversationalist, but incredibly humble. We hit it off right away.
His place was near campus and he lived alone, so I practically lived there, drinking almost every day.
People used to call us the alcoholic duo.
I didn't mind being paired up with a good-looking, popular guy like A.
In fact, the two of us were the biggest heavy drinkers in the club, so I guess we drank way more than anyone else.
Because A was handsome and stood out, he was always the center of attention, which naturally put me—his best friend—right in the middle of things too,
and I got to reap plenty of benefits from it.
Then one day, while enjoying that kind of fun college life,
it was right after we had just started our sophomore year.
A had a girlfriend at the time (C-ko), and around 2:00 a.m. out of nowhere, C-ko called my phone.
“Hey!! Something's wrong with A! Get over to his place right now!!”
I was in the middle of a drinking party, so it felt like a hassle,
but she was in such a state that even when I asked what was going on,
she just kept hysterically insisting that I come over.
So I ducked out of the drinking party and rushed to A's apartment.
When I got there, a completely insane sight greeted me.
A was up on top of the table wearing only a fundoshi loincloth, crouching down like a sumo wrestler's stance,
and dancing around. Or rather, moving his hands like he was doing a traditional festival dance.
On the table, there was sake and what looked like salt heaped on a small dish.
Honestly, if that were all, I might have just thought a cheery A was acting up drunk,
but tears were streaming down his face as he screamed,
“Gokanjo---!!”
“Gokanjo-------!!”
at the top of his lungs.
To top it all off, the stench of urine filled the air.
The table and his fundoshi were soaking wet, so it had to be his.
When I tried talking to him, he didn't respond at all, just kept dancing and screaming at the top of his lungs.
I asked a crying C-ko what happened,
and she said she had originally planned to come over, but when she rang the intercom, nobody answered.
She heard loud shouting from inside, so she tried the doorknob. It was unlocked, so she walked in.
And when she did,
she saw the exact same scene I was looking at now.
His reaction was just as I described.
Which meant he had been dancing like that for at least an hour before I arrived.
Realizing things were looking really bad,
even though he wasn't that kind of guy, I figured A must have taken some bad drugs.
I calmed C-ko down,
and explained, “He's probably on drugs. The cops might get involved, but his life comes first, so I'm calling an ambulance.”
C-ko agreed, and we called an ambulance right away.
Even when the paramedics arrived, A's state didn't change, but when they tried to move him, he started thrashing violently, so the police were called, turning it into a huge scene.
Both C-ko and I were questioned by the police, and they even suspected us of drug use.
However, in the end, no drugs were detected in A's system.
About three days later, A was discharged from the hospital.
His diagnosis seemed to be some kind of seizure of unknown origin.
He said he had almost no memory of that night and laughed with his usual smile, saying it seemed like he'd just drunk way too much.
Relieved, I made light of it,
saying, “You must've drunk so much you started hallucinating! You're a real alcoholic now!”
But starting that day, A gradually began to change.
He started spacing out more and more,
and I began seeing him frequently whispering while staring at the wall.
He slowly stopped coming to school altogether.
Worried, I went to visit him multiple times,
but he brushed me off, saying,
“I'm just feeling a little under the weather,”
and eventually told me, “I want some space, so don't come over until I contact you.”
To be honest, I was pretty hurt, but after being told that much, I felt stupid for worrying,
and spent my days thinking,
“Fine, I'm not going back until he calls me either.”
About three months must have passed.
A suddenly called me out of nowhere.
“There's something I need to tell you. Please come over to my place...”
Sensing that this was serious, I headed straight to his apartment.
When I opened the front door, the place reeked of alcohol and a sour, spoiled odor.
Inside was a completely unrecognizable A.
Grown thin as a rail with a bushy beard, A was sitting there drinking.
To a stunned me, A said,
“You might not believe this, but I want to tell you the truth.”
??????
I had no idea what this was about, but I decided to just listen.
Then A began to tell his story.
About three days before his very first episode, A had gone camping in the neighboring prefecture with some friends.
They were having a barbecue, but while grilling the meat, a foul, horrific odor started wafting out from the fire.
When they cleared away the wood inside the fire pit, they found a huge mass of what looked like charred animal fur.
Grossed out, they started over with a new fire pit, but from that day on, strange things started happening.
Out in the city, at school, inside the car—suddenly, he would catch a whiff of that animal fur smell.
And whenever he smelled it, he would always see a woman in a kimono out of the corner of his eye, with no eyes or nose, just a mouth.
Her mouth would twist into a sneer as she stared at him.
And every time he saw her, she was getting closer.
“Wait, isn't that totally a hallucination?...”
A must have noticed my reaction,
because he begged me to just hear him out until the end.
When I nodded, A continued his story.
The day before he was rushed by ambulance, A said he had a strange dream.
In the dream, A met an old man who claimed to be his guardian spirit.
The old man explained that the woman in the kimono A kept seeing was someone killed by his ancestors long ago.
Even after death, her vengeful spirit tormented his ancestors, until they couldn't take it anymore and severed the karmic tie under the condition that his bloodline would never set foot on that land again.
Because A had accidentally stepped onto that land during the camping trip, that karmic bond was revived.
He said that if things continued like this, A would be tortured to death.
If he wanted to avoid that, he had to prepare certain items at a specified time the next day and follow his exact instructions.
The moment the explanation finished, A woke up.
He had been seeing the woman frequently and was desperate enough to grasp at straws, so he did what he was told.
However, he had no memory from the moment he climbed onto the table. He didn't remember me or his girlfriend coming, nor being taken away in the ambulance.
And it didn't end there.
From that day on, the woman allegedly started speaking to him directly.
“I know this sounds like a complete lie, but she speaks to me crystal clear.
How much she suffered,
‘You have a duty to suffer too.’
‘I'll make everyone around you suffer too.’
When I talk to her, she replies back properly.
When I ask, ‘Why me?’
‘Because you broke the promise.’
When I say, ‘I didn't know about that!’
‘The karmic tie was reborn, so it can't be helped.’
No matter where I am, she talks to me without caring.
If I ignore her, I get hit with this overwhelming depression and want to die.
Even when I want to die, I can't, and I only feel pure agony.
You know the Sharingan in Naruto?
It feels like that—being killed over and over again in a short period of time.”
A said, crying.
The only times he got relief were while sleeping, or when performing the advice (rituals?) given by his ancestor who occasionally appeared in his dreams. Because he had trouble falling asleep, he was constantly drinking alcohol.
“When she talks to me in public, people probably think I'm just muttering to myself, right?
And I lose my memory when performing the advice (rituals), so I don't know what I might do, like what happened before. I'm terrified to go outside...
I haven't gone crazy.
I mean, I'm talking to you normally right now, aren't I?
It's not a hallucination or anything like that.
It's just that the intervals between her visits are getting shorter.
I don't think I can take this much longer, and I'm going to end up causing trouble for people around me,
so I think I'll be going to a hospital soon.
I just wanted to tell you this before that happens.”
That was what A told me.
Honestly, I was thinking, “Man, hallucinations are terrifying...”
I thought to myself, To think that someone as handsome and popular as A would end up like this...
Sure enough, a few days later, A was admitted to a psychiatric ward.
He was diagnosed with schizophrenia stemming from severe alcoholism.
Since A was so popular, it was the talk of the campus for a while,
and I started cutting back on drinking parties myself.
At the time, I was simply freaked out by the horrors of alcoholism.
Visiting him quite frequently, I watched A's condition worsen day by day up close, which was deeply disturbing.
After a month, A could no longer even speak coherently.
Shortly after that, A's parents called me (they had asked for my contact info when we met in his hospital room) and informed me that he was dropping out of college to recuperate in the countryside.
I had left a lot of my belongings at A's apartment, so I asked if I could go grab them before they moved out.
When I arrived, A's parents were packing up his things.
On the corkboard above A's desk, there were tons of photos of me, him, and our college friends pinned up, making me feel a bit sentimental.
That was when
one photo caught my eye.
It was probably a photo taken during that barbecue.
In that photo of the six of us gathered around the fire, a faintly translucent woman in a kimono with no eyes or nose was showing clearly across the image.
Wait... what?...
Her features matched A's description down to every detail.
As a chill ran down my entire body, making my hair stand on end, I slipped the photo into my pocket.
I felt like I had to.
After that, I didn't go to an exorcist or have it ceremonially burned, nor did I talk about this or consult anyone else.
That's because, for some reason, I was strangely convinced that whatever I did would be useless.
Looking back now, I have no idea why I felt that way...
Ever since then, my perspective on people talking into thin air on the street has changed.
Because some of them might actually be fighting against something real.
Finally, I'd like to end by explaining why I decided to write this story down after ten years.
The catalyst was a psychic medium I met through work who was said to be famous in that realm.
Even though she was a medium, she was just an ordinary middle-aged woman who sold insurance while doing that kind of work on the side as a volunteer?
I found it strange even myself why I decided to tell her about something that happened over ten years ago, but for some reason, I felt compelled to.
I brought the photo, showed it to her, and explained everything. She said,
“He was possessed by something evil,
and tormented. The guardian spirit was likely a lie too. It was amused by him and was just playing with him.
Even if you haven't done anything bad, this can happen just by chance or if your wavelengths align.
And if it's a persistent, evil entity, there's nothing that can be done.
There is a path that opens if one enters that realm and trains, but it's an equally painful and arduous road.
There are many such unfortunate people in this world.
Forget about him.”
is what she said.
Her sharp glare left me speechless,
but I suppose that's just how it is. There are plenty of irrational and heartless things in this world.
You might not believe it, but this is a true story that I actually experienced.