When I was in elementary school, an elderly couple lived in a house right near the school. Kids gathered there all the time, almost like an after-school program, and it became a place where everyone could hang out after class. Apparently, they were a couple who never had children of their own, and t…
I worked in sex work for about five years. Honestly, I was broken in body and soul, wishing every day that I could quit. It started when I was nineteen and sold off to cover my parents' debt. After my…
This is a story from back in the day, around the middle of the Showa era, when hardcore yakuza were just casually everywhere on the streets. I was working at a company near the bottom of the ladder, u…
This happened last summer. I had just started walking for exercise because I'd gotten self-conscious about my waistline. Given my job, I was busy from midday until around nine at night, so I decided t…
I want to tell you about a weird, creepy friend I had. You know how there's always that one kid who's constantly smiling? The harmless type who never badmouths anyone, just smiles all the time. There …
I don't usually drink, but yesterday I bumped into an old friend by chance, so we decided to go grab a few. Old friends are great. No matter how old you get, chatting with a friend takes your heart ri…
This happened about three months ago. I was wrapping up overtime and headed to the elevator to leave work when I noticed a guy inside. Facing the back wall. Finding someone in an elevator isn't surpri…
This is a story about something I experienced at my grandmother's place in Hokkaido. I was very young at the time, so my memory isn't crystal clear, but we were visiting a famous port town in Hokkaido…
A long time ago, I worked a part-time security guard job at a vacant lot. The lot was on a riverbank, just a flat patch of ground without even a guard hut. It was literally nothing more than a wide, e…
This is something that happened to me in the fall when I was in third grade. That autumn, a holiday lined up with the weekend to create a short long weekend, so my parents, my classmate and best frien…
Out of the blue, I got a message from an old friend, A, whom I hadn't heard from in years. He wrote that he had gotten married, built a new house in Nagoya, and had a baby girl, and that he wanted to …
This is something that actually happened to me. It is the story of a close friend of mine who opened her own restaurant. When she first opened, business was pretty good because a lot of her friends an…
I'm a man in my 40s living in Wakayama City, Wakayama Prefecture. Since I’ve lived here my whole life, I’ve heard plenty of rumors about haunted spots around town. When I was younger, curiosity used t…
I work as a part-time school counselor at a middle school. The first student assigned to me after I started at this school was a ninth-grade girl named Kaede. It wasn't Kaede who reached out, but her …
This is a story I heard over New Year's from my cousin Wataru, whom I hadn't seen in a while. Wataru, a rookie police officer, was out on night patrol with his senior partner. A call came in over the …
It happened during our annual summer tradition: four of us guys gathered in my apartment to tell one hundred ghost stories. This is a ghost story one of my friends—I'll call him A—told us that night. …
That was... a truly strange experience. This happened nearly twenty years ago. Back when I was a student, the first place I picked to live on my own was a nearly thirty-year-old, one-bedroom apartment…
This is a very strange story about something I actually experienced. March 11, 2011. The Great East Japan Earthquake struck. At the time, I was working at a TV station, but I couldn't make a living on…
Years ago, I attended a rural boarding school. The school had a "strange rule" that had been strictly followed ever since its founding. “On days when the sunset turns an abnormal color, neve…
When I was in middle school, my parents finally bought me the Famicom I’d been begging for, and I played all kinds of games on it. Famicom games were expensive back then, so I had to save up three or …
After retiring, Murai took a part-time job as a superintendent at an eight-story apartment building about a ten-minute walk from his home. Working four days a week from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. was a bi…
When I was five years old, family circumstances forced us to move to my father's hometown. His village had a strange custom: young boys were made to dress as girls until they started elementary school…
The other day, I received a strange message on social media. "Long time no see! How've you been?" It read like an old friend reaching out after a long time. However, I couldn't place who he …
Have you ever heard of Kisaragi Station? It's a train station that became famous on online message boards—a place where, once you set foot inside, you can never return. This is the story of a woman wh…
Not to brag, but I went to one of the top five college prep high schools in the prefecture. Ever since I was a kid, I loved reading, and I didn't mind studying. My parents never forced me to study, bu…
One day, Haru suddenly became perfect. My husband and I really struggled to have a baby. When I finally got pregnant, I ended up having a miscarriage. I still dream about it even now. My belly was alr…
Back in college, six of my friends and I started an English conversation club, and we were always hanging out together. Calling it an English club was pretty generous—it was really just a typical excu…
This happened back when I was still in middle school. At the time, urban legends and ghost stories were all the rage in my class. A few of my classmates—usually about six of us—would stay behind after…
I have a habit of wandering around late at night—well, taking walks, really. As autumn approached, the days were still hot, but late at night it got cool enough that wearing a thin hoodie was just rig…
Maiko Katagiri is a taxi driver. After going through a divorce in her mid-thirties, she returned to her hometown to make a fresh start. Leveraging her past experience in retail and customer service, s…
My dad is originally from deep in the mountains of a certain prefecture in the Chugoku region, and apparently, there was a terrifying custom practiced there. Mind you, back then I didn't know the deta…
One evening. Heading home on time without working any overtime, I was a bit surprised when I got to the train platform. It was unusually packed, way more crowded than normal. Sure, it was rush hour, b…
I ended up staying home alone with my five-year-old sister, and just as expected, she started getting lonely and cranky, so I decided to put on a fun video for her. Back then, we had tons of VHS tapes…
I'm a doctor by profession. To be completely honest, people rely on me quite a lot. My patients trust me deeply, and my fellow doctors respect me. I think it's fair to say I'm among the fairly success…
I've written a ton of scary stories over the years, but almost all of them were either fiction or things I'd heard from someone else. I've never written about something I experienced myself. If you as…
This happened back when I was still in elementary school. At the time, I lived in a certain prefecture in Shikoku. Near the housing project where I lived, there was a middle-aged guy who was infamous …
This is a story from back when I was an expat working in Thailand. Over ten years ago, I was dispatched from Japan to Bangkok as an expat. At my company, serving as a branch manager in Asia before ret…
This is a true story that happened to me several decades ago. Back then, the company I worked for had a factory nicknamed "The Execution Grounds." "Execution" was code for getting …
I have a brother who is three years younger than me. He was an affectionate kid who stuck to my side constantly when we were little. While I thought he was adorable, I also found him a bit annoying. E…
My mother suddenly turned to me and said, "Oh, I think something just got inside me." Right as she said it, she started complaining of a headache and went straight to bed. Starting the very …
*Note: This post is also available in audio format. This happened just a week ago. A little while back, I got really into dating apps. I was constantly drinking and hanging out with different girls, a…
Our NPO rescues dogs scheduled to be euthanized and works to find them adoptive homes. One day, members of our field team rescued several dogs from a shelter. They said if we’d been even a day later, …
Do you know the story of the Sideshow Daruma Woman? It's an urban legend that was popular back in the day: when a guy went on an overseas trip with his girlfriend, she went into a fitting room at a lo…
For the sake of my health, ejaculating (masturbating) is something I make sure never to skip a single day. Sorry for starting with such a crude topic, but I had a pretty creepy experience related to i…
Every year when Obon comes around, I still end up remembering what happened back then. It was in the early Heisei era, back when I was still in elementary school. During Obon, our entire extended fami…
There is an urban legend about the Human-Faced Dog. It was a rumor that spread widely among elementary and middle school students across Japan in the late 1980s, and according to one theory, it was de…
■ CHARACTERS A -> Radio Host B -> Assistant C -> Guest (Comedian) A: Since today is our summer paranormal special, we’ve brought in the comedian C-san! C: Hey, everybody! C here! B: Ahaha! A:…
This is a story from back when I was in high school. Exhausted after a baseball scrimmage, I just wanted to get home and rest as fast as possible, pushing my tired body to pedal hard on my bike. Up ah…
