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 of anime and superhero shows at home, and while I was digging through them for something she'd like, a bright yellow tape really caught my eye.

The label had a title written in playful, pop lettering that immediately screamed "kids' show"—something like "Kids' ___ Island" or "___ Dream World." I decided on that one, popped it into the VCR, and hit play.

It was a typical educational kids' video, the kind you'd see on public television. A mascot suit character—a furry, all-yellow creature with a long nose and colorful horn-like things on its head (I think its name was "Tarpan" or something like that, probably based on an elephant)—along with five or six kids from kindergarten to early elementary age, sang cheerful songs, danced to upbeat rhythms, and watched animated shorts in between. Just as I'd hoped, my sister stopped crying and was totally engrossed in the video.

In less than thirty minutes, the video reached its end, and a slow, gentle closing song began to play.

"Thanks for watching all the way to the end today, everyone at home! See you again somewhere! Bye-bye!"

"Bye-bye!!"

The mascot and the children waved cheerfully at the camera.

...And right then, the video suddenly froze dead in its tracks, as if someone had hit pause.

From there, the screen slowly faded from color to black and white.

With a flat, dull tone—BEEEEEEEP—a block of white text appeared across the whole screen.

N O T I C E All performers in this video program are currently deceased. We cannot accept any questions regarding the contents or performers of this video program. Thank you for your understanding.

My sister stared at the screen with a blank, mouth-agape expression. Feeling thoroughly creeped out, I stopped the video, ejected it from the deck, and shoved it deep into the back of a shelf so I'd never have to see it again.

...So that's what I experienced as a kid, but thinking back on it now, I'm pretty sure it was just a mistake on my part.

Rationally speaking, there's no reason a toddlers' video would display such an inexplicably gloomy disclaimer. So it must have been a misreading, a scrambled memory, or something.

Even so, there's always that tiny chance...

There's no way to check now since all the VHS tapes we had were thrown out ages ago. Whenever I'm bored, I occasionally search online to see if there's anything like it, but I still haven't found a thing.

I really wish I had remembered the exact title of that video. Even as an adult, it still bugs me.