It took place when M was a schoolboy.
He was visiting relatives on the island of Kyushu.
The old house had once belonged to a regional coal baron.
Locals believed they kept a mummified "Kappa" monster.
Apparently, the family patriarch had purchased the rarity.
Suddenly he heard sounds of windstorms coming from somewhere.
It came from this room.
A room which M's mom had forbidden him to enter.
Perhaps that festered hand belonged to the mummified "Kappa?"
Bu! now he had no way lo confirm that.
It certainly leaves questions hanging.
It's not really about the monster.
Do we need to dwell on
the sound of the wind storm?
Details like that are the essence of ghost stories.
Yes, of course.
Reader feedback of supernatural experiences.
Thank you.
I'm an author, I usually write novels.
Six months ago I began writing a horror serial.
My short stories are based on our readers' submissions.
One letter we received led to the events that followed.
That was in May, 2012.
From a female university student studying architecture in Tokyo.
I'll call her Ms. Kubo.
She headed the college Mystery Club.
For the first 2 years she'd lived in a women's dormitory.
For convenience, she ended up moving into her own place.
By then, she'd adjusted to life in the big city.
Her dream of living alone was finally coming true.
A 10 year old apartment, in a 5-story block.
Her apartment was No. 202.
She began to sense the presence of another being.
"Kegare": dirty, bad, unclean, impure.
Always present in birth, death, disease,
fire, or evil.
It is said to bring bad luck and engender sin.
THE INERASABLE
Not Suitable for Human Habitation
Room #202
The faint sound of someone sweeping the floor.
I imagined it as a very tired woman.
Constantly sweeping the same spot.
That image began to dominate my thoughts.
They're definitely orbs. Good catch.
Orbs are the restless, floating, spiritual energy of the dead.
Or, dust reflecting off the camera flash.
You're probably right.
My writer husband specializes in horror and mystery themes.
He's far more skeptical of spiritual phenomena than me.
We're meeting the real estate agent at 11 tomorrow.
Sorry, can you handle that?
Later that year, Ms. Kubota wrote to me again.
It sounds like something swishing across the "tatami" mats.
It only occurs when I'm facing away from it.
Something about that room makes me uneasy.
I saw a kimono sash.
A formal, heavily embroidered, wedding sash.
Now I wonder about my sweeping theory.
Perhaps it's more like a sash trailing across the mats?
That's the only explanation I can think of.
Formal sashes are quite long, aren't they?
Very long.
When untied, a sash reaches to the floor.
I understood what she had in mind.
Perhaps someone killed themselves in that room.
If we apply the law of ghost stories,
it's plausible.
But stronger is the possibility that Ms. Kubo interpreted it wrongly.
Somehow mistaking the crack of light for a trailing sash.
But something about her story began to weigh on my mind.
As if I'd read a similar account elsewhere.
It's a common enough horror theme.
Here it is.
Tsukada District, Kodaira City.
The address is 6-21-10.
Okaya Apartments.
A letter I'd received 2 years ago.
June, 2010 #405, Okaya Apartments
I don't really believe in ghosts.
But after 3 months, I know something's not right.
I kept hearing a swishing sound.
What is it, Mito?
My daughter's always had a sixth sense.
Sometimes she'll stare into space and laugh for no reason.
What are you looking at?
The swing.
Playground swings?
I put it down to an over-active imagination.
What are you doing, dear?
It's a swing.
I asked Ms. Kubo for more information.
She noticed another family had moved into #405.
If, for example, a woman had hung herself
in Kubo's place, room #202...
Why would that ghost be haunting #405?
Or maybe she was getting the story backwards?
But #202 was neither next to, nor directly below, #405.
It didn't make any sense.
Ghost stories often have vague, or unreasonable elements.
Was this apartment block the scene of a tragic suicide?
Okaya Apartments
I very much doubt it.
Mrs. Henmi, #303
We're later arrivals,
but no one's ever mentioned it.
You saw something?
Mrs. Mashiko, neighbor living opposite
No, I'm just curious and a little afraid.
That's natural. It's your first time living alone.
Some apartments here have a high turnover of tenants.
Apartment #405 in particular.
The Yashima family left within a year.
What about my place, #202?
It's single-occupancy, so turnover is always faster.
The previous tenant didn't even last 6 months.
A young guy, wasn't he?
Real Estate Rentals
There are no records of any suicides in your apartment.
We're required by law to disclose such things.
What about any of the other apartments?
I'm not legally required to disclose that.
But between construction and now...
There are no recorded cases of suicide, or murder.
I can assure you, your fears are ungrounded.
Excuse me.
Sorry.
You live next door?
Yes.
I'm Iida, we're moving into #201.
My name is Kubo.
I know this may sound strange...
But did anything unusual happen in here?
Sorry?
The rent is lower than this general area.
I've been assured there's nothing.
I asked the real estate agent.
- Is that right? - Yes.
That's great news.
My wife and son.
Ms. Kubo, from next door.
- Say hello. - How do you do.
Pleased to meet you.
Block for Sale
I fell for it the moment I saw it.
It must be fate.
Then, six months later...
I got another mail from Ms. Kubo.
I think I've found an important clue.
About the man who rented the apartment before me.
The Previous Occupant
I was struggling with the garbage.
He asked if I needed a hand.
Koichi Henmi, #303
That's how I met him.
Coincidentally, my husband's firm works with his store.
That was a coincidence.
I saw him at the store 2-3 times afterwards.
But not since he moved out. Maybe he got transferred?
The man's name was Mr. Kajikawa.
A 27 year old bachelor.
A good, hard-working staffer in the electrical department.
He died, about a year ago.
A photo of him.
I will keep it up!
He underwent a drastic change.
Staring into space, mixing up orders.
He started being absent without leave.
He got into serious trouble over that.
When did the change begin?
When was it?
The beginning of last year.
That's when he'd moved into apartment #202.
He moved out after only 4 months.
To a new place where he hung himself.
The poor boy was barely here for a month.
Landlady Mrs. Ito
We only spoke once, when he came to view the room.
Did he say anything about his previous apartment?
I don't remember anything.
Did he talk about strange noises, or anything?
Yes, he did.
He asked if there were any children, or babies living here.
Any babies?
When I said no, he looked very relieved.
Perhaps a crying baby had made his life hell?
I remember that now.
But I had a foreboding.
An omen?
My husband said it was a dream, perhaps it was.
It was the night before he hung himself.
May 19, 2012
Who's there?
It's me, Kajikawa.
What is it, at this hour?
I'm sorry.
Forgive me.
No, it's alright.
Go around to the front door.
Who's there?
Kajikawa.
Is there a problem?
I'm sorry.
Is that really you, Kajikawa?
If it's not urgent, can we do this tomorrow?
I'm so sorry.
Forgive me for this
Instead of asking forgiveness, he could have come to me for help.
Good day, Mr. Yamamoto.
It's been rented out?
Is there a problem?
About that guy who killed himself?
These days, some people search out such apartments.
Because they're cheaper.
It could be Kajikawa's spirit revisiting my apartment.
I did begin hearing the sound around the time he died.
No, the timing is wrong.
How?
You first wrote to me about it on May 15th.
His body was found on May 19th.
The timing doesn't match.
Plus, he was on the ground, not swinging free.
He died in a tiled bathroom, your sound came from reed mats.
In a traditional ghost-story setting...
The woman in a kimono would come to entice him.
So maybe now she's coming for me?
The building has had no recorded suicides.
Do you think I should move out?
Excuse me...
I have a question for you.
Have there been any burglars or arsonists around here?
Since we moved in, we keep getting nuisance phone calls.
Public Phone
Always from a public phone booth.
Yes, hello?
Hello?
Are you alone?
No, I'm not.
He asks me for the time, or if I have a fire extinguisher.
Bizarre, weird questions.
No one's mentioned burglaries or arsonists in the area.
I see.
Is that why the rent is so low here?
The entire apartment?
Yes, not any one particular room.
Perhaps a suicide before the apartments were built?
If so, that would make sense.
That made me think about where we live now.
Someone must have lived there before us.
And someone else before them.
Generations of residents occupying this space.
And each with a different life experience.
Bad luck, grief, grudges, unfulfillment,
all layered onto this plot of land.
Do you think it's possible?
Can resentment and bitterness persist in a physical space?
Seriously? Right after the purification ceremony?
I'm sorry.
If that was true, then no-one could live anywhere.
How do you do?
Pleased to meet you.
Prior History of the Land
Mashiko Family, living opposite Okaya Apartments
Thank you.
This is the current apartment block.
Here's what it looked like before that.
This is a 2001 map.
Back then, it was a parking lot.
There were never many cars there.
This one predates that by ten years. From 1991.
It's a vacant lot.
That was during the real-estate bubble.
When the bubble burst, only Koido's place was left.
This one's from the start of the bubble, in 1987.
We never had much to do with them.
They were all here before we came.
We didn't arrive until the 1980's.
Like a gulf between us.
Old man Koido was notorious hereabouts.
How come?
Now, we'd call him a hoarder.
That's terrible.
He lived alone and rarely went out.
No one even knew he died.
Was it suicide?
No, that's not what we heard.
A local neighborhood official found the body.
The house was an absolute mess.
So packed with filth, you couldn't move.
Mr. Akiyama, Neighborhood Association Chief
Garbage piled up to the ceiling.
He'd even jammed it under the floorboards.
I told him he was slowly poisoning himself.
I hate open spaces.
Open spaces?
What does that mean?
The meaning? I haven't a clue.
July, 1992
I was doing my rounds, collecting dues for the Residents Association.
He had lots of land to dispose of his trash.
But he kept it all inside.
Maybe just lazy, or fixed in his ways.
Mr. Koido?
It's Akiyama from the Association.
Are you there, Mr. Koido?
He was spread out on the trash.
I knew right away he was dead.
Natural causes. He'd been dead for 2 weeks.
Do you remember any of these other residents?
Yes, the Nemoto family.
The old grandma had dementia. She spoke to imaginary cats.
She'd lay down and throw food to them.
The Fujiwara place changed tenants all the time.
No one stayed long?
I count at least two tenants before Kawahara arrived.
There was always trouble with Kawahara's boy.
He was in high school. A violent boy, prone to abuse.
He pushed his mom down the stairs.
One time he set fire to his bedding.
He'd also run up incredible phone bills.
Making nuisance calls?
Calling those automatic numbers.
Like the time signal?
Then leaving the line open all night.
Any other problem residents?
No, not at all.
Other than old man Koido,
it was all very peaceful.
Mr. Akiyama had moved to the area in the 1970s.
He hadn't been born and raised there.
Waves of people had moved in and out.
Notice of Relocation
The Nemotos were an old farming family.
Mr. Tanokura photographer long-term resident
Once they'd owned all this land.
These were owned by Koido and Matsuzaka.
Both built on the Takano family's land.
So originally only two homes?
Until the big event.
What big event?
The Takano family scandal.
Isn't that why you're here?
Yes, it is.
All the old-timers know the story.
It was such a tragedy.
Takano Family
My dad took this. I was there helping him.
So the bride was a Takano?
Yes, a family of bankers, I believe.
He was very strict man.
It happened right after the wedding.
They'd just bid farewell to the bride and groom.
Her parents returned home.
The wife went into the back room.
He thought she'd gone to get changed.
But she never came out.
It must have started with her.
My sister studied flower arrangement with Mrs. Takano.
Kusakabe sisters (Close to the Takano Family)
I was friends with her daughter, Reiko.
Is Reiko the bride in this picture?
Yes, that's her.
After high school, she got a job and left home.
She came back prior to the wedding.
That was when Mrs. Takano started behaving strangely.
I experienced it firsthand.
What is it?
Did you?
Did you hear that?
The sound of babies crying.
A baby?
Last night, too.
It kept me awake all night.
It's the neighbors, deliberately making them cry.
Listen.
There it is again.
Hear that?
Listen.
I'm afraid I can't hear anything.
Are you one of them?
Crying babies?
We suspected Reiko was the cause of it.
Now this is just unconfirmed rumor.
But she took up with a nasty fellow from work.
Apparently, he made her pregnant.
She had an abortion, so she could get married?
Rumor suggests that she miscarried.
They say that's what drove Mrs. Takano insane.
She fantasized about babies emerging from the ground.
Out of the ground?
Yes, from the ground, up through the floor.
By then, she had totally lost it.
A flow of babies?
That's what she said.
It's ready.
Thank you.
Mrs. Takano's spirit lured Kajikawa to the other world.
He also heard babies crying when he lived here.
Perhaps a crying baby had made his life hell.
Want to see the room?
Yes, indeed.
When you close off a room, you use it to store things.
But you never go in, you're too scared.
If that continues, it becomes an obsession.
Like a hoarder?
Koido's house was built on land previously owned by Takano.
I imagine...
Mr. Koido saw, or heard something, similar to my experience.
Fill up all the spaces.
Perhaps he was trying to fill the spaces with garbage?
To block out whatever was scaring him.
That's why he didn't dispose of his trash.
After hearing about Mrs. Takano, I decided to move out.
With a year still to run on her contract,
Ms. Kubo decided to relocate.
Very interesting, but too long for a magazine series.
Yes, it is.
I like the way this one ends.
The ghost who hung herself the day her daughter got married.
But something doesn't ring true.
Did Mrs. Takano really hang herself because of Reiko's abortion?
What do you mean?
She said babies emerged from the floor.
That suggests there was more than one.
A serial-killer?
Oh, Mr. Hiraoka.
Imagine meeting you here.
You planned this!
Babies streaming out from under the floor.
Writer Yoshiaki Hiraoka
That means more than one.
But did Reiko have a string of abortions?
Possible,
but we don't even know if she was actually pregnant.
Then whose babies were they?
I've heard a similar story.
A stream of crying babies, right?
Swapping horror stories often produces a common root.
Different people hear it and interpret it differently.
Stories evolve as they're passed along.
But track them down and they're the same story.
Such tales are usually the worst of all.
So full of sin and evil, it can become dangerous.
The kind that can backfire on you.
I know what it could be.
Some kids tested out a haunted house.
They ran after seeing babies' faces streaming from the floor.
That's the one!
Tell us more.
It was famous as a haunted house.
A serial baby-killer had lived there.
A baby-killer?
Born at home, murdered, then buried underneath.
Hence, they emerge from the floor.
The weird thing is...
When the cops dug up the floor, they only found one body.
But a stream of babies were seen coming out.
Similar story, right?
Where was that?
In Chiba, but it was demolished long ago.
Chiba Prefecture?
Then it's obviously a different story.
How's the new apartment working out?
It's so quiet, it's wonderful.
How's your move going?
Stressful. I'm in the middle of packing.
I've got a job, so I'm free to help
until I start work.
That's great news.
Yes, working in an architect's office.
Congratulations.
I'd love to see your new place.
I'm always interested in new designs.
I never want to move again.
This must be our last time.
Thank heavens for that.
Great, finally a place to live out our lives.
Postman.
Coming.
From Mr. Hiraoka, Tokyo
I dug into the Chiba case
and the results are shocking.
It's all in here.
Handle With Extreme Care
Serial Baby-Killer Buries Bodies Under House
It all began when a woman was arrested in Chiba in 1952.
Misao, the wife of Shoji Nakamura.
Neighbors reported a foul smell to the local police.
The police uncovered the body of a baby
who'd been strangled.
Misao confessed to murder and disposing of a body.
She went on to confess to a string of killings.
Previously, she'd given birth to, then killed 7 babies in 7 years.
The dwelling had been razed by the owner soon after.
A year later, that site was subdivided.
The buyers were our very own Nemoto and Takano families.
It leads right back to our site.
Original Tenement House Before Demolition
So Mrs. Takano killed herself because she was cursed by the murdered babies?
No, I wouldn't call it a curse.
More like she was inadvertently touched by impurity.
Impurity?
Years later, her spirit lured Kajikawa to his death.
Mrs. Takano lived on the site of a mass-murder.
Those spirits then drove her to kill herself.
Evil spirits caused a series of misfortunes over generations.
Maybe there was some presence even before the baby-killer?
Tokyo District Legal Records
We investigated the site for any incidents before the tenement was built.
Here's what we have.
Thank you.
Others from Ms. Kubo's college
Mystery Club joined the search.
This way.
The river's split in two.
Same as this.
Block No. 1165
Tenant: Mr. Yasuzo Yoshikane
Yoshikane?
Yoshikane Family
Welcome!
It looks fantastic.
Thanks for coming.
You've lost weight.
I'm adjusting to our own home.
Some more information.
Home-Confined Mental Patients - 1910
Ever hear of Home Imprisonment?
Mental patients locked away in their own homes?
Yes, exactly.
Imprisoned in their own family homes.
I found a national survey covering 1912-1926.
There's a Yoshikane family recorded in the report.
Same address as the one you're looking into, right?
In 1905, their son, Tomosaburo,
went insane at age 15.
He was attacking his family and starting fires.
He claimed to hear voices in his head.
Those voices urged him to kill and burn his family members.
The following year, he was confined to a home prison.
It gets even more interesting.
They installed a toilet in his cell.
That led to a collection tank under the floor.
But he used that to get in and out.
Tomosaburo loved to crawl under peoples' homes.
Misao, the baby-killer case?
Look.
The voice under the floor
A voice from below told her to kill the babies.
That's the motive she gave to the police.
Burn them
Kill them
Burn them
Kill them
Kill
Burn
Good grief.
What have we stumbled on?
Still working on it?
Yes, it gets worse.
Thanks.
Oh, that?
It detects movement and switches on automatically.
But we're all in here.
What's causing that?
A defective sensor?
Perhaps Misao wasn't the only one to hear those voices.
Mr. Koido blocked them with piles of garbage.
Then there's old Granny Nemoto.
Were they cats or spirits?
Kill
There it is.
Yoshikane Family Grave
We have no burial records for Tomosaburo.
So he's not in the family grave?
The family moved away in the 1920's
Head Priest (Buddhist)
We've had no contact since.
No records of when, where, or how Tomosaburo died.
This is the last record of that family.
A woman named Miyoshi.
Miyoshi?
The former priest here wrote about it.
She was 20 when she became the wife of the widower, Yoshikane.
And step-mother to Tomosaburo, despite being only 5 years older.
She fell pregnant twice but miscarried both times.
She died early, at the age of 24.
The family dedicated an ink-drawing to the temple.
In a formal ceremony here on the 1st anniversary of her death.
To placate her soul?
A drawing of a ghost?
No, a beautiful young princess.
Sometimes her face changes and becomes very ugly.
Like this?
Is it this picture?
I don't know.
I've never actually seen the picture.
Isn't it still here?
It was lost during the war.
Apparently, it was part of Miyoshi's wedding trousseau.
But why would her family give such a picture to their daughter?
It doesn't make sense.
Where were her family from?
From Kyushu, Fukuoka City, I believe it was.
Kyushu Island?
Young Misawa is into psychic phenomena of that region.
Hello again.
Hello.
The Okuyama family's drawing of a woman's changing face?
Tetsuo Misawa, Fukuoka born and bred
You've heard of it?
It's a local legend.
He knows all about Kyushu.
I can't say.
No one's actually seen the picture.
But, they say when the face changes...
You can hear a windstorm over the groans of the undead.
Burn
Kill
Burn
Anyone who actually sees the face becomes cursed.
They say it all began after a tragic accident at a local Kyushu coal mine.
A coal mine?
Miyoshi's family owned and ran a coal mine down there.
There were many small mines in northern Kyushu back then.
Badly run, there were many accidents.
The Okuyama family had one where over 100 miners died.
So many?
Okayama Family
My son's still inside!
Why did it happen?
Say something!
Coal mine fires are difficult to extinguish.
The walls themselves fuel the fires.
There's only one way to put them out.
Cut off the oxygen by blocking the shaft.
Apparently, the Okuyama family all died out in the early 1900's.
You don't know for sure?
That's when official records cease.
Locals consider the family to be cursed.
Even mention of them can bring on the curse.
Just hearing the story?
Yes, if you talk about or listen to the story.
A classic ghost-story scenario.
It doesn't really matter if it's true or not.
The patriarch, Yoshinori,
supposedly killed all his family.
His wife, his children and grandchildren.
Even the household servants.
A total of over 20 people in all.
He tried, unsuccessfully, to burn the house.
Then hung himself on a nearby mountain.
Everyone believes the dead miners put a curse on him.
Burn them
Kill them
Burn them
That's your story.
What story?
A story I wrote two years ago.
This is it.
"The Mummified Monster"
"It took place when M was a schoolboy."
"He was visiting relatives on the island of Kyushu."
"The old house had once belonged to a regional coal baron."
Burn
Kill
There's the link!
All from the same root.
Then maybe...
You call him Mr. M.
Is the M for Manabe?
The Mummified Monster
Submitted by T Manabe
Manabe Family
All I know is that he was the owner of a coal mine.
T Manabe
A distant relatives of ours.
But apparently the mummified monster actually did exist.
The head of the family was named Mikio.
A collector of bizarre objects.
A collector?
Not just the mummy. Pictures of torture and murder, too.
Dried monkey hands for use in black magic ceremonies.
The most powerful was a sword which put a curse on its owner.
What happened to Mikio?
He killed himself with that very same sword.
Do you know where the house was?
Sure. It's still there, in Fukuoka.
Kira-Kyushu City, Fukuoka Prefecture
Are you up for this?
I'll be fine.
Don't overdo it.
I'd developed a painful crick in my neck.
I suspect it was a herniated disc.
But the doctor said he couldn't find anything.
The origin of so many stories.
I never thought I'd actually be here.
I sense an evil power.
- Flashlight. - Thanks.
Here we go.
Shall we?
Sure.
Shall I open it?
Two Buddhist altars?
And two Shinto shrines.
This is it.
Covered in charms and amulets.
The story was a lie.
What story?
About Mikio collecting bizarre objects.
Seeking solace in the gods.
Burn
And praying to the Buddha.
As a last resort...
He used evil to stave off evil.
But nothing could save him.
That makes it such a pitiful story.
Let's get out of here.
Are you okay?
This find led to many other Okuyama-based horror stories.
Okuyama Ghost Stories
The Okuyama family mansion was shipped north to become an inn.
The innkeeper ended up burning it down.
A motel was built on the site of the abandoned coal mine.
Some kids who went there on a dare, committed murder.
Later, Mikio's first son assaulted someone.
He hung himself in jail.
A man bought the decorative transoms from the Okuyama residence.
He says Hell is visible when you look through them.
Yes, we've published that tale.
Or the "Cursed Classroom" in the school Manabe's son attended.
The entire school became haunted.
Do you think this latest case is connected?
...were found dead, hanging.
Doctors pronounced wife Eiko and her 6 year old son, dead on arrival.
Both suffered multiple stab wounds from a sharp blade.
Police found an empty oil can and a knife at the murder scene.
Husband Shoichi stabbed his wife and son to death...
Before setting the fire.
He then hung himself.
The police are calling it a case of murder-suicide.
Isn't it time to stop?
The curse just keeps going.
You're right.
I'm at the point where I'm no longer sure what I'm looking for.
And besides...
I'm hearing the sounds again.
At your new apartment?
I'll move if I have to.
But...
It'll probably just follow me.
And that's how our trip through the past came to an end.
Soon after, I learned what was causing my neck pain.
A rash I'd endured for 20 years was the root cause.
Nothing to do with the Okuyama Family Curse.
Then in May, 2014, I heard back from Ms. Kubo.
She'd started working for an architect.
Her first steps into adult society.
She stayed in touch with Mrs. Ito.
Who offered her a deal on a rental room.
Hello there, Yamamoto.
Hey.
I contacted the Yashima family, who'd lived at #405.
Their daughter had turned 6.
The curse hadn't followed them to their new home.
Mrs. Henmi stayed at the Okaya Apartments with no further problems.
Time to leave.
The Mashiko family were also unaffected.
A total of 3 tenants moved in and out of apartment #202.
As I write this story, it remains empty.
The line's busy?
I'm going home.
Don't you need to wait?
She won't finish it until tomorrow, anyway.
Then take care.
Public Phone
Hello?
What time is it now?
What's going on?
You will be cursed.
The curse lingers. The curse...
Yuko TAKEUCHI
Ai HASHIMOTO
Kentaro SAKAGUCHI
Kenichi TAKITOH
Kuranosuke SASAKI
Developed and Produced by Yoshihiro NAGATA
Produced by Fumitsugu IKEDA
Original Novel by Fuyumi ONO
Directed by Yoshihiro NAKAMURA