0:10

Hey guys, I'm your host, Tara A.

0:12

Devlin, and welcome to this week's episode

0:14

of Kowabana, true Japanese scary

0:17

stories from around the internet. My

0:19

latest book, Kowabana Vol. 13, is now out. Collecting

0:23

even more of your favourite stories

0:26

from the show, you can find

0:28

terrifying ghosts, cruel curses, haunted buildings,

0:30

weird monsters, and much, much more.

0:33

You can find that on Amazon right now, and help

0:35

support the show at the same time. This

0:38

week, we're looking at some encounters

0:40

not just with the other side, but

0:42

with living, breathing humans as well, that

0:44

will leave our protagonists wondering what's really

0:47

going on, and whether they're truly as

0:49

safe as they think. First

0:52

up, a young boy is always told

0:54

not to enter a single room in their

0:56

house, but naturally, that just

0:58

makes him even more curious. What's

1:02

the truth behind this forbidden space, hidden

1:04

in the safety of their own home?

1:07

Find out in… The Room

1:09

You Mustn't Enter Our

1:20

family home is in the countryside, and when

1:22

I was a child, there was a room

1:24

I was told I mustn't ever enter. That

1:27

just made me want to go in even more though,

1:30

and when I was in junior high, I snuck

1:32

in for the first time. But

1:36

there was nothing there. It

1:38

was just a regular, plain old room. There

1:42

was no strange atmosphere and sunlight

1:44

filtered in through the window like

1:46

normal. It wasn't scary

1:48

at all. It was

1:50

kind of a letdown, and I thought they just didn't

1:52

want me to go in the room so I didn't

1:54

make a mess of it. I

1:57

was bored so I took a nap in there.

2:00

I didn't even suffer from sleep

2:02

paralysis or anything. And

2:04

a few hours later, I woke up like

2:06

normal too. Nothing happened

2:09

while I was awake. It

2:11

wasn't scary in the slightest. They

2:14

always told me not to go in there, so

2:16

honestly, I was expecting to

2:18

see at least something frightening. As

2:22

I was leaving the room, I opened

2:24

one of the drawers in the dresser,

2:26

and inside was a single Japanese doll.

2:29

Like a Hina doll, but smaller. That

2:33

was the only thing in the draw,

2:35

but the others had regular stuff like

2:37

kimonos and such in them. Now

2:40

that was scary, I thought. I

2:43

asked my grandmother about it later. I

2:45

didn't mention the doll, and she said

2:48

that room was used by my father's

2:50

younger sister, meaning my aunt.

2:53

All the stuff in the dresser used to be hers.

2:56

But having said that, all

2:58

of that was thirty years prior.

3:02

Shortly after my parents got married, that

3:04

house was renovated so that it would

3:06

be suitable for any children they might

3:08

have in the future. And

3:11

so it was converted into a two-family

3:13

house. But apparently

3:15

they had to destroy part of the garden

3:17

to do it, and that was

3:19

a problem. The

3:22

room that you mustn't enter was in the

3:24

part of the house that was renovated. In

3:26

other words, my aunt's room. Apparently

3:31

once that part of the house was

3:33

done, my aunt started acting strange. At

3:36

first she started saying that she didn't

3:38

want to sleep in that room. According

3:41

to her, ever since she started sleeping

3:43

in that room, no matter how

3:45

tired she was, she would

3:48

always wake up at 3am

3:50

every single night. And

3:53

when she opened her eyes, the lights were

3:55

on, even though she turned them off,

3:58

and a small girl with a bob cut

4:00

was sitting by her bedside. Strangely,

4:05

under the twinkling lights, the

4:07

girl's face alone was pitch black

4:09

and she couldn't see it. Despite

4:13

this, my aunt still understood that

4:15

the girl was smiling. This

4:19

went on for about a week. My

4:22

aunt was a smart, level-headed person,

4:25

and at first she kept quiet about it because

4:27

she didn't want to freak anyone out, but

4:29

when she finally couldn't take it anymore,

4:32

she told my grandpa about it. But

4:35

he just got angry at her. If

4:39

you're not going to get married and

4:41

continue living in this house, then stop

4:43

saying such stupid things at such a

4:45

critical time as this. If

4:47

you want to leave, then leave. Around

4:52

two weeks later, my grandmother suddenly

4:54

remembered what my aunt had said. She

4:57

had stopped talking about it and spent

4:59

her days with a strangely kind

5:01

look on her face, so

5:04

she thought that she had perhaps gotten used to

5:06

the new house and stopped having strange

5:08

dreams, so she asked her about it.

5:12

But then my aunt replied,

5:14

still smiling. No,

5:17

I'm used to it now. At

5:19

first, it was just one girl, but

5:22

now there are more and more. They're

5:25

always looking down at me. And

5:28

then she laughed loudly. My

5:32

aunt was always a quiet person, so

5:34

it was a strange sound coming from

5:36

her. Maybe

5:38

her story was true, or maybe

5:41

it was just a dream or

5:43

hallucination, but either way, by

5:45

that point, it was too late. My

5:48

aunt's room was next to my grandparents'

5:51

room, and late that night they heard

5:53

a sound like someone digging a hole.

5:57

My grandmother went to her room and found she

5:59

had pulled the tatami. mats up. And

6:01

there, on top of the bare floor,

6:03

my aunt was digging a hole with

6:05

her bare hands. What

6:09

on earth are you doing? My

6:11

grandmother screamed, realising that what

6:14

her daughter was doing wasn't normal.

6:17

But my aunt didn't stop. In

6:20

fact, she was even smiling as she

6:22

dug. There

6:24

it is, she said after

6:26

a moment, and pulled something out of the

6:29

ground. She held it

6:31

up, and it was a small Japanese doll.

6:34

It looked far too clean for something

6:36

that had been buried. She

6:39

handed it to my grandmother, and then, with

6:42

a smile still on her face, walked

6:44

over to the wall and started smashing

6:47

her head against it. Bang.

6:50

Bang. Bang. What

6:54

are you doing? My

6:56

grandmother panicked and tried to stop her,

6:58

but she continued smashing her head into

7:00

the wall with incredible strength. What

7:05

am I doing? Yeah. Why

7:07

am I doing this? I don't know. I

7:10

don't know. I don't know. Her

7:14

words trailed off and turned into

7:17

strange, meaningless laughter. But

7:20

then, my grandmother heard something

7:22

else. Mixed in

7:24

with my aunt's laughter, she

7:27

could hear several children laughing as well.

7:29

My aunt continued to hit

7:31

her head against the wall for

7:33

more than ten minutes, and then finally,

7:36

she stood still and fell over. My

7:40

grandmother said she looked just like a toy

7:42

falling. My grandfather

7:44

called the ambulance, but it

7:46

was too late. Her skull,

7:49

her brainstem, all of

7:51

it was messed up beyond repair. When

7:54

the doctor listened to their story, he couldn't

7:56

believe it. Apparently,

7:58

he said it was impossible. for someone to

8:01

do that all by themselves. They

8:03

even suspected it might have been murder.

8:07

By this point, Moxwelline, my grandfather,

8:09

regretted ignoring matters for so long,

8:11

as well as letting

8:13

his daughter die in such a terrible

8:15

way. So he asked a

8:18

monk to come out to the house to take a

8:20

look. As soon

8:22

as the chief priest entered the room,

8:24

apparently, he threw up. According

8:28

to the chief priest, on

8:30

that same spot long ago, there

8:32

used to be a small shrine

8:34

dedicated to children who died of

8:37

illness or were stillborn. Because

8:40

they built a room on top of that

8:42

spot, an incredibly large

8:44

number of children had gathered there.

8:48

You must never use this room,

8:51

the chief priest stated firmly. My

8:54

grandmother asked him if he could hold

8:57

a memorial service for the doll, but

8:59

he refused. I

9:01

don't want to take it with me. Performing

9:04

a half-hearted ritual like that would only

9:06

have the opposite effect. You

9:08

should get rid of it or burn it. And

9:12

after that, it turned into

9:15

a standard ghost story. They

9:17

threw the doll out, but at some point

9:19

it found its way back into the dresser.

9:23

They tried to burn it, but it

9:25

wouldn't catch fire, and instead my grandfather

9:27

got burnt by the flames, etc.

9:31

It was all so strange and they didn't

9:33

know what to do, so in

9:36

the end they put it back where they found

9:38

it and then made the entire

9:40

room off limits. It

9:43

was a terrible story, and they

9:45

didn't give me all the gory details.

9:49

At any rate, I don't know if putting

9:51

the doll back was the right decision or

9:54

not, but we haven't seen

9:56

it again since then, so I

9:58

guess it was. Yeah,

10:01

but I've seen

10:03

it since then, Grandma. Next

10:11

up, yet another seemingly haunted house.

10:14

When a group of friends visit one

10:16

of their grandparents for a holiday, they

10:18

find a hole that's oddly decorated, and

10:20

strange sounds moving around the house at

10:23

night. What really is it,

10:25

and are they in terrible danger? And

10:28

out in Zashki, Warashi.

10:39

This story happened several years ago. It's

10:42

pretty long. During

10:44

the spring holidays of my fourth

10:46

year at university, my then-girlfriend, now

10:48

wife, bought a car. As

10:51

such, my girlfriend, En, a

10:53

friend from university who was a year

10:55

younger than us, En and

10:58

I, decided to go on a trip. It

11:01

was the cherry blossom season, so

11:03

we narrowed it down to somewhere we

11:05

could view the flowers. En's

11:08

hometown was famous for cherry blossoms, so

11:10

we decided to go there. En

11:13

contacted her grandparents who still lived there,

11:16

and they agreed we could stay there

11:18

without hesitation. En,

11:21

Y, and I had been friends for years. Because

11:24

we had known each other for so long,

11:26

this wasn't our first trip together, and

11:29

in the end, En's younger sister,

11:31

Ei-chan, who was in junior high,

11:33

also came with us. Despite

11:37

the fact it was En's car, Y

11:39

and I were the drivers that day. Hey,

11:42

En, is your grandfather's house

11:45

really big? I asked. I

11:48

think it's pretty normal. It's

11:51

old, but it's really nice, she

11:53

said. As we

11:55

chatted in the front, Y, who

11:57

was a massive guy at nearly one hundred

11:59

and ninety 20cm, chatted

12:01

with the tiny A-chan in the back,

12:03

like they were monkeys squabbling at each

12:06

other. We took

12:08

a few breaks here and there, and after

12:10

five hours on the road, we finally

12:12

arrived at En's grandparent's house. It

12:15

was a rather large Japanese-style home,

12:18

much nicer than I had expected,

12:20

and looked nice and sturdy with

12:22

white walls. Her

12:25

grandparents seemed rather gentle as they

12:27

greeted us, and we greeted

12:29

them in return and thanked them for letting

12:31

us stay. Then

12:33

we all rushed inside and they showed us

12:35

to the room we'd be staying in. As

12:39

I expected, the house was pretty big,

12:41

and I couldn't help but think it

12:43

was a wonderful place that had aged

12:46

quite well. But

12:48

there was just one thing I couldn't

12:50

ignore, and that was the

12:52

long haul that followed the veranda on the

12:54

first floor. There were

12:56

dolls and toys, the types

12:59

you only really saw in the old days, all

13:01

lined up down it. It

13:04

wasn't that they'd been left out and forgotten,

13:07

they had clearly been put there on purpose.

13:11

There sure are a lot of them, huh?

13:14

Why said. En,

13:17

what is all that? I asked. Ah,

13:21

offerings? She said. For

13:24

some reason, her answer sounded like

13:26

another question. At

13:29

the end of the hall and to the right

13:31

was what looked like the family altar room. I

13:34

wondered if any of the deceased had perhaps

13:36

been a small child, but I didn't want

13:39

to be rude and pry, so I didn't

13:41

think too deeply about it. After

13:44

dinner, the four of us went up to the

13:46

room we would be sharing on the second floor

13:48

and hung out. En

13:51

and I watched a movie on TV, and

13:53

Y and A charm played Mario Kart for

13:55

a while. It

13:58

was late that night that something was going on. strange

14:00

happened. I could

14:02

hear footsteps on the other side of the

14:04

closed sliding doors running down the long hall.

14:07

Huh? I

14:10

made a strange sound before I could stop myself.

14:14

There were only six people in the house, us

14:17

and En's grandparents. All

14:20

four of us were in the room and

14:22

it was after midnight. En's

14:24

grandparents were also asleep on the

14:26

first floor. The

14:29

footsteps were light. They

14:31

didn't seem to be that of an adult. There

14:34

were no cats or other pets in the

14:36

house and those footsteps sounded

14:38

just like a person running. If

14:42

I was the only person who heard it then I could

14:44

just tell myself that I was imagining things, but

14:47

the moment I heard the footsteps, everyone

14:49

turned to look at the sliding doors. Who

14:54

was that running down the hall

14:56

just now? Ei-chan asked. I

14:59

don't know, I said.

15:01

There's no way that was a

15:03

rat. They were footsteps,

15:06

why I said. No

15:08

way. That's the first time

15:11

I've ever heard it. Sis,

15:14

do you think it might be that? Ei-chan

15:18

looked scared, but she also

15:20

seemed to know something about the footsteps.

15:24

But En then quickly turned her gaze

15:26

back to the movie. It's

15:29

an old house, don't worry about it,

15:32

she said with a small laugh, acting

15:35

like it was nothing. Instead

15:37

of looking scared, she actually

15:40

looked quite pleased. What

15:43

do you mean it's an old house? What

15:46

about it? I wanted to ask,

15:48

but then why suddenly stood up. You

15:52

want to check it out? He said. Perhaps

15:55

he thought it was an intruder. At

15:58

times like this, this big, big,

16:00

muscly guy was definitely someone you

16:02

wanted to have on hand. Alright,

16:05

let's go to the toilet. Why

16:08

thankfully said. So I was

16:10

able to go before I was too scared

16:13

to. The house had

16:15

three toilets. One for

16:17

men, two for general use. But

16:20

for some reason, they were all on the first

16:22

floor. Our room

16:24

was on the second floor, so that meant we'd

16:26

have to go down the long hall to use

16:28

the stairs. Alright,

16:32

if a ghost or something appears, you deal

16:34

with it, okay? I said to

16:36

why. Okay,

16:39

but like, if it's

16:41

a ghost, I'm not gonna

16:43

be able to grab them, you know? No,

16:46

no, you can do it. I believe in you.

16:50

We joked and said stupid things to

16:52

distract ourselves as we made our way

16:54

over to the toilet. Something

16:57

especially strange happened either. When

17:00

we were done, we shrugged our shoulders,

17:02

feeling better, and went back. When

17:06

we reached the room, Ei-chan was begging

17:08

En to go to the toilet with her. But

17:12

En remained seated, perhaps because the movie

17:14

hadn't yet reached its climax. Seeing

17:18

that her sister wasn't going to change

17:20

her mind, Ei-chan finally turned to Y.

17:24

Y-chan, could you come with me? She

17:27

begged. Again, he left

17:30

the room with her. They

17:32

returned a short while later, Y

17:34

looking as he always did, but

17:36

Ei-chan was clinging to him, looking

17:38

even more scared than usual. What

17:42

happened? I asked. Apparently

17:45

as they were coming back up the

17:47

stairs from the toilet, Ei-chan heard footsteps

17:49

running around on the first floor. For

17:53

real? I asked why,

17:55

and he agreed, his face serious.

17:59

Ah, yeah. Yeah, it was like,

18:01

boop boop boop. But

18:04

I didn't see anything. He

18:07

wasn't the type of guy to make up

18:09

stuff like this, so it was unlikely he

18:11

was lying. But

18:13

after hearing that, and laughed. Twice

18:17

in one day, huh? Nice.

18:21

She was definitely happy about something.

18:24

Like the kind of happiness you

18:26

feel when you see a tea stalk

18:28

floating upright in your cup. You

18:31

know, that fortune telling thing that means you'll

18:33

have good luck. I

18:36

didn't want to complain about someone's house

18:38

after they so graciously let us stay

18:40

there for free, but I

18:42

also wanted an explanation. I

18:44

pressed her until she finally gave in. According

18:48

to En, ever since she

18:50

was a child, this type of

18:53

thing, like footsteps or sensing a

18:55

nearby presence, often occurred.

18:58

It apparently happened a few times a year,

19:00

and everyone in the family knew about it.

19:04

Ei-chan also knew, but she apparently

19:06

didn't stay at her grandparents' house

19:08

very much. So,

19:10

at this point, En was used

19:12

to it. Footsteps

19:15

and such could be heard from time to time,

19:17

but there was zero chance

19:19

of anything bad happening. It

19:22

sounds unbelievable, but apparently after

19:25

hearing those footsteps, something good would

19:27

happen to you or your family

19:29

in the near future. Mike,

19:32

there was a high probability of

19:35

something unexpectedly good happening, like

19:37

running into an old friend, finding

19:40

something you've long been searching for,

19:42

receiving some unexpected good news,

19:45

etc. And

19:48

they weren't sure if it was because of

19:50

those footsteps or not, but everyone

19:52

who lived in that house always remained

19:54

healthy, and nobody had ever

19:56

heard anything bad about them up until that

19:59

point. As

20:01

for the owner of those footsteps, most

20:04

family members had never actually seen

20:06

them. The only

20:08

person who had was En's grandfather.

20:12

Over thirty years prior, he saw a

20:14

little girl he'd never seen before walking

20:16

around the house. He

20:18

saw her in that hall where all the toys

20:20

were lined up. That

20:23

same place that had caught our eye. The

20:26

girl walked down the hall and entered

20:28

the altar room at the end, but

20:30

when En's grandfather followed her, he

20:33

found the room empty. Because

20:36

of that single sighting, and

20:38

the high chance of good luck occurring

20:40

after hearing the footsteps, apparently

20:43

the family mostly treated the

20:45

creature as a Zashki Warashi.

20:48

All the toys and such in the

20:50

hall on the first floor were proof

20:52

of their gratitude towards it. When

20:56

I told En's grandparents the next day about

20:58

the footsteps, they both looked

21:00

extremely pleased and had big smiles

21:02

on their faces. Oh,

21:06

that's lovely, they said.

21:09

We stayed there another two nights after that,

21:12

but we only heard the footsteps on that

21:14

first night. And

21:16

after that, we returned home

21:18

safely and without incident. I'm

21:22

still a little skeptical about those footsteps being

21:24

a sign of good luck, but I did

21:27

actually hear them, so I

21:29

can't strongly say anything one way or

21:31

the other. And ever

21:33

since that night, I haven't had

21:36

any troubles, and I've been in good health.

21:39

So I still go to visit En's

21:41

grandparents for a holiday whenever I have

21:43

a long vacation. It

21:45

has almost become a regular event

21:48

for us now. as

22:00

fake as they sounded. Find

22:02

out why in, Aunt

22:05

and the Snake. My

22:15

aunt died, and the story surrounding

22:17

that death was quite chilling. My

22:20

aunt was only 13 years older than

22:23

me, so when I was a kid, she

22:25

was more like an older sister to me. When

22:28

things were getting close to the end, we

22:30

decided to go see her before we lost

22:32

the chance to ever talk to her again.

22:36

We were also worried about my grandfather,

22:38

so during the Golden Week holidays, we

22:41

went back to my mother's family home.

22:44

There, we saw a lot

22:46

of snakes. A

22:48

lot. It's

22:50

not that strange to see snakes in

22:53

the countryside, but I was still

22:55

shocked just seeing them there like that. It

22:58

was the first time I'd ever actually seen

23:00

one after all. I

23:03

managed to speak with my aunt,

23:05

but everything she said was some

23:07

weird occult stuff. I

23:10

thought that maybe as her own death

23:12

was approaching, that was the

23:14

kind of stuff you thought about, so

23:16

it wasn't really all that strange. But

23:19

as I listened to her story, it was kind of

23:21

like, Aww,

23:23

yeah, is that so? It

23:27

sounded obviously fake. The

23:30

story she told me was about the boy she

23:32

liked when she was just a girl. This

23:35

boy suddenly disappeared one day, but

23:37

then she saw him again in a

23:40

dream. But in her

23:42

dream, he had turned into a snake.

23:45

He said that he was coming to pick

23:47

her up, but she said she didn't

23:49

want to go. She

23:52

thought about saying she was lonely,

23:54

she was scared of death, she

23:56

wanted to live, but then

23:59

she just accepted. did. This

24:01

was the way it had to be. At

24:05

the time I wanted to punch myself for

24:07

thinking so poorly of someone who was on

24:09

the verge of death and clearly

24:12

having mental health issues. We

24:15

stayed there for a week, and

24:17

I always saw a coiled snake in

24:19

front of the car. And

24:22

whenever we went from grandpa's house to see

24:24

my aunt in the hospital, and whenever we

24:26

came back, I always, always

24:28

saw a

24:31

snake. Grandpa's

24:33

house was surrounded by trees and

24:35

nature and such, so it wasn't

24:37

too surprising to see snakes. But

24:40

why did we always see snakes in

24:42

the parking lot outside such a big

24:44

hospital as well? I was

24:47

starting to grow afraid. One

24:50

of the stories my aunt told me was

24:52

that the boy who turned into a snake

24:54

was keeping other boys away from her. I

24:58

asked my mother what she meant by that, and

25:00

apparently my aunt had broken up

25:02

with men several times, sometimes

25:05

even getting engaged first, but

25:07

then as the wedding date approached,

25:10

these men would suddenly die

25:13

or be seriously injured in accidents. I

25:16

started to wonder if our family

25:19

was actually cursed. But

25:22

I only saw snakes when I was staying

25:24

at my grandpa's house. I

25:27

didn't see any more once we returned home.

25:31

Then a few months ago, my

25:33

aunt passed away. At

25:36

the wake, the funeral, the

25:38

cremation, etc. There were

25:41

snakes at all of them. At

25:44

first, they were mostly ash

25:46

or brown, but after

25:48

she died, they were white. At

25:51

the wake for family members, I

25:54

don't know where it came from, but

25:56

a snake coiled around her pillow as

25:58

well. Thinking

26:00

about what she said, I started

26:03

to wonder if maybe she wasn't

26:05

mentally ill, but rather she

26:08

had told the truth. I

26:10

started to think that maybe she really

26:13

had been taken by a snake, and

26:16

I regretted acting so mean when

26:18

she was scared and

26:20

lonely. I

26:23

think she really was possessed by

26:25

a snake. I

26:27

can't talk to anyone in my family about this,

26:30

so that's why I'm riding it here. Some

26:36

local children enjoy the antics of a

26:38

street performer who shows up regularly to

26:40

their park, but when he suddenly

26:42

stops coming one day, they're at a loss.

26:45

Is he okay? What really

26:47

happened? But his

26:49

sudden return makes things even more

26:51

confusing. Find out why in…

26:54

Poko-san. At

27:04

the park near my house, there was

27:06

a street performer by the name of

27:08

Poko-san, who came to visit three times

27:10

a week. His

27:12

face was always white from powder or

27:14

something, his eyebrows were thickly

27:17

painted on, and he looked

27:19

just like a clown who was always grinning.

27:22

Poko-san was a man of many talents.

27:25

One day he might put on a picture story

27:28

show, another day he might do

27:30

juggling, and another day he

27:32

might make animals out of balloons. And

27:36

whenever he came to the park, he

27:38

always blew on his whistle like pong,

27:41

pong, while hitting a small

27:43

drum with his free hand. That's

27:46

why they call me Poko-san, he

27:48

would say. That

27:51

pong, pong, kong sound

27:54

was like a signal to not only

27:57

the neighbourhood children, but even the junior

27:59

high students. residents, and mothers with small

28:01

children, to all gather at the park.

28:05

But then one day, he suddenly

28:07

stopped coming. The

28:09

children who were looking forward to

28:11

seeing him again gathered day after

28:13

day, hoping for Poko-san's arrival. But

28:16

four months passed and there was still

28:18

no sign of him. But

28:21

then, another four months after

28:23

that, finally we could hear

28:25

the sound of his whistle and drum coming

28:27

from the park. All

28:30

the children screamed and ran over. I

28:33

was with my friends and we went over as

28:35

well. In the

28:37

middle of the park, we could hear

28:39

a sound that would be hard to

28:42

describe as either laughter or screaming. When

28:45

we got there, there were around sixteen

28:47

kids sitting in front of Poko-san, but

28:50

for some reason, all the

28:52

mothers with children had already gone. And

28:55

the children who normally screamed

28:58

Poko-san's name were oddly quiet.

29:01

I immediately understood why when

29:03

I saw Poko-san's face. His

29:07

face was painted white, but

29:09

there was red paint coming from his

29:11

eyes and mouth like blood, and

29:14

his hair was white as well. His

29:17

bloodshot eyes remained wide open

29:19

as he blew the whistle and hit the

29:21

drum. I

29:24

thought that this had to be part of

29:26

his act, and my friends looked

29:28

fine as well, so we sat down to

29:30

watch. A

29:32

few minutes later, he started what he had

29:34

prepared for that day, a picture

29:37

story show. Well

29:40

then, let's begin. Today's

29:43

picture story show is… He

29:47

said in his usual cheerful voice,

29:50

but then the children screamed. The

29:54

title of the show was handwritten in

29:56

red. Death of

29:58

a Beloved. And there

30:01

was a photo of an actual corpse with

30:03

it. Not a

30:05

grotesque one, but one dressed in

30:07

burial clothes in a coffin. The

30:10

children screamed so loudly that some

30:13

adults came running over. Hey,

30:16

hey, Pocosan, you can't be

30:18

showing pictures like that, they

30:21

said. But he ignored them

30:23

and continued with his story. He

30:26

turned the page and there was another

30:28

photo, this time of a corpse

30:31

covered in blood. It

30:33

was rather gross. Of

30:35

course, at this, the children got

30:37

up and ran away, and two

30:39

of the adults tried to stop

30:41

Pocosan. Y-you!

30:44

Pocosan screamed,

30:47

and he started hitting them with his drums

30:49

and whistle. Somebody

30:51

called the police and they came and

30:53

arrested him. Apparently

30:56

the contents of the storybook were so

30:58

bad that one of the adults threw

31:00

up, and then one of

31:02

the mothers who helped clean up also

31:04

threw up, and then one of

31:06

the old guys threw up too. I

31:09

later heard that something terrible

31:11

happened to Pocosan's family. According

31:15

to the rumours, his wife was hit

31:17

by a car right in front of him. The

31:21

driver was caught, but I

31:23

guess it was all too much for him and

31:25

he broke down. But

31:27

that wasn't the end of matters. One

31:30

morning, around 5am, I

31:32

heard the sound of a whistle and drums. I

31:36

left the house around 8am to go to

31:38

school, and there was something happening at the

31:40

park. I walked

31:43

over and a section was surrounded

31:45

by vinyl sheets. Apparently

31:48

inside was Pocosan, in

31:51

his usual attire. He

31:54

was no longer alive. Ever

31:57

since then, they say you can still hear the sound of the

31:59

wind. hear the sound of a whistle and drums

32:01

coming from the park, even when

32:04

it's empty. And that

32:06

sound can be heard walking past people's

32:08

houses as well. I've

32:10

heard it numerous times myself, and

32:13

it always sounds so sad.

32:17

Pocosan must have really, really

32:20

loved his wife. But

32:23

all of that was still too

32:25

much. All of

32:27

the children who experienced those bizarre

32:29

events will forever remember what happened

32:31

whenever they see a clown in

32:33

the future as well now. The

32:38

young woman in this next story finds

32:40

her boyfriend's mother to be, well, a

32:42

little strange. Her boyfriend

32:45

always tells her to ignore her, and

32:47

she does, but is

32:49

she right to be cautious of her? Is

32:52

she truly as harmless as her boyfriend

32:54

claims? Find out in… The

32:57

Minor Birds Message. I

33:07

heard this story from a friend. When

33:10

she was in university, she apparently

33:12

dated a guy who was from

33:14

a single mother family. Still,

33:17

they were rather wealthy, and

33:19

lived in an expensive apartment, and

33:21

since it was close to the university, people

33:24

often went there to hang out. My

33:27

friend was one of those people, and

33:29

she sometimes spent the night there too. Still,

33:33

it was his family home, so she

33:35

was a little hesitant. He

33:38

would assure her everything was fine though,

33:40

and about three months

33:42

passed like this. But

33:45

the problem was his mother. She

33:48

was rather young, and she didn't

33:50

seem to work, so she was

33:52

always at home. That wasn't

33:54

really a problem, but she

33:56

was kind of weird. like

34:00

that really exist? She

34:03

was rather friendly and affectionate with

34:05

her son's male friends, even

34:07

if they made a lot of noise when they

34:09

stayed over, but she was

34:12

always cold towards his female friends.

34:15

She was even worse with her son's

34:17

girlfriend, my friend, and

34:19

she showed zero interest in getting to

34:22

know her. Still,

34:24

she didn't think that badly of

34:26

her. Anyone would

34:28

be upset if people kept coming into their

34:31

house after all, so she

34:33

decided to refrain from doing so from

34:35

now on, even if her

34:37

boyfriend asked, and she always

34:39

apologized with a box of cakes. But

34:42

his mother just sneered at her when

34:44

she did, saying stuff like,

34:47

please, don't be so obvious.

34:52

Obvious? She

34:54

didn't know what that even meant, and

34:57

wasn't that a bit weird for a

34:59

fully grown adult in their forties to

35:01

be saying anyway? My

35:03

friend got annoyed and decided to just

35:05

keep doing things as she had always

35:07

done, staying over when

35:10

her boyfriend asked and such. On

35:13

that note, while the mother was clearly

35:15

attached to her son, he

35:18

was her only child after all. Luckily,

35:21

he wasn't exactly a mommy's

35:23

boy. On the

35:25

contrary, he was rather annoyed by

35:27

how she acted. He

35:30

would tell people not to worry about her, she

35:33

was always like that, etc. He

35:36

didn't really want to get involved with her

35:38

weird behaviour. One

35:41

weekend, when my friend was sleeping in her

35:43

boyfriend's room, she woke up needing to go

35:45

to the toilet. She looked

35:48

at her phone, and it was 4.34am. What a strange

35:50

time to wake up, she

35:55

thought, and with a sleepy

35:57

glance at her boyfriend, she went to the

35:59

toilet. As

36:01

she walked down the hall going back towards

36:03

his room, something felt

36:05

odd. When

36:08

she left the room to go to the

36:10

toilet just before, everything had been pitch black,

36:13

but now there was a faint

36:15

orange glow coming from the living room. Is

36:19

his mother awake? She thought,

36:22

feeling nervous. As

36:24

she reached for the doorknob, her heart

36:26

almost skipped a beat. Pea-chan!

36:31

Pea-chan! A

36:34

sudden strange voice in the darkness caught

36:36

her attention, so she stole a

36:38

peek in the living room. It

36:40

turned out the voice came from their

36:42

pet miner bird. The

36:44

bird, who must have been

36:46

Pea-chan, was in a cage by the TV.

36:50

Her boyfriend's mother wasn't in the room.

36:54

She'd never seen a bird cage in

36:56

the living room before, but she did

36:58

vaguely remember her boyfriend talking about pets

37:00

and how his mother had a bird

37:02

in her room once. She

37:05

didn't think much more of it at the time and

37:07

quickly forgot about it. Since

37:10

nobody was around, she walked up to the

37:12

bird and looked closely at it. The

37:16

bird pecked at the cage and chirped, and

37:18

then it spoke again. Pea-chan!

37:22

Good boy! So smart! So

37:26

cool, my friend said

37:28

before she could stop herself. The

37:31

bird was well trained. But

37:34

the next moment, the bird said

37:36

something that shocked her. Mayumi!

37:40

Die! Mayumi! Die!

37:44

Mayumi! Die! Mayumi

37:48

was my friend's name. Her

37:51

eyes widened in shock. Behind

37:54

her, she heard a laugh that was

37:56

mixed in with a loud cough. Turning

37:59

around. it was coming from the

38:01

mother's room. The

38:03

door was closed, but judging by that

38:05

sound, his mother was pressed up

38:08

against the door and listening to her. Was

38:11

she spying on her? The

38:14

coughing sound was unnatural and

38:16

sounded deliberate. It

38:19

sounded obvious. My

38:22

friend grabbed her stuff and ran

38:24

immediately. She waited

38:26

at a convenience store until the first train.

38:30

She was so shocked that her head

38:32

went blank and she messaged her

38:34

boyfriend to break up with him. Of

38:37

course, she cried a lot and she missed

38:39

him, but after what happened

38:41

that night, she said she was

38:43

glad that she broke up with him. She

38:46

was convinced things would never work as

38:49

long as his mother was around. But

38:52

what scared her the most was that while

38:55

my friend was in the toilet, his

38:57

mother had gone to all the trouble of putting

38:59

the bird in the living room and

39:01

turning the light on so she would

39:04

notice it and hear what she

39:06

had taught it to say. Finally

39:11

this week, a young boy's grandfather passes

39:13

away while he's at home alone, but

39:16

it seems that he hasn't fully moved

39:18

on yet. Why? What

39:21

message does he have for those of his

39:23

family still around? Find

39:25

out in... The Changing

39:28

Portrait. My

39:37

grandmother, who lived in the countryside, had

39:39

to go to a big hospital to

39:41

undergo dialysis and get knee surgery, so

39:43

she moved to the city and stayed

39:45

with one of my aunts. My

39:48

grandfather wasn't sick, so he stayed

39:51

back in the countryside to manage

39:53

things. He

39:55

was a fisherman, but it was too difficult to

39:57

go alone, so he ended up losing his life.

40:00

living off their savings and allowance

40:02

the family sent. Aesan,

40:05

a complete stranger, opened

40:08

a restaurant nearby, and he often

40:10

invited my grandfather out for drinks,

40:13

and drove him to the hospital and such when he

40:15

needed it. My grandfather

40:17

always made sure to give him money

40:19

for driving him around. But

40:22

then one day, my grandfather, who

40:24

wasn't sick at all, suddenly

40:27

died. He was

40:29

lying in bed and looked just like he

40:32

was sleeping. My

40:34

relatives said things like, he

40:36

must have died because he was lonely, and

40:40

it's a good thing he didn't suffer. It

40:44

wasn't until several years later that

40:46

I first heard one important detail.

40:49

The person who discovered him was Aesan.

40:53

He was going to take him to the hospital,

40:55

but when he got there he didn't come out,

40:58

so Aesan went into the house and found

41:00

him like that. Then

41:03

he called the hospital and our family. Apparently

41:07

he stayed in the house until relatives

41:09

arrived. Aesan

41:11

was at the funeral, and everyone

41:13

was grateful to him. When

41:15

we were cleaning up Grandpa's house, we

41:18

found some documents that didn't seem

41:20

like things he would have, and

41:23

his wallet was gone too. You

41:25

see, my grandfather was the

41:27

type of person who didn't

41:29

like insurance, deductions,

41:32

anything where you got money back. He

41:35

said he didn't really understand it, and it

41:38

was all too much of a hassle. My

41:42

mother and everyone were surprised, but they

41:44

thought that maybe someone finally walked him

41:47

through it all. As

41:49

for his wallet, we went through his

41:51

closets, under the tatami, checked

41:54

his dresses and so on, but

41:56

we couldn't find it anywhere, although

41:58

we did find his wallet. bank book. Maybe

42:03

he took it with him to the other

42:05

side, we thought. But then

42:07

we got a call from the owner of a

42:09

bar he often went to. She

42:12

wanted to talk about Asan. Apparently

42:16

he had gone over insurance and such

42:18

with my grandfather at the bar, but

42:21

then he threatened him, telling

42:23

him that because he had helped him out,

42:26

now he had to help him too. Apparently

42:29

he made my grandpa pay him 5000 yen

42:32

each time they went to the bar for

42:34

travelling expenses, and

42:37

he made him pay for all the drinks as well.

42:41

The owner told my grandfather to

42:43

stop hanging out with Asan, but

42:45

he laughed and said that he felt bad

42:48

for him. When

42:50

my mother mentioned his wallet, the bar

42:52

owner said that Asan must have taken

42:54

it. He was

42:57

in the house for half a

42:59

day before any relatives arrived, after

43:01

all. Hearing

43:03

that, my mother got angry and then

43:05

called Asan. He

43:08

played it off, but everyone in

43:10

the family was upset. As

43:13

is usual with these types of stories,

43:16

it was soon after that that something

43:18

strange happened. Grandpa's

43:21

boat washed up behind

43:23

Asan's restaurant, and his

43:26

portrait by the altar started

43:28

to look more and more distorted every time

43:30

I looked at it. The

43:33

bar owner said that she saw my

43:35

grandfather crying inside the bar when it

43:37

was closed, and his

43:40

grave was often overgrown with

43:42

weeds. The flowers

43:44

on his altar also withered quickly

43:46

as well. And

43:48

then, perhaps the biggest thing of

43:51

all, Asan went

43:53

mad and killed himself. When

43:56

I saw Grandpa's photo changing, I got

43:59

scared and cried. Grandpa,

44:03

don't look at me like that. Grandpa!

44:07

I cried, and then the

44:09

house shook with a bang. I

44:12

thought it was an earthquake, but I

44:14

was the only one who noticed it. And

44:17

when I looked at the picture again, his

44:20

face looked gentle and kind.

44:24

I loved my grandfather a lot, so I

44:27

didn't want to leave his altar. Or

44:29

rather, I felt like I couldn't, so

44:31

I stayed there all the time. I

44:35

don't remember much after that, so my mother

44:37

told me what happened. I

44:39

was sitting in front of the altar when

44:42

suddenly I stood up, turned

44:44

a calendar over, and started

44:46

writing on the back. I

44:48

then handed it to her. I'm

44:52

sorry for scaring my name. Please

44:56

apologize for me, it said. Then

44:59

I went outside. Worried,

45:02

my mother followed me, and she

45:04

said that as I walked, I

45:07

looked just like I did when I walked

45:09

with my grandfather when I was a child,

45:11

holding his hand. She

45:14

thought I was going to be taken away,

45:16

so she rushed to stop me, but

45:18

then I stopped and fell to the ground. Nothing

45:23

has happened to me since then. The

45:25

picture hasn't changed, and after

45:28

Asan's death, the flowers haven't

45:30

withered again either. But

45:33

apparently there was more I wrote on the

45:35

calendar that my mother wouldn't tell me about

45:38

or show me, although my

45:40

younger sister eventually did. Apparently

45:43

it was messages for my

45:46

grandmother, my grandfather's

45:48

children, and then us grandchildren

45:51

too. Don't

45:55

forget to check out Co-opana Vol 13, out

45:58

on Amazon right now. and check

46:00

out our newly revamped merchandise store at

46:03

koabana.store. And if you'd like

46:05

to chat about this week's stories, come and join

46:07

us in the Koabana Discord. You can

46:09

find that link in the description or

46:11

on koabana.net. You can

46:13

also check out our Patreon at

46:16

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46:18

exclusive bonus stories and

46:21

extras or

46:23

our YouTube channel at

46:25

youtube.com/koabana japan. For all

46:28

sorts of Japanese horror you won't find anywhere

46:30

else. Thanks guys, stay

46:33

safe and I'll see you again next

46:35

time for even more Koabana. True

46:38

Japanese scary stories from around

46:40

the internet. Want

46:43

even more scary stories? Head

46:46

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46:48

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46:51

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