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Japan may be known as the Land of the Rising Sun, but it still has its fair share of horror hiding in the shadows
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In this video, we'll be exploring some of the most unsettling urban legends and ghost stories that get shared around after sundown
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Several of these entries are first or second hand accounts, while others are overviews of folkloric creatures and rituals
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They were all found on the Japanese website 2chan and were translated into English by my fellow youtube Phantasmal Wretched
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If there are other Japanese legends you'd like me to cover or even legends from a different country
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Let me know which in the comment section
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Now without further ado... Ikimasho!
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This is an allegedly true story that happened to my friend in Japan
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He told me this story a long time ago, and the exact location escapes my mind,
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but he relayed this story to me with so much conviction that I can't help but believe he was telling me the truth
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What I do know is this incident definitely resulted in two deaths, and he himself had to be questioned by police over and over
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It all happened when my friend and six of his co-workers at his part-time job were driving in the Chugoku region,
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the westernmost region of Japan's main island, Honshu
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They were driving out to see a suspension bridge
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The seven of them were split up into two cars
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My friend was the driver of the second car and had four passengers with him in
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In the first car, which was driving ahead of them, were the manager and a couple
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Although they set off in the morning, due to the many stops they had to make along the way,
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the sun was already setting by the time they made it to the bridge
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The suspension bridge ran across a very deep valley in the middle of a mountain
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As they approached it the sky began to drizzle and fog began swirling around them
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There was an open space just in front of the bridge
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If the weather had been good
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they would have just parked their cars there and crossed the bridge by foot then they would have come back
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The other side of the bridge was a dead end and the structure had simply been left there for sightseeing purposes
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The moment the first car reached the open space, however, it came to an abrupt stop
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Seeing this my friend hit the brakes and the second car came to a screeching halt about ten meters behind the first
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"What are they doing?" my friend asked his co-workers in the second car
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They had no clue as to why the manager had stopped...
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For some time those in the second car just sat there looking on
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A few minutes passed, and the first car made no attempt to move, so my friend reached for his door handle
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He was going to hop out and see what was going on
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Right at the same time, the couple who were in the back seat of the first car suddenly jumped out in unison
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Something wasn't right about their expressions
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Alarmed, my friend too got out of his car and tried to walk over to them and ask what had happened...
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but the couple, with their hands joined,
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started sprinting
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and in a flash they climbed over the guardrail at the edge of the open space and threw themselves over the other side
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down into the valley...
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The four of them in the second car were completely astounded
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They all rushed to the guardrail and looked down into the valley below
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but because of all the fog they couldn't see anything at the bottom
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None of them could believe what had just happened and they all stood there in a daze
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Soon they remembered that the manager was still in the car and they rushed to check on him
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The manager was still sat in the driver's seat, his hands grasping the steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles were white
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Under his breath he kept muttering the same phrase over and over...
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"Mustn't go, mustn't go, mustn't go"
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He wouldn't respond to them. There was nothing else they could do but call the police
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The authorities soon arrived on the scene and the delirious manager was taken away in an ambulance
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As you can imagine the couple who jumped over the side of the mountain were later found dead at the bottom
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the rest of the group had to endure a seemingly endless interrogation by the police
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In the end, with no evidence of foul play and nothing to go on,
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the police concluded that the pair had simply decided to end their lives together
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My friend later paid a visit to the manager at the hospital. Fortunately he seemed to be back to normal
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He asked him what happened that day at the suspension bridge. Why did he stop the car so suddenly?
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The manager told him that as they drew near the bridge a girl dressed in an old fashioned kimono
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appeared out of the fog in front of their vehicle...
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The startled manager immediately hit the brakes
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the girl wore her hair short and was dressed like somebody from a historical drama, or maybe even someone from the meiji period
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Of course this creeped him out and he wondered if maybe she needed help
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but before he could react he noticed that his car was now surrounded
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by a whole group of children, all dressed in a similar fashion to the girl...
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Being a superstitious man, the manager sensed that he was in danger and quickly began chanting a mantra
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According to him the children who surrounded the car all joined their hands together and started singing
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"Kagome, Kagome... the bird in the cage"
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At the same time the manager heard the children's voices in his head saying
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Come with us!
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Come with us!
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The manager gripped the steering wheel and began chanting "mustn't go!"
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"mustn't go!"
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Next thing he knew the couple in the back seat behind him flew out of the car joined their hands with the children and
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together they all started running towards the guardrails
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"Of course the police didn't believe my story," the manager told my friend
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"Well, I'm not even sure I believe it myself."
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"You don't have to believe my managers experience," my friend told me
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"But one thing's for certain..."
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"That was indeed how that couple died, and I for one do believe him."
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An interesting thing to point out is about the song 'Kagome' that the children were allegedly singing
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Kagome is a children's game in which a group of children hold hands and walk in a circle around another child in the center
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While doing so they chant the Kagome song
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Everyone in Japan knows it
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When the song stops the child in the middle tries to name the person standing directly behind them
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the song itself has been a subject of much interest due to its mysterious lyrics and ominous tune
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and several disturbing theories exist about it
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One theory states that in olden times it wasn't uncommon for poor families to sell their children in order to survive
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According to the theory they would use the Kagome game as a type of ritual to decide which child should be sold
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At the end when the players finished singing the line 'who stands behind you now'
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whichever child stood behind the person at the center would be the one to go
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Since this was considered the will of the gods nobody could dispute the decision
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I'm not sure how well-known this one is but it's one that's always tickled my fancy
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The bath game, sometimes known as daruma-san, is a game that dates back a long way
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The game itself carries with it huge risk, but also the potential for huge reward
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According to legend, by conducting a simple ritual you can summon an entity known as daruma-san who will play a game of cat-and-mouse with you
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The reward for winning is that you'll be blessed with amazing fortune
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This one's not for the light hearted amongst you though
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as a lot of bad things can happen to you if you decide to play the game
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including death
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Here are the rules:
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To play, you'll need a bathroom with a bathtub
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Only one person can play this game at a time, but don't worry... You won't really be playing alone
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Step 1: wait until night time, just before bed
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Step 2: fill up your bath with water and turn off all the lights
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Step 3: take off your clothes and get into the bath. Make sure your body is facing the faucet
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Step 4: close your eyes and begin to wash your hair
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Step 5: as you wash your hair repeat the phrase
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"Daruma san fell down. Daruma san fell down"
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Make sure to keep repeating this the whole time you wash
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Under no circumstances should you open your eyes...
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Step 6: if everything's gone according to plan your head will be filled with the mental image of a woman standing in the bathtub
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In this mental image she'll slip and fall face-first onto the tap, gouging out her right eye
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She'll die in the process
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Step seven: if after this mental image you feel a presence in the water behind you
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do not turn around or open your eyes
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Instead, ask aloud "Why did you fall?"
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Step 8: there'll be no answer to your question. Just let it linger in the air for a moment
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Then, with your eyes still firmly shut, step out of the bath and dry yourself off
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This can be dangerous, so be careful not to slip as you get out
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Step 9: you can now open your eyes
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Head to your bedroom. It's time for bed
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Do not turn on the bathroom lights. Do not drain the bath water until morning
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Do not re-enter the bathroom after you leave and make sure to close the door behind you
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Step 10: go to sleep
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The ritual is now complete
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As soon as you wake up in the morning the game will begin
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The ghostly figure of daruma-san will follow you all day
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You can tell who she is by her stained white clothes, her long black hair, and the fact that she's missing her right eye
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Her left one is open and bloodshot
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Throughout the day you'll occasionally feel her presence creeping up behind you. When you do, quickly look over your right shoulder
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When you turn to look you probably won't see her
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As the day goes on though, she'll get closer and closer
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Do not let her touch you
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If you sense that she's getting too close, shout "Tomare!" Meaning "stop!"
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Shout this while swinging your arm in a chopping motion
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Then... run. You've just stalled her and bought yourself some time. Put as much distance between you and her as possible
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Use this Tomare command sparingly though. It'll become less effective with every use, so only say it when you really feel the need to
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The game will only end when you manage to catch a glimpse of Daruma over your right shoulder
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When you finally do see her, immediately shout "Kita!" meaning "I cut you loose!"
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say this while swinging your arm like before
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If you manage to do that before midnight
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congratulations, you've won the bath game, and good fortune should be yours... for a time at least
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Should you fail to spot her by midnight and cut her loose though, then I'm afraid you've lost the bath camera
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Daruma will never stop following you
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You can run as much as you like, but she'll always be close behind, and
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eventually you'll need to sleep, giving her the opportunity to catch you either in person or in your dreams
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When she catches you, well, that's the end...
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Don't try to play this game more than once
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On the second playthrough she'll start at the same distance
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you caught sight of her last time, and you won't have enough time in the morning to get away
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My old high school was ancient, around a hundred and twenty years old
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It had had so many renovations in the past that its layout was a total mess
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Even though it was a one-story building it had a staircase that led up from one end of the corridor to the ceiling, and inaccessible doors embedded into the walls for reasons lost the time...
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The oddest of all of these incongruencies though was the watch cabin
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From the outside it looked like a normal country house
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Inside was a sleeping area big enough to fit 8 tatami mats, an old-style telephone, and a small kitchen area
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I never knew why it was known as the watch cabin though, until the night of this incident...
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My home was far from my school, so I'd sometimes stay overnight at a friend's house who lived more locally
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One day though, I couldn't find anyone who could let me sleep over at their place
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So I decided to spend the night in the disused watch cabin
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Another person (a friend of mine) was going to stay there with me
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We were in high spirits as we spread our futons on the floor, feeling like we were on a mini school field trip or something
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We were talking and eating our dinner when,
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unexpectedly, the old telephone started ringing
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It made us both jump
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Nobody was supposed to know we were here
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I picked up the receiver
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On the other end of the line was a school janitor
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He was checking in on us
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He said he was worried because we were staying at the watch cabin by ourselves
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How he knew we were staying there was beyond us
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Whichever janitor it was he must have seen us sneak in or something
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He told us not to mess around too much and so on, the usual spiel
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Just as I was about to hang up the phone he says "oh,"
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"one last thing. Make sure to close the curtains on the west side of the cabin. You got that?"
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Without thinking too much I said "sure" and hung up the old phone
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When I thought about his words in more detail, however, they didn't make much sense to me
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I didn't remember there being anything notable on the west side
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"What's he talking about?" we asked each other as my friend and I looked out the west side window
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What we saw there was a sinister looking old well encircled by a hemp rope, like the kind you might see at a shrine
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Now up until that moment neither of us had ever noticed it because it was hidden away in a secluded spot,
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wedged in-between the school building and the cabin
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I felt a shiver run along my spine as soon as I laid eyes on it
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"I don't know what it is about that well, but it's kind of creepy, isn't it?" I said to my friend
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She agreed with me
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We went to bed after rearranging our futon so they were side-by-side,
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making sure they were closer now than before,
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both of us feeling a little unsettled
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I fell asleep quickly
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I don't know how long I was asleep for but I awoke with chills around my shoulders
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I looked around and noticed my friend was missing
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The cabin itself didn't have a toilet, so I assumed she had gone to the teachers boarding house to do her business
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I waited and waited, but she still hadn't returned
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I opened the door and looked outside but there was no sign of her. I felt uneasy as I went back inside
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Without thinking I opened the curtains on the west side of the cabin
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There,
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outside, I could see my friend standing in only her underwear beside the old well
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Her hands were groped around her waist
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It looked as though she was trying to pee
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At first I felt a little shocked, but then closed the curtains and tried to go back to sleep
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Still, I felt that something was off about the way she was moving
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I stood up opened the curtains again and looked out
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I almost screamed when I realized what she was actually doing
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She wasn't groping her waist. She was trying to tie a rope around it. I just watched on in complete disbelief
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When she had finished tying the rope around her waist
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she bent down and began tying the other end to a large stone by her feet
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I became so scared I couldn't utter a single word. Couldn't move!
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The next thing I saw was a pale white hand come slithering out of the well
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At first the hand was moving as if it was searching for something, and then stopped as it found the rope on the ground
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My friend stood there with her head bent down, almost like she was in a trance, still and unresponsive
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The white hands slowly began to tug on the rope
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attempting to pull the stone into the well... to drag my friend down into it!
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I was paralyzed with fear
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It was then that my ears were filled with a shrill ringing which pierced the silence
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It was the old telephone
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Immediately I came to my senses and felt my body become lighter
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before I knew it I was out of the door and running for the well
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I grabbed ahold of my zombified friend and dragged her back inside the cabin, shouting her name over and over
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She soon regained her senses - and began sobbing heavily
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Relief washed over me and I began sobbing with her
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We both knew we needed help so I grabbed the old telephone and