Works Referenced

This work uses many preexisting true ghost stories and pieces of net lore as its motif. In particular, this section will note those which have been used directly. This will touch on the content of the main book, so if you are concerned about spoilers, please tread carefully.

File 12: The Matter of That Farm

For the entry on “Yama no Bokujou” [The Farm in the Mountains], please refer to the section on File 11.

There are a number of other reports that revolve around strange farming facilities in the mountains. Though I have not used them directly, I do want to touch on them as a source of inspiration.

One is “Sankan no Machi” [The Town in the Mountains] included in Toshiki Agatsuma’s Kikimimizoushi Juso [Strange Tales: Curses] (Takeshobo, 2015). It’s about encountering a herd of cows with frightening faces at an uninhabited village in the mountains. The wife of the narrator, who is riding in the car with him, says that the cows’ faces look like the face of her boss.

The other is not from a written work, but a movie. It is “Neko Bokujou” [Cat Farm] included in Korekutaa: Suzaku Monde [Collector: Red Sparrow Departure] (Rakusosha, 2014). While driving through the mountains of Hokkaido, the narrator enters a ghost town, and in the barn of a farm there they find a man who crawls around on all-fours and is too large to be human, and witnesses a cat gazing down on them from the roof. The narrator’s girlfriend, who was in the car with him, says “That was no cat. It was a demon...”

These similar stories share important elements of their composition, but the details are so bizarre and different as to defy simple explanation.

The Kudan, a cow with the face of a person, is a story told in many places in western Japan, while the Cow Woman, a person with the face of a cow, has been repeatedly sighted around Mount Rokko. The first to link these two creatures was likely Gendai Hyaku Monogatari Shinmimibukuro Daiichiya [Modern-day 100 Stories, Shinmimibukuro, The First Night] (Hirokatsu Kihara/Ichirou Nakayama, Media Factory, 1998/Kadokawa Bunko, 2002). In this work, there may seem to be no distinction made between the Kudan and the Cow Woman, but this is because the narrator, Sorawo, is telling the tale with the assumption that the two are connected.

Despite being big names, the Kudan and Cow Woman are not common fixtures in net lore. One of the few exceptions appeared on the 2channel message board’s Occult/Paranormal Phenomena Board in “<<Yama ni Matsuwaru Kowai Hanashi Part 4<<<” [<<Scary Stories Involving Mountains Part 4<<<], posts 311-313 (11/28/2003) which include three stories of the Kudan by user Raimei Ichigou that he gathered in the Chugoku region. It’s fascinating to know that the Kudan is not necessarily a cow with the face of a person; other animals with human faces can also be called Kudan.

File 13: Pandora in the Next Room

The famous net lore story “Pandora[Kinkisaki]” was posted to “Kowai Hanashi Toukou: Horaa Teraa” [Scary Story Submissions: Horror Teller] (11/02/2009). One month later, details of the ceremony performed in that story were posted on the same board (17/03/2009). This work borrows depictions from these two posts.

The portrayal of the neighbor opening the door with a strange hand is borrowed from the previously mentioned Gendai Hyaku Monogatari Shinmimibukuro Daiichiya’s 48th story, “Tonari no Onna” [The Woman Next Door].

File 14: The Inviting Hot Springs

The mannequins that appeared at the hot springs in were inspired by the story “Manekin” [Mannequin] which was posted to the 2channel message board’s Occult/Paranormal Phenomena Board in “Shinu Hodo Share ni Naranai Kowai Hanashi wo Atsumete Minai?” [Do You Want to Gather Ridiculously Scary Stories?] thread 10, posts 412-424. It is a memorable story from the early days of that series of threads which tells the story of a group of friends who share a horrifying experience. Despite there being no paranormal phenomena involved, it still manages to be unsettling.

File 15: Overnight on the Otherside

The direct inspiration for the Red Person came from the “red, human-shaped thing” that appears at the door in “Houmonsha” [The Visitor], included in the collection Gendai Hyaku Monogatari Shinmimibukuro Dairokuya [Modern-day 100 Stories, Shinmimibukuro, The Sixth Night] (Hirokatsu Kihara/Ichirou Nakayama, Media Factory, 2001/Kadokawa Bunko, 2004). This story reports the sighting of a big, red person, standing over two meters tall, that rings the doorbell, and peers into the house through the decorative glass above the door. It is said to have taken place in the city of Higashimurayama.

In addition, on the 2channel message board’s Occult/Paranormal Phenomena Board in the thread “Akai Hito ga Uchi ni Kita Koto ga Aru Hito Imasu?” [Anyone Ever Have a Red Person Come to Their House?] (07/05/2015) several people in addition to the thread starter wrote about having had the same experience.

The scene where Sorawo goes to a strange and different version of her elementary school uses images from posts 804 and 815 of the thread “Kodomo no Koro no Hen na Kioku Sono 14” [Strange Memories from Your Childhood #14] on the 2channel message board’s Occult/Paranormal Phenomena Board. I am personally quite fond of this story, and am pleased to have finally been able to feature it here in the fourth volume. The title given to this story on aggregator sites, “Urasekai” [The Otherside], comes from the poster remembering the other world that appears in Dragon Quest 3, which they were playing at the time, and blurting out “I’ve ended up on the Otherside!” (The other world in the game is officially referred to as The World of Darkness, but I can understand why someone might want to call it the Otherside. That is because when I was a child, we talked a lot about “Uramen” [Secret Levels] and “Ura Suteeji” [Secret Stages] that could be reached by using secret techniques.)

I know I always say this, but I would like to give my thanks to the people who reported the many other true ghost stories and net lore from which I have taken direct or indirect influence.

Thank you for your continued enjoyment and for being frightened. I hope this book can repay my gratitude in some small way.