Works Referenced

For the scientific explanation of fear, I referenced the following two volumes. However, any errors included in this book are solely my own responsibility.

Nobuyuki Kawai/Naoyuki Uchimura, Kowai no Ninchi Kagaku [The Cognitive Science of Scary], Shin-yo-sha Publishing, 2016 - Kazuhisa Todayama

Kyoufu no Tetsugaku Horaa de Ningen wo Yomu [The Philosophy of Fear: Reading Humans Through Horror], NHK Publishing, 2016

In addition, this work uses many preexisting true ghost stories and pieces of net lore. Of those, I would like to write about a few that most influenced the story. This touches on the content of the main book, so if you are concerned about spoilers, please be careful.

■File 1: Kunekune Hunting

The nonsense Sorawo babbles uses pieces of net lore about the Kunekune mixed together. (Kozakura’s nonsense in File 4 is the same) The text quoted came from 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 6, post 212, “Wakaranai Hou ga Ii” [It’s Better to Not Understand] (7/7/2001), thread 31 of the same, posts 756, 759, 761, 762, 763, and 764, “Kunekune” (3/29/2003), and thread 44 of the same, posts 122, 123, 124, 126, and 127, “Shiroi Kunekune” [White Kunekune] (7/9/2003).

The method of using an elevator to go to the other world is based on net lore, but the method appearing in this work differs from the original. This is famous as a 2channel copypasta, but the source is likely not 2channel. (*1) The oldest record of someone having arrived there comes from the Moebius Link message board’s ETC category, the Horror message board, “Nazo no Ooi Kiken na Asobi Kenkyuu Iinkai” [The Committee for Studying Highly Mysterious and Dangerous Ways of Playing Around] number 1316, (2/12/2008). “It’s the most dangerous method, and a very dangerous way to play around.” “If you go, I hear there’s no way back...” It was written like it was second hand information, but I was unable to find any older records on the internet. If it was not an original creation of the poster, there may be an older source in a book or something.

One ghost story that may have had an influence here is “Ikai he no Tobira” (The Door to Another World). This story, which was told in “Shinu Hodo Share ni Naranai Kowai Hanashi wo Atsumete Minai?” [Do You Want to Gather Ridiculously Scary Stories?] thread 87, posts 565, 566, 567, 568, and 569 (6/11/2004), featured an account of going to another world through an apartment building’s elevator, and it occasionally comes up in discussions together with, “Isekai ni Iku Houhou” [Ways to go to Another World].

*1: On some summary pages for “The Time-space Man,” the 2channel message board Occult/Paranormal Phenomena board’s “Jikuu no Ossan” [The Time-space Man] thread, post 43 (3/12/2006) is given as the source, but this is a mistake, and the content of it is completely different.

*2: The other ghost stories mentioned here are from reports of people’s experiences written as “true ghost stories,” but “Isekai ni Iku Houhou” is told of in rumors while being of unclear origin, it is an “urban legend.”

■File 2: Hasshaku-sama Survival

There is no direct quotations used, but “Hasshaku-sama” originated in “Shinu Hodo Share ni Naranai Kowai Hanashi wo Atsumete Minai?” [Do You Want to Gather Ridiculously Scary Stories?] thread 196, posts 908, 909, 910, 911, 913, 914, 915, and 916 (8/26/2008). There are two threads of the same name, so be aware of this if you go looking for the original.

The Compass Men that Sorawo is reminded of when seeing Hassahku-sama’s other form are based on a story included in Gendai Hyaku Monogatari Shinmimibukuro Dainiya [Modern-day 100 Stories, Shinmimibukuro, The Second Night] (Hirokatsu Kihara/Ichirou Nakayama, Media Factory, 1998), Story 78, “Ame no Naka ni Hikaru Mono” [The Thing that Shone in the Rain]. The source for “upside down torii gates that travel the mountain late at night” was from FKB Kaidan Goshoku [FKB Five Colors of Ghost Story] (Shirou Kuro/Izuku Suzakumon/Tasuku Ikei/Kuroki Aruji/Ranzo Tsukune, Takeshobo Bunko, 2013) in the story “Kobuzuka” by Izuku Suzakumon.

When this story first appeared in SF Magajin, I was unable to remember the later source, and wrote “flying torii gates that were seen by several witnesses in the mountains of Kyoto.” After publication I found this source, and was surprised that it resembled elements of “Ame no Naka ni Hikaru Mono” [The Thing that Shone in the Rain] more than I thought. Seeing the strange similarities in different storytellers’ accounts of their experiences is one of the joys of digging through true ghost stories, but I don’t know why I didn’t realize it when I first read “Kobuzuka,” and am confused as to why I remembered them as flying. Incidentally, there are separate sightings of “flying torii,” and if you search online you will find photographs, but I was not actually aware of this at the time File 2 was written. Furthermore, the true identity of this flying torii has been identified as a hanging sound sculpture along the Kumano Kodou pilgrimage route. (In other words, it actually exists.)

■File 3: Station February

The first appearance of Kisaragi Station was on the 2channel message board’s Occult/Paranormal Phenomena Board in “Mi no Mawari de Hen na Koto ga Okottara Jikkyou Suru Sure” [The If Something Weird Happens Around You, Report it Live Here Thread] thread 26, posts 98 through 635 (1/8/2004 and 1/9/2004).

Also, the scene inside the train at the end is based on “Shinu Hodo Share ni Naranai Kowai Hanashi wo Atsumete Minai?” [Do You Want to Gather Ridiculously Scary Stories?] posts 9, 12, and 13, “Enmu” [Monkey Dream] (8/2/2000). The bizarre words in this work also use partial quotations from these two stories, including comments made by other posters in the thread as the storyteller was posting.

■File 4: Time, Space, and a Middle-aged Man

The collection of net lore which would come to be referred to as “Jikuu no Ossan” [The Time-space Man] first appeared in “Shinu Hodo Share ni Naranai Kowai Hanashi wo Atsumete Minai?” [Do You Want to Gather Ridiculously Scary Stories?] thread 104, posts 280, 281, 282, 283, 284, and 288, “Jikuu no Bannin” [The Watcher of Time-space] When this story was written, commenters in the thread said, “I’ve seen a story like this somewhere before.” That was “Shinu Hodo Share ni Naranai Kowai Hanashi wo Atsumete Minai?” [Do You Want to Gather Ridiculously Scary Stories?] thread 92, posts 65and 66, “Jikuu no Zure?” [A Time-space Dislocation?] (2/6/2005). It was after this that the number of narrators saying, “I had a similar experience,” increased. Information on the Time-space Man is collected on summary sites, but the majority of these take copypastas as their authority. These two are the original source.

The scene where multiple suspicious middle-aged women visit the home takes its image from Miyoko Kudou’s Nichinichi Kore Kaidan [Every Day is a Ghost Story] (Chuou Kouronsha, 1997), “Chaimu ga Natta” [The Bell Rang] and other similar stories I saw online.

There are other true ghost stories and net lore from which I have taken indirect influence. Because I do not wish to spoil the reader’s interest by dissecting the author, and, more importantly, because even I do not know all of my influences, I will refrain from listing more, but let me say my thanks to all of their creators. Thank you very much. This book is my small way of returning the favor for the fear you have always inspired in me.