Thirteen Bodies
I heard this scary story from my old P.E teacher at primary school.
It happened in a small village in Gifu*1. Because of its small population, the houses were few and far between. There was at least one hundred metres between each house.
A traveller came to this village on one snowy day and went into a seemingly empty house hoping to get some rest there. But he found an old woman inside.
The old woman led him to the second floor of the house, but when he got there she had disappeared. There was nothing he could do but go back downstairs. He felt a bit spooked and tried to leave the house when he saw the same old woman standing in the middle of the tatami*2 room with a scythe in her hand.
Quickly he ran to the front door to escape but somehow it wouldn't open. While he was busy trying to find another door the old woman came and grabbed him by the arm. Because of the darkness he didn't realize it before, but now they were close, she didn't look like she was a living person, with her rotting skin.
The old woman said,
"Listen! Under this house lie thirteen bodies. Give them peace! If not, I will kill you."
He lost consciousness after hearing these words.
He didn't know how much time had elapsed. When he woke up he thought he had just dreamed the whole thing and was about to go, when he saw a stain in the middle of the tatami room (it was where the old woman was standing before). He removed the tatami with the stain and found human skeletons neatly arranged underneath.
A closer look revealed that there were fourteen bodies there. The fourteenth one must have belonged to the old woman.
The terrified traveller rushed outside, and having told some villagers of what had happened, brought them back to the empty house. They saw the skeltons; there were exactly thirteen bodies underneath the stained tatami. Strangely, the old woman's body was not there anymore.
What happened after that was that they pulled down the house and built a shrine instead, inside which the stained tatami was placed, so that people could offer prayers to the dead. Today some kind of a stone monument or a jizo*3 stands in place of the shrine.
The traveller and the villagers who discovered the dead bodies died successively soon after the incident.
The P.E teacher who told me this story said he was from the same village. I can't remember the exact name of the village as it was such a long time ago when I heard it. I'm sorry.
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Notes:
*1 -Gifu prefecture is located in the middle of Honshu Island. See wikipedia.
*2 - tatami is a floor covering made of tightly woven grass and straw. The picture at the top shows a tatami room.
*3 - jizo is a deity popular in Japan; a protector of children and travellers;a saviour of souls suffering in the underworld. Its statues are commonly seen by roadsides and cemetries.
It happened in a small village in Gifu*1. Because of its small population, the houses were few and far between. There was at least one hundred metres between each house.
A traveller came to this village on one snowy day and went into a seemingly empty house hoping to get some rest there. But he found an old woman inside.
The old woman led him to the second floor of the house, but when he got there she had disappeared. There was nothing he could do but go back downstairs. He felt a bit spooked and tried to leave the house when he saw the same old woman standing in the middle of the tatami*2 room with a scythe in her hand.
Quickly he ran to the front door to escape but somehow it wouldn't open. While he was busy trying to find another door the old woman came and grabbed him by the arm. Because of the darkness he didn't realize it before, but now they were close, she didn't look like she was a living person, with her rotting skin.
The old woman said,
"Listen! Under this house lie thirteen bodies. Give them peace! If not, I will kill you."
He lost consciousness after hearing these words.
He didn't know how much time had elapsed. When he woke up he thought he had just dreamed the whole thing and was about to go, when he saw a stain in the middle of the tatami room (it was where the old woman was standing before). He removed the tatami with the stain and found human skeletons neatly arranged underneath.
A closer look revealed that there were fourteen bodies there. The fourteenth one must have belonged to the old woman.
The terrified traveller rushed outside, and having told some villagers of what had happened, brought them back to the empty house. They saw the skeltons; there were exactly thirteen bodies underneath the stained tatami. Strangely, the old woman's body was not there anymore.
What happened after that was that they pulled down the house and built a shrine instead, inside which the stained tatami was placed, so that people could offer prayers to the dead. Today some kind of a stone monument or a jizo*3 stands in place of the shrine.
The traveller and the villagers who discovered the dead bodies died successively soon after the incident.
The P.E teacher who told me this story said he was from the same village. I can't remember the exact name of the village as it was such a long time ago when I heard it. I'm sorry.
-----------------------------------------
Notes:
*1 -Gifu prefecture is located in the middle of Honshu Island. See wikipedia.
*2 - tatami is a floor covering made of tightly woven grass and straw. The picture at the top shows a tatami room.
*3 - jizo is a deity popular in Japan; a protector of children and travellers;a saviour of souls suffering in the underworld. Its statues are commonly seen by roadsides and cemetries.
