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Good Evening Lunies. Welcome to the first part of a modified version of a hyakumonogatari kaidankai, or "100 Ghost Story Game"--though the literal translation is "a gathering of 100 weird tales" (1). An old japanese parlor game, this game includes a gathering of people who all tell 100 spooky, ghosty, or just weird stories, and extinguish one of the 100 candles in the room, progressively making the room darker until the end. Its said the game was an evocation for evil spirits, or something just waiting in a dark room to get you. A test of courage, a spooky way to waste time, or even a ritual to call things that shouldn't be called. Whatever you feel the game is or does, it doesn't change the fact it certainly seems like the perfect game to play for this month.
Decon, Choco, and I, along with a guest author, will each bring a tale, 4 in total per part, for a total round of 4 (because 25 stories per person is more than daunting and we got other fun things to share, and because japan-number 4-perfect number or no??), bringing you a grand total of 16 stories. Some are true. Some may not be. Some are told by the mouth and type, others are felt and experienced. We hope to share with you some neat stories for you to tell when the nights grow cold, and the leaves start to fall and that supernatural air begins to chill us all. Join us.
Choco
A Growl from the Wood
I had just finished a loop on one of my favorite trails. It's been a bit since I've been on it, n' I had finally a bit of time for myself to walk it. The last part of the loop takes me on a concrete portion of the trail, a portion in which you'd normally have park trucks come on through to handle their own specific business. One part of it passes over a small creek (which is largely dried up, due to the heat), a creek which is parallel to another trail. You're flanked on both sides by shrubbery of some kind, more so on the left of your person than the right. As I was walking, I felt something something heavy on my left side. It felt as if someone was leaning on me. I stop and turn to my left. I don't see anything there, but I hear soft, heavy footfalls in the brush. Outside of a single branch being weighed down by a bird that decided to perch on, there was nothing there. As I peered into the brush, the bird flew away...and I heard a low, steady growl.
The brush did not move.
I kept my eyes on the brush as I moved further down the trail. It felt heavier as I did.
There was a small gap in the brush, which led to a picnic area. I began to approach as the feeling got heavier and heavier. Before I actually stepped through the threshold of the gap, I saw a man sitting on one of the park benches, hands underneath his chin. I didn't see his face, as it was obscured by the brush.
I said “Sorry” under my breath and walked away. No movement, no response. I know I made noise as I came and went, but he made no response.
Maybe he was just asleep.
And the feeling that I felt? Perhaps it was nothing as well.
Decon
Crimson Churchyard
(A short piece based on a local legend around the village of Bovingdon, Hertfordshire, which states that the grounds of St. Lawrence Church were desecrated by blood, leading to the dead burried there to grow restless and vengeful)
Moving back to Bovingdon wasn’t a choice Janice had made lightly, but it was certainly the right one. The combined stresses of long days at University, difficulties finding work, and drama within her interpersonal relationships was starting to take it’s toll- frankly, coming back home for a Funeral seemed downright cheery in comparison as far as she was concerned.
Such was her current emotional state that even the news her father had passed away was less of a life-changing tragedy, and more of a great weight being lifted from her shoulders. He wasn’t a particularly nice fellow- he liked the drink, but the drink didn’t like him- and she figured most everyone at the service was either there to escape something else like her, or there as a formality. And even then, the turnout was hardly grand.
Still, she didn’t want to let her resentment fester. The man was dead and gone, after all; better to put the toxic feelings in the ground with him. Why she chose to do this at 11 o’clock at night, smack dab in the middle of a cold October, even she didn’t know. She just knew she couldn’t sleep, and anything was better then staring blankly at the ceiling and thinking too much.
A Bovingdon native through and through, Janice’s father was buried at the Churchyard surrounding St. Lawrence Church. It was quite a nice lot, for a graveyard; around 200 trees, well maintained, and it was an open churchyard, meaning families used it for twee things like picnics during the day. Janice always told herself she preferred city centres and sprawling urban settings over quaint little villages, but even she admitted to feeling a sense of peace at the churchyard. Even at night, crossing the archway felt like coming home- more then actually walking into her home did.
Christ, that was pretentious, she thought to herself.
The cold didn’t really hit her until she started crossing the damp mud to reach her father’s gravestone- serves her right for wearing Converse this time of year, she supposed- although she’d noted the ambient temperature had dropped enough for her to see her breath, and her thick bomber jacket suddenly didn’t seem to be doing as good a job keeping her warm. She tried her best to shrug it off, hardly intending to stay long anyhow.
Before long, she was in front of her fathers gravestone, awkwardly scratching her arm as she looked down at it.
“I feel like I should say something.”
And that’s about as far as her train of thought went before hitting a dead end. Well, not entirely; there were plenty of things she wanted to say. Bitter, ugly things that she didn’t want to admit she meant. But every time she tried opening her mouth to get them out, she stumbled slightly. That she found it easier when the man was alive was almost darkly amusing.
After fumbling around for a minute or so, she managed to condense her thoughts down succinctly; “You were kind of an asshole. Just so you know.”
As soon as the words parted her lips, she felt a slight tickle in hear eardrums. Some sort of ambient noise at a very low volume, that she couldn’t quite make out. The air had gotten even colder, probably dropping below freezing based on her shivers, but there wasn’t any frost. The noise grew louder, although looking around initially didn’t betray any source.
She resisted the urge to call out “hello?” or engage in any other horror movie cliches, and instead opted to run. She stopped dead though when her first footfall ended with a warm splash, and against her better judgement, she looked down.
The ground was almost entirely caked in a layer of deep crimson, and there was a sudden metallic scent in the air.
Janice panted as her heart rate rose, looking back up in confusion. The ripples of crimson seemed to stretch across the breadth of the graveyard, and several smears of it caked the gravestones. Some of them looked like handprints.
Her body locked up entirely, despite her brain pumping adrenaline through her body and screaming at her to move. Instead, she just watched. She watched as suddenly, hands began to penetrate the surface of the crimson substance; some fresh, some half rotted away, several entirely skeletal. They all breached the surface not unlike flowers, starting as clenched fists before the fingers opened- some with more difficulty then others. It was only a few at first, but it quickly grew to hundreds
Finally, Janice worked up the ability to move, sprinting for her life. She could feel the hands closing around her feet, trying to stop her, just barely managing to avoid them. She was making good distance, she thought, until she noticed the graveyard just kept going on and on; it was a solid minute and a half before she realised the path to the exit wasn’t on the horizon. The moment of fleeting despair was enough of a distraction for a hand to grip her left ankle tightly, sending her tumbling to the floor with a shriek. The pain was quickly masked by the sensation of the liquid soaking into her jeans and shirt, as the hands around her grasped onto her wherever they could- arms, legs, body, even her neck. She wanted to scream, but she couldn’t quite get one out of her throat, simply gasping and whimpering as her heart jackhammered away in her chest.
It was only then she notice she was sinking, and so was the ground; the hands held on firm as a round enclave formed around them, her body being angled by the dip so she faced skyward. Her eyes darted around madly, trying to figure out what was going on.
It dawned on her pretty fast when she noticed the crimson liquid sinking into the hole, slowly beginning to fill it up.
Finally the screams came up, madly thrashing against the hands with all her might and hoping to god anyone would hear her cries for help. Her throat began to feel raw and her bones and muscles felt like they were on fire, but she kept shrieking and trashing for freedom as the liquid rose up her body. Her legs gave out around the mid thigh, unable to thrash as hard when submerged. Her body and arms cramped up as the liquid rose her midrift. She never stopped screaming, though; even as her raspy, battered voice was backed by sicken gurgles as the liquid entered her mouth. She kept screaming as everything turned red, and only stopped once they went dark.
Just like that, the graveyard was silent and undisturbed once more. No crimson, no hands, no Janice. It was as if nobody had even set foot on the grounds that night.
Dio
The Korean Elevator Game (and its tenuous ties to the Elisa Lam story)
So I've probably mentioned this game to people but I don't think I've ever really talked about it in connection, however tenuous, to Elisa Lam. Let's start with the young lady in question. Elisa Lam was a young college student whom disappeared January 31st 2013 from the Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles, Ca. February 19th of that same year, her body was recovered out of the hotel's water tank. Her state of being found was unusual as well as inconclusive, as her personal affects were found in the tank with her, but she was found nude, and there was no trace of physical trauma. With a history of bipolar disorder and depression, and sometimes sadly unsettling blogs before her death, its unclear as to what happened to Elisa, whether it was foul play, suicide-accidental or otherwise, or even the supernatural, which brings me to the "game" above in question.
The last known evidence of her alive comes from one of the most unsettling videos I have ever seen on the internet (and I've seen some 9.0s on the weird-shit-o-meter, folks), which is an elevator surveillance video of Elisa entering and exiting, and behaving rather unusually. I usually embed vids, but in this case, more than it being a true crime that still remains unsolved (to some), its just that unsettling. Her movements are uncanny, unexplained, and her repeated checking of the elevator and the hallway all seem to point to her being followed. In addition, the elevator, though she has pressed buttons, does not move or close its doors. Only when she leaves, for the last time, do the doors shut.
Internet users over the world have viewed the footage, and there's a subset of those who believe that perhaps she was playing what has been called the "korean elevator game". Its not so much as a game but an urban legend that pressing a precise combination of elevator floor buttons and encountering a strange raider as well, will transport you to an alternate, other world, where you can conceivably become trapped in. Translations of this game are available if you search online but here is a basic gist of the steps and what can possibly happen (while I may not completely believe that this particular ritual works or is real, I'm also a proponent of not fucking around with something that may be more than what it is--this is how Ash ended up battling Deadites, so take of this what you will but I take no responsibility if something goes wrong because frankly, I warned you. Please do not take any ritual you might read lightly, and I recommend never trying them.)
Button Order and Instructions:A building of 10 or more floors is required. Do not exit the floor unless stated. When you press a floor, wait until the car reaches there then press the next floor button.
1. Enter elevator on floor 1/ground floor.
2. Press the following floors, not exiting, but pressing next floor number when you reach each designated floor: 4, 2, 6, 2, 10, 5.
3. On the 5th floor, purportedly a girl/woman will enter. She's not human, apparently. Do not look or speak to her or you are never coming home. Apparently she will try to entice you to talk by speaking to you, but not always.
4. After she has entered, press 1.
5. If the elevator begins to rise to the 10th floor, you have succeeded and you will be taken to another world on the 10th floor. If you get off, the girl may ask you where you are going, but do not answer her.
Congrats, cowboy, you've been whisked to a different world where you are the only one that exists. It looks like home, but it most certainly isn't because, well, you're the only inhabitant. If that doesn't make you want to soak your shorts, I really dunno what will. The lights are all off, sometimes electronics wont work, and in the distance--its unclear if its out windows or in front of you--is a red cross.
TAKE EXTREME CARE. To return, you must take the same elevator, but in traversing the unknown, its said you may be disoriented, forgetful, or the world itself will fuck with you by warping space so you can't return. Whatever the case, don't stray too far, and head back to the elevator to go home.
IF YOU DIDN'T EXIT THE ELEVATOR AT THE 10th FLOOR:
--If the woman didn't enter the car, you won't be going there. Consider yourself lucky the ritual failed.
--If you press 1, and the elevator doesn't move to the first floor, continue pressing it until it goes there. Hope for the best.
RETURN TRIP:1. You must take the same elevator you used. Use whatever means you must to return to it and make sure its the same one.
2. Repeat the floor order: 4, 2, 6, 2, 10, 5. Once at 5, press 1.
3. If your elevator car doesn't go down and decides it wants to go to floor 10, hit any other button to cancel. You need to go back to the ground floor.
4. Once there, check your surroundings. If your world is populated, congrats, you have survived. Don't ever do it again.
CAVEAT:
If you should, for some reason, faint in the other world, and wake up in your own house, BZZZZRT, you done fucked up, and you're either still in the other world, or you will be pulled back again in the future.
Do I believe Elisa Lam was doing the game, frantically either trying to leave or return to where she came from? I don't honestly (I 99.9% think she was hiding from someone who killed her), but it does make for a scary story. And part of me does want to believe such a scary thing could happen.
Doc Tran
Vietnamese Ghosts
Ghosts in Vietnamese culture have a code of rules they have to follow, which is rather interesting. For example, if one does not believe in ghosts, a ghost will not appear. Its generally thought because a non-believer being haunted isn't really all that practical, when energy and effort can be directed at those who do believe. If someone is afraid of ghosts, ghosts generally do not try to scare them.
If a ghost had been wronged by someone--or a person had been wronged then died--that grudge is still held, and must be appeased. This is a strict sort of ritual that must be paid, as blood-debts are serious, and if incomplete, then the ghost can very well terrorize not only you, but your family as well (as the family is a unit, rather than many individuals). The elderly aren't haunted, mostly because of karmatic weight (though its also so they don't scare them to death and cause a grudge war). Children are especially vulnerable, by contrast, because they are generally very pure and have little or no karma.
Making sure the spirits of those dead are appeased, during the Vietnam War, catholic priests and buddhist monks would go around administering burial rites. Some people believed the country was in such an upheaval because of the fact there were so many dead who had gone unappeased. More general info can be found on this wiki page.
Thank you for joining us. See you in the next round.
--All Authors (10/9/16)
All gifs from here. bestanimations.com
(1) This translation and information comes from the book Yurei: The Japanese Ghost by Zack Davisson.
Stories presented here are from hearsay, personal experience, or our own minds.
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