Seeing is Believing
In Development
An upcoming collection of six novellas inspired by real Japanese urban legends
Each novella serves as an origin story for the Japanese urban legends of Teketeke, Kuchisake-onna, Mary-san no Denwa (Mary's Calling), Noppera-bo, Hanako of the Toilet, and Akamanto.
For those of you unfamiliar with these legends, each book blurb is followed by a brief introduction to the legend it was inspired by.
I hope you enjoy these sneak peek blurbs and teaser covers and eagerly await their release (release dates TBC)
Scritch Scratch
The Legend of Teketeke
Everything is connected.
Subway trains, JR trains, express trains; they flow through Saitama like veins; the life-blood of any major city.
When a little boy in Urawa Ward goes missing, it is up to rookie officer Sasaki to find him before he becomes one of many 'evaporated people.' But he gets so much more than he bargained for.
Entangled in a web of deceit far greater than he and his mentor, Sergeant Oda, could have imagined, their lives are derailed by one sure fact:
The culprit will not stop unless they make him.
Without any witnesses, without any leads, without evidence of foul play, and without a hope in hell, can Sasaki find the missing boy before more lives are lost to the darkness?
Now haunting Amazon & other retailers
Scroll down for the original legend(s)
Teketeke
The Urban Legend
According to Japanese legends, Teketeke is the vengeful spirit (known as an onryo) of a girl was killed after falling onto a railway line; her body cut in half by the train. Thus, she tends to haunt urban areas around train stations, usually at night.
Since she’s missing her lower body, she must drag herself along the ground using her hands or elbows. This makes the scritch scratching sound—teketeke, in Japanese—that defines her. They say that if you ever happen to come across her, she will chase you down and slice you in half (often with a scythe), disfiguring you, as she was.
Kuchisake-Onna
Book blurb to be revealed
The Urban Legend
According to Japanese legends, Kuchisake-Onna (literally ‘the slit-mouthed woman”) was a woman who was suffered facial mutilations—cuts from the corners of her mouth, stretching ear-to-ear in a grotesque smile. Her origins are slightly different depending on the particular version of the legend.
Some say she was the adulterous wife of a samurai who became lonely whilst he was away so she began to have affairs. When her treachery was discovered, he mutilated her for her infidelity.
In other versions, she was mutilated during a medical or dental procedure or by a female rival who was jealous of her beauty.
But all versions are consistent in that the vengeful spirit is exceedingly vain and violent. She covers her mouth with a surgical mask (or in some versions, a Japanese fan or handkerchief) and carries a sharp instrument; usually a knife or large scissors. With supernatural speed, she is hard to evade. It is said that she asks her victims a question, and reacts differently depending on their reply.
“Do you think I’m pretty?” she asks. If the victim answers “no,” she will kill them without hesitation. If the victim answers “yes,” she will remove her mask, revealing her ghastly ‘smile.’
“Even now?” She’ll ask.
If they answer “no,” or if they scream, she kills them.
If they reply “yes,” she takes her weapon and slices her victim’s mouth, mutilating them, as she was.
There is some debate, depending on which legend you hear, as to how to escape her. In one version, one must simply answer “yes” to both questions; although in some variants of this, she then follows the victim home and slaughters them while they sleep. Others maintain that one must confuse her, either by replying ambiguously, like “so-so,” or “meh,’ giving them enough time to run away (without being followed).
Or you could confuse her by throwing hard-candies (known as bekko-ame) at her or by saying “pomade” three times (both a bit odd, I know. I have no insight as to why this may be.)
Mary's Calling
Mary-san no Denwa
Never leave her alone.
Mayu, a lonely little girl in Meiji-era Japan, is given a beautiful doll for her sixth birthday.
Porcelain face, western-style dress with frills, a pearl necklace that shines like a string of tiny stars. And a wind-up crank to make her talk:
“Mary, Mary, quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?
With silver bells, and cockle shells,
And pretty maids all in a row…”
But Mayu and her mother, Hiroe, soon discover that Mary has a mind all her own—and she is not afraid to use it to get what she wants.
Mary-san no Denwa
The Urban Legend
Mary-san no Denwa (A Phone Call from Mary) is a popular Japanese urban legend of unknown origins and has had many different versions and re-tellings over the years.
There are, however, several key details that always stay the same; and the open-ending is what makes this legend so versatile, compelling, and so gosh-darn scary (dolls are creepy enough in their own right, let alone if they move or speak of their own accord.)
The legend is also quite short, making it a perfect slumber party scary story to tell by torchlight, which could be why it is so popular amongst young people. The story always goes like so, with book or film adaptations changing or including their own details, as I have, to suit.
***
A little girl outgrows her favorite doll, Mary, and discards her, claiming "I'm to old for dolls now."
One night, the phone starts to ring, and the little girl answers, thinking it’s her mother.
“Mom? Is that you?" The person at the other end is silent a moment.
“It’s Mary… I’m at the rubbish dump now.”
“What?” the little girl asks, but the call disconnects.
The phone starts ringing again the next night, and the girl answers.
“It’s Mary… I’m at the corner store now.” The corner store was only a few blocks away from the girl’s house. The girl starts to get scared. She dials her mother’s number, but inadvertently answers an incoming call.
“It’s Mary… I’m outside your house now.”
The little girl runs to the window and looks outside, but she can’t see a doll. She smashes the phone, removes the battery, and runs upstairs to her room, closing the door and locking it behind her. The disabled phone begins to ring. The battery was still downstairs on the floor. The little girl answers it.
“It’s Mary… I’m right behind you now.”
Toire no Hanako-chan
The Urban Legend
Book blurb to be revealed
This particular legend is very similar to other 'I dare you!' type games that children often play, such as 'Bloody Mary', 'Candyman', and such. This one focuses on the spirit of a little girl called Hanako who haunts school toilets.
They say that if you go to the bathroom on the 3rd floor and knock three times on the stall door and say:
"Are you there, Hanako?"
What happens afterwards, and how Hanako is depicted, varies from version to version. Some say hands reach out from the stall, grabbing you and pulling you down into the toilet / the depths of hell.
One version maintains that the individual is then eaten by a three-headed lizard for violating Hanako's privacy...
Most versions have Hanako wearing a red skirt or dress with a bob haircut.
Hanako's origins also differ greatly depending on the version of the legend; in one, she was murdered in a school bathroom by a stranger or her abusive parents; whilst others maintain she killed herself in a bathroom stall due to bullying.
Another still, states that she was playing hide-and-seek during WWII and was killed hiding in a bathroom stall during an air raid.
Noppera-Bo
The Urban Legend/Youkai
Book blurb to be revealed
Noppera-bo are creatures from Japanese folklore known as yokai, roughly translated to "monster" or "spirit," who look like a human but have no face; just flat skin where their eyes, nose, and mouth should be.
They are generally benign, but are known to impersonate humans; donning a normal face and lurking the streets at night. Some believe these are creatures in their own right, but some say they are simply the disguise of a mujina or kitsune (fox) spirit, who are known to shapeshift to trick and frighten humans. Either way, noppera-bo are generally benign, but enjoy scaring humans for their own amusement.
At first, they appear like any other human, sometimes impersonating the appearance of someone the 'victim' knows. Then their face starts to disappear, leaving a smooth sheet of skin where their face should be.
Two famous legends exist featuring these Faceless creatures: The Noppera-Bo and the Koi Pond, and The Mujina of Akasaka Road. Most true accounts of noppera-bo sightings predate the 20th century, but modern sightings so still occur.
Akamanto
The Urban Legend
There is an old urban legend in Japan — if you ever find yourself in a public restroom, but there is no toilet paper there when you need it, you may hear a spectral voice call to you.
"Red paper, or blue paper...?"
Think carefully before you reply, as each colour has its own deadly consequence. Most might think the obvious answer is blue, as red is the colour of blood and death.
This is true.
Choosing the red paper will anger the spirit — sending him into a blind rage. He will slice his victim to ribbons with his sword, ripping the flesh from his victim’s back so it hangs down like a red cape; painting the floor and walls with blood. Blue is the logical choice.
That line of thinking is exactly what he counts on.
Book blurb to be revealed
If you reply that you would like the blue paper, you are by no means safe. The spirit will oblige, but as you are about to leave the stall you will be suddenly pulled back by something tight wrapping around your neck, choking you. The spirit then strings his victim up with the noose and leaves them there until they slowly choke to death; their face and lips tinged blue from suffocation.
Little is known about the spirit’s origins or why he kills the way way he does. What is known is that he hides his face behind a mask, although no one knows why; and that he wears a long red coat, like a cape — hence the name ‘Akamanto’, which literally translates to ‘red cape’.
It may be well-known what the spirit is, but the intriguing question still plagues people to this day.
"Revenge is a
dish best served...
... when they
least expect it."
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Not to mention a sneak peek into a novella from the Seeing is Believing collection:
Mary's Calling
Mary-san no Denwa