A Grave Engagement

So, I can't really say this is the kind of story I'd ever end up telling. Frankly at first I didn't think anyone would believe me, they probably still won't since I'm posting it here of all places. But this is the only place I can think of where it wouldn't get taken down.

But I might as well get started. I live in Japan and I guess I'm what you'd call an "influencer" though I've never liked that word. I do travel vlogs visiting sites for aspiring or virtual tourists, I do media reviews, usually anime or manga. But recently I have been getting a lot of views on videos where I explore abandoned and/or supposedly haunted locations.

While I don't necessarily believe in the supernatural, I don't not believe either. But I'm a skeptic at heart, while the videos I put out are certainly spooky I personally don't think I've found anything that couldn't be debunked. Not that I tell my viewers that, their arguments and discussions in the comments are great for engagement.

But some time ago I came across an amazing opportunity. It was around the same time I was considering moving out of my apartment that one of my friends told me about a house that was just put on the market for an incredibly amazing price. His girlfriend worked for the real estate agency that was selling it. They knew I was looking to move so they made sure I was the first to know.

I swear my brain just broke when I saw that price. How could anyone seriously be trying to sell a house for this little? I was only looking for a bigger apartment but this was an even better deal than that. I could hardly belive this is real when I messaged Ada.

[This is the real price?] I messaged her.

[Yes, it's real. lol] She responded.

[I gotta ask what the catch is. There's no way there isn't one.] I told her.

[Yeah... about that. Supposedly the house is cursed] she confessed.

[Cursed how?] I asked, I didn't really think of this as a deal breaker. It's possible that the people living there prior could just be overly superstitious. Or they were just making it up for attention.

[People say it's haunted. And somebody died in the house] She just casually dropped that bombshell on me. [They were not the first people to claim paranormal activity in the house, or the last.] She sent me a link to the news story. After reading it, I did my own research and came up with this:

It all started two years ago. A couple moved into the house, late twenties, with aspirations of starting a family. They claimed the house felt 'strange' to them ever since they moved in. Eventually they would hear noises, the wife would even claim to see figures watching her from the corner of her eye, but they would be gone by the time she turned to look at them. The usual ghost story.

The couple had been living there six months when the wife killed herself. She was found by her husband in the morning. She was laying in the bathtub, her throat slit open with a razor blade. Black handprints covered the walls around the tub.

Apparently they figured the time of death to be around midnight, which the husband claimed was not possible. He remembered feeling her getting out of bed at some point during the night, but he distinctly remembers her coming back. He said she laid very close to him, with her arms around his torso. He did not open his eyes when she came back. Finding nothing unusual about it.

Apparently the husband also found a single black handprint on his chest that same morning. It was like a bruise on his skin and would not wash off.

The case was ultimately ruled as a suicide, the more extreme claims of the case were either thrown out or ignored as delusions caused by trauma. The husband, stricken with grief, checked himself into a mental health institution and has not been seen or heard from since.

The house was repossessed but sat empty for two years. In that time there were attempts to renovate it. They were mostly unsuccessful as the renovation crew would constantly complain of strange things happening around the house. Again, the usual noises, objects moving when they shouldn't ect.

Rumors also began to spread about the house's curse, they claimed an "onryō", (a "vengeful spirit"), lived there. They said that she would become jealous and possessive of any man who moved in, if this man was with a woman, she would try and separate the two and if she could not, she would kill the woman by possessing her and forcing her to commit suicide.

It was a story you'd hear out of any horror film. I of course didn't want to just believe all of this outright. But I did see the opportunity here, I could live in a 'haunted' house and I'd have a permanent location for content. I'm single so I didn't have to worry about any curse on the off chance it was real. What could possibly go wrong?

I made an offer on the house as quickly as I could. They wasted no time approving it and before I knew it I was moving in.

The house was located in a quaint little neighborhood in a Tokyo suburb. The local residents were mostly families. The house itself was more western in style than the average Japanese home. I attributed this to the renovations, probably wanting the house to look as different as possible. Like the houses around it it was more tall than it was wide, the neighboring houses pushed up about as close as they could have been, and there was very little yard space. This was not unusual for houses in neighborhoods like these.

This house appeared to have two stories and an attic. Looking at it, I could agree that something just felt 'off' about it but I could not say why. I pushed the feeling aside as the real estate agent unlocked the door and showed me inside. I already had a truck on the way with all of my stuff packed and ready to move in.

I stepped into the house and looked around. The bottom floor was all new hardwood flooring, save for the kitchen that used tile. The stairs and second floor had white carpeting. I had seen pictures online but this was my first time seeing it in person. As I looked around I couldn't shake this 'heavy' feeling over me. It was just a little harder to move around than it should be. As if gravity inside the house was just a little bit stronger.

I figured it was my imagination, I was letting the story and the rumors get to me already as I came back down the stairs. The real estate agent was waiting for me in the doorway. I noticed he had not set foot inside the house.

"Is everything satisfactory?" He asked me.

"Yes, it's all great," I said, joining him at the front door. I signed a few final documents and he handed me the keys. It was an exciting feeling. Twenty eight years old and owning a house already, certainly not how I expected my life to go.

As the agent was leaving, the moving truck pulled up and a team of movers pulled box after box of things from the truck and into the house along with furniture and everything else I had owned. My friends showed up shortly after to help unpack all of my things. Between all of us it didn't actually take more than a few short hours. I didn't own all that much and since this house was much larger than my old apartment, it still felt so empty.

With all of the unpacking done, all of us had a small housewarming party. It was then that one of my friends presented me with a present. It was a small rectangular shape covered in wrapping paper.

"We all thought this was appropriate," she said, giggling to herself. My other friends suppressed laughs of their own, they all clearly knew what this was. I had a pretty good guess myself.

I tore off the wrapping paper to find a VHS tape in a plain white case that had "Do Not Watch Cursed Video" written on it in marker. We all laughed at the obvious joke. "Nice one guys," I said as I pulled the tape out of the case. The label on the tape itself read: "Sexiest Beach Babes of 1998"

"Well it's a good thing I don't even own a VCR then," I said, returning the tape to its case. "So this cursed tape can't hurt anyone ever again," we all laughed. It was a little while later that we were all saying our goodbyes for the night. It was still relatively early in the evening, but I wanted to get a video of the new house started before the night was up.

I turned off all the lights in the house and used a handheld digital camera with a night vision filter. I stood at my front door, facing inward. "Good evening and welcome to the Midnight Society," I said after hitting record on the camera. "This is the first night after moving into the house I mentioned. So we're going to do a combo house tour and ghost hunting video today."

I led the camera around the house, showing the living room and kitchen areas before moving upstairs. So far I didn't see or hear anything unusual. After a short while I withdrew a recording device from my pocket. It was the same kind you'd see most ghost hunting shows use.

"So far no activity," I said to the camera, "so let's see if our ghost friend wants to talk to us." I switched languages when I called out to any potential ghosts. I was fluent in Japanese but my videos were in English, but since I was looking for a Japanese ghost, I should speak to them in their native language.

I started with the usual questions, "Hello, is anyone there?" "Can you make a noise or something to let me know you're there?" Ect. I then moved on to more specific questions. "There's been rumors of you hurting people who used to live here, is that true?" I didn't expect to actually hear any responses, but the recording device in my hand was supposed to be sensitive enough to pick up sounds the human ear might miss. I would have to check the recording later to see if there was anything I didn't hear initially.

"I've moved into this house now," I continued. "I'd like us to be good roommates to each other. I'm going to keep trying to talk to you every so often, so if you're feeling up to it I hope you can respond to me."

Again, as expected, silence. "I think that's enough for tonight," I said, in English, to the camera. I'll go over the recording and let you know if I find anything. Till next time, everyone!"

I shut the camera off and turned the lights on. It was about 11:00 and I could probably get a head start on editing. I've been told I should probably get an editor, but I still liked doing the work myself. It made my videos feel more personal. Most nights I was usually up way too late anyway, a bad habit I picked up from my college days. But it helped when I streamed, since most of my audience was in North America.

But I made my way up the stairs and into my office. Plugging the camera into the computer and loading the footage. As I waited I got the very uncanny feeling that I was being watched. I was probably just being paranoid but I turned and looked around the room, finding nothing out of the ordinary.

I ignored it and got to work. The editing process was pretty simple for this video, mostly just cutting out unnecessary dead air, my own verbal flubs and anything that just wasn't interesting. The only other thing to do was it go through the audio recording for any EVPs I might have captured, (Or any ambient audio that might just sound like an EVP).

As I expected I didn't hear anything, that is until the very end of the recording. As I was about to turn the device off, there was a voice. It sounded like a woman was whispering directly into the mic saying "ikenai." It was a simple Japanese word roughly translating to "do not" or "can not" ect.

My heart started to race. I knew I was supposed to be a skeptic about this but I knew there was no one else in the house, especially not someone who could have said something so clearly into the mic. It sounded like they were inches away from it.

I calmed myself down, this was a big deal but I knew how the internet worked. Half of anyone who heard this wouldn't believe it. My next thoughts were what they meant by that. Translating Japanese to English was already difficult as it is, it depends a lot on context and how words are used. Just that one phrase could be used to say, "do not, can not, please don't and more."

Assuming this was an intelligent response and not a residual one, it meant that there was something she didn't want me to do. With the information I have now I doubt I could come up with an accurate answer. There's also the possibility of it being residual, like a recording on repeat. Maybe this was someone's last words?

Either way it'd make a good ending to the video. I placed it at the end of the video as a kind of cliffhanger before setting the video to render. It would take a while and. It was almost three in the morning. I should probably go to bed and I could upload the video when I woke up.

I turned off the monitor, and in the reflection of the now black screen I saw something that shocked me. Someone was standing behind me, looking over the back of my chair, as if they were watching me work.

I turned suddenly and sprang up from my desk, my heart was racing so fast.

There was nothing behind me. I stood there, frozen for several long minutes. My eyes scanned the room for anything unusual but found nothing. This wasn't me being paranoid or my mind playing tricks on me, I know what I saw.

They were hunched down, as if hiding behind my chair, peeking up over the back of it. Their face was mostly obscured by long black hair, save for the single eye looking back at me from the reflection. Thinking about it again sent chills up my spine.

After about fifteen minutes, I finally felt able to move again. The shock and adrenaline was wearing off. In one way I got exactly what I wanted but I was very aware of the term "be careful what you wish for." And I had a feeling already that this was going to be a bigger problem than I could handle.

I didn't want to sleep, but my body was tired and I would probably pass out soon if I did not. So I reluctantly made my way to the bedroom down the hall. "You startled me," I said out loud, trying to speak to it again. "I wasn't expecting to see you." I still didn't know what its intentions were and I was hoping to stay on their good side.

"I'm sorry if my reaction scared you," I said. "But I meant what I said earlier, about us being good roommates."

I hoped that was enough to appease it for now as I changed into a pair of shorts and a tank top shirt before laying in bed. I fell asleep surprisingly quickly, I guess the scare took all the energy out of my system.

My dreams were strange. It was dark and I could hardly move, like I was being bound by something. But it was strangely comfortable, and warm. Almost as if I was being hugged tightly by another person.

When I woke, I was groggy and still tired, like I'd hardly gotten any sleep at all. Outside the sky was overcast and grey, the sound of rain hitting the roof could be heard throughout the house as thunder rumbled in the distance. Part of me wanted to just roll over and go back to sleep, but I didn't. I forced myself to sit up and when I did, I noticed something.

I keep two pillows on my bed, side by side. I usually roll around a lot in my sleep, so having two is convenient. This morning, standing in hard contrast against the white pillow case was several strands of long, black hair. It couldn't have been mine. My hair is short and brown.

I was reminded of the story of the previous owners of the house. The husband recalled someone laying beside him in bed and my skin crawled. I wanted to panic, run and get out. But where would I go? It was pouring rain outside and I didn't have a car. I calmed myself down. I can use this, if anything this is further evidence. I just needed to go about my day as usual. This thing wanted me to be scared, panicking would only make things worse. I gathered clean clothes and stepped into the bathroom to get a quick shower in. It would help clear my head.

The bathroom had a western style standing shower and a bathtub. I opted for the standing shower as I undressed, as I did I noticed something else that turned my blood to ice.

A black handprint on my chest. The shape was slender like a woman's hand, it was smaller than my own. It's placement made me think of how someone might place their hand when laying in bed with their lover. Thinking about it like that only made it worse.

Despite my best efforts, it did not come off no matter what I tried to use. I stopped, took a moment to take several deep breaths. I forced the panic back down. It was okay. I could handle this. I will figure this out and everything will be okay.

I turned on the hot water in the shower and stepped in, closing the door behind me. The water running over my body felt good. But that feeling didn't last. Shortly after I had gotten in the shower, a loud crash of thunder could be heard overhead, strong enough to shake the walls of the house and the lights went out.

Panic was rising in my chest again. I was alone, in the dark, and vulnerable with... it. There were no windows in my bathroom so it was pitch black and I could feel a presence in the room with me. I didn't have to see it to know it was just on the other side of the shower door.

After a few moments the lights came back on and my heart practically stopped. I was right. Just beyond the glass divider of the shower was the figure of a person. A woman about the same height as me, long black hair trailing down from her head, obscuring most of her facial features. Hands pressed up against the glass, as if she were trying to peer in at me.

I was frozen completely, afraid of what would happen if I moved. I watched as a hand slowly moved to the handle of the shower door. She grabbed it, pulling slowly. The hinges creaked louder than any other sound I've heard before as bit by bit she opened the door, exposing me to her fully.

I now had a good look at her. Her skin was pale and she wore a white kimono. Her hair still covered most of her face but from this close up I could make it out a little better. From an objective standpoint yes she was pretty, or at least would have been when she was alive. If I had to guess an age I'd say somewhere around the mid-twenties range.

RUN. My body told me. Push past her and run. But it was as if I had forgotten how to do that. The one eye I could see from beneath that curtain of hair had me locked down. As if I did not move unless she wanted me to, like I was under some kind of spell.

I could only watch as she started to remove that white kimono, slowly opening it and letting it fall to the ground. I hated to admit she had a nice figure but now was absolutely not the time to be a pervert.

She stepped into the shower, into the already cramped space. The door closed behind her, the water washing over the both of us. I could feel her body pressed to mine. I was trapped, there was nowhere to go. Whatever she wanted I was completely at her mercy.

After an eternity of silence she reached up, finally pulling her hair from her face. She still stared at me and I was unable to break my gaze from hers. But she seemed bashful suddenly, embarrassed for me to see her face. I suddenly got the feeling she wanted me to say something.

"You... you're very pretty," I managed to force out. My body still does not want to cooperate with me, let alone in trying to speak Japanese. But her look softened somewhat. She looked pleased by what I had said. I felt her hands slide around to the back of my head and before I realized it, she was kissing me. Her lips were soft, her body warm, neither of which I would have expected from a ghost.

To my own surprise I was kissing her in return, but by now could not tell if this was of my own volition or I was just doing what she wanted. Part of me didn't seem to care, a really twisted part of me said that I couldn't stop her, might as well enjoy it.

I found my own hands sliding along her back, her skin was smooth as well, surprisingly pleasing to touch. She gasped softly at my touch as my hands further explored her figure. My hands slid down to grab her ass. She seemed to like this as she pressed herself against me more, her breasts pressing up against my chest.