Her Face Had Changed
750: Anonymous Ghost Story Fan (2013/08/13)
My girlfriend had gone back to her hometown for about three days after her grandfather passed away.
But when she came back and I saw her again—
her face had changed.
She said the relatives had been fighting viciously over the inheritance,
and the stress had been unbelievable.
Her expression, her natural face—it was just twisted in all directions.
I listened to her talk, took her out to eat,
and little by little, she started looking like herself again.
When I told a girl from my part-time job about it, she said,
“That happens a lot, actually. People’s minds are tougher than you think. They get used to stress over time.”
But even now, I can still remember that other face she had that day.
“Missing Persons from a Certain Region”
700: Anonymous Ghost Story Fan (2007/05/20 18:08:03 ID:Mvwo7h+50)
This is something I heard at a group date from the daughter of a high-ranking police official.
When her father was assigned as chief of police in a certain rural area,
one of the items in the handover documents read:
“Do not investigate missing-persons cases in this region.”
Apparently, in that area there was a folk practice that used parts of the human body as medicine.
It could technically be prosecuted as a crime,
but the custom was so widespread that launching a full-scale investigation would have caused major social upheaval.
So, for generations, the police simply… didn’t.
The girl told me this while laughing a little nervously,
and then said,
“That night’s group date turned into a whole urban-legend discussion.”
2ch horror style: Each story is written like a short anonymous confession—abrupt, plain, and conversational.
“Face had changed” — in Japanese horror, sudden physical distortion often symbolizes possession, trauma, or exposure to death.
“Using human parts as medicine” — echoes historical folk beliefs (e.g., hitogata effigies or “nyūyaku” folk medicine) that were once whispered about in remote areas.
Group date (合コン) — a casual Japanese social event where multiple men and women meet, often leading to intimate or confessional conversations.
A Tree Over 50 Years Old
∧∧ Stories of the Mountains, Part 64 ∧∧
187: Heard from Someone ◆UeDAeOEQ0o (2012/09/03 23:42:42.64 ID:miMjN1sa0)
This is a story I heard from a construction worker.
During a forest road construction project,
they dug up a massive tree, estimated to be over fifty years old.
The roots, branches, and even the dried leaves were still intact.
But the strangest part was this:
the tree had been buried completely upside down,
its crown pointing into the earth—its roots toward the sky—
piercing through layers of solid rock.
There was no sign that the surrounding soil had ever been disturbed.
No one could have possibly buried it there.
A few months later, water suddenly gushed up from that very spot,
and the construction had to be halted.
No one ever figured out why.
Footprints in the Snowy Mountains
331: Anonymous Ghost Story Fan (2003/09/27 23:48)
A hunter once spotted strange footprints in the snow-covered mountains.
They didn’t belong to any animal he knew.
He followed them for a while—
but soon noticed something odd.
The footprints were shrinking.
Step by step,
they became smaller and smaller
until finally,
they were no bigger than a bean…
and then they simply vanished—
right in the middle of the open snowfield.
Someone Is Watching
∧∧∧ Scary Stories About the Mountains, Part 4 ∧∧∧
593: Konya ga Yamada (2003/12/07 01:39)
A man was walking alone in the mountains.
Dusk was falling,
and he found himself hurrying along the trail.
The trees rustled as the wind passed through them.
A strong gust swept by—
and suddenly, he felt it.
Someone was watching him.
Not just one person—
many.
All holding their breath.
He froze, a chill running up his spine.
When he turned around—
there was a little girl standing there.
“Are you one of the dead?”
she asked, tilting her head curiously.
He shook his head, barely able to move.
“This way.”
The girl took his hand
and led him down a narrow animal trail at full speed.
When he came to his senses,
he was standing at the entrance of the mountain path,
a single flower clutched in his hand.
“It Should Be Fine Now”
414: Anonymous (2003/10/27 18:57)
After a mountain forest was completely burned down in a wildfire,
there was one single tree left standing, miraculously unscathed.
The mountain’s owner took a small branch from that surviving tree
and planted several cuttings around the charred slope,
hoping to bring the forest back to life.
A few years later, while he was working on the mountain,
he suddenly heard a calm voice nearby say,
It should be fine now.
Without thinking, he replied,
“Yeah… I guess so.”
The very next moment—
there was a soft whoosh sound,
and every single leaf on the surviving tree
fell at once.
“Cuttings (挿し木, sashiki)” — a traditional Japanese way of propagating trees by planting small branches from a healthy one.
The story reflects 山の神 (the “mountain spirit”) folklore — nature seems to wait for human recognition before it finally “rests.”
The White Face and the Hatchet
412: Anonymous (2003/10/27 18:55)
After finishing a day’s work in the mountains,
a man was walking down a forest path.
Each time he passed a standing tree along the way,
he heard a rustling noise—like something brushing through the leaves.
Puzzled, he looked up,
and among the branches above him,
a smooth, pale face was grinning down at him.
Startled, he raised the hatchet (鉈, nata) he carried at his waist.
At that, the face instantly vanished into the branches—
and from all around came the sound of childlike laughter, echoing through the trees.
Then suddenly,
his hatchet grew so heavy he could no longer hold it.
It slipped from his hands,
fell to the ground—
and sank slowly into the earth,
until it disappeared completely.
鉈 (nata) — a short, heavy Japanese hatchet used in forestry and mountain work.
A “white face” in Japanese folklore often symbolizes a yōkai (spirit or apparition). The laughter hints it might be a 山の怪 (mountain spirit) testing intruders.
The Forbidden Pool
∧∧∧ Scary Stories of the Mountains, Part 3 ∧∧∧
393: Tachibana (2003/10/19 01:21)
Deep in the mountains, there was a pool of water
that everyone said you must never approach.
One day, a man ignored the warning and went there to fish.
After a while, he felt something tickling his foot.
Looking down, he saw a tiny spider wrapping a thread
around his toe before crawling back toward the pool.
He thought little of it and continued fishing.
But soon, he felt the same tickle again.
This time, it was a slightly larger spider,
again looping a thread around his toe and scuttling back.
Annoyed, the man hooked the thread onto a nearby tree stump
and kept fishing.
Some time later, he glanced at the stump—
and froze.
Dozens of spiders had come crawling from the pool,
one after another,
weaving their threads around the stump before returning to the water.
In moments, the stump was covered completely in white silk.
Then, from the direction of the pool,
a chorus of rough voices shouted:
“Pull it! Pull it now!”
The stump was suddenly yanked forward
with terrifying strength—
and dragged into the pool,
vanishing beneath the surface.
The man dropped everything and fled,
never to return to that mountain again.
淵 (fuchi) — a deep, often still pool of water in a river or mountain stream; traditionally believed to be home to spirits or monsters.
The spiders weaving together to pull something into the water echoes Japanese yokai tales where nature itself acts as an intelligent, vengeful force.
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