Here is a summary of the laughably scary tale known as “Mr T, Born in a Temple”. Please use it when you find yourself getting too frightened.
In this story, T-san from the temple appears—a figure that breaks the usual mold of Japanese horror stories and became a famous internet meme.
The Woman in the Red Dress
I was out on my scooter running errands.
As I cruised down the highway, a beautiful woman in a bright red dress caught my eye.
Wow, she’s gorgeous, I thought—
and at that exact moment, a truck coming from the opposite lane hit me.
Because I’d practiced judo, I managed to take the fall properly and survived with only two broken legs.
Half a year later, my friend K was hit by a truck in the same spot.
I rushed to the hospital, but K never regained consciousness and died soon after.
According to a witness who’d been there, K’s last words were:
“I looked away for a second… I saw a woman in a red dress…”
I was shocked.
Could that woman be the Grim Reaper?
While that thought lingered in my mind, another accident happened at the same place.
People said it looked like a hit-and-run, even though the road was straight and easy to see.
It was happening too often.
I became convinced—the woman in the red dress was Death itself.
A few days later, I was riding down that same road with my senior coworker, T-san.
He came from a temple family and was known to have strong spiritual powers,
so I told him about the “woman in red.”
He listened quietly, just saying, “Hmm.”
Then, after driving for a bit, he suddenly shouted,
“There she is!”
Sure enough, the woman in the red dress was walking by the roadside.
“That’s her! That’s the one!” I yelled.
“No, not her! There!” T-san pointed straight ahead.
There—a woman with half her face torn away was clinging to the front of an oncoming truck,
trying to twist its direction!
“Take the wheel,” T-san said calmly.
Then he leaned halfway out of the window, focused, and shouted:
“HAAAAA!!”
A bluish-white blast of light shot from both his hands,
striking the ghost woman and blowing her away.
“That should do it,” he muttered, lighting a cigarette with one hand.
Watching him exhale calmly after banishing Death itself,
I could only think—
Temple-born people are amazing.
Night fishing
I went night fishing.
One day, when my plans were suddenly canceled, I decided to enjoy some night fishing at my secret spot—a quiet bridge a little ways out of town where the fish always bite.
That night, I was catching plenty when a chill ran through me.
Something felt wrong… but since the fish kept biting, I couldn’t bring myself to leave.
Then I heard a voice behind me.
“Are you fishing too?”
I turned around to see a middle-aged man in a business suit.
“Yeah, the fish bite really well here.”
“So I’ve heard,” he said.
As we talked, I started to feel uneasy. He was dressed in a full suit—not at all the outfit for someone enjoying a late-night fishing trip. What was he doing here…?
Then the man spoke again.
“Aren’t you going to hang?”
No, wait—that voice came from above me.
“Let’s hang together…”
Trembling with fear, I looked up—and saw the body of the man I’d been talking to, hanging from the bridge!
He hadn’t said “fishing” (tsuri) at all… he’d said “hanging” (tsuri).
Before I knew it, countless shadowy figures surrounded me, whispering,
“Let’s hang… hang with us…”
Then I heard a familiar voice.
“That’s far enough.”
It was T-san—the monk with strong spiritual powers.
He stepped in front of me, just as the shadows were about to drag me upward, and swung his fishing rod.
“HAA!!” he shouted. The fishing line blazed with light, slashing through the shadows like a sword.
When he finished his chant, a flash of light burst around us, and in an instant the shadows were gone.
“T-san, you’re night fishing too?” I asked, still shaking.
He pointed at me and said with a grin, “Yeah, though I seem to have caught a pretty small fish tonight.”
Later, I learned that bridge was a well-known suicide spot—a place where one hanging draws another.
As dawn broke, T-san stretched and said,
“Well, the sun’s up. Guess I’ll go see if I can hook a few ladies in town.”
Watching him drive off with that refreshing smile,
I couldn’t help but think—temple monks really are amazing.
Sarumyū (Monkey Dream)
Original source: “Sarumyū”
I was dreaming.
I’ve always had this strange ability—sometimes, while dreaming, I realize that I’m in a dream.
This was one of those times.
(omitted)
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13: This will be my last post (2000/08/02 07:11)
The announcement echoed through the train:
“Next stop—minced meat! Ground meat!”
This was the worst.
I could easily imagine what was about to happen, so I focused all my will on waking up.
Wake up, wake up, wake up.
Usually, when I repeat it strongly enough, it works.
Then I heard a mechanical sound—“Wheeeen…”
A tiny man climbed onto my knees, holding a strange machine that looked like some kind of grinder.
The moment I realized it was probably a tool to mince me up, terror froze me.
I squeezed my eyes shut and prayed desperately.
It was getting closer—
“Wheeeen…”
(Wake up. Wake up. Wake up. Please, wake up…)
Then I heard a voice.
“No… the next stop is the last.”
I looked up—and there, sitting across from me with his arms folded,
was T-san, the monk with strong spiritual powers.
“But you bastards are getting off in hell! HAA!!”
With a shout, a flash of bluish-white light burst from T-san’s hands,
blasting the little man on my knees into tiny pieces.
When the light faded, T-san stretched his shoulders and said calmly,
“Well then, I’ve got some time till morning… guess I’ll take a nap.”
And just like that, he started snoring peacefully right there in my dream,
as if nothing had happened.
Watching him sleep, I thought again—
Temple-born people are amazing.
Yamanoke
Original story: Yamanoke
This happened about a week ago.
I took my daughter out for a drive.
We were just going down an ordinary mountain road.
We stopped at a little roadside diner to eat, and afterward, I decided to mess with her a bit. So I turned off onto an unpaved side road.
(omitted)
・
・
・
・
Then I saw it—
something white and formless, moving toward the car in a jerky, unnatural way.
Its shape was like Jamila from Ultraman: a headless human silhouette.
It kept coming closer, but it looked like it was going to pass along the side of the car instead of straight at us.
As it moved by, I kept hearing a voice, low and drawn-out:
“Ten… sou… metsu…”
The sound continued, fading slowly into the distance.
I turned to look behind us—nothing there.
Relieved, I turned back toward my daughter—
and it was right there, outside the passenger-side window.
Up close, I realized it wasn’t headless at all.
Its face was attached to its chest.
I don’t even want to remember what that face looked like—twisted, grinning, utterly horrifying.
Fear gave way to rage.
It had come that close to my daughter.
I shouted,
“You bastard!!”
The thing vanished the instant I yelled.
My daughter jerked awake beside me.
I thought I’d startled her with my shout and was about to apologize—
but she was muttering, over and over, in a flat voice:
“It got in, it got in, it got in, it got in, it got in, it got in, it got in, it got in, it got in…”
And all I could do was yell,
“Get out!!”
When I looked toward the voice, I saw T-san standing firmly in front of the car.
Panicking, I thought he was yelling at me, and before I knew it, I’d opened the car door.
But then another thought hit me: I can’t just run away alone… I have to take my daughter… but where is she now?
I turned to the passenger seat—and there she was, sleeping peacefully.
Completely confused, I looked back at T-san…
but his face didn’t look like T-san’s anymore.
Realizing I had no one to rely on, I shut the door and, on the verge of tears, tried to start the engine, desperate to get away.
At that exact moment, T-san leapt onto the hood of the car.
He was grinning, eyes twisted, and began muttering—
“It got in, it got in, it got in, it got in, it got in, it got in, it got in, it got in, it got in…”
My hands were shaking so badly I couldn’t even turn the key.
Then, suddenly, he yelled mid-sentence—
“I said GET OUT!!”
With that roar, T-san punched himself square in the face.
A split second later, something—something like that Jamila-shaped creature—burst violently out of his body.
T-san shouted,
“HAA!!”
and hurled a bluish-white sphere of light at it, forcing the thing backward.
The light hit it dead-on, exploding in a blinding flash.
The creature’s right arm was blown off before it fled into the depths of the mountain.
Breathing hard, T-san wiped the blood dripping from his nose and said,
“That was close. Didn’t think I’d run into something like that here.
Don’t come up into the mountains just for fun… especially not with a woman along.”
After that, he gave us a ride back down to the base of the mountain—
and then calmly went back up to gather wild plants as if nothing had happened.
Holding my daughter close, I thought to myself,
Temple-born people really are amazing.
128 [Anonymous Ghost Story Fan] Posted 2009/04/18(Sat)
>>121–123
That copy-paste scared the hell out of me before—it was total trauma for me.
Now it feels resolved somehow. As expected of T-san!
135 [Anonymous Ghost Story Fan] Posted 2009/04/18(Sat)
He punched himself in the face to exorcise the Jamila-looking thing?
T-san’s way too badass.
Kune-Kune
Original story: Kune-Kune
103 Name：1/2 [sage] Posted 2009/04/16(Thu)
What… is that?
I can’t tell from this distance, but there’s a white, human-sized shape out there, swaying and twisting unnaturally.
(omitted)
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・
・
Terrified by the change that had come over my brother, I asked him,
“What was it?”
He answered slowly.
“You shouldn’t… kno-ow…”
It wasn’t his voice anymore.
He turned and walked back toward the house, his footsteps soft and dragging.
I wanted to grab the binoculars he’d dropped and see for myself what had turned my brother so pale—but his words echoed in my mind, and I hesitated.
Still, curiosity gnawed at me.
From this distance, all I could see was a white shape writhing and twisting in a strange rhythm.
It looked weird, sure, but not frightening.
And yet… it had driven my brother mad.
I had to know.
I reached for the binoculars.
Just then, my grandfather came running toward me in a panic.
Before I could even ask what was wrong, he shouted,
“Don’t look at that white thing! Did you see it? Did you look through those binocu— HAA!!”
In an instant, my grandfather’s face exploded in light.
Before my eyes, his body began to transform.
“Nuuoooaaahhh!!”
“So, you dare set a trap for these innocent brothers…”
It wasn’t my grandfather anymore—
it was T-san, the monk with strong spiritual powers!
“If God will not judge you, then I shall deliver the hammer of justice myself…!”
The distorted figure that had possessed my grandfather began to rise into the air.
“HAA!!”
A blinding flash burst forth.
Before I knew it, I was back home.
Everyone was smiling—including my grandfather, who should have been dead.
“There are small demons in this land,” said T-san quietly, his expression somber.
“They disguise themselves as your loved ones and feed on your soul.”
Once again, I thought to myself—
Temple-born people are amazing.
Looking closer, I noticed my brother in the corner of the room…
still twisting and swaying like the white thing from before.
109 Name：Anonymous Ghost Story Fan Posted 2009/04/16(Thu)
>>104
He actually exorcised Kune-Kune?!
Even the creature that drives people insane just by being seen…
is no match for T-san.
The Room That Shouldn’t Exist
156: Anonymous Ghost Story Fan – 2009/04/19 (Sun) 23:08:51
A friend of mine moved into a new house.
It was a ten-year-old single-family home—spacious, nice, and in good shape.
But the rent was ridiculously cheap—about half the price of other houses in the same area.
We teased him:
“That’s way too cheap.”
“Must be haunted.”
“Watch out for ghosts at night.”
He insisted we were wrong.
“There’s nothing weird about it. Come see for yourselves—it’s a great place.”
So a few of us decided to visit.
From the moment we stepped inside, something felt… off.
Still, he kept bragging:
“See? Nothing wrong. You guys are just jealous.”
We walked around the first floor, then went upstairs.
That’s when one of our friends—a guy who used to work in real estate—tilted his head.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“The second floor’s layout doesn’t match the first. There should be one more room.”
Once he pointed it out, we all noticed it.
At the end of the hallway, there should have been another door.
We went to check it out.
Looking closely, we realized the wallpaper at the end of the hall was newer than the rest.
We peeled it back—and just as he’d guessed, there was a hidden door underneath.
Hearts pounding, we tried to open it. Locked.
With our friend’s permission, we decided to break it down.
After a few hard shoves, the door gave way.
Inside… nothing.
No furniture, no windows, no smell of dust. Just bare walls—
and on every wall, written over and over in blue crayon:
“Dad, Mom, I’m sorry, please let me out of here.
Dad, Mom, I’m sorry, please let me out of here.
Let me out let me out let me out let me out
Let me out let me out let me out let me out
Let me out let me out let me out let me out
Let me out let me out T-san thanks for letting me out.”
For a long moment, none of us could speak.
And all I could think was—
Temple-born people are amazing.
