Live Your Myths

Japanese Urban Legends | Fatal Fare, Human Pillar, The Red Room Curse

Japan is famous for anime, video games, cherry blossoms, sushi and all sorts of cute stuff. However, there is also something else it is famous for and that is its urban legends. Today, we are going to take a look at three creepy Japanese urban legends: the Fatal Fare, Human Pillar and the Red Room Curse.

Fatal Fare

Japanese taxi drivers are generally thought to be trustworthy and polite. As such, they will stop for people they see even if it is the middle of the night to take them to their intended destination. This urban legend is exactly about that - a fare that proves to be fatal for the poor taxi driver that allows a stranger in.

The legend says that in the middle of the night, or at least pretty late, a stranger will stop a taxi driver and ask them to be taken to some unheard place. When the taxi driver tells them they don't know the directions, this stranger assures them they will tell them where to go, so the taxi driver agrees and they set out on the road with them in the backseat. Road after road, turn after turn, alley after alley, the stranger gives the taxi driver complex and strange directions to a destination that never seems to grow close. At some point, the taxi driver gets frustrated and turns around to look at the stranger who is being impolite and irrational. But there is no one in the backseat! When he turns around to drive away, he ends up unknowingly driving off the cliff and dying.

Human Pillar

Human Pillar, also known as Hitobashira (人柱) is a cultural practice of human sacrifice in East and Southeastern Asia done before the construction of buildings for superstitious reasons.

Ancient Japanese people believed that moving the soil during construction would destroy the harmony of the environment where that construction would happen and anger the ghosts of the people who had died in its surroundings unjustly. So the building was believed to either fall once built or there would be many accidents while constructing it. To avoid that and pacify the ghosts and nature, they'd sacrifice people - burying them alive in the walls or the base of the construction. Many old buildings, even today, have human skeletons in their foundation and many ghosts are believed to be lingering around with strange whispers and wails heard as people pass through these locations. Some examples of such buildings are the Maruoka Castle in Sakai, Fukui Prefecture and the Matsue Ohashi Bridge.

Red Room Curse

The Red Room is an urban legend that started from an old 'death-themed' animation titled "The Red Room" that circulated around in Japanese schools and was even popular enough to inspire real life horror deaths. It is believed that the curse starts with a pop-up on a victim's computer screen with a red background and black letters on it asking "あなたは赤い部屋が好きですか?" which translates as (Do you like the red room?). Afterwards, the entire screen becomes red and a list of previous victims of the curse shows before the curse claims the new victim on whose computer it appeared. The way the victims dies is unknown, however, regardless of that they die and their blood covers the walls of their now red room hence its creepy name.