Modern rumors of uncertain origin that spread by word of mouth and over the internet.
Entries: 73
An urban legend that spread in the 1990s: a girl got her ears pierced, a white thread came out of the hole, and when she pulled it out, everything suddenly went black and she went blind, because the white thread was her optic nerve. Medically it is said to be impossible.
In Norse mythology, the giant ash tree, the "World Tree," that rises through the nine worlds. At its roots is a well where the goddesses of fate live, and the chief god Odin hung from it to win the secret of the runes. It witnesses the world from beginning to end.
The idea that Earth's living things and its air, oceans and rocks interact so that the whole Earth regulates its environment as if it were a single living organism. It was proposed by the British scientist Lovelock in the 1970s. It is also told as a mystical theory that "the Earth is alive."
An urban legend that a village erased from the maps lies beyond Inunaki Pass in Fukuoka Prefecture, with a sign saying "Beyond here, the Japanese Constitution does not apply." In reality, a real village, Inunakidani, was relocated for the construction of a dam.
A place in Chikugo, Kyushu, recorded in the Nihon Shoki as the site of a gigantic fallen tree. The tree was 970 jo (about 3 km) long; its shadow in the morning sun covered Mount Kishima in Saga, and in the evening sun Mount Aso in Kumamoto. It is said to be the origin of the place name Miike in Omuta, Fukuoka Prefecture.
The turning point at which artificial intelligence surpasses human intelligence and technological progress accelerates beyond prediction, also called the technological singularity. The forecast that it will arrive in 2045 is famous, and it is also told like an urban legend, as in "AI will rule humanity."
The theory that the Earth's interior is hollow, with a sun or another civilization underground. It is said to have begun with a hypothesis by the astronomer Halley in the 17th century. It is told together with rumors of entrances to the underworld at the poles and stories of subterranean people and UFOs.
The opposite of utopia: a society in which people's freedom has been taken away by total control, surveillance and oppression. Known through novels such as Nineteen Eighty-Four, it is sometimes told like an urban legend, linked with real surveillance technology and conspiracy theories.
A card game about secret societies released by an American game company. Its card illustrations are rumored online to have "predicted" terrorist attacks, disasters and pandemics. Most of these are said to be after-the-fact interpretations.
A fraternal organization with members around the world, said to have its roots in medieval stonemasons' guilds. The first Grand Lodge was founded in London in 1717. Because it has kept its rituals private, conspiracy theories arose claiming it is a secret society controlling the world from behind the scenes.
The idea that unelected bureaucrats, intelligence agencies, business leaders and others secretly run the state. It spread in the United States from 2016 and, combined with baseless conspiracy theories, spread around the world.
An urban legend of the ghost of a woman who lost the lower half of her body, who chases people at terrifying speed on her elbows, making a "teke teke" sound. The story of a railway crossing accident in Hokkaido is famous, and the legend spread throughout Japan.
A rumor of a sinister figure in a red cape who kidnaps children. It spread in Tokyo in the early Showa era and caused an uproar. Later it changed into a school toilet ghost story in which a voice asks, "Red cape or blue cape?"
An urban legend that if you still remember the words "purple mirror" when you turn 20, you will die or suffer misfortune. It spread among children from the Showa to the Heisei era, along with words said to cancel the curse.
A horror story in which, in a dream, you ride a monkey-conducted amusement-park train, and with each announcement a passenger is killed in a cruel way. It was posted to an internet message board around 2000 and became famous.
An urban legend of a spirit that appears at night to anyone who has heard its story and tries to take their limbs or body. Unless you give the right answer or chant, your body will be taken; chants such as "ka for kamen (mask)" are told.
An internet horror story in which a girl is possessed by an eerie white, one-legged being met on a mountain road. It mutters "ten... sou... metsu...". It was posted to a message board around 2007.
An urban legend in which a discarded doll named Merry calls on the phone, saying "I'm at ... now" as she comes closer and closer. It ends with "I'm right behind you," a classic school ghost story.
A person who posted on internet message boards from 2000 claiming to be a time traveler from 2036. His predictions of a civil war and a world war did not come true, but he is still told of as the classic "man from the future."
Fish with markings that look like a human face. In 1990, carp in the pond of Zenpoji Temple in Tsuruoka, Yamagata Prefecture, were featured in magazines and on TV, causing a huge boom with up to 10,000 visitors a day.
