Mystery Timeline｜1989–present
Scary stories born on internet forums, the filming of deep-sea creatures, UAP hearings and other mysteries from 1989 to the present.
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.
An urban legend about the 1959 children's song "Sacchan." It was rumored that the song has a "phantom fourth verse" telling how Sacchan died in an accident, and that Sacchan appears to anyone who learns of it.
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.
An urban legend of a dog with a human face that appears in city streets and on expressways at night and speaks human words. It spread explosively among children all over Japan around 1989–1990.
An urban legend of an old woman who runs along expressways and through tunnels at over 100 km/h, overtaking cars. It spread in the 1990s from around Mount Rokko in Hyogo Prefecture and elsewhere, and is known by many names in different regions.
The conspiracy theory that a tiny secret elite plans to unite the world under a single government and control the people. Originally a term in international politics for "the new international order after the Cold War," it spread as a rallying cry of conspiracy theories.
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.
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."
A conspiracy theory that HAARP, an ionospheric research facility in Alaska, is actually a weapon that artificially causes earthquakes and extreme weather. It comes up after every major earthquake or typhoon, but the facility's radio waves cannot control earthquakes or the weather.
A conspiracy theory that contrails lingering in the sky are traces of chemicals being secretly sprayed by governments or others. It spread in the United States from the late 1990s. Scientists' investigations found no evidence, and the phenomenon is explained by the ordinary properties of contrails.
An urban legend that an alien satellite has been orbiting the Earth for 13,000 years. A photo of a black object taken from the Space Shuttle was presented as evidence, but it is thought to have actually been a thermal blanket lost during a spacewalk.
A scary story from the internet about a white thing wriggling in the distance across summer rice fields. Those who understand what it is are said to lose their minds. It spread on message boards in the early 2000s.
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.
A mysterious being in the form of a palm-sized middle-aged man, said to be seen in rooms and parks. It became a topic from the late 2000s when celebrities told of seeing one on TV.
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."
The hypothesis that the world we live in may be a virtual reality (simulation) inside a computer built by an advanced civilization. Proposed in a 2003 paper by the philosopher Nick Bostrom, it is widely known through the film The Matrix and remarks by Elon Musk.
An urban legend about a train that arrives at "Kisaragi Station," a station that does not exist. It was posted live on an internet message board in 2004 and was made into a film in 2022.
A story of a terrifying cursed box that kills only children and women. It comes from an account posted to an internet message board in 2005 and is known as one of the most frightening of Japan's internet horror stories.
A spirit-summoning ritual born on the internet, in which you play hide and seek alone with a stuffed toy. It spread on message boards around 2006, with many live reports. It is a heavy mental strain and should not be tried.
An urban legend that "Apollo 20, which never officially existed, found an ancient spaceship on the far side of the Moon with a female alien with a face like the Mona Lisa sleeping inside." It spread from videos posted online in 2007, but it is considered a fabrication.
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.
Time-slip experiences told on the TV program Yarisugi Toshi Densetsu by the comedian Chuei of Nagareboshi and others: in 2008 and 2018, fog filled the streets of Shimokitazawa, Tokyo, at night, and they wandered into shops that seemed to be from around 1980. Follow-up reports also discussed a parallel-world theory.
A scary story born on the internet about a woman eight shaku (about 2.4 m) tall in a white dress who targets young men while making an eerie "po po po" sound. Posted on a message board in 2008, it became one of Japan's defining internet horror stories.
A faceless, unnaturally tall man in a black suit. He is said to abduct children and lurks quietly in the background of photos taken in the woods. Created in 2009 in a photo-editing contest on an American forum, he became one of the world's most famous internet-born urban legends.
The phenomenon of many people remembering the same thing differently from the facts. It is named after the many people who remembered President Nelson Mandela "dying in prison in the 1980s." It is sometimes cited as proof of parallel worlds, but psychology explains it through how memory works.
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 that the world is run by a system invisible from the surface, and that this system is now about to switch over to something entirely new. It is known as a story told by Mr. Toshi Densetsu, Seki Akio, on the Japanese TV program Yarisugi Toshi Densetsu.
An endless office-like space of yellow wallpaper, damp carpet and humming fluorescent lights, which you enter if you "noclip" out of reality. Born from a single image posted to an online forum in 2019, it became a worldwide phenomenon through videos and games.
A coined word combining "human" and "alien," referring to beings said to be human-alien hybrids. It became a topic after being introduced on the Japanese TV program Yarisugi Toshi Densetsu. They supposedly cannot be told apart by appearance and are said to have powers like telepathy.
An abbreviation of "Non-Human Intelligence." The term was defined in a 2023 U.S. congressional bill on disclosing UFO (UAP) records and spread rapidly after testimony at a congressional hearing. It refers broadly to any intelligence of unknown nature, not only aliens.
An urban legend that moving between floors of an elevator in a set order takes you to another world. Detailed steps are told, such as not speaking to the woman who gets on at the 5th floor. It is the best-known of the "ways to reach another world" that spread online from the late 2000s.
Internet accounts of suddenly wandering into an empty world where people and cars have vanished, where a man in work clothes appears, angrily says "You shouldn't be here," and then you find yourself back in the normal world. Many reports gathered on message boards in the 2000s, and he is rumored to be the "caretaker" of another world.
