I've occasionally introduced some scary stories from Japan, and this time I'd like to introduce a genre of scary stories that's trending in Japan, known as "scary stories when you understand the meanings (意味が分かると怖い話; 意味怖)". These are stories where nothing seems frightening at first, but as the reader unravels a subtle detail or question, they stumble upon a terrifying truth. Although almost all of these stories can be considered fictional due to the nature of the genre, the blend of horror and mystery in these short stories has made them quite popular. On the Internet, they are often discussed alongside traditional horror stories.

In this article, I will present 10 stories that fall into the genre of "scary stories when you understand the meanings". Each story will be presented in its entirety, and then in the "Answer" section, I will explain the terrifying truth. For those who enjoy puzzles, I suggest you stop after reading the first part of each story and try to figure out the hidden mystery for yourself.

1. The Well

One day, I was irritated by my sister's crying, so I killed her.

I threw her body into the well.

The next day, when I checked, the body was gone.

Five years later, I killed a friend over a trivial argument.

I threw the body into the well.

The next day, when I checked, the body was gone.

Ten years later, I killed a woman I had impregnated.

I threw the body into the well.

The next day, when I checked, the body was gone.

Fifteen years later, I killed my annoying boss.

I threw the body into the well.

The next day, when I checked, the body was gone.

Twenty years later, my mother needed care, and she became a burden, so I killed her.

I threw the body into the well.

The next day, the body was still there.

The next day, and the day after that, the body remained.

Answer:

The narrator’s mother had been cleaning up the bodies thrown into the well.

My Comment:

This story is so famous that it’s guaranteed to appear if you search for "scary stories when you understand the meanings" in Japanese. It's based on a short story from Takashi Atoda's novel "Meiro" (Maze). Frankly speaking, I don't particularly like this story, but since it’s so well-known in this genre, I decided to introduce it first.

2. Living Alone

Despite my parents' objections, I started living alone from today.

I woke up alone, ate breakfast, took out the trash, and got ready for the day.

I was filled with satisfaction, having achieved my dream of living alone.

I locked the house, greeted the elderly woman who waters her flowers every morning, and headed to school.

Answer:

Since the narrator knows the old woman's daily routine, it means that the narrator has not moved to a new place, but is still living in the same house. In other words, the narrator achieved living alone by killing her family.

My Comment:

To decipher this type of story, it’s important to always read critically. Though slightly off-topic, I believe critical reading has become an essential skill in today’s world.

3. House Party

I threw a house party for my birthday.

During the party, I took a picture of everyone inside the house, and something strange appeared in the photo.

From a closet behind everyone, a woman with a ghostly white face and blood-red eyes was peeking out, glaring at us.

Frightened, I had the photo examined by a psychic.

She said, "This photo is not a spirit photograph."

Answer:

Someone who isn’t a ghost is hiding in the narrator’s closet.

My Comment:

The idea of "someone hiding in your closet" originates from a scary story that trended online in the 2000s (a friend of mine calls it ‘Oshimusha,’ though the details are unclear), and there are numerous variations of it.

4. The Well (Another Story)

One night, a man was walking through his village when he heard a girl crying for help.

When he reached the direction of the voice, he found a girl being pulled into a well by a white hand.

The man attacked the white hand with a stick, and the hand disappeared into the well.

Answer:

The girl wasn’t being attacked by a monster from the well; she was trying to save a friend who was about to fall into the well.

My Comment:

Sometimes good intentions backfire, which can make helping others a challenge. It just occurred to me that this genre may have evolved in a similar way to American jokes. Many stories in this genre could also be classified as American jokes. In that sense, I personally feel that the "World's Funniest Joke" could be included in this list.

5. Dog Barking

A couple bought an old house near the forest.

Soon after moving in, they started hearing a dog barking from somewhere.

But no matter how much they searched, they couldn't find a dog.

The next day, they heard the barking again but still couldn’t find the dog.

They concluded that the sound was just the wind rustling the trees in the forest and decided not to worry about it.

A year later, they decided to renovate the living room.

When they pulled up the old carpet, they found stairs leading to a basement.

As they descended the stairs, they found a dog wagging its tail, chained up.

Answer:

Someone has been living in the house for a year, taking care of the dog.

My Comment:

This story reminds me of a famous Korean movie.

6. The Bus

A family took a bus to visit the wife’s parents in the countryside.

When they reached the foot of a mountain, the child started whining, saying, "I’m hungry."

With no other option, they got off at the next bus stop and went to a nearby diner to eat.

After their meal, they watched the TV in the diner and saw a news report about the bus they had just been on, which had been in a landslide accident, killing all the passengers.

After seeing the news, the wife said, "I wish we hadn’t gotten off the bus."

Answer:

If the family hadn’t gotten off the bus, it wouldn’t have been in the path of the falling rocks, and the accident wouldn’t have happened.

My Comment:

This story is one of the most challenging in this genre, almost like a logic puzzle. However, it's worth noting that the story overlooks the possibility that the rockfall was caused by vibrations from the bus's passage.

7. The Elevator

He lived in a high-rise apartment building.

He lived on the 14th floor, so the elevator was essential.

One night, when he returned home, he got into the elevator and pressed the button for the 14th floor.

As the door closed and the elevator started moving, the button for the 8th floor lit up.

He thought, "Oh, someone must be getting on."

Then, he hurriedly pressed all the floor buttons.

Answer:

Elevator buttons don't light up unless they're pressed. This means that someone invisible was in the elevator with him. He had to evacuate as soon as possible.

My Comment:

In Japan, elevator buttons don't light up unless you press them from inside the elevator, but I'm not sure if it's the same for elevators in the U.S. This puzzle only works for those who share the knowledge about how elevators function.

When I post something on Newgrounds, I always consider how much knowledge we share.

8. Hit-and-Run

I was in a hit-and-run accident and had been hospitalized, but I finally got discharged recently.

To celebrate my discharge, a close friend came to visit me at home.

We had the following conversation:

Friend: "Sorry I couldn’t visit you in the hospital."

Me: "Don’t worry about it."

Friend: "Did you see the face of the culprit?"

Me: "No, it happened so suddenly, I don’t remember."

Friend: "I see."

Me: "You be careful too."

Friend: "Yeah, well, I’m gonna head home now. I’ll definitely visit you in the hospital next time."

Me: "Thanks."

Answer:

"I’ll definitely visit you in the hospital next time"? Why is the friend so certain the narrator will be hospitalized again? Because the friend is the hit-and-run culprit.

My Comment:

If you figured this one out, you have the potential to become an FBI investigator. However, I wouldn’t want to be friends with such a person because I'd be worried they could easily read my shallow thoughts during conversations. Or perhaps my intellectual level is already glaringly obvious from my writing…????

At least I couldn’t solve this one, and even after knowing the answer, it took me a while to fully understand it.

9. Robbery

While I was taking a shower in the bath, I heard a scream coming from the living room. 

I quickly got out of the bath and rushed to the living room, completely naked. 

When I got there, I saw a masked man and the bodies of my father, mother, and sister lying on the floor, bleeding. 

As soon as the masked man saw me, he immediately fled through the window, and I sat down on the spot, my face turning pale.

Answer

Why did the narrator hear only one scream when the narrator's entire family was killed? The answer is that the scream came from the robber. In other words, the narrator of this story is the one who brutally murdered the narrator's family, and the masked man witnessed the crime. Since the masked man, whose face couldn't be seen, became a witness, the narrator turned pale.

My Comment

Personally, I consider this a model question for this genre of story, where a terrifying truth is uncovered from a single inconsistency.

The next question is the last one. It is considered one of the most difficult questions in this genre of stories. To make this article more playful, I will give the answer to the last question later. If anyone knows the answer before then, please share it in the comments.

But I am not the author of this story, and this story is quite famous in Japan, so if you really want to know the answer, try Googling the original Japanese text (意味が分かると怖い話「おいやめろって」) and translating it to find the answer.

10. A Best Friend

Friend: "I'm really sorry." 

Me: "Hey, stop it!" 

Friend: "My sister… My sister is sick… I need money…" 

Me: "Are you okay? Take a deep breath." 

Friend: "…Thank you…" 

Me: "If 100,000 yen ($680) would help, I can lend it to you." 

Friend: "Thank you so much… And, um…" 

Me: "Here, if you don't mind leftovers, have some dinner." 

Friend: "Thank you…" 

Me: "Why? We're best friends, remember?" 

Friend: "Actually, I was thinking of committing suicide… If it weren't for you…" 

Me: "It's no problem, don't worry about it." 

Friend: "I'm sorry to bother you so late at night."

This is the end of this article. Thank you very much for reading this far.

Incidentally, I am curious if there is an equivalent to this type of story in the English-speaking world. I did some research and found that "Dark Humor Jokes" seems to be the closest genre, but that's all I could find. If anyone knows more, please let me know!