I live in Kyoto, and despite being 26 years old, I’ve never been involved in anything occult. But setting that aside, next to the apartment where I live, there was a construction site for a new house, and they were working on the foundation.
However, about a month ago, there was a typhoon, Typhoon 6, if I remember correctly. It hit Shikoku, and as a result, Kyoto had strong winds and sudden heavy rain. The weather was bothersome. By the way, I work as a construction worker, so I had some time off.
Being a construction worker, I wore my work clothes and went to work in the morning, so I quickly became friendly with the guys at the neighboring construction site. We talked about how our work was going and how the economy wasn’t doing so well.
As the typhoon approached and it seemed certain that it would pass through Kansai, I heard from my foreman that we would have a day off tomorrow, so I was taking it easy. In the middle of the night, while playing a game on my PSP, I felt like having a cigarette and went outside my apartment.
I’m mindful of not dirtying the walls, so I smoke outside. Since it was windy, I wondered if the neighboring construction site was okay. I casually walked towards the site and noticed that they had taken away materials that shouldn’t get wet, but the construction tools were left behind. I thought, “Isn’t it risky to leave them out in case it rains?”
At that moment, when I thought, “That’s odd,” the momentarily noisy wind suddenly stopped. Then I heard the distinct engine sound of that excavator (we call it “yunbo” here in Japan) from a distance. I thought, “Hey, it’s 2 a.m.!” and at the same time, the thought crossed my mind, “Could it be thieves?”
I considered checking it out and notifying the police, so I headed towards the direction of the engine sound at a brisk pace. Although the wind had picked up again, I could still hear the engine sound. I was thinking that if I caught the thieves, maybe I could receive a reward. But then…
I realized something absurd. Normally, if someone wanted to steal, they wouldn’t drive the excavator slowly like that. At most, they might move the loading platform to load it onto a truck.
And the problem was the direction from which the sound was coming. Beyond that was nothing but mountains. While the caterpillar tracks of the excavator could handle it, it was an unpaved mountain road. Something was off, and I felt a sense of unease, so I momentarily stopped in my tracks. But curiosity got the better of me, and as I continued forward, I caught a glimpse of the excavator turning into the mountain at a curve ahead.
I knew. That mountain road continued uphill, but it should have been a dead end further ahead…
At that moment, I had a bad premonition. Nevertheless, I had come this far. I stood in front of the mountain road to search for the excavator I had briefly lost sight of. The visibility was still good in that direction. I soon spotted the rear view of the moving excavator and confirmed that someone was sitting in the driver’s seat.
But the moment I saw it, a chill ran down my spine. Perhaps it’s because I’m used to construction work, or maybe because I’ve ridden on excavators before, I might have understood something. The abnormality or presence of that person sitting in the driver’s seat…
Originally, a Yanmar excavator (Yunbo) is equipped with caterpillar tracks, allowing it to run anywhere. However, when running on unpaved steep mountain roads like this, it inevitably shakes and rattles. The person sitting in the seat, like the Yunbo I see in front of me, should try to maintain balance by bracing their body. But about 20 meters ahead, the person on the Yunbo had no head, resembling a headless baby or a one-third scale puppet with a missing head. Their neck, or rather their entire body, swayed irregularly, seemingly unaffected by the shaking of the mountain road. I can confidently say that even someone who has never driven a Yunbo would not move like that.
Moreover, why is a Yunbo running towards a dead-end mountain road in the middle of the night during this kind of typhoon? At that moment, I felt a chilling sensation I had never experienced before, which ran through my whole body. My instincts immediately told me to escape from that place as soon as possible, even though I didn’t understand why. I fled towards the apartment. Once, at a spot where I could barely see the mountain, I looked back and saw the headlights of the Yunbo still moving along the mountain road.
The next morning, it was already bright, but the wind was still strong. Usually, it would be time for me to go to work, but I had the day off, so I was still in my room. Although I had somewhat dulled the sensation by getting some sleep, I knew it wasn’t a dream. I decided to go outside to smoke a cigarette when I heard voices coming from the neighboring construction site. The men were talking loudly about something.
The answer was simple—it was about the disappearance of the Yunbo. Since the weather was suspicious, the men were trying to collect their tools, but the Yunbo was missing. They were yelling about who was the last person to fix the key for the Yunbo. By the way, the key had been stored in the equipment shed, and several people had inspected it yesterday, but for some reason, it had vanished.
In any case, whether it meant getting scolded by the company or not, I thought about calling the police or searching together. Just as we were discussing this, I showed up and they asked, “Hey, don’t you know about the Yunbo?” I recalled what happened yesterday but replied, “I don’t know, but if we’re searching, I’ll help.” In the end, six of us, including me, decided to search. I headed towards the direction of the mountain.
I had a bad feeling, but there was something I wanted to confirm. On the way to the mountain, since the road was unpaved, there should be clear tracks from the caterpillar.
The tracks from the caterpillar were clearly visible, especially since the ground was muddy. I went back and informed the men that I had coincidentally found the caterpillar tracks.
All of us, including the men, headed towards the mountain. It was still bright, and above all, having five people with me made me feel safer. We followed the tracks from the caterpillar, turned a corner, and proceeded along the mountain road. The mountain ended in a dead-end, and at the dead-end, there was an old temple and a spacious area that looked like a plaza.
As soon as we entered the plaza, the men and I found the stolen Yunbo. Of course, there was no one in the seat. However, two things were strange, or rather abnormal.
One thing was that the tip of the Yunbo’s arm is sharp, but it was stuck in the ground along with four or five cloth-like pieces.
“What’s this?” one of the men said as he spread out the cloth. It was a T-shirt. What made it different from a regular T-shirt was that there was a printed photograph on it. It showed a couple (American, maybe), but their faces were precisely pierced by the arm, as if it was intentionally targeted.
And the other strange thing was that one T-shirt was nailed to the temple. It was the same shirt I found stuck on the arm earlier, so I didn’t know who it belonged to. But the shirt on the temple had the faces of the foreign couple. Although the faces were still visible on the temple’s shirt, someone had spray-painted something on it, “unforgive.”
Perhaps one of the men understood the meaning, as someone noticed the abnormality of the atmosphere and decided to leave this place immediately. Of course, we discarded the shirts.
In the end, since the Yunbo was found, it was best to keep it a secret to avoid any responsibility issues. I agreed and received 3,000 yen as thanks for helping.
Sorry for the lack of a punchline.
People in this thread might understand. What was that thing I saw in the middle of the night? A curse? A ritual for cows? I don’t know if anyone will believe me, but this is a true story.
By the way, if it was a curse, there is a shrine called Kibune Shrine in Kyoto, but it’s not related to that. It’s about a 30-minute drive away from there, so I don’t think it has any relevance.
