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human
Funny enough, I have a weird military abroad story I still can't explain.

It's the reason I believe firmly in spirits now.

> be me, senior in high school
> military brat, family is stationed in Misawa, Japan
> misawa is very remote, and famously haunted 
> countless stories about ghosts and spirits from war
> and countless Japanese superstitions over the centuries
> it's late November, getting cold
> It's a Saturday
> I live off base, so friends come to my house to hangout
> I'll call them Klay (boy), John (boy), Emily (girl) and Sam (girl)
> We want to see come cool haikyo (term for abandoned places)
> some quick backstory
> military culture is weird
> Klay and John are basically from redneck families.
> Sam is from a big catholic east coast Boston family
> Emily is half Japanese
> So you get redneck patriot kids
> With local international students
> Funny mix, anyway
> someone at our military school saw a ghost earlier that month
> so we are all jealous and think it's a joke
> But ghost sightings are super common in misawa
> I was a know-it-all atheist then, but still believed that Japan was haunted somehow
> we decide to explore some rural countryside
> tons of abandoned farmhouses, buildings, all around
> we're too young to drive in Japan
> so we grab our bikes, backpacks
> we stock up at a rural lawson (7/11 type convenience store)
> buy snacks, liquor, and candy
> packed some cigarettes and flashlights
> friend knows of an abandoned shinto shrine
> we head there as the sun starts setting
> nobody is there
> we assume it's 'abandoned' but we were fools
> looks very similar to pic attached
> shrines are not abandoned, they are empty for a reason
> we slide the shrine door open
> it smells like aged wood, but it's perfectly clean inside
> the floors creak, but there is no dust
> we hear a cat crying somewhere in the woods around the shrine
gpt
cont...

> everyone was startled, then laughed it off
> we close the door and huddle in, it's super small
> our 5 bodies help keep it warm as it gets dark
> we're all sort of sexually exploring at this time
> we've almost all hooked up with each other
> everyone is at least bi
> we sit inside and drink, hoping for something interesting to happen
> John is trying to feel Emily up, Emily has a lesbian crush on Sam
> We're being dumb horny teens and getting drunk
> start taking turns telling horror stories with the flashlight
> nobody is scared so we play truth or dare
> gay and lesbian shit goes down
> we're being dumb
> friend jokes that a spirit should be there guarding the small shrine
> sudden howling wind
> the panels on the shrine rattle super loudly
> we keep drinking a while
> eventually people need to pee
> we open the shrine door
> holy shit, it's been snowing, maybe 2 inches of fresh snow on the ground
> moonlight against fresh snow makes it feel very bright
> especially after leaving the dark shrine
> shrine is nestled in the woods so plenty of places to pee
> girls take the flashlight and go pee together
> John lights a cigarette and whips it out and just starts pissing right next to me
> he has a huge dick and likes to show it off
> Klay stays behind in the shrine
> I go around to a secluded space to pee
> everyone finishes up
> I see the girls coming back because of their flashlight
> they're giggling and being very physical
> We regroup, shivering
> We all head back into the shrine
> Smell cigarette smoke
> Klay is fucking smoking inside the shrine
> Emily gets really angry all of a sudden
> She starts going off
> 'You could start a fire'
> 'The shrine attendant will smell the smoke'
> Klay just shrugs 'my bad' and he opens the door and walks out with his cigarette
> He lazily slides it shut, but slams it so it bounces open a bit
> Smell lingers, Emily is still upset
> Everyone wants a cigarette now, so we all go back out
> We don't see Klay
human

cont...

> We shout for Klay and he responds from the nearby gravesite
> It's probably 30 yards away, we walk over
> We all smoke at the shrine's attached graveyard
> Sitting on the family tombstones
> Emily is calm now, we take turns swigging liquor
> We finish our cigarettes and stamp them out
> We throw the butts into the woods
> We walk back over to the shrine
> We're barely paying attention
> Get 15 feet from shrine
> All of a sudden we hear a blood-curling snarl
> We all scream and jump
> A cat is sitting at the top of the steps to the shrine
> The door to the shrine is closed
> WTF, we did not close that
> All of a sudden we are all alert as hell
> Goosebumps
> Cat is staring straight at us
> We are sitting there frozen
> Nobody moves for 30 seconds or so
> Klay is first to move, he approaches the cat
> This fucking cat makes the loudest snarl / screech I've ever heard
> Klay stops, he turns back at us
> He looks terrified
> We all glance at each other
> We're all like 'WTF is happening'
> The Cat is like a statue, not blinking or moving
> Klay slowly backs away
> We all slowly walk away from the shrine back to our bikes
> In total silence
> Every time we look back the cat is menacingly staring at us
> Emily is like... hyperventilating
> We get to our bikes and we slowly bike down the road to a Main Street
> We're drunk, it just snowed, so we are going very slow
> When we reach the first stop sign we all stop
> Light up cigarettes
> 'WTF was that' I blurt out
> Emily says 'it was some sort of kami'
> Kami is like a spirit
> John and Sam burst out laughing
> 'It was just a cold cat, you guys are babies'
gpt
cont...

> 'It was probably just hungry'
> but Klay is still pale faced
> He suddenly says 'I got the closest to it'
> 'So what we saw the same cat' Sam replies
> Klay whispers then shrugs and says:
> 'Dint see no tracks'
> Klay is from a country family
> they hunt, track deer, good ole USA shit
> I realize what he meant immediately
> Emily says 'Didn't see what?'
> Klay suddenly blurts out in a loud twangy southern accent:
> 'There weren't no fucking paw prints'
> 'It didn't go through the snow'
> Emily says, 'What the fuck are you saying?'
> Klay shakes his head and says 'That cat must have been in the shrine with us'
> Now we're all fucking goose bumped again.
> I say 'We left the door open too, to air out the smoke'
> Emily is panic breathing again
> We all bike home but keep texting about it
> Next day Emily calls us all
> She's been crying
> Says she spoke to her Japanese great-grandma
> She starts saying some really weird Japanese rituals we need to do
> Apparently we pissed off a spirit at the shrine
> Not by drinking or smoking, but by fighting
> Apparently fighting in a sacred space is unforgivable
> The spirit probably enjoyed watching us just be drunk idiots
> Emily's grandma said it kept the snacks and alcohol we left inside
> As an offering because we did not provide one
> She also said spirits are playful
> But it either felt disrespected or left out
> And if we don't do something it will toy with us
> And our arguments weren't acceptable in its home
> So it kicked us out
> She said we needed to go back
> Emily was crying because she didn't want to
> But her Grandmother said it would be worse if 4 people went instead of 5
> Apparently 4 is super unlucky and it means death
human



cont...

> She said we had to go make an offering
> Of snacks and drinks and cigarettes
> We all go back the next day
> Snow has melted and it's partly sunny
> We leave various snacks, candy, and some lucky strikes
> It's very calm, serene
> Don't stay long
> Just a delivery
> We bike back down to the main road
> Feeling relief
> We all go home
> See each other at school on Monday
> We talk about it all week
> Get bored of it
> Feel like things are normal again
> A week goes by
> Stop feeling scared about it
> We start agreeing we freaked ourselves out
> It must have just been a cat
> But that next weekend we all got gifts
> John found a dead bird in his driveway
> Emily found a litter of dead baby mice
> I found a dead mouse on my back porch
> Sam found a dead rat in the gutter of her house's drain pipes
> Klay's mom found an empty pack of lucky strikes in their backyard
> Klay got grounded for smoking
> Emily said her grandma called these 'Omiyage' gifts 
> The spirit or whatever the fuck it was was repaying us
> Emily said it meant we are forgiven
> But her Grandma said we should have brought cat food

Sorry if that's not entirely scary, but it's the closest thing I have to a ghost story.

And legit just google misawa and ghosts that is the most haunted place I've ever been.
gpt
Nice story. Thanks anon