From: esuzuki@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Erika Suzuki)
Subject: ghosts in mountains
Organization: The Ohio State University
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 1992 07:17:58 GMT

I've been enjoying this newsgroup, maybe because I just have never
seen a ghost myself. But I did meet a guy who claimed to have seen/
experienced a few.

I'm from Japan, and it used to be common to talk about "mono no ke"
(pronounced 'mono no kay' translates into something like "a feeling
of an existence of some being") and "yoh-kai" ('yoka-ee' monsters,
but of more etherial kind) as well as "yu-rei" ('you ray') or "obake"
('o-baa-kay', ghosts). In a culture where the native belief is animism,
it has long been accepted these things actually exist. It's been
changing drastically recently, of course. Any way, this guy told me
several supernatural stories.

He had many stories to tell, but I only remember a couple of them.
Here's one that he swore had actually happened...

This acquaintance of mine (it's been about ten years ago already I don't
even remember his name; for convenience's sake, let's call him Ken)
used to go backpacking and alpine climbing quite a bit. Alpine climbing
is a pretty risky sport, especially if you like winter climbing. Many
people die during winter, but because of the weather conditions and because
they get buried in the snow, the bodies aren't found until the next spring.
If you go climbing in May or June, you may find a body or two in the snow
field. Ken had a brother (just name him Jiro) who has psychic inclinations,
and no one wanted to go to mountains with him because he'd invariably run
into a corpse. Jiro apparently didn't really mind it; in one instance, Ken
had thought Jiro was talking to himself, but Jiro claimed he was talking with
the deceased. In a few minutes, they ran into a corpse, and Jiro claimed this
was the person he was talking to.

Anyway, one time, Ken and Jiro and three other friends went to a place called
Kurobe. there is a very narrow gorge there, called "the back alley"; it's
known to be a beautiful location, but also pretty dangerous. Both sides of the
gorge are rocky cliffs, and the footpath is actually carved out of the rock,
like a tunnel that's cracked open length-wise. Some parts are high above the
river bed, but some are closer. It takes a full day's hike to go through this
gorge. This gorge is also known for flash flooding.

It was late autumn; they started a bit late in the day, and it started
getting dark. They decided to pitch a tent on the footpath where it was a
bit wider, because there was no campground for miles. It was getting late,
so they figured no one would come walking and complain about them blocking
the path, either.

Five people could barely fit in the tent, so they kept a lot of things
outside, including their hiking boots. They went to sleep.

Ken woke up in the middle of the night, thinking he heard some sounds.
There were some rustling and movements outside the tent, so he thought
some wild animals came to check the bags out. Then he heard some foot steps.
More like stomping. He thought, great, someone must have come walking late,
and want to go past the tent. The stomping got louder, and it started
going around the tent. Then around, and around, faster and faster, stomping.
Now, everyone was awake and complaining about the inconsiderate hiker.
someone said "it's two in the morning! we should bust that guy"; everyone
agreed, and they opened up the flap of the tent. They were too sleepy to
remember that there was barely enough room to pitch the tent, with cliff
going up on one side and down quite a bit on the other side...

When they shone their flashlight out, they saw a pair of hiking boots in the
air, about three feet from the ground; a second later, the boots fell to the
ground with a loud thud. It became dead quiet. Everyone felt their bones
freeze. In a panicky haste, they got their things together, packed the tent,
and ran down the foot path, heading to the nearest civilization. The owner
of the boots refused to wear them and ran in his inner boots that he was
wearing.

Now, like any other stories like this, Ken added that they later found out
that this was a pretty bad spot to camp; several flash flood victims camped
there. The site is the only place wide enough to pitch a tent in the ten
miles or so stretch. I don't know if I believe the last bit. Everyone wants
to add some kind of "credential" to his or her story....

I'll post another one if I remember more.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories