Tunnel stories

Unseen presences and sounds following from behind. Explore stories set in and around tunnels.

The Endless Route Beneath Daegu

Daegu

When Daegu's subway first opened, people took it as a sign that the city was finally stepping into the modern age. But certain old men had always warned against such thinking. "Beneath Daegu's earth," they would say, "something sleeps that we were never meant to understand." Late one night, after a meeting that had dragged on past all reasonable hours, a salaryman named Minsu (민수) boarded the las

The Shadow That Lurks in the City of Snow

Sapporo

Sapporo nights grow quieter still in winter — so hushed that one can almost hear the snow as it falls. Yet no one knows the terror that lies coiled within that silence. No one knew, at least, until she lived it herself. Yumi was an ordinary office worker who called Sapporo home. Her days passed one much like the next, and she had come to find even the smallest change a kind of novelty. One winter

The Disappearance in the Tanzawa Mountains

Tanzawa Mountains (especially around Yamanokamitunnel)

Would you mind hearing me out for a bit? This is a story about the Tanzawa mountains. Those peaks out in Kanagawa. I can't say I've verified any of it myself, but there are people who talk about this sort of thing. Apparently, deep in those mountains, there's a place the locals call the "Mountain God Tunnel." Word has it that for as long as anyone can remember, there's been an understanding arou

Ikebukuro Station, and the Invitation of the Vanished Platform

Ikebukuro Station

Well then. Let me tell you a story about Ikebukuro. This is something I heard from someone else, so I can't verify it myself — whether it's true or not, I really couldn't say. What I can tell you is that this kind of story is making the rounds. Make of that what you will. It happened last autumn, apparently. A man who worked somewhere in Ikebukuro. I won't give his name, but by all accounts he w

The Vanishing Figure in Namsan Tunnel No. 2

Namsan Tunnel No. 2

God, I don't know if I should even be telling this. But I heard it straight from the person it happened to. I can still hear their voice. They stopped mid-sentence. Just went quiet for a moment, and pressed both hands down hard against their knees. They said it was last winter. Past two in the morning, driving alone through Namsan Tunnel No. 2. They weren't sure why, but the road was unusually em

The White-Robed Woman of Malgogae Tunnel

Chuncheon Malgogae Tunnel (National Route 5)

Now this is a story — well, not from long ago, really. More recent than that. I heard it from someone, so I can't swear to every detail — but you know that tunnel, Malgogae Tunnel, out toward Chuncheon. You take National Route 5 and it comes up on you. Something strange happened there, they say. Three, maybe four years back. Late autumn, the way I heard it. There was a young man, traveling alone

The Stopped Time in the Seikan Tunnel

Seikan Tunnel

…Would you mind listening for a moment? I cannot say for certain that any of this is true. I only mean to pass along what has been passed along — nothing more, nothing less. It concerns the Seikan Tunnel. That long, long undersea passage connecting Aomori to Hokkaido. From what I have heard, those who go in for late-night maintenance work sometimes experience something they cannot quite explain

The Hitchhiking Woman of Misaka Pass

Misaka Pass (Ghost Tunnel)

…Would you mind listening for a moment? I cannot say with any certainty. Only that, having served in these parts for so many years, certain stories find their way to my ears. In the telling and retelling, they may well have gathered embellishments. And yet, when I hear the same tale — the same details — from entirely separate people… I cannot help but feel that something must be there. It concer

The Headless Rider's Old Tunnel

Former Yura Tunnel

Hey, can I tell you something? It's a story from Wakayama… I can't swear to any of it, but once I heard it, I couldn't get it out of my head. On the border between Yura-cho and Hidaka-cho, wedged between two mountains, there's an old tunnel. The old Yura Tunnel. A new national highway runs right alongside it now, so all the traffic goes that way, and hardly anyone has any reason to use that tunn

The White Shadow of Kotubo Tunnel

Kotsubo Tunnel

Hey, have you heard about it? The Kotubo Tunnel. It sits quietly on the border between Kamakura and Zushi — one of those places that people who know, know. Apparently it's even been featured on one of those paranormal TV programs. But the thing is, what they showed on television and what people actually say when you're there in person — they're not quite the same. What I'm about to tell you didn

The Uninvited at the Old Sekiyama Tunnel

Former Sekiyama Tunnel

Hey, can I tell you something? It's about the old Sekiyama Tunnel… I can't say for certain it's all true, but I've heard the same story from too many different people. So tonight, I wanted to quietly pass it along to you. Apparently there's an old tunnel deep in the mountains outside Sendai, somewhere past the Sekiyama Pass. Abandoned now — nobody uses it anymore. At night it's pitch black out t

The Whispers of the Old Isejin Tunnel

Old Ise-jin Tunnel

This is a story I heard from someone up in Aichi. Apparently there's a place in Toyota City called the Old Isejin Tunnel. An abandoned tunnel, long out of use, sitting alone in the mountains with its mouth hanging open. Everyone who grew up around there knows about it. They know about it — which is exactly why they don't go near it after dark. It happened one autumn, from what I was told. A man

The White Shadow of Hanayama Tunnel

Old Higashiyama Tunnel (Hanayama Tunnel)

Hey, are you listening? So there's this place in Kyoto called Hanayama Tunnel — apparently it used to go by the name Higashiyama Tunnel, the old one. I've heard the locals still call it that more often than not. This is a story that came to me through a friend of a friend, so… I can't vouch for any of it, so just keep that in mind while you listen. Right next to that tunnel, there's a crematori

The Boy at Yoshinami Tunnel

Old Zennami Tunnel

Hey, can I tell you something? It's about the old Yoshinami Tunnel, out in Kanagawa… This came to me through a friend of a friend, so I can't say how much of it is true. But once I heard it, I couldn't shake it. Apparently the tunnel isn't used anymore. It sits there, mouth open, along an old mountain road that nobody takes. Even in daylight it's dark inside, and even in summer the air goes cold

The Upside-Down Woman of the Sendagaya Tunnel

Sendagaya Tunnel

This is something I heard from an acquaintance. There's no way to verify it, so take it for what it is. You know the Sendagaya tunnel? It's in Shibuya ward — short, unremarkable, the kind of tunnel you forget as soon as you've passed through. By car, it's gone in under a minute. In daylight, there's nothing to it. Just a dark concrete tube with a circle of light at the far end. But they say stran