I first encountered this thing when I visited a park in kindergarten for a picnic.

It was just us kids and the teachers there, and after lunch I went to the toilets. There I saw it. The moment

I saw it, I was confused. It was my mother, who most definitely wasn't at the picnic. Yet

there was something different about her. Nervously, I looked at her again. Why on earth did I think this thing with

a dark face was my mother? Silently, the thing reached out for me. I was so scared that

I ran away. Five years later, I had forgotten all about what happened, but then I ran into it again.

It was at a training camp for school, and it looked exactly the same.

After that, I saw it again when I was on my junior high and high school field trips, and

it appeared rather regularly once I was in high school too. Strangely,

however, it stopped appearing after I graduated. It wasn't like things were bad at home,

and my parents got along just fine as well. My mother is perfectly healthy and still alive,

and she's not the type of person people would

hold a grudge against either. Looking back on it now, I wonder if that thing was trying

to spirit me away.

Hey guys, I'm your host Tara A Devlin, and welcome to this week's episode of Koabana,

true Japanese scary stories from around the internet. In case you missed it, Toshiden exploring

Japanese Urban Legends Volume 4 is now available. Once again, there are a host of new legends

to explore, both horrifying, bizarre, and otherwise. And of course, a new season

of the podcast that has just wrapped up. So, if you haven't checked it out yet, it's available

right now. You can also find the audiobook for the first volume of Toshieden, either on our

Patreon, Fourth Wall Store, or various audiobook outlets, including Spotify and Audible, so don't

miss out on that either if you're still looking for more.

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