The Haunted Meiji Tunnel - My Visit (Patreon)

I had a couple ideas for posts this weekend, but they just got nudged back a bit because today we went to a haunted tunnel to get creepy ambient sounds for the next episode ... which just happens to be about haunted creepy tunnels! Super fortuitous that we were woken up at six am by someone shooting off fireworks AND it was raining! <- Zero sarcasm. I'm serious here.

So I filled my pockets with salt and off we went!It's a little complicated because routes changed throughout the centuries, but there are four historic tunnels at the Utsunoya Pass (about a 30-minute drive from my place). The Meiji Tunnel is the oldest and the only one you can't drive through. It used to be part of the old Tōkaidō Highway. Actually, this portion is the only one that has survived since the Heian Era and a kilometer stretch of road has even been designated a national historic site. 

The Utsunoya Pass was important throughout history. Loads of famous daimyo and samurai and poets and artists and what-have-you passed through here. This mountainous pass had to be used when traveling from Kyoto to Edo (Tokyo) or the other way around. There was an earlier route that went near the coast but it stopped being used because it was too dangerous. Evidently Utsunoya is mentioned in Heian Era waka poetry a lot, too. And depicted in ukiyoe (bottom of post).

During the Meiji Era, though, a tunnel was dug under the pass (1876). This was the first ever tunnel in Japan to charge a fee to those who wanted to go through. Unfortunately, it was lit by gas lamps back then and one of them set the wooden framework on fire, which caused a bigger fire and shut the whole thing down for many years. It was rebuilt and is open today.

So the next episode of UJ is about haunted tunnels and I make a bold statement that nearly ALL tunnels in Japan are haunted. This one helps prove my theory. It is, in fact, a shinrei suppotto/心霊スポット/Haunted Spot. I guess people have heard a woman giggle, stuff like that. 

Three slightly unnerving things happened.     

First, here, let me share some photos I took this morning (around 7am). 

(1) When we got to the out of the way, nestled-in-the-forest place there was a car already there. The windows were fogged up and I could see the outline of a single person just sitting there. I'm always unsettled by things like this. I had a friend whose wife committed suicide this exact way and I've heard of similar stories. 

They were still there when we left quite a while later. My hope is that they just needed to get out of the house and decided to park here for a couple hours. 

A very short walk to the gorgeous -- yet utterly creeptacular -- tunnel.

Richard heading inside.

Then once inside. This gets a gasp out of you. 

The lights were cool.

(2) Second scare. 

So Richard had gone up ahead to record. I was standing about half way in near darkness fiddling with my phone, stopped, when something lurched next to me. 

I scream.  

This little chonk monster had managed to hop halfway through the tunnel. He was dry and unhappy. Scared the bejezus out of me though. 

So freaking adorable though. And I never realized toads have beak-like (kappa-like?) noses. 

On the way out, I was lightly guiding him back to delicious rain when Richard just scooped his cold butt right up and gallantly carried him out. 

If ever I've seen a happy toad. That toad was happy. Pretty stoic about it though.

(3) Before that, though, scare number three. 

We made it almost to the other side when we heard the strangest noises, squeals? Animal-like, but what animal? We listened for a long time. At some point it made a cattish mewowl sound. But I don't know. We looked everywhere and couldn't find a cat or any animal. I think R is going to put some of the sounds on the next episode so you can hear. Or I can add here if he gets them ready before I post this. They just sound very off. I almost thought fox, because they make really chilling sounds. 

Here's another eerie photo. 

And then I'll leave you with a more lush one. 

Below is Hiroshige Utagawa's ukiyoe of Utsunoya Pass. 

XO,

t