Ghost Story Collection: The Person on the Bicycle

The "Ghost Story Collection" hosted by Tofu Kozo Kame is being held for the third time.

Many interesting stories were gathered in the past two sessions as well.

The story I am about to tell is one that a participant heard from their aunt.

It seems to be a story from around 1955.

It is a story that took place at a wake.

It was a time when it was standard practice to hold funerals and weddings at home.

Once the funeral schedule was set, there was a person who would go to "notify" others.

It was a role that involved walking around to ask not only relatives but also people in the community to attend the funeral.

Those who received the notification would attend the funeral and also be present for the end of the mourning period and the cremation.

People with deep ties to the deceased and the bereaved family were the ones called.

It was customary for the "notifiers" to go out in pairs.

They would not go alone, nor would they be allowed to go alone.

There was a deep meaning behind that custom.

──Because a funeral was considered a symbol of impurity.

It was believed that there were many demons that targeted the dead and funerals.

In the past, that was common knowledge.

It was believed that if you went alone, you would be taken away by the dead, have your body possessed by something evil, or encounter various ominous events.

That is why they always went around to notify people in pairs.

The two who were asked also followed the custom and went out together.

After a while, the two returned with pale faces, in a state of panic.

The wake was thrown into an uproar.

The two men's story was as follows.

By the time they were finishing up the last one or two notifications, the road they were walking on was already pitch black.

The two held up flashlights and walked side by side along the road.

From behind, the sound of a bicycle approached: clatter, clatter.

Unconsciously, the two moved to clear the center of the road.

The bicycle passed between them without slowing down at all.

However, the moment they saw the person riding it, they were so startled they nearly jumped out of their skin.

The person riding the bicycle was the very same person they had just visited at the bedside to press their hands together in prayer.

In other words, it was the person who should have been dead.

That person, without seeming to notice them, was pedaling the bicycle with intense focus, staring straight ahead.

Flustered by the unbelievable event, the two ran back to the house where the wake was being held.

The people around them who heard the story,

“No, the deceased has been here the whole time,”

they said, looking at each other's faces.

Before long, perhaps to distract themselves from the fear,

“Could it be... that the person themselves is walking around to announce their own death?”

someone said, half-jokingly.

However, it is said that no one laughed.

Even under modern law, cremation within 24 hours of death is not permitted.

A wake must be a time that exists between life and death.

Perhaps that time is for those who have not yet fully passed on.

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