Phone Booth

The Phone Booth is a spooky ghost story from Japan about two friends who are very interested in urban legends and ghost stories.

There were two teenage boys, named Kenzo and Tatsuya who both shared a keen interest in the paranormal. Whenever they met, they would always have a new scary ghost story or spooky urban legend to share with each other.

One day, Tatsuya was browsing on the internet, when he came across a website that had a lot of Japanese urban legends. He read a story about a certain suspension bridge that was located close to his home. The website had plenty of pictures of the bridge and the surrounding area. As he read the legend associated with the bridge, Tatsuya knew his friend would be interested.

The next time he met Kenzo, he told him about the bridge. It was an old suspension bridge that crossed over a deep gorge. For some inexplicable reason, it was known as a spot that was notorious for suicides. Every year, at least 20 or 30 people would throw themselves off the bridge and plunge to their deaths. Nobody could explain why. They said that the spot was haunted by the ghosts of all the people who had committed suicide there.

When Kenzo went home that evening, he decided that he had to check out the bridge. He desperately wanted to see a ghost. So, that very night, he set out for the mountains where the bridge was located. It took him about half an hour to get there.

It was almost midnight, when he arrived at the bridge and there was not a single person around. It was dark and deathly quiet. The atmosphere was so spooky and ominous that it sent a chill down Kenzo’s spine.

“Wow, this place is creepy,” he muttered to himself as he cautiously walked to the edge of the gorge and peered down into its depths. He began thinking about all of the people who had thrown themselves down into the inky blackness. The thought of it made his hair stand on end.

It was so fascinating that he felt compelled to tell his friend, Tatsuya about it, so he pulled out his cell phone to call him. However, since he was high up in the mountains, he couldn’t get any reception.

Looking around, Kenzo noticed a solitary phone booth standing nearby. He went inside, put some coins in the slot and dialled Tatsuya’s number.

“Hello? Tatsuya? Guess where I am right now,” he said. “I’m at the suspension bridge you told me about. The view is amazing. You’ve got come up here and see it sometime.”

“Yeah, I’d like to,” replied Tatsuya. “I saw all the pictures on the website… Wait a second… What number are you calling me from?”

Kenzo laughed. “Oh, I couldn’t get any reception on my mobile, so I’m calling from the payphone up here…”

His friend was confused. “Payphone? There’s no payphone up there. I would have seen it in the pictures.”

“What are you talking about?” said Kenzo. “I’m standing in the phone booth right at the entrance to the bridge… Hold on, I’d better go… There’s a line of people outside waiting to use the phone… I’ll call you when I get back home.”

As soon as he said this Tatsuya shouted, “No! Kenzo, don’t get out of the phone booth! I know that place! I’ll be right there in 30 minutes. Whatever you do, don’t move!”

“What’s wrong?”

“Just promise me you’ll stay where you are. Don’t move an inch, OK?! And don’t hang up the phone. I’m coming!”

When his friend hung up, Kenzo felt a wave of fear envelop him. He stood in the phone booth and kept the phone receiver pressed to his ear. Looking over his shoulder, he saw a line of people standing outside the phone booth, silently watching him. The look in their eyes sent a shiver down his spine.

Half and hour later, when Tatsuya arrived at the suspension bridge, he found his friend standing at the very edge of the gorge. He was holding his cell phone against his ear.

There was no phone booth and no line of people waiting to use the phone. If he had moved an inch, he would have fallen off the edge and plunged to his death.