Hundreds of steps below the surface, and if you miss your train, you could be waiting on the dank, dungeon-like platform alone for four hours.
Since we’re into the second half of October, how about a scary video from Japan? But to make things unique, this one wasn’t filmed at any of the standard J-horror settings, such as a school, hospital, or any room in which a child with long, face-obscuring hair and a white gown is present.
No, instead this chilling video was filmed at Doai Station in Gunma Prefecture. What’s so scary about this stop on East Japan Railway’s Joetsu Line?
Take a look at this video from Japanese Twitter user @p_gotcha and you’ll see (provided you’re not covering your eyes out of fright).
上越線土合駅の改札から下りホームまでの動画を撮ってきたので、未体験の人は見てビビると良いと思います。 pic.twitter.com/ll6XLs5uft
— ピッチブレンド (@p_gotcha) October 15, 2017
Gunma is one of the most mountainous prefectures in already-mountainous Japan, and the Joetsu Line, which connects Gunma with the coastal Niigata Prefecture, has to tunnel through the topography at Doai. The result is that the tracks, and thus the platform, are far, far below the surface-level entrance to the station, requiring passengers to make their way down dark, deserted tunnels and stairwells, the last of which has hundreds of steps leading into the murky darkness. And if the video wasn’t scary enough, one industrious Twitter user has even added a suitably spooky soundtrack.
フォロー外から失礼します…どうしてもBGMをつけたくなったもので… pic.twitter.com/sd62nX6XHf
— 保井タケヒロ (@takehiros) October 15, 2017
@p_gotcha says it took roughly 15 minutes to walk from the entrance to the platform, although he admits he was walking slightly more slowly than normal in an attempt to keep the camera steady. Since Doai is in a rural part of the country, the station lacks the amenities and attractions of JR rail stops in more populous areas (during his descent down the final staircase, you can see an empty space to the right of the handrail, where an escalator was originally planned but never installed). So instead of well-stocked milk bars you can look forward to ample helpings of loneliness and/or dread,
▼ Yet another chilling video of Doai Station
https://twitter.com/roki9029/status/919578931199598594@p_gotcha claims he saw two other passengers while filming, but we can’t find them in the video, making us think they might actually have been ghosts who just don’t show up on camera. Oh, and to add even more suspense to a visit to Doai, on weekdays only five trains stop at the station each day. So if you’re a minute late getting down to the platform, you can look forward to a wait of at least an hour and 22 minutes, and if you’re really unlucky, you might be sitting down there at the center of the earth for four hours until the next train comes in. Though we suppose you could always kill time by backing yourself into a corner and keeping a diligent watch so that no zombies, demons, or other subterranean terrors sneak up on you.
Of course, if this chilling atmosphere is right up your alley, hopping on the train at Doai could be as fun as going to a haunted house at Halloween. Just don’t expect us to come save you if you run into a crazy ax murderer down there – way too many stairs for us.
Source: Twitter/@p_gotcha via Jin

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