The real japanese cursed video

Goth Brooks · October 17, 2005

Before you watch, would you mind adding me to your will?

do you know, I wonder about the story that swept Japan a few years back about the "cursed videotape"?

The story went that there was some kid staying with his grandparents in some remote part of Japan. He decided to tape a baseball game on late night TV, his favourite team was playing. But the channels were different in this part of Japan and he didn't check beforehand so when he watched the tape it was just static. As he watched the static gave way to weird images and then to a strange woman who told him he would be dead in seven days.

Sure enough, upon his return to Tokyo he was found exactly a week later dead of fright. This story became huge in the summer of 1998 in Japan. Many schoolkids treated it as completely true and some even claimed to have copies of the tape.

Ofcourse this seemed nothing more than a modern spin on the urban myth. Nobody treated it seriously until a spate of unexplained deaths among teenagers in several areas of Tokyo. Friends of some of these teenagers claimed that they had said, just days before their strange deaths, that they had seen the infamous "cursed videotape".

About nine teenagers in all died in a period of three weeks, six of them had claimed beforehand to have seen the videotape. Three had specifically said they'd viewed the tape exactly a week prior to their deaths. The cause of death in all nine cases was attributed to "cardiac arrest".

Catching the popular imagination instantly the story became something of a sensation. What had first been an underground phenomenon whispered between teenage students quickly spread throughout Japan. A series of hugely popular films and TV shows were produced, one of which - 'Ringu'' - has been remade first in Korea and then in the US.

Despite all this interest the real mystery of the 'Cursed Videotape' and it's true origins have remained an enigma. Regular visitors to my weblog will know that I have connections in Japan and frequently put games for download on my site that originate in that country. I mentioned to one of my friends in Osaka, Akemi, something about the "cursed tape" about a month back.

To my amazement she told me that her cousin had a copy of the video. Two days ago I recieved my own copy. Now, I don't know if this is the genuine article folks. I made this copy of it in QuickTime format and it's a pretty rough dub of a rough "original". It's certainly disturbing, the indistinct images are pretty strange and the sound is really unpleasant. I really don't know what to make of it to be honest.

The story goes that you have to make a copy of the tape and pass it to someone else, this is the only way you can avoid the curse. So I offer it here to save myself. ;-) BTW: - Akemi sent me a letter with the tape in which she told me that neither she, nor her cousin had ever watched it. She also told me not to watch it myself (too late!) and said that I should destroy it. She said that they'd wanted to burn it for a whole year (since her cousin "came by" it) but they were scared of the "consequences".

Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, I give you...The Japanese Cursed Video!