Scary Story: "Evil Eye"

This is a story from when I was 14. During winter break, I went to my uncle's (who was in his 30s at the time) villa in N Prefecture. He originally wanted to go with his girlfriend, but they had recently broken up, so he invited me instead. Since we were close from a young age, I was happy to go. My uncle lived in the same city as me, and he picked me up early in the morning in his car, and we set off on our journey.

My uncle was quite stylish and had taught me various activities, outdoor skills, music, and so on since I was a kid, and I respected him a lot. The trip took eight hours one way, but we had fun talking, listening to music, and taking breaks along the way.

Eventually, we arrived near our destination and bought dinner ingredients at a supermarket. We then climbed a steep mountain road to reach the villa. It wasn't very big, but it had a stylish wooden lodge feel. There were a few other villas visible down the hill, but there didn't seem to be any people around.

Dinner was a BBQ in the garden. Even though it was just cheap meat, it tasted great cooked over charcoal. We also grilled offal, seafood, and vegetables, and ate to our heart's content. We cooked rice in a mess tin, making it a perfect dinner.

After dinner, we went to a room with a fireplace, watched TV, played PlayStation, Super Famicom, and Famicom. He even showed me some adult videos, which was shocking since I was still a virgin at the time. Late at night, we got excited talking about scary stories. My uncle was good at this, and it was genuinely frightening. If I get the chance, I'd like to write about those stories too...

Suddenly, my uncle muttered, "Never go into the back mountain." Apparently, even the locals rarely go there. They say you can find matsutake mushrooms there. It might be unrelated, but he also mentioned that the CEO of a nearby villa was found hanging in the back mountain years ago. Hearing such creepy things, I definitely thought I would never go there. We played until around 5 AM before finally going to bed.

I woke up to sunlight streaming into the room. It was already past noon. Feeling thirsty, I went downstairs to get some water. I peeked into my uncle's room on the way, and he was still snoring away. Despite the cold, it was a really refreshing morning.

The mountain air was completely different from the city. I went back to my room, stepped out onto the balcony, and sat in a chair. The view was of the back mountain. It looked like an ordinary mountain. Suddenly, I remembered there was a telescope in the room. Wanting to see the natural scenery, I brought the telescope out onto the balcony.

It was a high-performance, expensive telescope, allowing me to see distant scenery clearly. The town was far away, but I could see birds perched on the trees in the surrounding mountains, which was amazing. I was engrossed for about 30 minutes, looking through the telescope. While looking at the trees on the back mountain, something moved into my view.

It looked like a person. I could see their back. Their head was bald. They were shaking their whole body. A local? Dancing? They were holding a sickle. But the strange thing was, they were completely naked despite it being the middle of winter. A festival? But there was only one person. My thoughts were jumbled. Since their back was facing me, I couldn't see their face. The way they moved reminded me of Sankai Juku.

"I shouldn't look at this any longer."

I felt that instinctively. It was probably a strange person, but human nonetheless. It was creepy. But curiosity got the better of me. I zoomed in the telescope to the maximum. A bald back of the head. Pale skin. Just then, it turned around slowly while dancing.

It probably had a human-like face. It had a nose and mouth. But it had no eyebrows, and there was only one eye on its forehead, vertically. My body trembled. A one-eyed person. A dangerous mutant. Our eyes met through the telescope lens. It was smiling, distorting its mouth.

"Uwaaaaaaaah!"

As soon as our eyes met, I screamed. Tears wouldn't stop. I just wanted to die. An overwhelming feeling of depression hit me. I want to die, I want to die... I was running around the room half-crazed when my uncle burst in.

"What's wrong!?"
"Monster!!"
"Huh?"
"Telescope!! Back mountain!!"

My uncle looked through the telescope.

"~~~~~~"

He let out a voiceless groan and held his head. He was crying with snot running down his face. I was a bit calmer than before and asked him,

"What is that thing!!"
"00ko~ 00ko~"

He cried out the name of his ex-girlfriend while sobbing. Realizing this was serious, I slapped him hard across the face for the first time in my life. My uncle's body shook slightly. 10 seconds, 20 seconds... My uncle stared at me.

"Evil eye."
"Evil eye?"
"Listen, there's a pair of sunglasses in the drawer of my desk. Get them, and get a pair for yourself too."
"Why (ry"
"Just get them!!"

I did as I was told and handed the sunglasses to my uncle. With trembling hands, he put on the sunglasses and looked through the telescope. After moving the telescope for a while, he groaned and beckoned me over. "Put on the sunglasses and look." Nervously, I put on the sunglasses and looked through the telescope. Though blurry through the sunglasses, I locked eyes with the thing among the trees. An indescribable unease hit me again, but not as bad as before. However, my heart was racing. And it wasn't in the same place as before... It was moving while doing that weird dance? Looking straight at us... Was it coming down the mountain towards us!?

"00, do you need to pee?"
"Huh? What are you talking about at a time like this..."
"If you do, there's an empty PET bottle in the dining room, go pee in it."

With that, my uncle went downstairs. I was too stunned to move, but a few minutes later, my uncle came back with a PET bottle filled with yellow pee.

"If you need to go, use this," he said, handing me another empty PET bottle.

"No, but what is that thing?"
"It's something from the mountain... a mountain child... I don't know. But when I was a kid, I used to go camping in the mountains with my dad. Not the back mountain here, though. Weird things happen in the mountains...
Even at night, you'd hear people talking outside the tent, but no one would be there. When that happened, if you sprinkled pee, it would mysteriously stop..."

My uncle peered through the telescope again. Though he groaned in pain, he observed the thing.

"That thing is moving really slowly, I don't know how many km/h, but it's definitely moving. It disappeared for a while... but it's definitely heading towards this lodge."
"Then let's get back in the car and leave."
"It probably won't work... unless we divert its attention from us... it will probably follow us anywhere. This is a kind of curse. It's called 'Evil Eye,' an evil gaze."

"The thing you mentioned earlier... but how do you know so much about it?"
"When I was staying in a town in Northern Europe for work... no, I'll tell you if we survive."
"If we survive... are we staying here until it comes?"
"No, we're going to confront it."

I thought it would be better to stay in the lodge, but my uncle believed it was better to deal with it before it reached the lodge. I thought it would be better to run away than to face such a terrifying thing, but my uncle had always been reliable. I respected him and decided to follow his lead.

We each took sunglasses, PET bottles, a light backpack with some food, binoculars, a wooden bat, a flashlight, and headed into the back mountain. My uncle's plan was to deal with it before it got dark. Could we withstand its gaze? Not through a telescope, but up close, even with sunglasses? Various anxieties ran through my mind.

The back mountain was quite vast. Using binoculars, we searched for the thing. According to my uncle, it should be moving towards us, so we would eventually encounter it. Since it was dangerous to go too deep and let nightfall, we decided to wait in a somewhat open area about 500 meters from the lodge.

"As long as we can divert its attention... as long as..."
"How?"
"In my opinion, we need to get close to it. But don't look directly at it. Look at it diagonally. Do you understand? Avoid direct eye contact, but keep it in your peripheral vision. Then, pour the pee on it. If that doesn't work...
Listen, I'm serious. Show it our crotch."
"Huh?"
"The evil eye hates unclean things. Like excrement, urine, or genitals... So, we can't kill it, but if we can scare it away with that, we might be saved."
"...What if that doesn't work?"
"...We'll have to run. Get in the car and leave."

We sat on a rock, filled with indescribable fear and anxiety, waiting. We took turns looking through the binoculars. It was past 4 PM.

"Brother, wake up."

I heard the voice of my younger brother, who died in an accident when I was 10.

"Brother, wake up. You'll be late for school."

Shut up. Let me sleep for another three minutes.

"Brother, if you don't wake up, you'll die!!"

I jolted awake. Had I been sleeping?? Impossible, given the fear and tension. Was I put to sleep??
I looked at my uncle beside me. He was asleep. I hurriedly woke him. My uncle sprang up. He checked his watch, it was 5:30. It was almost completely dark. Cold sweat ran down my back.

"00, can you hear it?"
"Huh?"
"The voice... singing?"

I concentrated, listening intently, and heard a voice coming from a few meters ahead in the bushes. It was getting closer. It sounded like a folk song, but I couldn't understand the words; it was eerie and high-pitched. The fear was making me feel like I was losing my mind. Just hearing the voice made me hate everything in the world.

"Alright! Only light up the ground!!"

My uncle shouted, and I shone the flashlight at the base of the bushes where the thing was coming out. I saw feet. Hairless and unusually pale. It was writhing its whole body as it approached. That eerie song!! My thoughts went blank.

"Ahhh!!"
"Eeek!!"

It crouched down, getting on all fours, and brought its face to the flashlight's light. I looked directly at it. The same feelings as during the day hit me. I want to die, I want to die, I want to die! I'd rather die than see that face!! My uncle also knocked over the PET bottle and was sobbing. The fallen flashlight illuminated its body. While singing that incomprehensible eerie song, it approached on all fours, moving like a newborn foal. Holding a rusty sickle in its right hand. I thought about biting my tongue to die, but at that moment,

"Pururururu"

My uncle's phone rang. My uncle, who had been crying, suddenly seemed dazed, took out his phone from his down jacket pocket, and looked at it. What is he doing at a time like this... we're about to die... I thought, staring blankly at my uncle in the dim light. The phone kept ringing. Purururu. My uncle kept staring at the phone. The thing was coming towards me. I wet myself in fear. I'm going to die. Then, my uncle let out a tremendous roar, grabbed the fallen flashlight, quickly ran to me, and took my PET bottle.

"Don't look at it!! I'm going to shine the light on its face, so close your eyes!!"

I rolled on the ground in a frenzy, my sunglasses slipping off, covering my head and closing my eyes. What happened next was what my uncle told me later. First, he shone the light on its face, keeping it in his peripheral vision. As dirty as it sounds, he put my PET bottle to his mouth, took in some pee, and, while shining the light on its face, crouched down and sprayed the pee on its face like a mist. I heard a horse-like scream. He took in more pee and sprayed it again. On its eye. On its eye.

I heard an even higher scream from it. But it was still there!! My panicked uncle took off his pants and underwear and shone the light on his crotch. The thing probably saw it. Though I couldn't understand the words, it uttered a tremendous curse-like grudge, then turned its back.

I raised my head then. My uncle's light shone on its back. What was terrifying was that even while retreating, it sang that eerie song, writhing its body, moving slowly, so slowly!! Like an elderly person using a cane!!

We shone the light on its back and watched it until it disappeared. Enduring the fear of not knowing when it might turn around... An eternity of pain and fear passed, and eventually, it vanished into the darkness.

We walked back to the lodge in silence. Once inside, my uncle checked all the locks on the doors and made coffee. He finally spoke while drinking.

"Was that what you meant by diverting its attention?"
"Probably... my crotch shriveled up miserably, though."

My uncle smiled wryly. Then, he began to talk about the evil eye...

My uncle often travels overseas by ship for work. Though I can't go into details, he's a technical engineer. One day, while staying in a town in Northern Europe, a local friend who could also act as a translator said he would show him something interesting. My uncle was taken to a deserted alley. He thought it might be an adult show club or something, but was led to a small, shabby house in the alley. Inside, my uncle was surprised.

The exterior was shabby, but the inside was completely different. There were luxurious carpets, vases, and precious metals. A pleasant aroma filled the air. While my uncle was still confused, he was led to a small room in the back. There, in the candlelight, sat a man who looked to be in his 60s. The strange thing was, despite it being night and inside the house, the man was wearing sunglasses. According to the local friend, the man possessed the "evil eye."

The evil eye is a widespread folk belief or superstition that one can curse a victim by glaring at them with malicious intent. It's also known as the evil eye, demon eye, or magic eye. The power of the evil eye can cause a person to fall ill, weaken, and eventually die.

My uncle listened to the explanation half-jokingly, thinking the man was some kind of magician or trickster. The seated man whispered to the local friend. The friend said that since my uncle didn't believe, the man would demonstrate a bit of his power. My uncle thought it might be interesting and agreed. The man whispered to the local friend again. The friend said,

"We're going to tie you up now. Don't misunderstand, it's because my power is so strong. You will thrash about. I will only look into your eyes with mine for a moment. That's all I will do."

My uncle thought the man probably had some terrifying trick in his eyes. Maybe his eyes were horribly disfigured, or he wore colored contacts. Or perhaps the aroma had some hallucinogenic effect... Though he was reluctant to be tied up, he trusted his local friend, so he complied. My uncle was tied to a chair, and the man approached. The friend turned away. The man quietly removed his sunglasses and looked down at my uncle.

"It was just like when I saw that thing today," my uncle murmured, placing his coffee on the table.

"The moment I saw his eyes, I wanted to die. His pupils were normal, but... everything in the world seemed pointless. I was only looked at for 1-2 seconds, but... it wasn't hypnosis or suggestion, it was something else."

According to the friend, the man with the evil eye would kill for money. He was used in local mafia conflicts. About a week before my uncle returned to Japan, the man with the evil eye died. He had apparently disobeyed his organization and was executed. He was found tied to a chair in a brothel, with excrement scattered on the floor. The man had torn at his restraints with tremendous force and gouged out his own eyes before dying.

"As I said earlier, the evil eye hates unclean things. Maybe he was forced to watch a strip show or sex act while covered in filth," my uncle said.

I listened, too drained to speak. Was that thing also an evil eye bearer? My uncle seemed to read my thoughts and continued.

"I don't know if it was really a monster or a human raised that way. But I felt that running away wouldn't be enough... so I faced it with the intent to die. They say kappas hate human spit. Maybe our bodies are more effective against such things than prayers or charms."

I remembered the dream about my brother and told my uncle. Maybe my brother saved us... I was crying. My uncle listened solemnly, silent for about a minute, then spoke.

"That might be true... 00 was always more dependable than you