The Sankebetsu Seki Incident was a bear attack that happened during the period of December 9 to December 14, 1915 in Rokusenzawa, Sankebetsu, Tomamae Village, Hokkaido (now Sankei, Tomamae Town) The brown bear attacked this farm village twice before being shot dead by a hunter. It is said to be the worst bear attack in Japan.
The Sankebetsu Seki Incident was the worst animal attack in Japan's history, though the village hired 2 Matagi due to the increasing of crops damage done by brown bears, this incident still left the result of seven deaths (including one unborn child) and three seriously injured victims. The bear is known to be 2.7 meters in height and weight for 340 Kilogram.
So this story, that I am going to tell is not about scary bears hunting for human being nor is it about a ghost bear haunting the living. It is rather about the atmosphere of that historical place with real incident. You know when you have a tingling or chill at your shoulders when you are at a place whether or not famous for being haunted, but really there is something kind of feeling. That.
So I went to Sankebetsu Bear Museum where it is known to be the location where the Sankebetsu Seki Incident happened... To explain why I was there during this closed season I was called by an old friend and got a chance to go there.
A micro-story about my friend, he is a bear hazard ranger from somewhere in Europe, he majors in track hunting and hunted 38 bears in his life. Back to the main story.
I did not read the stories about the Sankebetsu Seki Incident nor do I know about the Incident. I just followed my friend to the place.
"Ryujin, this house was the house where the first victims were attacked" said my friend. We were outdoors and randomly there is a house, of course I know that it is a replica of the house vanished by the bear nearly 100 years ago. "Well if this is the house it is surely a historical building to keep for the next generations too, its too new though" I said, "Its a relic of course" and chuckled.
There are lots of bear warning signs around since just behind the wooden ferns its wild forest and there are "remains and traces" of brown bears around and the owner of the museum is a Matagi (but he is quite old so... You know)...
It was quite late during the day and the museum was very quiet. The owner walked towards us and said in Japanese; "though, I am hundreds of years away from the victims, as a Matagi, I am really sorry that we let the bear to the village. See, young man? You are a foreigner but I can tell that you feel the victims too."
At first, I was not sure what he meant by that but Aya, my friend seems to notice that I always would walk back to the replica of the stove place where the pregnant woman was screaming not to eat her child but still the bear had no mercy and the woman was eaten reaping her unborn baby out.
Yes, it seemed that I felt the sadness and the helplessness of the mother, though I never had any children. My friend, patted me on my shoulder and walked me to the exit.
Suddenly, we all heard a crack from the walls around us, the man thought that it is some kind of wild animals and so he told us to stay indoor and went out with a "whip-stick" (a long bamboo stick with a short whip up the end side, have you guys ever seen one? And what are they called really?)
I peeked out the door to see what is the man up to, the man waved the stick around the bushes hit the tree tops and flashed the surroundings with a strong flash light. Thank god he did not find anything or any suspicious creatures.
My friend said he smelt a beast, not a herbivore, probably a carnivorous animal, wild bear maybe? But there were no trace of any bear according to the brave man outside. (Hmm...)
It was just for a few second but the room seemed full of fear, I mean the atmosphere... How do I describe that... Like a horror movie's theater but the murderer had not appear...
I would be sure if anything came in since I was right at the entrance peeking outside trying to see from my own eyes what is going on.
All the sudden we all heard what seemed like a loud hiss... Or it was rather like someone shocked? Like... Hhh! (anyone know what I mean?)
Then we heard some more cracks... The old man flashed the light around again, and then he kind of assented on something that he did not tell us... Like the unknown Ah... I see... In a mystery movie. (I really could not explain properly... But did anyone understand that?)
I left the area on that day and went back to my home since there were no hotels around. My friend said he left behind and talked to the owner, the owner said that there are some ghost stories told by visitors, most are fake, but he himself had experienced some odd moments.
From all these I felt that there sure will be spirits around, not the adults but the unborn baby... In Japan, if unborn babies are gone and not "served" properly, they will become what they call "Mizuko", a water spirit or the "new born baby".
Since it is so many years ago, there maybe no memorial services accord and the "child" maybe upset. The atmosphere was also strange and I think its the negativities from the victims, that is why we still "hear" the echoes. That of course is just my personal thoughts.
What is everyone's thought about this? Please feel free the comment and let talk about that shall we?
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