Secret of the Haunted Mansion

[cyberghostface]

Warning: gore. Also read right to left.

The story opens with two boys, Satoshi and Koichi, witnessing a parade of traveling salesman arriving at their town. The leader gives them a flier for his haunted house.



The customer is upset that it costs 10,000 yen, saying that it's a ripoff. The owner tells them that it's worth the money, and if he's not scared, he'll give the man a full refund and leave town. The guy goes in -- and a couple of minutes later runs out screaming.



Later that night the two boys decide to sneak over to the haunted mansion to see what the fuss is about. They sneak around back but are confronted by the owner. Instead of being upset, he offers them a free tour.





The head introduces herself as the owner's sister. As the two boys move on, they see that the owner's parents are also part of their own separate exhibits of the haunted house.

Finally they reach the owner's brother, who's tied to a cross. He asks them to let him down and says something's wrong with his brother.







The two boys continue on wanting to leave when they hear strange noises and see what appears to be a little boy.





The little boy lunges at them.



As Koichi flees, the owner chases after him, telling him that now that he knows the secret he has to die. He's about to catch up when he stops dead in his tracks.

Comments

[althechi]

I dunno, while it avoids the hoary old trope of the visitors becoming part of the exhibit (and even then the cop does, to an extent), the resolution of this one seems kinda...ehh. And the shock factor is pretty much just in how ugly the faces can get.

[neurotic_kitten]

Wait, is the salesman meant to be a grown up version of Souichi?

[crinos]

Yeah.

And even stranger, there is a sequel to this. I wont reveal what happens in case they want to post that as well, but its a real WTH moment.

[cyberghostface]

Can you tell me what the titles of the other stories are? I wasn't aware there were related ones.

EDIT: NVM I think I found it.

[kurenai_tenka]

Wait, which one is Souichi? Or did you mean Koichi?

[crinos]

The Lon Chaney looking guy.

[kurenai_tenka]

I had to look up who that was too. xD But he looks like a dead ringer for the salesman to me, rather than someone else as the original comment implied?

[filthysize]

Junji Ito did several stories about a boy named Souichi who's highly disturbed and torments his family with various supernatural freakiness. His trademark talent is playing around with nails in his mouth and spitting them out.

It's strongly implied that the salesman in this story is that boy all grown up.

[kurenai_tenka]

Oooh I see! I didn't remember those ones. Thankyou!

ETA: Awwgh he was even in that bloody holes in the wall thing.

[rainspirit]

"Oh god, not another one," I said as I clicked behind the cut.

I agree it's probably not his best work of all, but very gruesome art all the same!

And it brings back old memories of his other stuff... like the beach photos... *shiver.*

[shingi70]

Is it bad when I saw the wife's silhouette my first thought was "oh fuck its Violent Jack run"

Doesn't matter how much horror I've consumed Ito stories still creep me out for some reason.

[thanekos]

And that's why you shouldn't marry a Titan, kids, even if it's one of the really short ones.

[crinos]

Also, and I said this last time this was posted: If you go into a haunted house run by that Lon Chaney Looking dude, then you got no one to blame but yourself when you get eaten by hid demon spawn.

I mean that guy has a smile that says "I already know where I'm going to bury your body."

[icon_uk]

"Well, the parts of your body I haven't eaten, at any rate"

[captainbellman]

The demon woman and child are a bit thematically similar to Grendel and his mother, no?

[crinos]

I dunno, Junji Ito stories tend to lack any connection to greater myth. The main thrust of the stories seem to be "Strange and horrible things happen to people because shut up that's why."

[captainbellman]

Oh, I'm not saying it's a direct influence - just noting the similar approach in different cultural representations of the ogre-like monster contrasting with the more stereotypically "delicate" feminine traits of motherhood and affection.

This sort of thing happens all the time with stories told in different places, time periods and media - e.g., both Jesus and Krishna's births being preceded by a jealous king receiving a prophecy that he would be destroyed, who then goes on to order a slaughter of the innocents.

[donnblake]

Which, oddly enough, is also the case for Mordred of Arthurian legend.

[icon_uk]

This one is just seems to be a rather cliche horror story to be honest.

There's none of the weirdness to it the way there is to his others (I may not enjoy them much, but I can appreciate the degree of novelty he usually adds to them)

[kurenai_tenka]

I love these posts, I really miss when they used to practically be a daily thing.

Ty for posting!

[sindra]

Yeah, for a horrendous as Souichi is....he really does end up getting his.

For some fun Junji Ito trivia.....did you know the "wife" bares an uncanny resemblance to the "fashion model" from one of Ito's other short stories? More intermingling of stories?

[kurenai_tenka]

Yeah, and the model and Souichi has been in a story together before now (I've just now discovered).

[sindra]

Wait, there's a story that shows them meeting up? I missed that one! I just knew she'd been featured before.

Yeeeeesh......

[kurenai_tenka]

Yes! Called 'Rumours' (just prior to the Model story). It's vol 6 chap 4. :)

[blackruzsa]

That fucking face tho. If it weren't daylight, in a cafe, I'm sure that would have given me nightmares.

[cypherfdp]

OH MY GOD WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOUR FAAAAAACE