The Haunted Story of the Hiratsuka Station North Exit Underpass

This article contains affiliate links. If you buy through them, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

Beneath the North Exit Bus Terminal at Hiratsuka Station in Kanagawa Prefecture runs an underground tunnel connecting to a nearby shopping district — an entirely ordinary piece of urban infrastructure with a specific, dated origin story explaining its unsettling reputation.

The Legend

According to local accounts, the story traces to the early 1980s, when a group of local teenagers decided to explore the underground tunnel one evening. Partway through, they were struck by an intense chill and a growing sense that they weren't alone. When they tried to turn back, the passage seemed to have become blocked, and they began hearing noises as though something were watching their every move.

The teens ran for the exit — and when they looked back before escaping, they reportedly saw countless pairs of glowing red eyes staring back at them from the darkness. Since then, similar sightings have continued to circulate: strange figures glimpsed walking through the tunnel, and mysterious voices reported by later visitors.

What's Actually Verifiable

We could not verify the specific 1980s teenage encounter against any documented incident. What's notable structurally is how open-ended the legend remains even among its own tellers — local explanations range from a tragic accident, to an ancient burial ground beneath the passage, to simply the collective fears of the community projected onto an ordinary dark tunnel. No single explanation has become dominant, which is less common than it might seem; most legends on this site eventually settle into one accepted backstory.

A Legend Without a Settled Cause

That lack of consensus may be part of why the story has persisted: without one fixed explanation to eventually debunk or disprove, the underpass's reputation has stayed alive on atmosphere and repeated sightings alone, rather than resting on a single claim that skeptics could investigate and dismiss.

A Modern Legend in an Ordinary Setting

Most legends on this site attach to remote mountain roads or abandoned rural infrastructure. This one is unusual for taking root in a busy, everyday urban transit hub — proof that a location doesn't need isolation or age to accumulate a genuine ghost story, just a dark enough passage and a frightening enough first account to set the retelling in motion, repeated by enough commuters over the following decades to harden into a fixture of local memory, one retold matter-of-factly alongside the ordinary business of catching a bus.

Can You Visit?

The North Exit Bus Terminal underpass remains a functioning part of Hiratsuka Station's daily infrastructure, used routinely by commuters and travelers. Local advice, according to the legend, is simple: avoid going through alone at night — practical caution that applies to most unlit underground passages regardless of any ghost story attached to them.

Part of a Wider Pattern: Haunted Tunnels Across Japan

The Haunted Story of the Hiratsuka Station North Exit Underpass is one of dozens of similar sites documented across this site, and it fits a recognizable pattern rather than standing alone. Roughly three-quarters of Japan’s land area is mountainous, which has required over a century of tunnel construction, and older bores are typically sealed or abandoned rather than demolished once a wider, better-lit replacement opens nearby. Those abandoned alignments — not the tunnels still in daily use — are where the folklore tends to concentrate: narrow, unlit, and left to decay in a way that reads as ominous even when the underlying cause is a routine highway upgrade. Japan’s long kaidan (ghost story) storytelling tradition, which attaches spirits to liminal spaces such as tunnels, bridges, and mountain passes, gives these sites a ready-made narrative frame.

Frequently Asked Questions

Did the 1980s teenage encounter at this underpass really happen?

We could not verify the specific incident against any documented record.

Why does this legend stay unresolved?

Local explanations range across a tragic accident and other unconfirmed causes, without any version becoming the definitively accepted story — unusually open-ended even among its own tellers.

Why are so many tunnels in Japan considered haunted?

Japan’s mountainous terrain (roughly three-quarters of the country) has required over a century of tunnel construction, and old bores are typically abandoned rather than removed once a newer route opens nearby. Combined with a long kaidan (ghost story) tradition of attaching spirits to liminal spaces, these abandoned tunnels became natural settings for local ghost stories.

Is Japan considered a haunted country?

Japan has one of the world’s richest documented traditions of ghost stories and haunted-location folklore, built up over centuries through kaidan storytelling, yokai folklore, and site-specific legends attached to tunnels, forests, and other liminal places. That reflects a deep cultural and narrative tradition — not a verifiable claim about supernatural activity.

What makes an abandoned tunnel a likely setting for a ghost story in Japan?

Age, disuse, and physical decay do most of the work: a dark, damp, overgrown structure that once carried traffic and now carries none reads as unsettling on its own, independent of any specific incident. As with The Haunted Story of the Hiratsuka Station North Exit Underpass, the underlying history is often more mundane — a routine bypass or road realignment — than the legend suggests.

Ghost-Hunting Gear & Further Reading

• Books on Japanese urban legends and station folklore
• Kanagawa Prefecture travel and history guides

As an Amazon Associate, this site earns from qualifying purchases.