There Are Ghosts at the Air Base

This episode may be disturbing for some listeners. The story contains child murder and assault, depictions of war and domestic violence. Listener discretion is advised. Alite forces needed Okinawa and especially Kadena Air Base because of how close it was to Japan. Being that closed would make it vital to their war efforts. It would put US troops physically closer, but also give the enemy a feel for what an invasion of their country would feel like. But no one was ready for how bloody and horrific this invasion would be. Alight Forces descended into Okinawa on March twenty sixth, nineteen forty five. More than one hundred and eighty four thousand soldiers and marines landed on their beaches in northern Okinawa. The tenth Army swept across the island. They captured Kadena and Yomitan air Bases within hours of arriving in Okinawa. Then they took over Kadena and built their own air base, while marines headed north. In southern Okinawa, the sixth Marine Division made their way through, while the ninety sixth U. S. Army Infantry Division encountered heavy fighting in central Okinawa for a lot of young men. This was the first time they would encounter such horrors. Japanese troops were known for stabbing themselves with Samurai swords to avoid capture. One often used tactic by the Japanese military was kamikazi attacks. Pilots flew straight down onto Navy ships to cause damage, but also killed themselves in the process. The horrors of this battle never left the minds of those who lived through it, But there was so much more than just that. With this tragic pass it snow wondered that the islands of Okinawa and the Kadena Air Base are some of the most haunted places in the world. My name is Edwin, and here's a horror story. Kadena Air Base is the largest military base in East Asia. It's an American Air Force base that spans across the towns of Kadena, Chattan and Okinawa City and the Okinawa Islands. This chain of islands is very close to mainland Japan, and Kadena is one of the oldest towns in the world. There were even shell mounts evidence of ancient traveling nomads found there. It was also one of the first places to be hit by American forces during World War II and during the attack, Kadenna was pretty much burned to the ground. It was hit during the Battle of Okinawa, and this battle was one of the most horrific and bloody fights of the Pacific. By the time Okinawa was fully captured by US troops, at least seventy five hundred marines and soldiers were dead. One hundred and ten thousand Japanese soldiers and one hundred thousand civilians were also killed, though some put these numbers a lot higher. During the battle, it was hard for American forces to tell the difference between Japanese soldiers and civilians. When Army infantrymen said that there were gunshots returned from some houses, but most were probably just civilians, it didn't matter. They didn't care enemies, women, and children. They just fired without discrimination. The Japanese military didn't care either. They used Okinawa civilians as human shields or just outright killed them. Some civilians were blown apart by artillery shells. Some of them felt so hopeless they turned to suicide. Some were actually forced to kill themselves. Others died of starvation or diseases like malaria. Allied troops may have gotten what they wanted. Kadena Air Base in Okinawa were theirs by the summer of nineteen forty five. It is actually still a US military institute today, owned and controlled by the US, but the traces of war, the ghosts of the bloody battle, were still there. All that horror, death, violence and blood. It's etched into the land, absorbed into the dirt, still lingering. Barbara Gibson was married to a marine and they were stationed at Cadena Air Base in the nineteen eighties. Just like many enlisted personnel, they were assigned on base housing on Terrace Heights. These were brand new townhouses built on a hill that overlooked the jungle. In nineteen eighty four, Barbara's husband was gone more often than usual out on military assignments. She was often alone at their house with her kids and pets, But one night her cat got out through the window. Barbara ran to get her shoes on and bring the cat back. Her dog followed her because he would go everywhere with her. She treked the hill their house was on, running through the leaves and banana spiders. Once they got to a certain spot, her dog refused to move any further. The dog seemed to be frozen in fear and would not budge. Barbara was forced to go back to the house without her cat. She couldn't help but wonder though, what had her dog been looking at? But was it so afraid of. When they returned, Barbara checked on her kids that were both sound asleep. She then got in bed herself and tried to sleep, but was still worried about the cat. At around two forty five am, she shot up from her bed. She suddenly felt the knee to shut all of the windows in the house, even though the breeze felt amazing. She got up, closed the windows, locked all the doors, and returned to bed, But as she covered herself with her sheet, she heard the most horrifying, blood curdling scream she had ever heard. It sounded like a man screaming for his life. It was coming from the living room. She didn't even go look to see what was going on. She ran to the kids' rooms and took them to her own room. The screaming continued, but she refused to walk through there to leave the house, so instead she hid with her kids in the room. The screaming continued for several minutes, but somehow the kids fell back asleep. She though stayed awake for the rest of the night. Finally morning came, she dropped the kids off at school and went to work. She was in the break room later that day talking with another professor, and after telling him what happened, he almost spit out his coffee. Something very similar happened at his house, also on Terra's Heights. He then said, Terra's Heights was built on one of the most brutal fights during the Battle of Okinawa, just past where the townhouses were built. US troops fought their way up the Jungly Hill, but to the Japanese, jumping off this cliff was better than surrendering to the Americans, and what they heard that night was the sound of Japanese soldiers jumping to their deaths. This wasn't the only night that Barbara and her family had a strange experience at their home either. Almost every night Barbara's daughter woke up crying, screaming that there was someone in her room. When Barbara ran inside, there was no one there. She would only find her crying daughter asking Barbara to stay with her, to not leave her alone. On a different night, when he was actually home, Barbara's husband got up from bed to get some water from the kitchen, but from the moment he got out of bed, he felt like something was off. It felt like he was being watched. When he was leaving the kitchen to head back to bed, he looked inside the living room. He wasn't sure why he felt the need to look, but when he did, he was shocked. There was a woman standing in the middle of the living room staring right at him. He moved his foot to get closer, but before he took another step, she vanished, just a few houses down from Barbara, still on Terrace Heights, but twenty years later, people continued to have paranormal experiences. Tyler was a military kid. He was used to moving all over the US. He was used to being in one place for two to three years, packing everything up and moving to the next place his dad was stationed at. Just as fifth grade was ending, he got the news. This time they were going overseas to Oki Nawa, Japan. He didn't know much about it, but he kept thinking it would be super cool to be so close to Tokyo. His parents told him they would be going to an island near Tokyo and that they wouldn't be in mainland Japan. But he didn't pay any attention to them, so when they finally got to Okinawa, he was disappointed. It wasn't the city. It was just a hot island full of insects and trees. But they settled into their house on Terrace Heights and he was relieved to have his own room at least. Two years later, though, just as he was finally getting used to being in Okinawa, they got the news again. This time they were heading back to a duty station in the US. Tyler was getting ready for bed, like he did every night. He was pulling his blankets back and climbing in bed, when suddenly he felt like he was being watched. His heart beat faster and faster. He looked at the mirror, the one that faced his bed. That's when he saw a tall shadow figure. It was shaped like a man, but it had no face. It looked like it was wearing a black robe. He threw it his blanket over himself, and after what felt like an eternity, he peeked out. The shadow figure was even closer than the first time. He quickly got under the blanket and closed his eyes, and after a few minutes of silence, he felt like he could breathe again. He moved the blanket and looked around and then knock, knock, knock. The knocking was coming from inside of his closet. He then threw the blanket off himself and sprinted to his parents' room. His dad told him to go back to his room, but his mom let him sleep in bed with them. Tyler felt afraid to go back to his room, and being in the house felt wrong after that night. Luckily for him, in less than two months, he and his family were back in the US and away from Okinawa. The townhouses on Terrace Heights were not the only haunted buildings in Okinawa. One building, in fact so many stories that it was torn down. It was known as Building twenty two eighty three. Building twenty two eighty three went through several lifetimes. First there was a family housing unit, then storage space, and then a stop at paranormal Tours. Today is just an empty lot next to a daycare. The origins of the building are a mystery. It's said that two gruesome murders happened and they are the cause of all the hauntings. According to legend, the first murder dates back to the nineteen seventies Air Force officer John Smith had only been in Okinawa for a few months when he met the love of his life. Her name was Mi su Zuki. She was a wild spirit. She liked her fun and independence. He saw her one night at the bar next to the base, and he knew she was the one right away, but she, well, she wasn't so sure. But after months and months, she finally agreed to be with him. Not long after that, she was pregnant. It wasn't planned, but John was happy. They both were, at least at first. They got married and moved into on base housing, into Building twenty two eighty three, and as soon as they moved in, John Smith could feel something changing inside of him. She was growing more annoyed with mine. He promised to love her for who she was forever, but the fun and wild spirit he fell in love with made him angry. She gave birth and they were surprised to learn that they were now the parents of fraternal twins, a baby boy and a baby girl. Those first months were terrible. They were both tired, sleep deprived, and short with each other. As the babies got older, May seemed to need to distance herself from them. She started going out again, leaving John Smith at home with twins. At first, he was sort of fine with it, but as the outings increased, so did his resentment and anger. Work was his only break, the only place he felt like himself again, but the moment he would set foot in Building twenty two eighty three was angry. Most of the time, he could control it, but this was getting harder as he spent more time in that house. Mie was gone again and John bitterly waited for her to come back, and finally, around three am, he heard the key unlocked the door and Mi stumbled in. She giggled as she asked why he was still awake. He told her that this needed to stop. He was tired, tired of her, tired of the twins. He was yelling louder than ever before the anger had taken over. Mi was afraid. She had never seen John like this. She asked him to calm down, and he yelled that they needed to talk, that she needed to promise to stop. She said they would talk. She just wanted to go kiss the kids good night, but he told her no, they were finally quiet. She didn't need to see them, not before they talked. She asked again to see them, it would be quick, but he repeated the same thing. No, they are finally quiet. No. John had started yelling the moment she walked in, and she hadn't even gotten the chance to set her stuff down or turn on the light. But when she did, that's when she noted that his white shirt was stained red. She told John again that she just needed to see the kids, but he pushed her as she tried to walk past him to the room. No, you can't see them, not anymore, not ever again, what could he possibly mean? She never heard the answer. He grabbed a bloody knife from the coffee and stabbed my. She fell to the ground. He walked to the twins room with a gun in his hand. Neighbors heard a single shot, and within minutes military police arrived at a spine chilling scene. A woman stabbed to death in the living room, two babies dead in their cribs, Air Force Officer John Smith dead in the room. If you look for details of this awful crime, you won't find any. Is believe the Air Force swept it under the rug, hid the details away, and placed another family to live in Building twenty two eighty three. The next family that lived there was an Air Force sergeant, his wife and stepdaughter. From the moment Sergeant Revs moved in, he felt off. There was something wrong with his house. He felt uneasy and nervous. He was always mad. His wife was also paranoid and unrested. It felt like she resented him. She left everything she knew to follow him from military assignment to military assignment. He knew this had to be hard on her, but she no longer seemed happy. And his stepdaughter, oh, she was something else. He could see and feel her resentment. She wanted to stay with her dad back in Texas, but he didn't want her to. Every day she told them how much she hated him. He would never let his men disrespect him like that, but he had no choice with his step daughter. He could feel a dark energy in the house. It felt like something wanted him to hurt her. Every time she ignored him or slammed another door, he could hear a voice in his head kill her. It didn't sound like his voice, and he ignored it. He was home early one day after work. His wife was working on dinner and had barely said a word to him. He sat on the couch, opening and closing his pocket knife. His stepdaughter got home, he said hi, but she rolled her eyes and kept walking. He then felt a flash of anger and heard the voice again kill her. He was tired and angry, and for a moment he gave into the voice. He was already holding his pocket knife and he used it to stab his stepdaughter. When his wife ran to the living room screaming, he stabbed her too. He walked over to the gun safe and shot himself. This would be the second murder suicide in building twenty two eighty three. Again, there are no details, no names. It tied to these murders, but the stories exist. But urban ledge or not. Something terrible happened in building twenty two eighty three more than once. After the second murder happened, Building twenty two to eighty three was turned into a storage area, but the stories, as you'll see, didn't stop. Stay with me. The house eventually became a stop during the yearly Halloween paranormal tour at Cadena Airbase. During one tour, Jerry Johnson, the base tour director, remembers one strange occurrence. The tour was getting ready to wrap up. Building twenty two to eighty three was the last stop of the tour, Jerry was telling the group about the second murder suicide that happened in the house when one of the tour members screamed. He turned around and looked. A curtain parted right in front of all of them, and through the window everyone could see what appeared to be blood spatter on the wall. Everyone could feel a change in the air. It felt like there was a presence there, and the tour with our Question was immediately over. Jane Hitchcock is an author who lived in Cadena Air Base from nineteen ninety two to nineteen ninety five. During her time there, she also did events with the same paranormal tour Jerry Johnson directed. One of these events was a seance which was held inside Building twenty two to eighty three. During the seance, she spoke to the spirits of a little girl. The girl kept mentioning how scared she was. She told her that she loved to play with her brother. She also said that they were afraid of the man on the horse. The candlelight at the table then moved up and down in an unnatural manner. I made everyone there uneasy. Jane, of course, refused to do another seance at the house before the building was torn down in two thousand and nine. People would see the spirits of a little girl and a little boy looking at them through the window. Others have seen a woman washing her hair and a samurai on a horse. Workers at the daycare next door have seen the most. Many have even heard the laughter of a young girl coming from the empty lot that used to be building twenty two eighty three. One of the stories there says that one day a daycare worker noticed one of the kids in her class was missing. It was time to go back inside for lunch, so she lined them all up and did her count, and that's when she noticed. She looked around for the missing student and noticed that there was a hole in the fence that led to the empty lot next door. She went through the hole to look for her missing students, and there she was in the middle of the empty lot, giggling to herself. She yelled out to her, asking her what she was doing and to come back, but the little girl only laughed and told her that her friend wanted her to stay. This unnerve the daycare worker what friend? There was no one else there. She ran to the girl and grabbed her by the hand, but the moment their hands touched, something was wrong. The air grew colder and darker. The little girl laughed and refused to move. It was like she wasn't herself anymore. The girl pulled her hand away from the daycare worker and ran to a house. And that house wasn't there a second ago, So where did it come from. The daycare worker ran after the girl, but before they got to the back door of the house, a curtain moved. The daycare worker glanced at the moving curtain. There was a man covered in blood and holding a knife, and so she ran to the little girl, picked her up and ran back to the daycare as fast as she could. She never found an explanation to what happened. She quit the next day. You see, military bases usually have multiple entries, especially the bigger ones. Not just anyone can get into a military base. These gates are always guarded by military police who visually check every single idea. Gates need to be guarded twenty four hours a day, but at Codeenna Gate three is often abandoned. Military police have refused to return to their post. Sometimes it would rather risk punishment than face whatever is at gate three. Most of them see the same thing. Lance Corporal Johnson had just arrived at Cadenna. This was his first overseas assignment and he was excited, at least until he got to his unit. He was the new guy, so he got stuck with the night shift, the gate duty that no one else wanted. There was another newly arrived corporal Styles, and he would be there with him, but on the other side of the gate. It was a quiet night. Not a lot of people used to Gate three, and he wasn't sure why. The other corporal walked away for a smoke break at one in the morning, and he stayed watching both the entry and exit. In the distance, he saw someone approaching the gate, but something was off. This guy was walking like he was hurt. The closer he got, the more Lance Corporal Johnson grew afraid. The guy's uniform was old and dirty. He was hunched and walked with a limp. The limping marine got closer, and Lance Corporal Johnson noticed the marine's uniform wasn't just dirty, it was full of blood. As the marine got even closer, he asked them, hey, you got a cigarette. Johnson broke out of his trands and he said, sure, man, Sure. He looked down to reach his lighter and pack of cigarettes and grabbed them, but the marine wasn't there anymore. Johnson felt the hairs on his body stand up. Where did the marine go? If he had walked away, he should have still been able to see him what just happened? He tried to grab his things and leave, but Stiles was walking back from his long break. Johnson asked if he saw another marine there, but Stoles told him no, they were the only ones there. Johnson was sweating and looked scared, and Stiles could tell something was wrong. He asked what happened. Johnson looked like he had just in a ghost. Johnson told him he wasn't sure, but he didn't want to there anymore because the entrance and went to go find their superior. Maybe he knew what was going on. There's a fifteen year old video recorded at Gate three. In the video, you can see a black shadow move across the road. It's creepy. It appears to be a human shaped shadow, and it fade as it gets closer to the other side. It happened on June twenty eighth, two thousand and eight. You see yeah, does shadow mo behind this line. Yeah, it's gonna fire away in a little bit. This kind of thing happens all the time at Gate three. There are many nights the gate just isn't open for service because no one wants to work there. The injured ghost of a World War two marine isn't the only sighting at Gate three. People have also seen an entity that is known as the Angry Woman. She's seen on the side of the road leading to Gate three. Some people have passed her, only to suddenly see her appear in the back seat of their car. The shock of seeing her then causes them to crash. Military police guarding Gate three at night have seen her running toward the gate while screaming, but just before she gets close to them, she disappears. Sadly, the horrors of World War Two are not the last time that Kadena saw blood. Countless murders have taken place over the years. The nineteen fifties American soldier kidnapped, assaulted, and murdered five year old Yumiku Nagayama. In nineteen ninety five, three US sailors kidnapped and murdered a twelve year old Okinawa girl in twenty twelve, Staff Sergeant Krahn murdered Tech Sergeant Eccleston in his Kadena apartment. In twenty sixteen, former Marine Kenneth Franklin Shinzato murdered Rena Shimabukuro. Add to that, the hundreds of thousand of deaths during World War II and all of the murders, and all you have left are the scars and hauntings that visitors and residents can still feel to this day. This episode of Horror Story was written and researched by Christina Lamagi, with production by me Edwin Kovarubias had Free episodes are on scaryplus dot com or in the link on your app, and if you have an idea for a story, send it over. Thank you very much for listening. Keep it scary everyone, See you soon.