Handprints

Handprints is a scary story about a young couple who are out on a date. I have encountered this story in a few different Asian countries like Japan, Korea, The Philippines and Indonesia, but I suspect that it is originally a Japanese urban legend.

One day, a couple went out on a date. They wanted a little bit of privacy, so they drove to a mountain known to be a good spot for young couples.

A few hours later, the sun started to go down and they started to head home. Somehow they made a wrong turn and found themselves on a road they weren’t familiar with. It was already late, though, so they continued down the narrow road until they found themselves in front of a tunnel. They definitely hadn’t passed through it on their way in and it was definitely creepy, but it was the only way they could go. They slowly drove into the tunnel.

BANG!

As soon as the darkness enveloped the car, something hit the rear window. Startled, the woman turned around to see what it was, but she didn’t see anything. There weren’t even any other cars behind them. As far as she could tell, they were completely alone in the tunnel.

BANG! BANG!

Her boyfriend began to speed up in an attempt to get out of the tunnel faster.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

It sounded as if dozens of things were striking the car from all directions. The man pressed his foot harder on the gas pedal. They both wanted to get somewhere with people as soon as possible. The tunnel ended after what seemed like an eternity, and shortly thereafter they found their way to a small gas station on the side of the road.

The two got out of the car and felt relief as they stood under the bright lights. Just as they were getting ready to get back in the car, the woman noticed that there were handprints all over the windows. They were in all sizes, and there was barely an inch of space on the glass that wasn’t covered in handprints. Shaken, they asked the gas station worker to clean the windows for them.

The two sat back down in the car and watched as the man quickly got to work on cleaning the windows. As he wiped and scrubbed, the two in the car felt a cold fear creep up their spines. He continued scrubbing all the same, but when he finished all of the windows, he cocked his head to the side and walked up to the driver’s side window and knocked lightly.

“I’m sorry,” he said, “but all of these handprints are on the inside…”