Gakkou No Kaiden
The Ghost Sachiko-Chan The Pool

This is the next to last I will be sharing with you. This story will focus on the ghost of a girl named Sachiko who's wrathful spirit is said to haunt the swimming pool of Satoyama High School. Now, there is a tradition in the village that during summer, the swimming pool of Satoyama is to remain open at all times, even if a lifeguard is not on duty. The pool after all was only built because the whole village came together and pooled their limited money and resources together. So many feel the school's pool belongs not only to the students of Satoyama but the village as a whole.

Now, many of the cottages and houses in the village did not have air conditioners and many depended on small electric fans to provide a measure of comfort in the blistering heat waves of summer. One sure fire way to cool off on the short, brutal summer the mountain region was known for. One trusted method used by the villagers to cool off at the height of the brutal summers was to take a late at night or early morning swim when the water in the pool was still pretty cool.

But as with the Kappa that are rumored to infest the many streams, brooks, and shallow rivers whose name are only known to the many woodsmen and huntsmen that make a living scourging the woods and mountains that surround the village. The school pool is too supposed to be haunted by a wrathful spirit, a ghost. A ghost of a girl who drowned in the pool some thirty years ago. And like the Kappa she is said to lurk in the shadows and like a striking cobra her powerful arm is said to pop out and wrap her strong fingers around the ankles of those standing nearby in a tight vise-like grip.

Then in a chuckling tone of voice would say.

“The water is fine! Please come in and join me for a swim!” And with that she would drag the person into the water and drag them down into the deep, dark water of the pool and try as they might there is no way to escape her strong grip. Soon they would feel their lungs start to fill with water and soon their world would slowly darken as the cold, icy grips of death took hold of them.

The only way to escape her deadly grip is to calm your mind and focus your heart and chat a Sutra to the Buddha. The chanting of the holy words are supposed to cause the ghost to loosen her hold enough to escape her from deadly vice grip.

I will now tell you the story of how this girl came to haunt the pool and an encounter one of my students had with her. Now, Like I said before, the school pool is to remain open at all hours of the day and night. It's never closed, students are free to swim even without a teacher being present to watch over them. One night during the summer of nineteen ninety nine a girl named Sachiko and her two friends went for a late night swim. One of the free Sachiko was the weakest swimmer. And stayed well into the shallow end of the pool while her two friends played and frolicked in the deep end of the pool.

As the night wore on and the full moon reflected down upon the glass surface of the pool. The sound of frolicking friends turned to frantic screams as Sachiko caught a cramp, called out to her friends to help her, and tried they did, but in the darkness they could not really find her. In fact they did not find her until early that next morning. The students of Satoyama High School were greeted with the area around the pool being roped off with neon orange tape.

That was not all, two female police officers were spotted carrying an orange body bag out. Sachiko and two friends followed behind the body bag, crying and holding each other. As they watched their friend take her last ride to the city morgue.

Now a few days of mourning have passed. But soon Sachiko's death was forgotten and while some talk was tossed around town of closing the pool down or at least limiting the hours the pool was open, that talk got nowhere and the matter was dropped.

Though it seemed Sachiko's wrathful spirit would not let the matter rest. Passing patrol's of policemen on foot would often report seeing a silhouette of a girl standing at the edge of the pool. When the patrolman would shine his flashlight toward the silhouette it would vanish into thin air. Other times, during swim lessons students would report that something or somebody was tugging on their legs. Once or twice the weaker swimmers would get dragged from the shallow end of the pool toward the deeper end and often or not it would take the effort of the whole class to keep them from drowning.

Now, one night three students from my English Class. Let's call them Student 'A', Student 'B' and Student 'C' were swimming in the pool after the school had closed down. Among the two students, 'A' and 'B' were the strongest swimmers. And 'C' was the weakest. 'C' being the weakest, decided to stay in the shallow end of the pool while 'A' and 'B' swam in the deeper end of the pool.

All of a sudden 'C' felt something pulling on her ankle. Frightened, she tried to swim to the edge of the pool. But whatever was pulling on her ankle refused to let go and dragged her toward the deeper end of the pool. Frightened, she called out for her friends to help her, and both indeed dove in and tried to help her, but they were too late. For according to 'C' before they could reach her she felt herself being dragged under the water.

As she was dragged under the water, she noticed the outline of something or somebody. A ghostly form of a girl whose skin looked like milk and who's eyes glowed a dark, hollow red. The girl grinned and seemed to almost laugh as 'C' started to struggle. Deeper and deeper the girl pulled her down till 'C's' feet touched the concrete bottom of the pool. Silvery rays of moonlight filtered down around her. And the girl grinned and seemed to float around 'C' who struggled to breathe.

Then something happened. 'A' and 'B' dove down and reached 'C' . None of the girls reported seeing the ghostly girl and only said they saw 'C' laying down on the concrete floor of the pool. Using all their strength they hauled the girl to the surface of the water and quickly pushed her toward the edge of the pool and quickly all three scrambled up. 'C' was having a hard time breathing and and so 'A' thinking quickly rushed to her bag and pulled out her mobile

'A' quickly dialed 119 The Japanese equivalent of 911 and was directly connected to local emergency medical services. Meanwhile 'B' stood by her friend and prayed and wrapped her tightly in a towel. It was then that 'B' noticed splashing in the water, like somebody was swimming toward her, and there in the moonlight she saw her, the ghostly form of the pool girl rose up from the water like a phantom and lurched toward 'B' screaming as she did so.

'B' screamed and dragged 'C' away from the edge of the pool. Meanwhile 'A' had completed her call. And as she did so she noticed that climbing out of the pool was the ghostly form of the girl. The ghostly form advanced toward 'A' who screamed and dropped her phone, her phone shattered into a million and one pieces as it landed on the concrete.

Thankfully, 'A', 'B' and 'C' escaped the wrath of the pool girl that night. 'C' spent a few days in the local hospital but made a full recovery and 'A' and 'B' were treated for shock at the same hospital. The pool was closed for a few days while the police conducted a search. The police search lasted only a few hours, as none of the officers wanted to be around the pool any more than they had too. They felt like something or somebody was watching them.

Now, we have only two more tales to tell before this collection of ghost stories comes to an end.