Gakkou No Kaiden
The Haunted Doll of the Annual Traffic Safety Lesson

Each bring the police women of the traffic division of the Satoyama Police Department host an annual “Traffic Safety Lesson” for the children and teenagers of the village. Kindergarten children are taught basic traffic laws and general guidelines. Elementary School children are taught more advanced traffic laws and are often given top to each other safely. Middle School children are often given a chance to show what they have learned and often take on leading roles in lessons. Junior High School students are often given lessons of their own to teach and last, but not least High School students often volunteer their own free time to help the policewoman conduct lessons. The last two are often presented with special rewards at the end of the lessons. The lesson is normally conducted over a period of one or two days, sometimes even three days.

Now the lessons are really a series of fun-filled activities, such as a puppet show, live demonstrations and lectures. One of the live demonstrations features a male crash test dummy that is named “Ken-Kun'' the dummy is often paired with a female crash dummy called “Sakura-Chan” before the live demonstration the school children are given a chance to learn a little about each dummy. I'll give you an example using “Sakura-Chan ''. The biography for “Sakura-Chan” is that loves cooking, and aspires to become a famous chef one day. She is also really into fashion, and dreams of one day becoming a beautiful bride. She also really adores the major majokko anime “Little Witch in the Dark Forest!” In essence “Sakura-Chan '' is supposed to be your average middle school schoolgirl. She is often supposed to have a crush on her classmate “Ken-Kun” but the students must promise to keep that bit of information their little secret.

On the other hand “Ken-Kun is a fan of the very popular live action super sentai television “Space Ranger chosen to Defend the Planet Earth from the Evil Moon Creatures!” He also likes to catch bugs, fish. He too is often supposed to have a crush on his classmate “Sakura-Chan” who sits beside him in math class but is too afraid to ask her out. That is one of the many facts about himself he will share with the student body when he is introduced to them.

Now around the second day of lessons. The children will learn the importance of looking in both directions before crossing a very busy street. To teach this lesson a sketch is normally performed by two high school students. One of them is supposed to cosplay as “Sakura-Chan” the other is supposed to cosplay as “Ken-Kun” but in lean times, one of the male students has been known to be drafted to play “Sakura-Chan”. Anyway the two perform what is supposed to be a romantic scene. Normally the two are shown sharing an oversized Bento Box during the school's lunch hour. Normally Ken-Kun is supposed to be blushing and Sakura-Chan is supposed to be Ken-Kun Blushing.

It's then that Ken-Kun would surprise Sakura-Chan by asking her if she would like to go to the movies this coming Sunday afternoon. Her favorite anime “Little Witch in the Dark Forest!” Has just released its first full length animated movie entailed. Little Witch in the Dark Forest!: The Cold Revenge of the Snow Queen Yuki-Onna!. And Ken-Kun has gone out of his way to reserve two online tickets for the Sunday matinee showing. Overjoyed, the normally reserved Sakura-Chan will leap to her feet and wrap her tiny arms around Ken-Kun's broad shoulders and knock him to the ground. While shouting yes she would love to go with him at the top of her lungs.

The next scene shows Sakura-Chan getting ready for her date, she does her hair, she paints her nails, and she applies a little make-up, and finally she picks out a stunning pink dress from her closet. Once she is dressed she picks up her purse and heads out the door. The scene then cuts to Ken-Kun who is talking to one of his friends on his cellphone while walking toward the theater. He cuts his conversation short as he sees Sakura waiting for him on the other side of the street.

At this point the lesson is driven home. Sakura-Chan overjoyed at seeing Ken-Kun rushes across the street without looking both ways first, at this moment the person playing Sakura-Chan is instructed to roll behind something and hide, while the crash dummy that's dressed just like Sakura-Chan is tossed into the road, just as a white moving van comes speeding down the street and crashes into Sakura-Chan. The crash dummy is tossed to the side like a rag doll and the white moving van speeds up and speeds away.

A few tense moments later a dozen extras rush in and an ambulance is called. The crash dummy is then loaded up on a gurney and pushed into the back of the waiting ambulance while a pair of paramedics start working on trying to save the dummy. The policewoman giving the lesson then leaves the group of children who have been watching, she rushes over and talks to the paramedics and after bowling returns to talk to the children. In a stunned voice she tells the children that Sakura-Chan is being transported to a nearby hospital and that the hospital will be keeping her updated on her condition.

Ten minutes past slowly by and the policewoman is giving another lesson. This one on what the street signs mean, when suddenly her cell phone rings. She tells the children that this might be the hospital calling to tell them about their friend Sakura-Chan. She boys and then steps away to take her call. One of the older teenagers then takes charge of the lesson. Another ten tense minutes pass before the woman returns and in a sad, defeated tone of voice tells the gathered group of children that their friend Sakura-Chan did not make it, despite being rushed into surgery as soon as she reached the hospitals. The Doctors and nurses could not save her life. The policewoman sighs and says in a mournful tone that Sakura-chan would still be alive and enjoying her date if she had just looked both ways before crossing that busy street.

Now according to a friend of mine, one who volunteered to play Sakura-Chan, something strange happen one year that caused them to abandon that skit. One year right after they tossed the crash dummy into the street something weird happened. The dummy started to talk, at first the policewoman thought it was one of the volunteers playing a very mean trick on her, the girl who had volunteered to play Sakura-Chan that year was something of a rookie ventriloquist with some noticeable skill. But then the dummy did something that was almost impossible for it to do. It turned it's head and faced the crowd of children.

Then the horrified crowd noticed that the doll seemed to be bleeding from the corner mouth, as a dark, crimson red trickle of what appeared to be red blood pooled around the doll, the shrill voice of the doll echoed across the area.

“Please mommy! It hurts, it hurts so much!” The crash dummy was reported to wail as its plastic eyelash's fluttered and a salty tear ran down its plastic cheeks. “Make the pain stop!” The doll was then reported to have coughed as the pool of blood spread across the stone paved street. The crowd had been stunned into silence. The policewoman quickly left the scene and rushed toward the area where the young woman was hiding, but instead of finding a giggling prankster she found a cowering volunteer who looked on in horror as the crash dummy's face turned around and peered toward the two.
“How could you do this to me mommy!” How could you do this to me mommy!” And to the horror of the policewoman and the volunteer, the eyes of the plastic dummy seemed to flutter once more before closing. After that incident the police department stopped putting on that skit for the children, and found a less dramatic way to drive the message home that one should look both ways before crossing a busy street. And the test dummies, oh they remained on school ground. The Sakura-Chan dummy and Ken-Kun dummy are stored at the very back of the shed that sits behind the school's gym. Every once in a while the shed needs to be cleaned out, and then the doll is reported to cry out again.

“It hurts mommy! Please make the pain go away!” Some claim the doll has become haunted by the spirit of a little girl who was really killed trying to cross the street one day and is still calling out for its mother. What do you believe?