Kunekune
A Japanese internet legend tells of a white figure writhing in the distance across a rice field, and of what happens if you look too closely.
What was reported
Kunekune, roughly 'wriggling', is a Japanese internet legend that spread on forums from about 2003. It describes a thin white figure seen far away across a rice field on a hot summer day, twisting and writhing as if in a strange dance.
The stories say it's harmless to see it from afar, but anyone who looks at it closely, through binoculars for example, and understands what it is, loses their mind.
Explanations offered
It's a creepypasta, a story created and shared online, though it borrows from older rural folklore. Readers have suggested heat haze, scarecrows or white cloth flapping in the wind as the 'real' kunekune.
- When
- Spread online from about 2003
- Where
- Rice fields of rural Japan
- Witnesses
- Online storytellers
- Status
- Urban legend
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.