Urban Legends: Unsettling Horror and the Oppression of Unbreakable Rules 怪谈系｜怪诞恐怖的渲染、权威规则的压迫

“What Are Weird Tales?” Weird tales is a general term for supernatural horror stories that have been told in Japan since ancient times. The term sometimes refers to any kind of horror story, but it can also refer specifically to collections of supernatural stories from the Edo period. The Yotsuya Kaidan, The Ghost Story of Yotsuya, and Botan Doro are considered Japan's three great ghost stories. More broadly, the term refers to horror stories and supernatural legends originating in Japan. In Japanese, it simply means ghost stories. Rule-based weird fiction is a genre of online ghost stories and urban legends. “Elements of Weird Tales” Unlike conventional weird tales, which are usually told as narratives, rule-based weird fiction typically takes the form of rules, guidelines, manuals, or notices. These are presented as a list of requirements, commands, suggestions, or warnings. The genre exploits people's trust in the authority represented by “rules” and their everyday habit of “following the rules.” It introduces strange, anomalous, or contradictory elements into rules that would normally seem authoritative and reliable. This makes readers hesitate and feel afraid about whether they should obey the rules, creating a sense of horror.