An Unforgettable Sleepless Night in Okinawa: The Blanket Gets Pulled, and a Grim Face Appears at 3 AM for Just a Second

▲ The seaside in Okinawa. (Photo/ Illustration)

Text by: No paranormal experience, no qualification as a travel journalist

As a travel journalist, I often have to go on business trips abroad. It was a few years ago when I traveled to Okinawa for work and stayed at a well-known resort. Because the hotel was by the sea, almost all the rooms had an ocean view. I was initially very excited and thought all the facilities were great. But little did I know that happy times always pass especially quickly. On our first day at the hotel, strange things began happening at night.

That time, it was an airline entertaining the media, and two of us shared a room. Since one of the features of this resort was that each room had something called a “daydream pavilion,” my roommate and I coordinated — he would sleep in the daydream pavilion, and I would take the bed. After a long, busy day, we finally got back to the room and went to wash up and sleep.

I’m a very light sleeper, and the slightest disturbance can wake me up. Also, because I hate feeling restricted, I usually sleep with my feet sticking out from under the blanket. But that night, the air conditioning in the room was so strong it was unbearably cold, so I had to sleep all wrapped up. In the middle of the night, as it seemed to get even colder, I instinctively pulled my feet back under the blanket. While half-asleep, I felt something brushing against me through the blanket. Just as I was about to turn over, the blanket suddenly lifted up and then was yanked down forcefully.

I woke up instantly with a jolt. When I opened my eyes, I saw a black face — but it disappeared in less than a second right in front of me. All sleepiness vanished in an instant, and I wanted to rush out the door to see if it was my roommate playing a prank on me. But when I stepped out of the room, I found him still snoring away in the daydream pavilion. I checked the time — it was 3:11 AM. And from that moment on, I couldn’t fall asleep again until morning.

The next morning, as soon as I got up, I immediately asked my roommate, “Did you hear anything strange last night?” He replied nonchalantly, “Nope, why?” On my way back to the room, I faintly heard some noise coming from the bathroom and rushed over immediately.

Some of you might be thinking by now, “Ghosts in broad daylight?” or “What a joke!” But I still need to explain — the structure of this bathroom was very simple, with one side covered entirely in mirrors and the other side featuring a bathtub facing the floor-to-ceiling windows, which led to a balcony outside. When I rushed into the bathroom, of course, there was “nothing there,” but I still felt like something was inside the bathroom. Even when I took a shower that night, I still felt like something was watching me from the balcony. But I didn’t dare tell my roommate. It wasn’t until the third day that the rest of us left the hotel and continued on to our next interview location...

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