Unsolved case! Japanese female teacher mysteriously died in a cesspool

The case we are discussing today is one of the most bizarre and spine tingling unsolved cases in post-war Japan - the Fukushima female teacher's tragic death. It does not have the lonely souls and wild ghosts in supernatural legends, but it is more suffocating than any ghost story; It has a clear victim and a specific location of the crime. The police investigated for half a year, but in the end, it was hastily closed as an "accidental death". However, everyone who has seen the scene and heard the details believes that this is definitely not an accident. This incident has been circulating in Japan for decades, and there are still people investigating the truth. Whenever someone mentions that cold public restroom or that strange death posture, it still makes people's hearts tighten and a layer of cold sweat breaks out on their backs.

On February 28, 1989, in Ueno Village, Koriyama City, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, it was a small village nestled in the mountains. The winter chill enveloped the snow grains, making the thatched cottages in the village rustle. The elementary school teacher in the village, Keiko Matsubara, went to work at school as usual early that morning, but she didn't show up in class until 10 am. Her colleagues couldn't contact her and went to the apartment she rented to find someone. They only saw that the door was ajar, the room was empty, and there was still an unfinished breakfast on the table. The keys and wallet were intact, not like going out voluntarily.

The school and villagers immediately organized a search, searching the village, school, and nearby mountains and forests from morning to afternoon, but could not find any trace of Keiko Matsubara. Until evening, a villager discovered a scene that he would never forget in the public toilet on the edge of the village - it was an old-fashioned dry toilet consisting of independent squatting positions. Below the squatting positions was a cesspool about 1.5 meters deep, dark and damp, emitting a pungent odor. The villager walked into one of the squatting positions and, as he lowered his head, suddenly saw a figure curled up at the bottom of the manure pit.

The villagers were scared out of their wits and crawled out of the public restroom, shouting for others. As everyone approached their squatting positions with flashlights and carefully examined, they all froze in place: in the sewage and feces at the bottom of the cesspool, curled up was a woman, none other than Keiko Matsubara, who had been missing for a day. Her upper body was naked, with her coat and underwear neatly stacked beside her, her head facing towards the squatting position, her knees bent, and her body tightly pressed against the narrow bottom of the cesspool. Her posture was extremely eerie, as if someone had forcefully stuffed her in.

After receiving the report, the police rushed to the scene overnight. What can be a headache is that the squat opening of the dry toilet is only 36 centimeters wide and 50 centimeters long, while Keiko Matsubara is 155 centimeters tall and weighs 45 kilograms. Under normal circumstances, adults would not be able to crawl into such a narrow manure pit on their own in such a posture. In order to pull up her body, the police ultimately had to destroy the cement structure of the entire squatting position before reluctantly removing the body.

More bizarre details are yet to come. The forensic doctor conducted a preliminary examination of the body and found that Keiko Matsubara's death occurred around the night of February 27th, the night before her disappearance. There were no obvious external injuries or signs of struggle or fighting on her body, and the cause of death was drowning and suffocation - that is to say, she drowned alive in the sewage of a cesspool. It is incomprehensible that her coat and underwear were neatly stacked and placed in a dry corner at the bottom of the cesspool, with no signs of being torn or coerced, as if she had voluntarily taken off her clothes and crawled into the cesspool.

What's even more chilling is that the police found a tuft of hair in the hands of Keiko Matsubara that didn't belong to her. Her hair was very long and had a yellowish color, while Keiko Matsubara herself had short black hair; In addition, there are still a small amount of skin tissue and fibers remaining in her nail crevices. After testing, these skin tissues and fibers do not belong to her. In addition, on the snow around the public restroom, only the footprints of Keiko Matsubara were left. The footprints extended from the direction of her apartment to the entrance of the restroom, with even depth and no traces of running or struggling, nor the footprints of a second person, as if she had walked into the restroom alone and never came out again.

The police immediately launched a comprehensive investigation, first investigating Matsubara Keiko's social relationships. Matsubara Keiko was 23 years old at the time and had just started teaching at the village primary school for a year. She had an outgoing and gentle personality, and had good relationships with colleagues and students. She did not have any grudges or emotional disputes with anyone. Her parents are both out of town, and she lives alone in an apartment in the village. She rarely goes out except for work, and her life is simple and regular.

But as the investigation deepened, the police discovered some unknown details: a few days before the incident, Keiko Matsubara complained to her colleagues that she had been feeling tracked lately, whether it was on her way to work or returning home from school, she felt a pair of eyes staring at her from behind. She also said that several nights, she heard slight footsteps outside the apartment door, but when she opened the door, no one was there. My colleagues thought she was too sensitive at the time and didn't take it to heart, but now they think it may be closely related to her death.

In addition, the police also learned that there is a US military base near Ueno Village. Prior to the incident, several soldiers from the base had wandered around the village multiple times and harassed women there. Matsubara Keiko was also approached by one of the soldiers, who refused and threatened her. The police immediately summoned the soldiers, but they all had alibis, and after testing, it was found that the hair and skin tissue in Matsubara Keiko's hands did not match these soldiers. This clue was thus interrupted.

The police speculate that Matsubara Keiko may have voluntarily entered the cesspool to avoid someone or to hide something, only to be accidentally trapped and eventually drowned? But this speculation was quickly overturned: firstly, the squatting position had an extremely narrow opening, making it impossible for adults to actively enter. Even if they forcefully entered, they would be unable to move due to the limited space, let alone fold their clothes neatly; Secondly, Keiko Matsubara had no reason to hide in the cesspool, she did not carry any prohibited items on her body, and there was no need to evade the police or others; Finally, her death posture was eerie, not at all like being accidentally trapped, but more like being controlled, forcibly stuffed into a cesspool, and then drowned.

Some speculate that this may be a love or revenge killing? The perpetrator may have known Keiko Matsubara, and when she was out late at night, he coerced her into a public restroom and forcibly stuffed her into a cesspool, causing her to drown. He then cleared the footprints at the scene and fabricated the illusion that she went to the restroom alone. But there are also many doubts about this speculation: why did the killer choose such a bizarre way of killing? Why not just kill her and throw her body away, instead of laboriously stuffing her into a narrow cesspool? Moreover, the killer's technique for cleaning footprints at the scene is extremely advanced, and the police did not find any traces of cleaning on the snow, which is beyond the capabilities of ordinary people.

The investigation of the case has reached a stalemate. The police have investigated hundreds of suspects and collected a large number of clues, but have not found any evidence that can lock in the killer. As time goes by, the influence of the case is increasing, and the Japanese public's questioning of the police is also growing. Everyone feels that the police are perfunctory and unwilling to investigate the truth in depth.

Six months later, without any conclusive evidence, the Japanese police finally closed the case on the grounds of "accidental death". The official conclusion is that Keiko Matsubara went to the public restroom alone late at night, possibly to avoid something or for some unknown reason, and voluntarily entered the cesspool. However, due to the limited space, she was unable to escape and eventually drowned and suffocated to death. As soon as this conclusion was reached, it immediately caused a huge uproar. Whether it was Matsubara Keiko's family, colleagues, or the Japanese public, they could not accept this absurd explanation. Everyone firmly believed that Matsubara Keiko's death was not an accident, but a carefully planned murder case.

This case became one of the most famous unsolved cases in post-war Japan, and for decades, people have been investigating the truth. Some people say that Keiko Matsubara may have discovered a secret about a US military base and was silenced; Some people also say that she may have been killed by an acquaintance in the village, and the perpetrator hid deeply and is still at large; Some people also say that the public restroom itself is very mysterious, and some strange things have happened before. The death of Keiko Matsubara may be related to supernatural forces.

Even more strangely, shortly after the incident, the public restroom was forcibly demolished by the villagers and trees were planted on the spot. However, whenever someone passed by there, they could always smell a faint odor, like the smell of a cesspool. Moreover, in the late night, faint cries of women could be heard, with a mournful and desperate voice that made people shudder. The old man in the village said that it was the vengeful soul of Keiko Matsubara crying out. She was unwilling to die so inexplicably and had been searching for her murderer.

Until today, the bizarre death of Japanese female teachers remains an unsolved mystery. The official conclusion is absurd and ridiculous, and there are various speculations among the public. However, the truth has been buried forever in that cold cesspool, in the cold winter of Uenomura. No one knows what Keiko Matsubara went through that late night; No one knows how she was stuffed into a narrow cesspool; No one knows who the murderer of her is.

Is that narrow squat a death trap or a habitat for vengeful souls? Is the vengeful soul of Keiko Matsubara still wandering in that place, waiting for someone to clear her name? At this moment, you may want to think about it. If there is a remote public restroom next to you, would you dare to go in alone at night? Do you dare to look down at the darkness beneath the squatting position? Because you never know what terrible things and unsolved grievances are hidden in that darkness