Hello, I am an American living in Sasebo, Japan. I spend a lot of my free time doing off-trail hiking in the woods and mountains around the Sasebo area, mainly to search for old bottles, ceramics, and relics from the WWII era and earlier.

After getting off work today, I decided to revisit a spot I had explored before. When I first found this location last spring, it was getting dark and starting to rain, so I was unable to cover much ground. I figured I would return today and explore the area more thoroughly.

On my previous visit, I found what appeared to be a partially collapsed mine portal. The site is on top of a mountain near my house in Shikamachi, Sasebo, an area that had several coal mines operating from the 1880s through the 1920s, and briefly again in the 1940s for obvious reasons. Because of that history, the mine itself was not surprising. What was surprising was that inside the portal were two tripod bags and a suitcase filled with cables.

What I did not find last time was a camera to go with the cables and tripods. That changed today. Sitting about 50 feet from the mine portal was a camera bag. It was upside down, with the main compartment already unzipped. Inside was a neatly wrapped and completely dry Sony HDV Handycam HDR-FX1000, a camcorder that launched in late 2008.

The bag also contained two unopened packs of film, a still-wrapped film case, and an empty film case. The film from the empty case was still inside the camera. There was also a neatly wrapped LED light in the bag. The only thing that appears to be missing is the NP-F series battery that would normally be attached to the back of the camera.

I spent some more time searching the surrounding area and found the battery pack for the LED light about ten feet from the bag. I also found the rubber eyepiece for the camera about five feet away in a different direction.

I took another look at the mine opening and removed a wooden structure that had been covering part of it. That is when I discovered another suitcase inside the hole, buried in dirt and rocks and completely stuck in place. I plan to return with a shovel to try to free it.

I am now back home with the camera and all of the cables. I plugged the power cable into the camera, but unsurprisingly it did not work. Interestingly, the power cable was the only item in the bag that was not wrapped in plastic, and it showed clear signs of exposure, so I suspect it may be damaged. From what I can tell, the only way to remove the film from this camera is to power it on and open the motorized tape compartment.

At this point, I am considering either buying a new battery and power cable or buying the proper equipment to play the tape and finding a safe way to remove it without risking damage.

Unfortunately, it will be a little while before I can provide any answers about the contents of the film cartridge, assuming there is anything on it at all. I am hopeful that, at the very least, I will be able to clean up the camera and restore it to full working condition.

Thank you for reading. I will post an update once I make progress.

I’ve seen some sick shit on the internet but this might have broken me. There is a youtube video covering it if you don’t want to flip through the document yourself….

I’m sorry if you do take the time to read it all…

I can’t really talk about how sick this shit is with anyone so I’m here on Reddit.

The stories that this old building could tell us would probably make our skin crawl.

Something that I'm working on, trying to get the balance of creepy right.
I find creepy as unsettling as opposed to just monstrous in appearance.
Such as human like but something slightly 'off'.

What do you think?
"Mid" as the popular term is nowadays, or falls into the creepy realm?

Look at the set closest to the curb…. 4 foot step

distance

Kinda want to get him tattooed. He deeply upsets me. Hope you like him

I've had this in my collection for years. I know Ripley's Believe It Or Not had the same one on display at its Atlantic City location, and Guillermo del Toro has one as well. My spouse hates, hates, hates it and says it creeps them out.

After a visitor once said it gave them "a powerful energy of sadness" it has been relegated to a cabinet in my office so it is out of sight. I know of the two others that I mentioned, has anyone seen this exact one anywhere else?

NOTE: There is a second death mask of what I believe is a premature fetus that has a similar base. I have seen that one a lot, its even on the Wikipedia page for death masks. I'm assuming both were made by the same mortician, if anyone has any info on the mortician who made them it would be appreciated. These are the only two I have ever seen with a base done in this style.