Chapter 1
This creepy story is about the sudden appearance of the boat with no one inside them just travelling by themselves in the sea and gradually landing up in the shore during the night. People living near the seashore, rush to investigate them, only to find no one in the boat. To their surprise, they found human skeletons in the boat like skull, hand, legs and pelvis.
The arrival of such a boat once or twice was understandable, that fisherman might have lost their way through the rough sea and would have traversed far and wide. Their resources may have been deprived and unable to eat the fisherman died, and their skeletons remained in the boat. If arrival of such mysterious boat continued every fortnight, year after year then no possible explanation holds.
The frequency of arrival of such boat increased gradually. Every other night, some or other creepy boat would land up in the seashore with no one inside it. The boat contained only human bones lying scattered throughout them. People were scared, unable to understand what was happening and from where these mysterious boats are arriving. They called these boats as Ghost Boats.
This is a story from Japan, a country that is surrounded by sea from all the sides. Fishing is one of the main occupations of this country. Many people and their family depend upon fishing for their livelihood. Mostly people living on the shores travel into the sea with their boats in search of a suitable catch.
Chapter 2
The appearance of mysterious empty boats carrying skeletons started on the north-west shore of Japan. These were not Japanese fishing boats. The boats appeared from nowhere and gradually align themselves to the coast. After the arrival of many such mysterious boats, people got scared. They feared approaching such boats.
The news of the arrival of such mysterious boats spread widely. This news reached the Japanese government, and they came to investigate these mysterious boats but could not find any evidence.
Japanese government spent a large sum of money to remove the fear engulfed amongst their people and make the life of the people easy. But the fear amongst the people persisted. They lived in fear wondering when the next such mystery boat would arrive at their shore.
The people were afraid of the human skeletons found in the boats; they wondered the source of the boats as a large stretch of sea separated the nearest land. Only large boats used to traverse the sea traversing long distances, but travelling in such small boats even from the nearest land is disastrous, and no one would take such a risk of travelling such a large distance in a small boat.
Japan is surrounded, by North Korea, South Korea, China and Russia in the north-western part separated by rough sea. The recorded arrival of such mysterious boats dates to 2011. As there was no living human in the boat the people named these boats as Ghost boats.
Chapter 3
People started staying away from these unclaimed boats due to fear. The Japanese government communicated to the people that, when fisherman venture out for fishing they go deep in the sea in such a small boat, and due to ocean currents or rough sea, they deviate from their path.
Their resources gradually deplete and finally run out. Unable to find food, they eventually die of hunger, and their skeletons remained in the boat that washed ashore. The people living in the coastal areas were so scared of these mysterious boats that they refused to believe this argument.
Their counter-argument was, it can happen once twice or thrice. But regularly if such mysterious boats start arriving, then there must be some other larger reason behind.
The people were further not able to understand the fact that why such mysterious boats arrived at the north-western coasts only though Japan is surrounded by sea from all four sides. Eastern or Southern coasts never reported any such incidents of the appearance of any such mysterious boats.
Rumour started spreading thick and fast with the arrival of the ghost boat takes place in the north-western coast of Japan. All these boats were old and lacked powerful engines and modern GPS equipment. The Japanese government also was finding it hard to find a suitable explanation.
Chapter 4
The Government officials believed that these people might be defectors trying to sneak into Japan in small boats. But due to lack of food supplies would eventually die and their skeletal remains are all that remains. There had been incidents in the past, where they have arrested such persons.
The arrival of such mysterious boats increased gradually containing human skeletons washed away to the north-western shore of Japan. According to statistics reported by the Japanese Coast Guard, data from 2011, the number of boats washed away, towards the Japanese coasts was:
In 2011 – The reported number of arrival was 57 boats, all carrying human skeletons.
In 2012 – The arrival of 47 such boats were reported.
In 2013 – The arrival of 80 such boats were reported.
In 2014 – The arrival of 65 such boats were reported.
In 2015 – The arrival of 34 such boats were reported.
In 2016 – The arrival of 24 such boats were reported.
In 2017 – The arrival of a record number of 104 such boats were reported.
In 2018 – The arrival of 89 such boats were reported.
In 2019 – The arrival of 156 such boats were reported, with seven highly decomposed body washed to the shore.
With the arrival of so many numbers of ghost boats carrying only human skeletons, people living in the shore started panicking and lived in extreme fear.
Chapter 5
With the increase in the appearance of so many ghost boats, and considering the widespread fear amongst the local people, the Japanese government for the first time decided to launch a full-fledged investigation to find out the real cause of the appearance of such mysterious boats. What is the origin of boats? Who are the dead humans found inside the boat? Why are the boats washed away only towards the north-western coast?
The Japanese investigators started investigating each of the mysterious boats. They found that most of them are quite old and rickety. Some of the better-shaped boats had the marking on the body in the Korean language that said “Korean People Army”.
Investigation revealed that all these boats were from North Korea. The people were not convinced to accept the theory, because the distance between North Korea and Japan is more than 1000 miles, and covering such a distance in such small boats amongst the rough was suicidal.
The investigational evidence suggested that all these boats were from North Korea. But the connection between North Korea and these mysterious boats were still not established. Fearful people did not accept this investigation theory, Japanese fisherman argued that there are other means of suicide, why would so many persons even attempt to travel such large distance in such tiny boats amongst rough sea.
Chapter 6
The investigation team was under immense pressure, they were not able to find any conclusive evidence, and with the arrival of each such mysterious boat, the fear amongst the people was increasing further.
North-West coast security was increased, to make people feel comfortable. With the arrival of boats carrying human remains, the officials had to do a proper analysis of the cause of death and cremate the body, putting an extra burden on the exchequer.
The Investigating officials were convinced that these are boats from North Korea but were not able to find the cause of it. One startling fact revealed that the appearance of first such washed away mysterious boat dates back to 1975. But their rate of arrival was rare, and it only increased with time.
Investigation revealed that from 1977 to 1983; about 17 Japanese fishermen living in the North-Western coastal area disappeared mysteriously, but they were never found. It was believed, that they might have gone fishing in their boats and met with some accident.
In 1985, Japanese police arrested a man wandering in the North West coast. On examining his credentials, it was found that he was Tadaki Hara, one amongst the 17 disappeared Japanese fishermen. That exited the investigating officials, as they believed the whereabouts of the other missing fishermen could be obtained from him.
It was soon revealed, during police interrogation that the person they caught was not Tadaki Hara as his documents displayed, and he was a North Korean spy using the documents of Tadaki Hara.
He revealed that the remaining 16 Japanese fishermen were also abducted gradually by the North Korean agents. The reason was to learn the Japanese language and their lifestyle and use their documents to get inside Japan and gather vital information.
Chapter 7
The mystery of ghost boats was still at large. Investigation revealed that there is a large market for squids, king crabs and sandfish in China, especially the giant squids found in this region was a delicacy in China.
Increase in the demand of this fish Chinese commercial fishing trawlers started entering the waters of North Korea violating the U.N. sanctions which prohibit foreign fishing vessels from fishing in North Korean waters.
About 800 or more large Chinese trawlers entered North Korean waters at times and fished huge quantity of giant squid, leading to a decline of 70% in the squid stock in those waters and was the largest known case of illegal fishing in another nation’s water.
This forced the North Korean fisherman to venture out too deep into the sea to catch their share of fish as Chinese large fishing trawlers were taking out a large proportion of this delicacy using their advance tracking equipment.
Chapter 8
North Korean fishermen travelled far in the sea using their small boats in search of squids fully aware that they might not be able to sustain such long journey, but there was little choice left for them.
Their livelihood depended upon the catch; hence these fishermen took an extreme risk. Due to bad weather or climatic conditions, some of the boats used to deviate from their course.
Few boats of North Korean fisherman never used to return to their coasts. Travelling for months and devoid of food and water, these fishermen starved to death in their boats. The rough sea and corresponding tides slowly brought these boats to the North-Western shores of Japan.
An independent investigation was lead by a UN organisation, and they found large Chinese fishing trawlers violated the international rules to fulfil their market demand, which leads to a rapid decline in the squid population.
The poor North Korean fishermen were forced, to venture deep in the sea in their small boats for catching squids. Some of them eventually not returning with their boats.
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