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Fatal Frame Fanbook: Behind the Scenes - Zero Ghost Stories

These are five stories of creepy things that actually happened during development of the Zero series. Perhaps they will make you even more frightened of Zero.
(Images scanned by Emi, originally from the Zero Wiki.)

I think it was around the very beginning, when we'd just started the project. When I told someone I'd be staying overnight to work, they warned me, "If you're going to be alone on this floor, leave." At the time I didn't really pay any attention to it, but while I was working that evening I heard the sound of tapping on a keyboard from the other end of the floor.
Wondering if someone other than me had stayed late to work, I went to take a look, but no one was there. I couldn't hear the sound anymore, so I assumed I'd just imagined hearing it and regrouped, going back to work. After a little while, though, I heard a clattering sound...
However I listened it sounded like someone tapping at a keyboard, so I started getting closer to the creepy presence. But even still, no one was there after all...
Thinking it was the sound of machinery, I went to check out what the sound was, but when I got close the sound stopped. But when I returned to my seat and started working again, the sound started... It somehow felt ominous, and that day I quickly finished my work.
Incidentally, the next person who stayed the night heard the same sound, but they were used to it so kept working as normal. In the end, to this day I don't know what it truly was making that noise.

When I was creating the sounds for Zero, a strange sound came out of my speakers. Though by looking at the level meter I could see that there should be no sound, some kind of staticky noise had got in, and when I played the sounds for the cutscene the sound had warped into a prickly noise. The noise's placement and sound were different each time.
At first, I thought that maybe the equipment was broken, but I couldn't find anything wrong with it, and absolutely nothing like this happened during any other projects. In the end, at the time I had completely no idea what the cause was.
Once, while I wasn't doing any work, the mixing meter swung all the way up. Though it looked like something was coming out of the speakers there was no sound, so I kept recording anyway.
Later, the volume of the sound began to steadily increase... Actually, the sound that came out was really deep. When I heard it, I was confused by the strange noise, so naturally I used it in this game, too. When I hear it now, it's a jolting sound.

It was soon after I'd joined the Zero project. I was working late that night, and eventually I was the only one left in the office. I was tired, so I went to rest in the basement smoking room, and then returned to the work area. I noticed it as I was returning to my seat. Something yellow-coloured was showing on my PC's screen.
"Huh? No one should be here, but..."
As I got closer to my seat, the shadow suddenly began to move. The shadow wore yellow clothes and had a woman's face. I immediately made a round of the area, checking it out, but of course no one was there. And there was nothing yellow in the area, either...
It couldn't have been a poster's reflection, and I hadn't imagined seeing it. The shadow's reflection moved, and it was clearly approaching me.
A little while later, in the morning, I got a really bad headache... and was taken to hospital in ambulance. The cause of it was unknown, but perhaps it was connected in some way?

When the project got really busy I slept under my desk each day, but occasionally I would be awakened by the sound of footsteps.
It was in the early morning, around 4 AM. I sensed a presence, someone's running footsteps pitter-pattered around the group of desks gathered around the CG desk... like they were playing a game or something. "So noisy..." I thought, and went to get up to check around, when the footsteps stopped. Though I turned on the lights to make sure, of course I was the only one on the floor. Thinking it was my imagination I switched off the lights and went back to sleep, when again, the pitter patter of running footsteps started... Then I heard the sound of something colliding with the edge of my desk, the sound of the rubbish bin falling over, and the sound of a book falling from the desk, so I couldn't sleep a wink.
At first I thought it might be the cleaner, but it would have been too early for them anyway, and it would be weird for them to keep circling around the same place. From their stride and the size of the noise their feet made, they sounded childlike. I boldly called out, "Uuuh, hey...", and they suddenly stopped.
Since then, even when I stay the night I don't hear footsteps anymore. Thinking about it now, I'm glad the kid didn't come near me.

The ghosts of twin girls called Akane and Azami appear in Zero ~Akai Chou~. Those ghosts have eerie voices that seem to come out as though their throats are being wrung. The director imitated the voices of a ghost he had heard a while ago and we recorded it, but it felt seriously horrible.
When I stayed overnight at the office to work, I went to the toilets in the middle of the night and there I heard the exact same voice.
At first, I thought it was the sound of the ventilation fan spinning, or maybe I had imagined it, but that voice, the exact same voice, gradually got louder and louder.
Also, I could hear the voice coming from inside the plumbing. It felt like it was echoing... It felt like it was getting closer, like it was heading towards me.
Anyway, I got out of the toilets as fast as I could. Something is definitely strange about this building...
Seriously strange...