Nerdoween is back. And this year, we're leaving home.

Welcome to Nerdoween 2026: Passport to the Paranormal, a four-week journey around the world chasing the stories people tell when the lights go out.

Our first stop: Japan.

We begin aboard a train in January 2004, where a person posting online as Hasumi claims their familiar ride home suddenly stopped being familiar at all, eventually leaving them alone at a station nobody could seem to find:

Kisaragi Station.

But that's only where tonight begins.

Around our first international campfire, we're traveling from the haunted well of Okiku at Himeji Castle to the late-'70s panic surrounding Kuchisake-onna, the Slit-Mouthed Woman. Then we're passing the flashlight to people who claim they've had their own unexplained encounters in Japan before returning to Kisaragi Station to discover what happened after Hasumi stepped off that train.

Finally, we'll turn the lights back on and explore how Halloween found a home in modern Japan, from early celebrations in Harajuku to Shibuya and the absolute insanity of Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Japan.

Welcome to Nerdoween 2026.

GOT A PARANORMAL STORY OF YOUR OWN?

Send it to averagejoenerdcast@gmail.com or join The Lobby and drop it in the Nerdoween channel. Your story might make it around the fire before October is over.

Link to Discord: https://discord.gg/4Cx7FZw3Q

A QUICK NERDOWEEN SCHEDULE NOTE:

Week Two of Nerdoween may look a little different from our normal release schedule. Everything's okay on the AJN side, we're just giving a little room to something important happening outside the show.

Stay tuned for Thursday's episode for a brief explanation and an update on what to expect next week.

Thanks for bearing with us, Average Joes. The Passport to the Paranormal isn't finished yet.

Stay Gold. Nerd Bold.

© 2026 Average Joe Nerdcast. All rights reserved.

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